Charcoal Addict

The replacement iKamand arrived earlier than expected from KJ. I set-up the unit this morning. Everything is working.

All else fails. Leave a slightly thicker fat cap to moisten the brisket. 1/4 to 1/2 inch around the flat.

The radiant heat from the dome acts as a broil element cooking the toppings. Are you giving your cooker enough time to heat saturate the dome? When I make pizza, I use an infrared thermometer to make sure the dome has reached 400 F for lower temp pizza & 500 F for high temp pizzas.

It sounds like a bad/unlucky cut. You want to use USDA or Canada prime whenever you can. Choice (US) AAA in Canada can be hit or miss on some cuts. Applying a 50/50 mix of salt & pepper 24 hours before the cook can help the cut retain more moisture. Adding an injection on AAA/choice cuts 24 hours before the cook can help with moisture.

It seems like a neat idea. You might want to leave the top vent open a little until the grill drops below 500 F to prevent thermal stress by cutting off air too quickly.

The support person could have made a recommendation. Most of the time KJ’s customer service is good. People take care of problems quickly.

It’s a minor problem that can happen on any Kamado. Take John’s advice and buy a high heat silicone. Use painter’s tape to keep the stainless clean. This is an easy fix.

Kamado Joe will send out a replacement head unit in July. Until then, it will be good for to do more low & slow cooks without a controller.

It appears my iKamand controller bit the dust six days after its 1-year purchase date. I sent a ticket, but I might be out of luck. Lately, I’ve been doing low and slows without the aid of a controller. With the different finicky issues with controllers, I’ve reached the point where I don’t want to use controllers anymore. There are enough wifi thermometers on the market to monitor cooks. The fan systems increase charcoal use by cycling the fire. It’s difficult to use temp controllers when the temp drops below - 10 celuis. The controllers work.

I’ve been curious about XYLO since it showed-up at Lowes stores in Canada. It’s a Canadian sustainable lump charcoal. I always get nervous about Maple Charcoal since you get too many bags with tiny pieces in other brands.

i’m puzzled why they keep painting these accessories. I know stainless would add an average of 30% higher costs; it would be worth it not to have to hassle with maintenance issues over time.

I doubt they would use the same paint as the Kontrol tower. It would have to be food safe.

Most people buying KJ are already spending a pretty penny. It doesn’t make much sense to cost reduce accessories. Most KJ owners will splurge for stainless.

I’m a little puzzled why they didn’t choose stainless instead. Everything except the KJ Sloroller would benefit from going stainless. The baskets would be required to use food safe paint. My Sloroller stated pealing after a 250 F brisket cook.

An image of the Quick connect bracket.