Hello,
I bumped onto a used Saffire Kamado cooker on Craigslist at to good of a price ($250.00)to pass up. It was a little rough around the edges but it cleaned up pretty well. The cart is showing its age but I plan on making a table for it in the spring.
I cooked a rack of spare ribs on it yesterday and had some issues with temp control. I anticipated a bit a learning curve with it and am hoping to get some pointers from the BBQ-Brethren gang.
The cooker didn't come with a heat deflector so I used a ceramic pizza stone. it's probably a little thin but I couldn't find a real one locally in time for the weekend. I initially brought the cooker to about 400 degrees and wasn't able to get the temp down. I finally scooped some of the charcoal out to bring the temp down to about 225. It seemed to hold that temp for a half hour or so and then slowly but surly crept its way to around 290. I had all of the vents completely closed and I could not get the temp down. The cooker came with two bags of competition all natural charcoal briquets and that's what I was using. I know natural lump is better but I didn't want to waste what I had.
Did I just get the cooker to hot to begin with? Would the natural lump burn a little slower which would help keep the temp from creeping up?
I got about 45 min of smoke from a mix of pecan chunks and apple chips. Is there a better way to add additional wood without pulling the meat completely out of the cooker?
Thanks in advance for the help.
I bumped onto a used Saffire Kamado cooker on Craigslist at to good of a price ($250.00)to pass up. It was a little rough around the edges but it cleaned up pretty well. The cart is showing its age but I plan on making a table for it in the spring.
I cooked a rack of spare ribs on it yesterday and had some issues with temp control. I anticipated a bit a learning curve with it and am hoping to get some pointers from the BBQ-Brethren gang.
The cooker didn't come with a heat deflector so I used a ceramic pizza stone. it's probably a little thin but I couldn't find a real one locally in time for the weekend. I initially brought the cooker to about 400 degrees and wasn't able to get the temp down. I finally scooped some of the charcoal out to bring the temp down to about 225. It seemed to hold that temp for a half hour or so and then slowly but surly crept its way to around 290. I had all of the vents completely closed and I could not get the temp down. The cooker came with two bags of competition all natural charcoal briquets and that's what I was using. I know natural lump is better but I didn't want to waste what I had.
Did I just get the cooker to hot to begin with? Would the natural lump burn a little slower which would help keep the temp from creeping up?
I got about 45 min of smoke from a mix of pecan chunks and apple chips. Is there a better way to add additional wood without pulling the meat completely out of the cooker?
Thanks in advance for the help.
