Cureiousjan

Hartland, Devon home of the sunsets

On 5/16/2019 at 10:22 PM, AmateurPitBoss said:

Right guys, after a bit of advice from those already using their aldi kamado.

I've done 2 cooks now, managed to control temperature ok, but if anything didn't see as much heat as I expected. First cook I kept fuel to a minimum but even with vents open it didn't shoot over 200. Tonight I used far more lump, one starter buiried in the top middle and it went up well, at 150 I closed top vent with wheel wide open, and bottom vented slider across. It rose to about 230 max and held there. I kinda expected to need to close it down more than that, especially the bottom vent. I was only cooking some burgers just getting practice in and they were great but are these setups about right for that temperature? Would I literally need to have everything fully open to sear steak?

At what temp do you guys start closing things down? Are do you do it a set temp below your target?

Apologies if this is discussed elsewhere already, figured they are all different so best to ask on the aldi page...

APB  on my Egg when I need to do a clean-up burn its all vents open wide and no daisy wheel and I get that baby upto 750C. To get high temps it needs a high input of oxygen. If you do this beware of not burping it when opening the lid. Just open about an inch to let some of the very hot air out, close then fully open. If you don't then be prepared for scorching of your arms!

Jan

Hi Captain73

                           if the outside defects are under the glaze then the ceramic has had its final firing and all should be fine. They were probably bits of clay not brushed off after moulding and then fell off during the first firing leaving pock marks.

The ragged edges inside are also cosmetic and should not cause any problems, its poor quality control when cleaning the "green" clay after moulding and all mould lines are trimmed off.

But if you are unhappy with the appearance and lets face it despite being 40% the cost of a BGE or KamadoJoe this is still 350 quid you have spent, then you have the right to a replacement or money back.

Cheers

Jan

Liam

I would most definitely ask for a replacement. The ceramic has been touching another pot in the firing kiln which will cause internal stresses. Probably the crack you can see inside, ceramics have a habit of totally failing due to such stress factors when reheated i.e. when you start a burn in it. Every kamado/ceramic manufacturer expects to lose 20% during manufacture, it goes with the territory.

Hi folks

Would like to recommend my (fairly) local butcher who sources most of his meat from his own farm and gets rest from local farms no more than 10 miles away. The beef is invariably Ruby Reds and really first class.

G E Honey & Son
Oliver House
Parkham
Bideford
North Devon
EX39 5PG

01237 451224

ah@gehoney.co.uk

Hi Wade

cold smoker is 3 wood box sections, lower one is the smoke chamber with a ProQ generator with 2 top boxes with racks. Some of the winter gales took the whole thing for a wander around the garden one night so all the joints are twisted etc. Will probably recycle what I can and re-build. No rush as its a bit late in the year to cold smoke.Will put some photos up later this week.

Having problems getting my chorizo to mature to my satisfaction-either ends up like hard-tack or soggy texture. I think better quality meat with a higher fat ratio is the main problem, have a sneaking suspicion that my previous supplier was mixing beef fat in with the pork. A decent fatty pig is quite rare these days but now have my new butcher on the look out when some of the local" hobby " farmers have one going to slaughter.

On the BGE side of things its adjusting to using it in a more exposed environment and fine tuning the temperature control. Last 2 cook-ups resulted in rather over done brisket and beer butt chicken as the temps roared up when I turned my back on it for half an hour. Have gone back to using BGE charcoal to smooth things out. Looking forward to using some lumpwood to really smoke- where we lived previously my neighbour prevented me from doing this because of his complaints about the smoke!

Cheers

Jan

Got lucky in a competition and got BGE half price at county show.

Hi to all you fellow smokers and curers

Not long moved down to North Devon and now retired so now have more time to devote to playing with my food.

Have been tinkering with curing and smoking for the last 5 years but now want to start producing more consistent goods. Have found a really good local butcher so quality of the raw stuff is no longer a problem.

First up is to get some cheeses started, then revamp my cold smoker which has found the first winter here a little trying. A little late but first leg of pork in the salt ready for air-drying into ham.

My BBQ is a Green Egg which has proven invaluable during the winter due to some very long power cuts, though the wind can make lighting it a challenge somedays.

Look forward to getting plenty of tips etc from you all

rgds

Jan