T Yelta

There are many types of thermister probes on the market and they are not all interchangeable. Just because a probe works with your Thermoworks Smoke does not mean that it would necessarily work with this unit. It might, and I would have no way of knowing so just bear that in mind. A Heatermeter has some settings built into it that allow for thermister probes from different manufactures. Your's might have settings that allow for different thermister probes as well. Thermocouple probes are COMPLETELY different from thermister probes in how they work. Trying to run a thermister probe in a thermocouple unit will not work at all. Good luck and happy cooking.

Here is wishing all the best for you and your family in the future my friend.

From what I understand, the door to the "chute" or bin that holds the fuel (charcoal) is airtight at the top so that when closed, the fuel inside can't burn. Instead the fuel burns from the bottom and gravity draws more fuel down as it what's below it burns. The result is in theory a small fire contained in the burn area vs burning here and there throughout whole pile.

I plan on welding together a gravity fed insulated smoker at some point in the future, but this is interesting. One of the potential advantages of a reverse flow unit that interests me is a small hot fire. This could be a winner.

It seems to me that a 2 zone grill setup would be the best method. Heat the frozen patties on the low temp side until they thaw enough to sear. Move them over to the high temp side and watch the internal temp. Move them back to the low side when the sear is done, heat more on the low side if necessary to desired eating temp. Rest.

I'm interested in your methods for kombucha as I have just started buying and drinking it. I'm still not clear on this particular experiment but maybe I can catch up as details emerge.

Somebody let me know what kind of aluminum foil holds up to this kind of treatment because I haven't found it yet

Thanks John. FYI to download from my machine I had to "right click" and "save as." Just clicking on it didn't work for me. I'm looking forward to the read.

That is a fantastic presentation. I imagine it was very tasty.

That looks spectacular. Congrats on the great cook.

The bernzomatic "TS" series of torches are great and yes, they work upside down I use one myself.

Most torches don't work well when the torch is upside down some work fine upside down. Any chance that could be the issue here?

Welcome and thanks for the info. Is that new "Big Joe" dirty yet?

Frustration can lead to a breakthrough... sometimes you can enjoy the accomplishment more because of what you went through. I guess I'm the "paper towel" guy now At any rate, your shims don't look thick enough to get the plates where they need to be. The shims, paper towels, or whatever you use should hold the top of the plate where it needs to be (about an inch or so from the outer bowl) to put the ring on. As ckreef said, start with just one plate and then a 2nd and so on until they are all standing where they need to be. You can adjust the plates as you go to even out the cracks or else even them out just before you put the ring on. Your cracks could be more uniform but as was said it shouldn't hurt anything and as was also said, it should be easier the next time. This is an important skill to learn because when your ring warps (and it probably will) it could become a challenge again. Get that thing dirty and happy cooking

Aluminum is reportedly the most abundant element in the Earth's crust. I never worried too much about it but I don't use aluminum for that purpose anymore because it doesn't work well in hot fires. I use cast iron now because it doesn't burn up.