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I have to send this to my wife, by way of calibration. Frank

My preferred location. The pizza stone would have to be awfully big to overhang the extender.

That's odd. I always see grill level lower than exit vent. ALWAYS!! Grill level at the center? Edges are hot due to heat rising around the deflector Was there a gap in the deflector plates? It's the one downside to divide and conquer. I'm a multi-probe disciple, using the difference between grate and exit temperatures to control the fire. No low-n-slow cook has ever been higher on the grate at any time. My order is always exit >= dome > grate. Have fun, Frank

Two things. - I love smoked beef. - It's easy to over-smoke food with a Kamado. The first is personal preference. You're trying things so you'll find out what you like. But first, give true smoke flavor a chance by letting your fire mature before putting on the food. The only time smoked food ever tasted bad, I added wood to a smokey fire. Before blaming the beef, try adding a little wood after you get clear smoke from the fire. I have a London Broil leftover in the fridge that I hit with about a dozen chunks of hickory; very smokey, but also very good! (to my taste, at least!) Have fun, Frank

Beef smokes beautifully, to my taste. London Broil was the dish that got me hooked on smoking; I've yet to find anyone who doesn't like it, even my wife! Still have leftovers in the fridge. But, beef also sears beautifully. CI griddles are popular, soapstone is expensive, so less so. Low grates over a blazing fire box can give massive sear marks. Lots of options. Try whatever sounds appealing and let us know! HAve fun, Frank

I find temperatures vary depending where I put the probes (Maverick 733). My usual set-up is one in a grate clip near the center, the other dangling in the exit vent. The dome reading is usually equal to or a little lower than the exit vent, like 240 vs. 250F. The grate is usually lower due to cold food, getting closer to the others as the cook progresses. I expect your KJ thermometer will prove accurate. I see enough agreement not to question mine. Great smoke line, by the way! Have fun, Frank

I agree about high temps, but this works. I only suggested 400F because I'm lazy. I don't like standing around watching white smoke, so I use a remote thermometer with an alarm. I have found that, at 400F, the smoke on my Big Joe is always clear, so it's become SOP. No concern about adding deflectors, besides proper tools/hand protection. 400F is a transient reading, not a stable one, so it's going to be a mature fire, not a blazing one. Have fun, Frank

I ask because country of origin makes a difference in the flavor. I'm using two different ones in everything, one Saigon, the other Ceylon. Both taste like cinnamon, but they don't taste anything like one another. A complex spice....

What kind? (of cinnamon)

One of the many lessons I learned coming over here; smoke ring is from partial combustion products, CO and NO, up to about 160-170F. No smoking wood needed, just an air-starved fire. Frank

Your goals are not a contradiction. For thin blue smoke, you want a "mature" fire that's passed through the dreaded white-smoke phase. Cooking temperature will depend on the size of the fire and how much air it's getting - vent settings. As you learn your rig, you'll learn when to set vents and where, for different cooks. I have a Big Joe, which takes a while to heat up, so I can do this. Can't say I ever tried it in my Akorn. - remove the deflector(s), grates, and anything else that's cold. - build a small fire at the bottom of a full fire bowl of charcoal, - set the vents at half way, and let the fire build. - I get white smoke after a short while that disappears by the time it hits 400F. - now add in smoking wood, and cold deflector(s), water pan, grates and food. - temperature will drop, so adjust vents for the target temperature and wait. This creates immediate intense wood-smoke from putting wood on a hot fire, so move quickly and be careful about how much wood you add. Cold food will absorb a lot of smoke flavor which will soak in over the course of the cook. I find a couple handfuls of chunks is about the most wood I ever need. When I used a 2-barrel, a brisket would take a bag or two. Different worlds. HAve fun, Frank

I look forward to hearing how you use it, given your experience in barbecue processes. Frank

Many ways to skin a cat... or build a fire. All have the same goal, to get to the "third stage of fire." - lighting: external heat required to get wood hot enough to express volatile gas that ignites - spreading: wood surface is hot enough to carry fire, but interior of wood is still cold - burning: bulk of wood is hot enough to burn so it will all burn given enough air - depletion: bulk of wood depleted, fire's out of fuel. Lately, I fill the bowl with new lump over any old stuff, then light a small area in the center, set all the vents half open, and close the lid on an empty kamado. I let the fire grow to 400F+, which should take a while (30-40 min.) if you lit a small enough area and kept vents half open. The goal is to get the fire to spread before it gets hot, so it "cooks" all that new fuel I dumped in. I can tell when it's ready to cook by the hot smoke turning from white to clear/blue. Then I add my smoking wood, big and small pieces, in hot and cool areas so it burns at different rates. What kind of wood, and now much, is up to personal taste. Experiment and find out what you like. You will get thick white smoke shortly, but this smoke carrying the flavor you want. It smells different.... Then install your heat deflector(s), water/drip pan, grates and food. Installing all those cool parts after the fire's matured serves to drop the temperature quite a bit, so set vents for your final target temperature, knowing you have a big enough fire started to get you there. I also like to use a water pan, and put cold food on a smoker to maximize smoke condensation onto the food. A kamado doesn't allow fuel addition without disassembly, so I want my smoking wood flavor to stick early and soak in as it cooks. It will turn light and blue soon enough, and that's what you maintain at a 225-250F range. As to what went wrong... smoking wood burns hot and fast, so it doesn't last. Replace that volume of smoking wood with more fuel and the fire will last longer. Regardless, I'm sure you're going to be very happy with the result! Have fun, Frank

First rule of cooking; it's hard to render food inedible! However, getting the dough stuck on the peel is one of those ways; glad things turned out. Frank

Soggy skin, yes, and way too smokey to eat if you added wood. You give up the skin when smoking a bird, but you couldn't be more wrong about dry meat. Gentle cooking yields tender, juicy meat, every time I do it. But you must trust your instruments, or repair them so you can. My 6 lb breasts were over 150F in 2 hours, and then stalled needing nearly an hour to get close to 160F. That was at 225-250F. Skin was a disaster, but the meat needed neither gravy nor knife. But then I'm picky about my temperature targets, preferring to pull it low and hold, cooling slowly after removing the meat from cooking. Have fun, Frank