K'man

My mouth was watering over that cook KK. Awesome!

Great first cook. It's pretty common to have that kind of variation in the Jr. thermometers. They are not known for their accuracy but they can serve as a guide. Also I should point out the two uncooked birds in the Kamado will have a cooling affect on air temperatures above them as opposed to below. It's just part of getting to know your Kamado and how it works.

............and just what do you consider cold? Glad you are have finally up and running with the KK. Congratulations.

If you knew any one who worked with metal you could have a disc cut on a plasma cutter. The stone you show in picture could be your stone for pizza then all you need is a diffuser

If you use that stone and buy a canning rack it will raise it up into the dome. Give it a try, there's nothing like experience but I think you could set it up in a better position.

Hi Heidi. Not sure why I could not receive messages???? Are you using a pizza pan or trying to launch off a pizza peel? If you have the smokin stone and the canning rack I'd save my frypan and just buy a small 9 or 10" pizza stone

You could do that I think but I would not be cooking my pizza on it. I'd sooner it be thicker if it was mine. There are people who maintain an aluminium foil plate will act as a diffuser. My issue with that is the fire wanders off in different areas of the fire box and I believe thermal mass helps more evenly distribute the heat. So to me more mass to a point is better. Just my opinion.

Lensi I can't see those two stones being interchangeable given the diameter difference but I don't own a full size Akorn. I ideally at least in my experience the smokin stone set in place is too low for the pizza if you just set another stone on top of it. You want to get the pizza up higher into the dome or at the very least as high as the cooking grate so top and crust cook at about the same time. I'm not saying you can't cook a pizza that way but.......................

Yes take that canning rack and set it on your grate for an added second rack or to use it for pizza you can either leave on your cooking grate or I prefer to remove the cooking grate and friction fit it into the fire bowl. I saw your other post so gave you a more detailed explanation of my method.

I pretty much always have a bowl full of charcoal, that's up to the bottom of the 3 tabs. If you have a smokin stone, place it on the tabs. If you don't, a 10" Lodge C/I fry will work as a diffuser . What I've done is to take a 3ft. piece of 3/16" round bar and bend it into a triangle so that the points of the triangle rest on the three tabs of the fire box. That way you can suspend a 10" round disc, fry pan(without the handle) or a pie plate. Next remove your cast iron grate and insert a canning rack with the handles removed from the rack. The rack will fit inside the fire bowl by friction and becomes quite snug. This will allow you to raise your cooking height higher than with the cooking grate and save the curing from burning off the grate. Set your pizza stone on top of the rack. I lite my charcoal vents wide open and let my Jr. come about about 450˚ I have a laser thermometer I used in the past although now I just rely on the Jr's thermometer. I set the bottom vent usually to about 3 and the top vent to between 2& 3 depends on the charcoal letting it stabilize at 500-525˚F It may vary a bit as it sometimes does. I want my pizza stone to be around 500 range, not over 550˚ Because I can't launch the dough I use a steel pizza pan, I have two. Dough goes into the pan, make up your pizza , set the pans on the stone and cook about 8 minutes give or take. The more toppings the longer it will be. I open the dome at 4 minutes and turn 180˚ so as to even out the cooking and that way I have an idea how fast the pizza is cooking. At those temps the Jr. can be raised or drop temp fairly quickly so I try to maintain 500-525, no higher than 550. This set-up works the best for me. If you have any questions or need pics let me know. You can also p/m me if you like.

I like the serving tray, that must be new. The nice thing about the fry pan is that it is deeper and you can foil the top of it creating an airspace so your drippings won't burn. I will tell you that after repeated exposure to the extreme heat it will rust and so you have some maintenance you would not have with a stone but overall as a diffuser either would work.

R U cooking on the Jr. or the full size Akorn? The dome is a lot closer on the Jr., I've never had a problem doing that but in order to save the seasoning on my grate I've switched to a 2 stone set-up using a canning rack which fits snug into the fire bowl. I have the smokin stone beneath and my pizza stone on top of the rack. It is elevated a little more this way.

I like the "ove" glove for handling hot grates or stones. They are not good for handling meats though.

Now if she could only learn how to sharpen that knife collection

You will be a very happy camper. The Jr's are amazing little cookers. I cook for 4 often with it and about the only thing I can't cook is a whole turkey. Enjoy