Gigasonix

1 minute ago, AdamG said:

My bottom vent does not have a perforated plate behind the solid plate and thats why i use finger adjustments, however since yours have the perforated plate then use the holes as a guideline as they will be a much more accurate (and universal) way of measuring your vent settings.😁

I did originally plan to scribe some lines on my vent to help....but yeah, my memory to do things is like a sieve (or in this case, the perforated plate haha)🤔

What happened to the perforated plate? If it was missing you can call the help line and they should send one to you 

6 minutes ago, vk2003 said:

The first 2 times I used my kamado (cure and spatchcock chicken), I struggled to get above 150C, and wondered whether there was something wrong with my kamado or technique. 
it was the latter….

 Basically I didn’t put enough fuel in. When I did the brisket, the firebowl was a lot more full (some of the taller pieces were almost touching the deflector plate). I didn’t struggle at all to get up to temp, and at the end, simply closed all the vents, and the unused coals are there to be used again next time, so they won’t be wasted. 
FWIW, and this maybe entirely the wrong way, so //flame suit on//, this is how I learnt to do it through research and trial and error:

1.  Fill bowl, ensuring small air vents aren’t clogged with small pieces/ ash. You shouldn’t use briquettes that you would use in a kettle type bbq, but instead lumpwood is far better.

 2. Add 2-3 wood wool lighters spread around Bowl and mostly buried under coals. 

3. Vents fully open. Lid open. Light firefighters. Leave lid open for 5 mins whilst they burn out - you can smell the accelerant in them. 
 

4. When flame/ smell almost gone, Put in deflector and grill surface, install grill level thermometer

 

5. Close lid, both vents fully open (bottom vent is perforated holes rather than drawing back both vents covers, and top vents is swung open for a few minutes before swinging it closed but leaving Daisy wheel fully open)

 

6. Monitor temp and try not to overshoot!

 

 Hope this helps. I also found this (free) enthusiast written handbook useful:

kamado-book-of-knowledge

HTH

Vishal 

I would say my method is very similar but I haven’t used wood wool lighters. I use natural lighters without any accelerant and I didn’t know that wood wool lighters contained accelerant

1 minute ago, j-loe said:

That's an interesting point about aligning one of the holes in the bowl with the front vent - I didn't think of that (or missed that in the manual). Will try it. I was using some basic coal just as I have loads leftover from my old BBQ.

There is only one big gap in the fire bowl. So if you look through the vent at the front you should be able to see in the centre of the fire bowl underneath the cast iron grate.

If you can only see the side of the fire bowl or lots of ash then that’s probably the issue 

2 minutes ago, j-loe said:

Got it, thanks. Yes, I was worried about it cracking by adding the hot coals with the chimney.

I've struggled to get it up to temperature and to get the coals properly going hence was wondering if a chimney would help at all. Guess I need a bit more practice!

 

If the charcoal is burning and the vents and the front and the top are fully open then you get get it to 400c quite quickly.

is the fire bowl definitely aligned so the opening is lined up with the front vent?

Have you checked that there is no ash blocking the vent or the grate in the fire bowl?

what charcoal are you using?

1 hour ago, j-loe said:

Hi all, 

Am wondering if anyone uses a chimney to get their Aldi Komado started?

I note the manual says not to drop any fuel inside, which is what I'll be doing when emptying the chimney coal into the Kamado. I've seen some YouTube videos of people using chimneys to start other Komado grills.

I have a chimney already but don't want to damage the new AK so am wondering if anyone else uses one?

The whole kamado is a big chimney starter. One of the great benefits of a kamado is that they are very easy to light with decent charcoal.

Why would you need to use a chimney to start it? Adding very hot coal from cold, especially in cold weather, is likely to increase the chance of cracking the firebowl or even worse, the kamado itseft.

They only time I've ever used a chimney starter with my Kamado is when I was making pizzas and I wanted to top it up when it was already hot with more hot coals to keep the temperature vey high.

Just now, Monkeybumcheeks said:

Hi there, was thinking of keeping it simple....salt, pepper  and some oregano, but some garlic for sure!

Just got 15 bags of CPL delivered and I'm impressed with the size of the chunks...better prices than BigK and Globaltic etc 👍🏻

Am new to this so keeping an eye on everything !

15 bags? I’ve used a full bag of BigK ach15 dura over about 1 month and about 1/4 of a bag of  CPL  and I think they are very similar in quality 

4 minutes ago, Monkeybumcheeks said:

Sounds good to me, did you use any rub or herbs? What about smoking wood?

I marinated it over night in an anchovy, garlic, salt, rosemary and olive oil marinade that I blended myself but you could choose what ever flavours you like best. I didn't use any wood and I'm glad I didn't as I used CPL restaurant charcoal and the meat had a good smokey flavour and a noticeable smoke ring. I did two large whole chickens a few weeks ago, one with the same marinade and one with a Thai marinade, smoked with beech and the Thai one was great but the garlic, salt, rosemary and olive oil marinade chicken was overpowered by the smoke of the beech.

6 minutes ago, Monkeybumcheeks said:

Hi there, I'm thinking of doing a shoulder of lamb over the weekend if the weather holds out. Would appreciate any tips or recipes. Thanks in advance.

I smoked a shoulder of lamb last Sunday for 10 hours until it was falling off the bone and it was raining most of the day.

On 6/20/2021 at 10:17 AM, Monkeybumcheeks said:

Hi there, that sounds like a good idea too....what size of basket would you recommend for the AK, I see there are three to choose from on the ProQ site?

I use the ProQ ranger which fits easily but leaves a bit of a gap around the edge so you do lose a bit of space to fill the bowl with charcoal compared to just using the fire bowl without the basket. The Ynni basket might be a better fit and better quality but it costs a lot more.

23 minutes ago, bbqoldie said:

i had the chance to empty my AK of some ash this morning and clearly I'm a 100% plank. Besides opening the silver door, using the scraper tool and pulling the stuff out, and totally missing any plastic bag I have placed underneath and getting it all over me, is there another way?

Q part 2: and what if I made a nice table for it...all the ones I have seen looks like its going to be an even bigger nightmare to do ash-saturday cleanup...how is ash management taken care of once you built a table around the thing?

I use the ProQ charcoal basket so I can lift the basket out and shake it over a wheelie bin to get the ash off the big pieces of charcoal that are left and lose the tiny pieces then I clean the inside of the kamado with an ash hoover. Makes the job easy and takes a few minutes.

If you cut it into three pieces with a strip down the middle that you throw away it will fit.

Its tight but they do just fit on

I’ve bought the same from appliance direct but instead of cutting my original deflector I’ve cut a pizza stone that I bought from Asda for £8 and kept my original deflector plate intact. There is also one available on Amazon for the same price 

12 minutes ago, Smokin_Bee said:

You can see from the remaining charcoal how high I had the basket full. I lighted the charcoal in the middle. Pretty impressed with how much is left after 7 hours. Plus the down time after closing the vents.

Which charcoal did you use?

15 minutes ago, Smokin_Bee said:

It would have sort have fitted, but based on my measurements the bottom circumference of the ProQ basket would be resting on the bottom of the ceramic insert, as it’s too narrow at the bottom for the ProQ fire basket to touch the charcoal grate.

This smaller one I have a gap all around the basket instead of it touching. I just completed a 7 hour low and slow. I’ll take a photo tomorrow when I check how much charcoal is left if that helps you decide?

Yes I decided to get the same as you, thanks for the info.

Just now, Mighty1968 said:

Better control, rainproof.

 

I've only just got mine so I thought the control was pretty good. How much better is the Smokeware cap? By rainproof do you mean it wont let rain inside or it wont get damaged by rain?

3 minutes ago, tedmus said:

I got a Smokeware Cap for mine from bbqandsmoke, the KJ one fits perfectly.

What was the reason for changing the top vent? 

12 minutes ago, Mighty1968 said:

I dont know if this is helpful or not but I have taken a bunch of measurements of my Kamado.

Grills

• Main Grill Diameter 412mm
• Small Grill 333mm Diameter x 280mm on flat side

 

Kamado (Mine is not perfectly round so these are the smallest measurements)

• Kamado inner Diameter 448mm
• Firebowl inner diameter 350mm
• Firebowl outer diameter 415mm
• Ash Hole (is that the right term?😏) diameter 215mm

Thanks, mine has similar measurements so I've gone for the PROQ Frontier basket.

On 5/27/2021 at 8:00 PM, Smokin_Bee said:

Just to update that the smaller, £16 ProQ charcoal basket fits my Kamado that was delivered last week. Nice bit of space down the sides too.

 

 

 

Wouldn't the 34cm ProQ frontier basket fit or do you think it would be a tight squeeze?

On 6/5/2021 at 4:32 PM, Chrisah1 said:

No, not me. Someone else got it. My post was more about the joy of getting the best bang per pound of accessories. Hopefully the person who got the appliance direct one will update us on the fit. For deflector you can get the stone from appliance direct as well which you knowneopl fit. Third party steel and stone deflectors you just have to look at the specs. There are no guarantees and nothing beats measuring your unit to double check. 

Hi, I can't see a matching deflector/pizza stone for the Appliance Direct D/C on their website. Please can you share a link?