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fbov The fire bowl was almost full, started it with 2 cotton balls waited 10 min before putting in deflector plates closed dome. waited about 30 min for grill to stabilize. then proceed to start timer. Used thermometer ( it was calibrated with boiling water) on gratre away from edges of deflector plates. Vent settings was the same as my smokes of pork butts and ribs the only difference was the charcoal had no large pieces, i'm used to seeing hand sized pieces in the bag but this bag had none. After i let it burn out, it struggled to get up to 400,the bottom had a lot of ash with a ring of partially burnt charcoal around the edges, could hardly see the holes in the grate. Up until this test and the prime rib i had no trouble holding 225 to 250.This is the second bag of kingsford i had like this. Planning on buying several containers to separate charcoal sizes and practice.Feel the need for some ribs.

Up date did a test burn on grill. Had it rolling along at 250 for about 3&1/2 hours then the fire started to die again, had to open the vents. The bottom went from the usual 3/4 inch to almost wide open the top from the usual 1/2 inch to about 1/2 way open. Fire slowly increased to 275 about 30 minutes, with some white smoke. This was the same bag as i used before it had NO large pieces in it, largest about tennis ball and below size The grill was cleaned and vacuumed before this test burn. So i'm suspecting the small coals made a lot of ash and was choking itself out, with the stock fire grate. Moral i guess we need some large pieces of charcoal.Lesson learned with this grill . Works a little different than my last few charcoal grills where i just filled a chimney and fired it up. As a side note i really like using the cotton ball trick. Thanks for all your replies and John should of seen your video on starting the grill sooner

The charcoal was at 250 for several hours before the temp dropped i think the strong smoke was from the coals reigniting when i opened the vents up, maybe i should have pulled the meat off til the coals relit. This is the second time the grill had done this i'm wondering if the fact that the bag of kingsford had no large pieces in it they were all the size of baseballs or smaller this is the second bag like this, (don't know if it was shipped this way or the handlers at wally world used the bag for a punching bag. The first bag the fire did the same thing and same size of coals, So i'm thinking with the smaller sized of coal maybe i have a air draw problem i have the factory grate in the bottom,. Had no trouble doing a 10 hour smoke on a pork butt with larger sized charcoal.Maybe i should be more selective of the size of charcoal and drop a few hints to my better half about a kick ash basket. Plus i'm still learning the grill and controlling the fire, never owned a gas grill , As a side note i'm EXTREMELY impressed with Kamado Joe and the backing of their warranty. Looks like i'm starting to ramble here so everyone have a smoking new year.

I'll have to try this again but with a chuck roast instead, and leave out the chunks. This was the same procedure i use for the pork butt i smoked before the only difference was the fire dying down and having to open the vents to get the heat back up. Also this was the first beef i had smoked mostly ribs and pork butts before. And seeing i've only had my joe since July i'm still learning how to use it, makes great ribs pulled pork and some fantastic steaks. Almost forgot a few 600 Degree pizza , thanks for the recipe John.

after having the left overs i think the strong smoke taste was from the charcoal and not the hickory chunks, it kind of smelled like the smoke when first starting it . I'm beginning to think when the fire died down and i opened the vents this might have caused the smoke of the starting charcoal to over power everything . I know the 4 chunks might have been a bit much but i'm changing over from using a gasser and the smoke flavor isn't the same yet. I had thought i had the charcoal figured out for this grill ,but i have some more to learn , I'll get there one day only had my joe for about 5 months. Keeper,Walus, John and Texas thanks for your input Have a smoking good new year.

Had the fire going for about 1 hour before placing pr on grill starting to think perhaps when the fire died down to 190 and opened the vents to get it back to 250 might be the culprit. This was a new bag of royal oak charcoal used it the day before for ribs all the coal in the bag was baseball sized and smaller, might have created a air draw problem causing part of the fire to die and neede3d a lot more air to maintain the burning., and i had a mix of about 70% new coal and 30% left from the ribs the night before.

Did a 4 bone prime rib for Christmas and it came out too Smokey. Filled up Joe classic 'll with fresh charcoal and 4 first sizes chunks of hickory. Same amount of hickory I used day earlier for ribs. Same bag of royal oak as the ribs, charcoal was size of baseball's and down to golf ball sized lumps. Had problem keeping temp at 250 about 2 hours in temp dropped to 190 had to open bottom vent really wide to get temp back to 250. Roast had a really storms smoke taste. Any id as why?

got a email from royal oak the bag is a new design, same charcoal inside . Think the large size of coals was because i got the bags off the inside of a pallet, before the careful placement on the shelves. The temp problem are operator error do to new kamodo. 2nd bag is working much better. Just did a 600 degree rib steak. WOW

as an up date i'm getting ready to do a 600 degree pizza cook tonight ,cleaned the grill and vacuumed the fire bowl and ashpan opening. Using the second bag of ro charcoal. This will be my 3rd pizza bake. The new bag has large pieces on top and i had to pull two un-charcoaled pieces ,had 4 in first bag, more than i remember in the past . I should buy a container for the charcoal. I'm beginning to think that i may have lit to many cotton balls (3) but this is what i did before. New classic 2 owner and i''m still learning , might do a test run at 250 for 6 hrs or so, maybe i might throw some ribs on so as not to waste the charcoal. A clarification on coal usage from above the center used and i had a ring of unused charcoal. Heres a few pics

Here are the bags new one on the left

Tex don'know if it was the size or not just commenting that this smoke was different than my others, the only difference was the charcoal. Also the next day when I looked the grill over the reason I had trouble keeping the temp up was because of a lot of ash blocking the vent holes, more ash than I normally have. I may have used too many cotton balls (3) when I fired her up . Next time I'll try one. With bigger chunks you get better air flow. The Joe is new so I'm still learning it.

Did a ten hour smoke of a pork butt and have a few questions. This was my second butt and have done several ribs on it. I've had the joe classic II for about 2 months, on this smoke i used a new(?) royal oak charcoal iv'e using this for at least 20 years in various grills. The bag has changed on the out side and it appears the charcoal was in much larger chunks. When i did the smoke it took a little longer to come up to temp and gave off a lot more smoke till it was ready to go. My procedure is 3 cotton balls leave lid open for about 10 min, then add deflector plates and grills, take top cap off till i hit 300 then add cap and close down top and bottom vent. I noticed more smoke than usual from the grill and i had to open the vents more than usual. Usual settings are 3/8 inch open on bottom and 1/4 on top vent has this cooking along at 250 to 275. On this smoke the top was open 1 inch and bottom about 1&1/4 inch for the same temps. After about 5 hours i had to keep opening the vents to keep it at the 250 mark. When i finally took the butt of i had 2 inch opening on both vents and had the impression the coals were out. Next day when i looked at the coals most were used and had about 1/2 inch of ash on the bottom fire grate and the vent holes were totally blocked. I believe this may have caused the problem with keeping the temp settings. Up till now iv'e had no trouble with temp control. On my 6 hour rib cooks this grill has been rock solid with the settings, it parked at 250 for the 6 hours with no change in temp and settings. Any ideas???? Usual bag is on the right and new bag on left

Butt was tasty and im trying to post a pic of it had some camera issues on the phone. Usually i foil at about 170 or so but this time i didn't wasn't as juicy as foiling ( i add a cup of h2o to the foil package ) but it had a good smoke flavor and pulled easily.

Shaun good idea with the foil. Butt came out good took a little longer to cook than expected. Had some trouble with the charcoal ,the royal oak was different than usual the bag is larger and the chunks bigger, had to open vents larger than normal to maintain 250 degrees. Anybody else notice This? Will try to post a pic of the butt as it came off the joe.

I ment 10 inch pie pan on the x rack good point about the gap in the deflector plate. Last butt I did I made a 700 degree pizza the next day so the mess was cleaned up just took a while for the smoke to clear. Hoping to avoid that. Had no problem with the first butt being juicy. My other smokes was on a gasser and a water tray. Thanks for your input. Will try to post pics of this one last time I was getting the stink eye from house guests, with grumbling about hunger. From smelling it cook. I cook mine till it tells me it's done, it's the boss.