ALDI KAMADO

[YorkshireSmoke]

I did my first cook on the kamado today - the obligatory whole chicken, cooked indirect. It wasn't a disaster, but nor was it lifechanging. It's left me with a few questions hopefully someone can help with.

Dome temperature and grill temperature - I set up an Inkbird wireless thermo at grill level and was surprised that there was a consistent 50C difference between that and the dome gauge. I expected a difference, but should it be that much? The ink bird was set up at the side of the grill above the gap next to the heat deflector. Could that be the reason?

To be on the safe side I kept the grill at 200C for the cook, as I didn't fee comfortable dropping the dome temp below 150C. On the plus side I found it quite easy to maintain the temp at a consistent level.

In the end I pulled the chicken when the breast reached 80C, after around 80 mins. I didn't find it really any better than if I had cooked it in the electric oven, but then I'm not a chicken guy and I didn't get the Kamado for roasting chickens.

I'd be interested if anyone had any thoughts on the temperature issue.

Thanks

[Chrisah1]

4 hours ago, TheBeardedDan said:

it wasn't quite that hot, it was about 350-400 dome temp

each pizza took around 3-4 minutes to cook, was a bit cautious as i didn't want the bottom to burn

Yes, too much excess flour at those temps cause the burn. Sounds like a great compromise. Thanks. The nicest thing about kamado pizza is you don't have to spin it. 

[Bbq life uk]

7 hours ago, YorkshireSmoke said:

I did my first cook on the kamado today - the obligatory whole chicken, cooked indirect. It wasn't a disaster, but nor was it lifechanging. It's left me with a few questions hopefully someone can help with.

Dome temperature and grill temperature - I set up an Inkbird wireless thermo at grill level and was surprised that there was a consistent 50C difference between that and the dome gauge. I expected a difference, but should it be that much? The ink bird was set up at the side of the grill above the gap next to the heat deflector. Could that be the reason?

To be on the safe side I kept the grill at 200C for the cook, as I didn't fee comfortable dropping the dome temp below 150C. On the plus side I found it quite easy to maintain the temp at a consistent level.

In the end I pulled the chicken when the breast reached 80C, after around 80 mins. I didn't find it really any better than if I had cooked it in the electric oven, but then I'm not a chicken guy and I didn't get the Kamado for roasting chickens.

I'd be interested if anyone had any thoughts on the temperature issue.

Thanks

80mins is about right for a whole chicken. Chuck a wood chuck in next time to up your flavour. How crisp was your skin? This will help you go a little hotter if it wasn't crispy. Keep you probe as close to the food as possible the gap around the edge does get hotter as its the only way for the hot air to get through. 

Spatchcock is quicker and you can cook directly too so much more flavour. 

[Toucs]

On 4/6/2021 at 4:41 PM, Derbydan said:

Hi all, long time watcher and just received my text saying mines aldi kamado has been posted. Can’t wait to start BBQ with it. Been watching all of BBQ LIFE on YouTube and really looking forward to start trying cooks out. Anyone got any recommendations on what to being with? Thanks!

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Toucs
Posted in error

[Bbq life uk]

4 minutes ago, Toucs said:

 

Spatchcock chicken is easy and forgiving 

[Toucs]

16 minutes ago, Bbq life uk said:

Spatchcock chicken is easy and forgiving 

I don’t disagree. And delicious! I posted in error, total multitasking error on my part. Early baby feed...fat thumbs...no coffee...couldn’t figure out how to delete...

[AdamG]

8 hours ago, YorkshireSmoke said:

I did my first cook on the kamado today - the obligatory whole chicken, cooked indirect. It wasn't a disaster, but nor was it lifechanging. It's left me with a few questions hopefully someone can help with.

Dome temperature and grill temperature - I set up an Inkbird wireless thermo at grill level and was surprised that there was a consistent 50C difference between that and the dome gauge. I expected a difference, but should it be that much? The ink bird was set up at the side of the grill above the gap next to the heat deflector. Could that be the reason?

To be on the safe side I kept the grill at 200C for the cook, as I didn't fee comfortable dropping the dome temp below 150C. On the plus side I found it quite easy to maintain the temp at a consistent level.

In the end I pulled the chicken when the breast reached 80C, after around 80 mins. I didn't find it really any better than if I had cooked it in the electric oven, but then I'm not a chicken guy and I didn't get the Kamado for roasting chickens.

I'd be interested if anyone had any thoughts on the temperature issue.

Thanks

I have a different brand of Kamado and different brand of temp controller and I get the same 50c difference. I think its just down to how the natural convection works. Pit temp can vary depending on thermometer location aswell, I like to keep it away from the edge to avoid a higher reading from hot air coming directly up from the sides. I also try to keep it a couple of inches away from the food to avoid the 'cool air bubble' that is around the food.

I only use pit temp thermometers exclusively for low and slow (225f-250f), anything else I use the dome temp since I dont need absolute precision (and to eliminate the chance of frying my thermometers if a temp spike occurs).

hope this helps👍

[Grue666]

9 hours ago, YorkshireSmoke said:

Dome temperature and grill temperature - I set up an Inkbird wireless thermo at grill level and was surprised that there was a consistent 50C difference between that and the dome gauge. I expected a difference, but should it be that much? The ink bird was set up at the side of the grill above the gap next to the heat deflector. Could that be the reason?

To be on the safe side I kept the grill at 200C for the cook, as I didn't fee comfortable dropping the dome temp below 150C. On the plus side I found it quite easy to maintain the temp at a consistent level.

Interesting. I used the AK for first time yesterday and chose a Pork Shoulder as it is quite a forgiving piece of meat that would provide a good meal and offer plenty of time to learn about the Kamado. I certainly learn a lot about setting the vents for temp control and just how little charcoal is used over 12 hours. Set up for indirect cook with 2 Inkbird probes. The dome probe was set up a little way from the meat but still in the indirect area. 

Like you there was a distinct temperature difference of a little over 50ºC for most of the cook but after about 9 hours the 2 matched almost exactly - certainly within 2ºC. I can’t really explain why that happened and didn’t do any comparison during the curing burn on Saturday. 

[YorkshireSmoke]

16 hours ago, Bbq life uk said:

80mins is about right for a whole chicken. Chuck a wood chuck in next time to up your flavour. How crisp was your skin? This will help you go a little hotter if it wasn't crispy. Keep you probe as close to the food as possible the gap around the edge does get hotter as its the only way for the hot air to get through. 

Spatchcock is quicker and you can cook directly too so much more flavour. 

Skin not too crisp so maybe higher temp is the way to go.  Thanks for the suggestions 

[YorkshireSmoke]

16 hours ago, AdamG said:

I have a different brand of Kamado and different brand of temp controller and I get the same 50c difference. I think its just down to how the natural convection works. Pit temp can vary depending on thermometer location aswell, I like to keep it away from the edge to avoid a higher reading from hot air coming directly up from the sides. I also try to keep it a couple of inches away from the food to avoid the 'cool air bubble' that is around the food.

I only use pit temp thermometers exclusively for low and slow (225f-250f), anything else I use the dome temp since I dont need absolute precision (and to eliminate the chance of frying my thermometers if a temp spike occurs).

hope this helps👍

It does thanks... good to know a big temperature difference is normal

[HantsKamado]

Finally got our AK last week and have done 3 cooks so far:

Foolishly started with direct heat to do veg/halloumi (my step daughter was over and is veggie), MAN that is hotter than a normal BBQ! We had some very burnt halloumi! 🤣Also did tin foil wrapped salmon which turned out perfectly, really tender and not dry at all!

Saturday we made pizzas, hardest bit here was keeping the temp up, but by the 6th one(!) started to turn out okay, and still loads better than oven pizzas! We were sitting around 300c and think we could have done with being about 50c hotter if not more. 

Sunday we did a low and slow pork shoulder which was the best cook so far, was perhaps a little dry as we didn't realise the water had dried up. Have to say that was never really an issue with our old smoker and was easy to check on the water levels, this is a little harder to see. Very tasty and has lasted us 3 meals, first night we had lettuce wraps with sesame oil and salt, then soft corn tacos and we're having bbq pulled pork baps tonight! Was super easy to keep the temp steady for 6+ hours. Super impressed.

Would love to do a spatchcock chicken next and want to work up to beef brisket. 

Any recommendations for a thermometer? Would you recommend InkBird?

Edited April 20, 2021 by HantsKamado

[YorkshireSmoke]

On 4/19/2021 at 7:45 AM, Grue666 said:

Interesting. I used the AK for first time yesterday and chose a Pork Shoulder as it is quite a forgiving piece of meat that would provide a good meal and offer plenty of time to learn about the Kamado. I certainly learn a lot about setting the vents for temp control and just how little charcoal is used over 12 hours. Set up for indirect cook with 2 Inkbird probes. The dome probe was set up a little way from the meat but still in the indirect area. 

Like you there was a distinct temperature difference of a little over 50ºC for most of the cook but after about 9 hours the 2 matched almost exactly - certainly within 2ºC. I can’t really explain why that happened and didn’t do any comparison during the curing burn on Saturday. 

 

I think pork shoulder will be my next cook. Any tips? Did you just start with some smoking wood, or add more during the cook?

[Bbq life uk]

 

It's video time again this week is hot and fast pulled pork. Rubbed in the bbq rub wizards (the rusty bbq co) cherry cola rib and wing dust. To say this was good is an understatement.  https://youtu.be/Slk9L4FW5vk
👆👆check it out here 👆👆

[Grue666]

12 hours ago, YorkshireSmoke said:

I think pork shoulder will be my next cook. Any tips? Did you just start with some smoking wood, or add more during the cook?

Hi, I’m no expert and as I said this was done as a learning exercise as much as anything else as it is such a different beast to the MT I’ve previously used.
I bought a cheap rolled boneless shoulder - 2.5kg as currently on offer in Tesco @ 3.50/kg (rather than risk an expensive Butt if it all went pear shaped). I trimmed and salted it the night before with about 2 teaspoons course sea salt and left it in fridge. Early rise and nearly filled the fire bowl but wouldn’t do that next time as so little charcoal was used, I lit a handful of charcoal using my Weber chimney starter and put that in the middle of the firebow then sprinkled some Apple chips around the coals - not sure how much 100g or so and closed the lid. I rubbed the meat with Meatheads Memphis dust - 2or 3 tablespoons and rechecked the Kamado. This is when things went wrong as the temperature rose faster than expected so I closed all vents and crossed my fingers. As it happened the dome thermometer was reading high as already mentioned so things weren’t as bad as feared when I get the meat on and temp was soon OK. 

I then did very little other than play adjusting the vents periodically to try keeping the temp around 107ºC. I didn’t open the lid during the cook/add more chips. 

What would I do differently? Use less charcoal (not that it was wasted as closing the vents at the end left loads unburnt for next time), work out how to add wood chips mid cook as smoke flavour was lacking because not all had been used up/ not enough used - I’m still coming to terms with just how efficient this thing is. Give myself more time - I’d now be confident to start it the night before and leave it with little or no intervention.

Am I on the right track?

[AdamG]

17 minutes ago, Grue666 said:

Hi, I’m no expert and as I said this was done as a learning exercise as much as anything else as it is such a different beast to the MT I’ve previously used.
I bought a cheap rolled boneless shoulder - 2.5kg as currently on offer in Tesco @ 3.50/kg (rather than risk an expensive Butt if it all went pear shaped). I trimmed and salted it the night before with about 2 teaspoons course sea salt and left it in fridge. Early rise and nearly filled the fire bowl but wouldn’t do that next time as so little charcoal was used, I lit a handful of charcoal using my Weber chimney starter and put that in the middle of the firebow then sprinkled some Apple chips around the coals - not sure how much 100g or so and closed the lid. I rubbed the meat with Meatheads Memphis dust - 2or 3 tablespoons and rechecked the Kamado. This is when things went wrong as the temperature rose faster than expected so I closed all vents and crossed my fingers. As it happened the dome thermometer was reading high as already mentioned so things weren’t as bad as feared when I get the meat on and temp was soon OK. 

I then did very little other than play adjusting the vents periodically to try keeping the temp around 107ºC. I didn’t open the lid during the cook/add more chips. 

What would I do differently? Use less charcoal (not that it was wasted as closing the vents at the end left loads unburnt for next time), work out how to add wood chips mid cook as smoke flavour was lacking because not all had been used up/ not enough used - I’m still coming to terms with just how efficient this thing is. Give myself more time - I’d now be confident to start it the night before and leave it with little or no intervention.

Am I on the right track?

Sounds well on track to me!

I always fill the basket with charcoal since none is wasted after snuffing out(eliminating the need to top up, which if not done properly can cause the ash to fall to the grid and block airflow), but that is just my preference and not a "No, do it like this!" comment lol.

The other thing I do is once the temp has stabilised I leave it to heat soak for roughly 40 mins before putting the food in, for some reason...(black magic😲😎??) it holds the temp throughout the whole cook and its very rare i need to touch the vents at all. It seems like a waste to begin with but due to the efficiency (and hands off overnight cooks) I see it as a worthwhile trade off.

Again these are just my own preferences and not "the right way" everything else sounds on par with what I do🔥🍻👍

[Chrisah1]

45 minutes ago, Grue666 said:

Hi, I’m no expert and as I said this was done as a learning exercise as much as anything else as it is such a different beast to the MT I’ve previously used.
I bought a cheap rolled boneless shoulder - 2.5kg as currently on offer in Tesco @ 3.50/kg (rather than risk an expensive Butt if it all went pear shaped). I trimmed and salted it the night before with about 2 teaspoons course sea salt and left it in fridge. Early rise and nearly filled the fire bowl but wouldn’t do that next time as so little charcoal was used, I lit a handful of charcoal using my Weber chimney starter and put that in the middle of the firebow then sprinkled some Apple chips around the coals - not sure how much 100g or so and closed the lid. I rubbed the meat with Meatheads Memphis dust - 2or 3 tablespoons and rechecked the Kamado. This is when things went wrong as the temperature rose faster than expected so I closed all vents and crossed my fingers. As it happened the dome thermometer was reading high as already mentioned so things weren’t as bad as feared when I get the meat on and temp was soon OK. 

I then did very little other than play adjusting the vents periodically to try keeping the temp around 107ºC. I didn’t open the lid during the cook/add more chips. 

What would I do differently? Use less charcoal (not that it was wasted as closing the vents at the end left loads unburnt for next time), work out how to add wood chips mid cook as smoke flavour was lacking because not all had been used up/ not enough used - I’m still coming to terms with just how efficient this thing is. Give myself more time - I’d now be confident to start it the night before and leave it with little or no intervention.

Am I on the right track?

When using someone's kamado (as I don't have my own yet) and for smoking in general i find large bits at the bottom of the charcoal is good for long cook. If I want a shorter period with more intense flavour smaller chips on top. 

Let the kamado get close to your desired temperature within 10-15-20-25 degrees (as you prefer) and then start closing vents so it continues to rise slowly. If you have a pit thermometer, that will help you watch the trajectory and rate of increase. Small adjustments are best until you see it is quite a flat curve. Taking a slow approach to heating up means that as others have said you can heat soak the ceramic so you get the full radiative and convection effects. That's the whole point of the kamado!

With experience you will anticipate better where you need to be on the vents and which vents you need to focus on. Bottom is accelerator top is brake. Of course the quality and moisture on the charcoal will affect things. 

Set alerts for plus or minus 5/10c to intervene once set up. Small changes due to thermal inertia. 

Having said all that, don't worry about the precise detail either. Enjoy and taste. It's all about trial and error and trial and success. 

My general tips are:

1) avoid temp overshoots due to thermal mass

2) monitor the temp trajectory with a sensor when you're starting out 

3) react early with small adjustments 

And yes, always use a basket - it means your charcoal is less spread for a direct cook, but it is more concentrated an much better airflow. ..and for indirect it's more controlled/even than resting coals on the clay. 

 

You can actually (if you're using a basket) dispense with the lower grate IF you want more airflow and more heat for searing or pizza. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kentish Man]

49 minutes ago, Grue666 said:

Hi, I’m no expert and as I said this was done as a learning exercise as much as anything else as it is such a different beast to the MT I’ve previously used.
I bought a cheap rolled boneless shoulder - 2.5kg as currently on offer in Tesco @ 3.50/kg (rather than risk an expensive Butt if it all went pear shaped). I trimmed and salted it the night before with about 2 teaspoons course sea salt and left it in fridge. Early rise and nearly filled the fire bowl but wouldn’t do that next time as so little charcoal was used, I lit a handful of charcoal using my Weber chimney starter and put that in the middle of the firebow then sprinkled some Apple chips around the coals - not sure how much 100g or so and closed the lid. I rubbed the meat with Meatheads Memphis dust - 2or 3 tablespoons and rechecked the Kamado. This is when things went wrong as the temperature rose faster than expected so I closed all vents and crossed my fingers. As it happened the dome thermometer was reading high as already mentioned so things weren’t as bad as feared when I get the meat on and temp was soon OK. 

I then did very little other than play adjusting the vents periodically to try keeping the temp around 107ºC. I didn’t open the lid during the cook/add more chips. 

What would I do differently? Use less charcoal (not that it was wasted as closing the vents at the end left loads unburnt for next time), work out how to add wood chips mid cook as smoke flavour was lacking because not all had been used up/ not enough used - I’m still coming to terms with just how efficient this thing is. Give myself more time - I’d now be confident to start it the night before and leave it with little or no intervention.

Am I on the right track?

This looks good! 

Only comments I'd add is there's no need to use the chimney starter, just put a lighter wooly (or whatever you use) on top and let it heat up steadily. For a low and slow, I think using the chimney starter, even with only a little charcoal, runs the risk of lighting too much charcoal up and overshooting the temp you want.

I don't actually ever use a chimney starter, I just don't find it necessary. The Kamado basically operates like one anyway so there isn't any significant time saving, it's not like lighting briquettes for a different type BBQ.

Again, no right and wrong, just my experience on the AK.

[Kentish Man]

19 hours ago, HantsKamado said:

Finally got our AK last week and have done 3 cooks so far:

Foolishly started with direct heat to do veg/halloumi (my step daughter was over and is veggie), MAN that is hotter than a normal BBQ! We had some very burnt halloumi! 🤣Also did tin foil wrapped salmon which turned out perfectly, really tender and not dry at all!

Saturday we made pizzas, hardest bit here was keeping the temp up, but by the 6th one(!) started to turn out okay, and still loads better than oven pizzas! We were sitting around 300c and think we could have done with being about 50c hotter if not more. 

Sunday we did a low and slow pork shoulder which was the best cook so far, was perhaps a little dry as we didn't realise the water had dried up. Have to say that was never really an issue with our old smoker and was easy to check on the water levels, this is a little harder to see. Very tasty and has lasted us 3 meals, first night we had lettuce wraps with sesame oil and salt, then soft corn tacos and we're having bbq pulled pork baps tonight! Was super easy to keep the temp steady for 6+ hours. Super impressed.

Would love to do a spatchcock chicken next and want to work up to beef brisket. 

Any recommendations for a thermometer? Would you recommend InkBird?

Are you measuring temp at the grill? That's the critical one I measure for direct cooking, and indirect come to think about it!

I've got an inkbird (forget which model, 4XS I think?), but I actually prefer the thermopro (TP20) that it replaced.

[Kentish Man]

On 4/19/2021 at 11:17 PM, YorkshireSmoke said:

Skin not too crisp so maybe higher temp is the way to go.  Thanks for the suggestions 

Personally, I think cooking spatchcock over direct heat will give you the result you're after. I've done whole birds on mine and it's good, but as you say, it's not dramatically different to oven cooked.

Give spatchcock a go, (dead easy to do yourself with a decent pair of scissors, in case you've not done it before), get the temp at the grill up to about 180 / 200 ish, then stick the bird on bone side down. My approach is then to leave it until the meat is about 5 degrees below the temperature I'm after, then flip it over and cook skin side down until it's done to get the crispy skin. I cook more or less every sunday roast chicken we have this way now, it is superb.

[Kentish Man]

On 4/19/2021 at 11:19 PM, YorkshireSmoke said:

It does thanks... good to know a big temperature difference is normal

I never really look at the temperature reading on the dome thermometer, just rely on the inkbird reading from the grill. That's the most important one, isn't it, given that's where the meat is sitting?

Also, I back my inkbird to give a more reliable reading than the cheap dome thermometer.

[Grue666]

27 minutes ago, Kentish Man said:

This looks good! 

Only comments I'd add is there's no need to use the chimney starter, just put a lighter wooly (or whatever you use) on top and let it heat up steadily. For a low and slow, I think using the chimney starter, even with only a little charcoal, runs the risk of lighting too much charcoal up and overshooting the temp you want.

I don't actually ever use a chimney starter, I just don't find it necessary. The Kamado basically operates like one anyway so there isn't any significant time saving, it's not like lighting briquettes for a different type BBQ.

Again, no right and wrong, just my experience on the AK.

Yes I think that’s the way to go. Part of my learning curve. I’d read about doing it that way but stuck with (modified) old habits - nothing like learning by mistakes  

[Kentish Man]

30 minutes ago, Grue666 said:

Yes I think that’s the way to go. Part of my learning curve. I’d read about doing it that way but stuck with (modified) old habits - nothing like learning by mistakes  

My approach with a kamado is always to be cautious getting the temp up, because it's much harder to cool it down than heat it up!

[AdamG]

2 hours ago, Chrisah1 said:

When using someone's kamado (as I don't have my own yet) and for smoking in general i find large bits at the bottom of the charcoal is good for long cook. If I want a shorter period with more intense flavour smaller chips on top. 

always use a basket - it means your charcoal is less spread for a direct cook, but it is more concentrated an much better airflow. ..and for indirect it's more controlled/even than resting coals on the clay. 

 

You can actually (if you're using a basket) dispense with the lower grate IF you want more airflow and more heat for searing or pizza. 

3 brilliant points by Chrisah1 here!🍻

To add to the 1st point:

Over a few cooks, I gradually fill an empty charcoal bag with the huge pieces to save them for pizza cooks.

2nd point:

These reasons for getting a basket are generally overlooked...but are actually the best reasons to have one. The main reason alot of people get one is for easier cleanup for the next cook but thats just the cherry on the top👍

3rd point:

I sometimes use the lower grate on top of my wok stand as a surface for regular pans...basically turns it into a hob lol😋

[Chrisah1]

2 hours ago, Grue666 said:

Yes I think that’s the way to go. Part of my learning curve. I’d read about doing it that way but stuck with (modified) old habits - nothing like learning by mistakes  

That is a top tip from others re the chimney.

You deffo don't want to dump a chimney load of ready charcoals into the clay or even a basket. Clay and ceramic like gradual temp changes. 

However I am very partial to doing a seared steak on the chimney alone with a cast iron grid on top. Amazing. So keep that chimney and use it as a cooking option! 

[sbottstar]

29 minutes ago, AdamG said:

3 brilliant points by Chrisah1 here!🍻

To add to the 1st point:

Over a few cooks, I gradually fill an empty charcoal bag with the huge pieces to save them for pizza cooks.

2nd point:

These reasons for getting a basket are generally overlooked...but are actually the best reasons to have one. The main reason alot of people get one is for easier cleanup for the next cook but thats just the cherry on the top👍

3rd point:

I sometimes use the lower grate on top of my wok stand as a surface for regular pans...basically turns it into a hob lol😋

Any suggestions of where to get the basket from please??

 

Also, anyone with links to recommended thermostats would be great too.