len440

Looks delish i have a hard time getting them here I had them there at a restaurant named after a ball player i won't mention

Chris those are magic words "covered in gravy"

Hope there was time for a few Makers Mark bourbon while grilling . That is a great looking giant wing

Once in a wile wally world will have 2 inch thick ham steaks great on grill plus i can have sandwich the next day ham for sandwiches has to be at least 1/4 inch thick

Good luck with the prime rib roast post pics please. Chris WARNING exposing young boys can lead to financial ruin when boys turn into teens and eating machines i had 2 that way sorry my wife forced them to try lobster. BIG mistake.

The campfire smell is because the kamados are cousins to campfires and NO matter where you sit the campfire smoke always find you!

Hmmmm burn pattern? Interesting I can see where your coming from , never paid any attention to that but it does make sense. Never noticed due to me always doing a 500 degree cleaning after cooking. This could be why i have to rotate a pizza 180 degrees during a cook Back of my grill gets hotter than the front. I will have to look next time, for curiosity sake.

Crawdad stuffed spuds WOW

I close both of mine for several hrs to kill the coals I make sure they are out then i open the top about 1/4 inch or so i think this lets some of the hot air out and helps to cool the ceramics some. A plus is with it open a bit when it gets cruded up and sticks it will be open enough to let hot air out and free it when starting the next fire or when it's 0 degrees outside and frozen and you really need some ribs.

Welcome to the forum. Golf is right Johns book on Kamados is a great read. Had many discussions with my 4 neighbors( before i moved here) on the difference between grilling and BBQ. We also embarrassed one to stop boiling his ribs and then slapping on the grill for 30 min. Still sends shivers up my spine. Lots of good info and people on this forum here is something helpful :

Thanks for the reminder of Wimpy

I got my lodge round griddle from a garage sale for $10 just had to trim the handle a bit. A soap stone is on the horizon for me burgers scallops lobster and swordfish(?) oh my

It's fun trying things with these grills it took me several tries to feel comfortable with what i was doing we try good things and some not so good that's called experience. I have a few experience scars from things i shouldn't have tried. Keep on grilling and smoking that's all that really matters. Have you seen Johns Kamado book? Hope to see some of your cooks

Getting back to Dons original questions If the temps keep creeping up it may be caused by 1 vent settings letting in too much air , top or bottom or both may need adjusting. 2 may need more than 45 minute to stabilize 3 An air leak next time using get a piece of wood smoking good than close both vents some smoke leakage is ok but lots coming from one area will show your leak. Do you have any problem shutting off charcoal after using? If it goes out then the air leak is probably not the trouble. Try filling it with a full load of charcoal you should get more thane 8-10 hours.There shouldn't be too much difference between running an egg and a KJ Good luck and keep trying .

I agree with John and Don you may have too big of a fire to start with, don't know if your controller has a damper or not if not then once the fire is going with the fan off you will get a draft through the fan and keep feeding the fire. With a lot of coals lit it will take a while for the fire to die out. I don't think the top vent is the problem mine has been loose from day one in fact it's easy to spin around and hasn't caused any problems. Controllers are nice but i recommend learning to manually control the vents.make trouble shooting the controller easier. Try doing a few test runs ant 250 and 325 to get a feeling for the vent settings. I use only one starter when i do low and slow cooking. Don't know if you seen this but a lot of good info in it