I am curious as to how you light your Kamado for low and slow. I have used a chimney starter if I want to get the temp up quite high, but if you are doing low and slow ,lighting a small fire makes it easier for controlling. I have used the BGE starters with some success but would love to hear what you folks use.
BTW I love the FOGO charcoal when it is lit, it's the lighting part I struggle with at times.
Hi I use Weber cubes. Just put one or two in the back and let it light the coals. Give yourself plenty of time to let the temp slowly rise to desired temp. Then let it stabilize for a while and heat up the ceramic, letting it settle in and rise up to target temp. It always takes longer than I think and if I overshoot I have to constantly adjust the vents. If I ease into the target temp and let set up properly it is very stable.
I use a heat gun to start the charcoal in two places that allows the fire slowly starting heating up the unit, once it gets to 175F I start closing the top vent to slow things down when cooking temperature is 225F for smoking. Meathead says operating one of these cookers is like driving a truck you have to start braking early.
Lonestar Grillz 24x36 offset smoker, grill, w/ main chamber charcoal grate and 3 tel-tru thermometers - left, right and center
Yoke Up custom charcoal basket and a Grill Wraps cover.
22.5 copper kettle w/ SnS, DnG, BBQ vortex, gasket and stainless steel hinge kit.
Napoleon gas grill (soon to go bye bye) rotting out.
1 maverick et-733 digital thermometer - black
1 maverick et-733 - gray
1 new standard grilling remote digital thermometer
1 thermoworks thermopen mk4 - red
1 thermoworks thermopop - red
Pre Miala flavor injector
taylor digital scale
TSM meat grinder
chefs choice food slicer
cuisinhart food processor
food saver vacuum sealer
TSM harvest food dehydrator
I use starter squares buried on edge in a full load of charcoal running left to right facing the Kamado so that it is perpendicular to the front edge of the fire grate. I light the two corners, open the bottom vent all the way, close the dome and remove the top vent. When the dome thermometer reaches 300 I put a chunk of wood on the fire, put in the diffuser, water pan and grate and set the bottom vent for one quater inch and install the top vent on my BGE with the daisy wheel set at 1/2. When the Egg settles down to 225 I put the meat on.
I typically put a half load in the egg, then scoop a half chimney out and light the latter with a starter. Since it's the Chimney of Insanity, I hook the BBQ Dragon to it and get it all ashed over, then dump it into the egg, spreading a bit across the top. Once it starts to take (pretty much right away) close the lid, lower vent to ~1/8-1/4" open, and the upper to suit conditions, but generally not too open unless it's still on the low temp side or a bit early in the "white smoke" phase. Then micro-adjust the upper to the desired range, or let the Smobot do it. Lately, the Smobot usually takes over right after adding the lit ones in the chimney.
I have a MAPP torch that I use that is one of the ones that you can use inverted (I use LP since it and my Weber preformed use the same canister). I light up 1 spot for low and slow, 2-3 spots for roasting, and the 5-6 for pizza/blast furnace. I wouldn’t say I recommend going out at buying one Just for lighting the grill, but if you’ve got one hanging around from sweating pipe joints or metal work, Torch on!
I utilize a full firebox of lump. I light a single starter cube whether going for a low and slow or something hotter. Typically place the starter cube in lump pile (centered) towards the bottom damper. Use this method on my Kikuya Hibatchi Pot, BGE's and my Primo XL.
Once the fire cube burns out I set my plate setter/D-Plates/diffuser in place. I have lower damper wide open (unless using a controller) and the daisy wheel slider portion wide open. At about the 185° point I side my bottom damper to 1/2 open and daisy wheel slider 1/2 open. You will see the temp drop then come back up. At that point start dialing in your temp in small increments. For the 225° - 250°F range my lower damper is 1/8 to 1/4 inch open the slider on the daisey wheel is closed but have an opening of 1/4 or so on the petals.
Not sure how the Regulator works if you have that.
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