First pork butt on the kamado

[cjv140]

Second cook on my Louisiana Grills 24" kamado from Costco. Some will recall the first cook was a chicken disaster, much better this time around (flavor/texture-wise.) So here we go, I need some tips/tricks to make sure the next one goes a little smoother.

I'm in the Chicago suburbs and today struggled to get to 39 degrees with a stiff wind. My cooker is on my deck and I tried to rotate it to keep the lower vent out of the wind. I started a full bowl of Costco lump at about 7:30 AM using a Harbor Freight heat gun. I lit literally one end of a small piece of lump and the corner of another piece. I closed it up and let it get up to temp. About 20 minutes later the Thermoworks Smoke read close to 200 so I closed down the vents. The bottom was about 3/4 inch and the daisy wheel was just a sliver. The cooker parked at about 227 for 5 minutes and on the butt went.

As the cook went along the temp creeped to about 312 on the high end so I made some adjustments to the vents. At the end of the day each vent was a sliver, I mean like 1/16th of an inch would be generous. It stayed around 280-285 for most of the cook. I had to open up a little at meat temp of about 175 as the cooker temp fell to about 250 or so. I was afraid the fire was going out. It came back up and stayed in the 280 range for the rest of the cook.

I took off the butt at 203 and it was FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC! Juicy, tender, and tasty after letting it sit for an hour because my daughter was late getting off work. Beans and taters came out really good and everyone loved the pulled sammiches.

Ok, so why the high temp with such little air? I know these things need very little air flow, but the fire was nearly snuffed the whole time. I'm assuming the wind was a factor, regardless of the way it was facing. The deflector was laid with the "legs" facing up. It made the grate a little hard to brush off after I removed the meat, so I'll flip it on the legs going forward. Any help would be appreciated.

[Red Man]

I’ve never used a kamado, but I’d guess you got too much coals lit to start with.

[cjv140]

I don't think there were. I mean literally there were two corners of coals lit. I'm assuming when I opened the lid all the oxygen got to them.

[LA Pork Butt]

I cook on a Big Green Egg, and when I want to cook below 300 I light one fire in the center. If you lit two fires it probably contributed to establishing a hot fire. Also, I live in Dallas now, and the winds can be strong and gusty which forces air into the intake even if it is almost closed. I finally built a wind shield to help control the strong and gusty winds.

[Thunder77]

I do the same thing. One fire for low n slow. Have you calibrated your cooker yet? If not, it may be a good idea, to let you know what vent settings give you the temps you want. Also, because of the kamado design, you have a much more moist atmosphere in the cooker. You can go for higher temps because of it, and not worry. If I drift to 275 on a Butt cook, I don’t worry about it.

[hogdog6]

I cook in a Komodo Joe and as said above one fire in the middle for low and slow. For pork butt in my KJ I go 260*. I'm sure the wind was part of your temp spike.

[cjv140]

Thanks everyone for the replies, I will take the advice and try, try again!

[Spinaker]

Wind can be a factor. Another reason could be that quick start up. You should allow you kamado to heat soak for an hour before adding your food. Now, you do not have to do this. However, I like to because I feel like it makes the cook ride a little smoother through out. It also means that your kamado will not be a susceptible to temp spikes from the wind or when you open the lid to spritz, add meat or make other adjustments.

Also, are you using a charcoal basket in your kamado? That can really help with air flow and produce a more consistent fire throughout your cook. The Kick Ash Basket is a good option for that.

I would leave my deflector plate with the legs up. You don't want the grate to sit flat on the deflector, plus this will not allow you to have a drip pan under the meat. It will also not allow for airflow under the meat. Go Feet up with the deflector. Too clean the grate after cooking, simply remove it and scrub it in the sink or unit through the dish washer. That always seems to work fine for me.

Finally make sure to check out this sub-forum on everything kamado. (Especially the Taming the Savage Kamado thread.) It has everything you need to get things dialed in. If you have any questions there, we will be more than happy to help you out. Best of luck!

[EdF]

"Taming the Savage Kamado" for sure!

And this is a great book for newbs and even grizzled veterans. I learned a few new things even after 14 years owning a BGE. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[LA Pork Butt]

I’ll second EdF.

[cjv140]

So a friend that lives a town over uses a BGE and he agreed about the wind. He has cobbled together some type of deflector on these real windy, crappy days. Before the kamado I used the little Traeger pellet deal and wind/cold temps were the kiss of death. I delayed Thanksgiving dinner til 9 PM one year because of it, but I digress. I'm thinking of building a small lean-to or wind break to enclose the grills on 3 sides & the top to mitigate mom nature a little.

[JCBBQ]

What Spinaker said. 100%!! Heat soaking for long cooks really helps lock in a temp for a long time. If I bring up the temps slowly then the temp will rest - anywhere between 250-275 is ok by me- for around 7 hrs. I don't fixate on specific temp but I do like the smoke flavor in my Primo when temps are closer to 270 rather than 225. Usually after 7hrs there will start to be temperature creep either up or down. I'll probably make a slight adjustment and then monitor it for the rest of the cook. If I'm lucky and not too over zealous, i'll hit another sweet spot and the temp'll lock in again for a good long while. It's critical to only make small adjustments. Tiny. Otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy overcorrecting temps up and down for the rest of the cook. That totally defeats the point of having a kamado. Hands off is the name of the game. Congrats on the cook!