First IQUE110 cook on the ceramic (long with lots of pics)

[JONESY]

I’ve used my IQUE 110 many times on my WSM 22, and it has worked flawlessly, so I thought it was time to try it out on the ceramic. Everything worked great, my homemade adaptor fit, the cooker came up to temp quickly and settled right in at 275*, then problems. While putting my food on I think I left the cooker open for too long and over fired it, once I had the cooker loaded, snapped a few pics and closed her up, it sat at 300* for the remainder of the cook, the IQUE never turned on again.

What I did was; loaded the cooker with lump, lit one Webber white cube, let that burn for about 8 minutes, put in my diffuser, my cooking grates, clipped on the temp probe and closed her up. Does anyone else have experience with the IQUE on a ceramic? What did I do wrong? I was thinking next time I’ll set my cook temp about 35* degrees lower, and then sneak up on my desired temp once I have it loaded. Any input from the experts would be great.

Anyway the food still turned out great, and now with the pics…..

Pounded some chicken breast, rubbed, and stuffed with ham, cheese, peppers and onion.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010386.jpg
Rolled up and dusted with more rub.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010394.jpg
The setup.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010397.jpg
Green light, holding strong at 275*
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010398.jpg
Seasoned up some potatoes to put on the cooker.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010396.jpg
On the cooker with a little apple juice in the pan.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010399.jpg
Glazed and resting.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010401.jpg
Served with the potatoes and some fire roasted vegetables.
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010405.jpg
http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv175/jonesy_02/IQUE%20chix/P1010403.jpg

[jsperk]

That looks awesome. I'm never happy when I do potatos on the grill for some reason. Yours looked tasty.

[flyweed]

that chicken looks great...jsperk..the key to doin taters on the grill is soak em down with olive oil, sprinkle seasoning on them..wrap them in foil and let em go a LONG time on the grill...check them occassionally, and when they are browned to your liking you are good to go.

Dan

[JONESY]

Jsperk, I did just as flyweed said, lots of olive oil, lots of seasoning, wrapped in foil. Just be careful not to cook them to long, or you will end up with mush.

[jimithing78]

Few questions - how long was the cook? The lump did continue to burn, right throughout the cook, right? It wasn't just residual heat that lasted throughout the cook, was it? If the lump did continue to burn then air was getting in somehow. Doesn't seem very likely through the Ique since it's inside that plastic bin. The only other place it seems air could get in would be the top vent. It looks about half way open in that picture above. I know the instructions for the WSM say that some WSM's can go with the top vent closed all the way but most times I leave my top vent barley cracked. Maybe try that next time.

[Mister Bob]

Beautiful meal, everything looks great! :thumb::thumb:

[Mark Stanton]

Looks good! Nice job

[JONESY]

Jimithing, the total cook was about 2 hours with the chicken on for about 1.5 hours. Yes, the lump did continue to burn for the entire cook, although not very hot, I looked a couple of time which could have been fueling the fire. I agree that it seems like an air leak, and I'm wondering if my homemade adapter doesn't fit as tight as I thought. Then again, nothing on this cooker fits as tight as it should. For the next cook I'm going to seal the adapter with high temp tape and see if that works. I'm also thinking that with a longer cook, thing would have settled out. We will see....

[BRBBQ]

I look at your problem similar to my UDS problem when using Lump..Yes these are differant cookers but both have lids and when opened you feed fuel to the Lump (AIR). Now the temp takes off and you need to back peddle. Try charcoal next time and see if theres a diff. The look looks great by the way:thumb:

[JONESY]

Bellow is a response I got from John at PMIQUE;

"you can't let the fire get away on an egg. The hot fire will generate a draft and suck fresh combustion air in through pit leaks and the iQue itself. Most ceramic kamado folks need to close off their top vent more than usual to compensate. The Bubba Keg guys have to actually tape off part of the iQue's intake grate, sometimes blocking off 11 out of the 12 holes!"

Looks like I need to seal the unit up better.

I would love to hear from any of the brethren that have used the iq on a ceramic.
Thanks

[JD08]

It looks like your top is open way too much for the iQue. On my BGE, I have the daisy wheel completely closed and the top opened less than a half inch at the widest point. I was surprised how it has to be barely open to operate correctly, but that's the way it is.

[---k---]

I was going to mention exactly what you got from John. While the fan is stopped on the Ique, I do not believe that it completely seals it off from air and that some air can still flow through. Taping off some of the vent on the Ique itself is recommended somewhere in the instructions that came with mine. I've only used mine on a drum once, so I can't comment much further.

Your results don't sound much different to me than what I've read others with eggs having without the Ique. If you let it get too hot, it takes a long time to come down. Ique or not.