T Yelta

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.

I'm glad the info helped you Fire up that cooker and enjoy

Some people like to swing some people don't...

It's not my idea but thank you To answer your question, I guess it really depends on how you build your fire. If there is enough fire to heat the wood inside then it would work. If you are building a small fire and the wood inside the dutch oven doesn't get hot enough then it will not give off smoke. Have you looked into pellet trays such as the "A-MAZE-N Pellet Smoker?" It is a good way to get great smoke at low temperatures. I hope that helps and maybe someone else will have a better answer. Happy Cooking

I'm looking at the Greenworks Pro self-driven at Lowes. They have one discounted as a used buy "as is." What is there to go wrong with these electric battery powered mowers?

if you are unable to get this to work with your internet provider's router then get a second hand wireless router for cheap from a thrift store and use that as a dedicated wireless access point for your internet "toys" so to speak. Me, i don't trust routers from providers.

Truer words were never spoken. I agree 100 percent.

Here is a handy guide. Of course each situation is different (bone in, out, skinless, thickness, etc). Sick from chicken = really sick so develop your best practices and go from there OP. https://blog.thermoworks.com/chicken/3-keys-to-perfect-chicken-breasts/ If the issue becomes dryness, then maybe give chicken thighs a really good look. I always hated chicken thighs until I found out how good they can be. Happy Cooking

Actually, the Heatermeter can give you the choice of either a fan or a blower or both so if you are the type of person that likes choices then this would be a plus for you. The blower and damper state of "openness" can be seen, plotted and shared. If you do an internet search for the terms heatermeter and graph you will see many examples of what you are looking for. People do share "live cooks" where you can watch a heatermeter doing it's thing in real time and you can see the responses of the machine doing corrections.

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