Heat Soaking

[EGGARY]

I understand the idea of Heat Soaking. It's the process that I don't understand. With my BGE XL and with the KK I would light the Lump Charcoal with the Top and Lower Vents wide open to get it going. If I am going to be doing a Low and Slow cook I do close down the vents but during the cook the temperature shoots beyond the preferred temp.

What is/are the best way(s) to get the KK Heat Soaked to the desired temperature ?

Thanks.

[MadMedik]

The key, really, is to be patient and start your fire plenty early. By starting the fire at least an hour before you want to start cooking, you can light your lump coals in the center of the coal basket, set the upper and lower vents to where you know 250 degrees (Low and Slow cooks for example) can be achieved, and then let nature take its coarse. For me, 1 hour will achieve the 250 degree temp and allow it to sit at this temp for a while. You know you are good when the fire temp stabilizes at desired temp and stays there for a while before you add the meat.

If you want to speed the process up yet still maintain the lower temps....you gotta stick around and watch the temps... I have opened the vents wide open before on the the low 250 temp cooks, but as the Temp gets close to 190 or 200, i start backing down the openings of the vents (to where I know 250 will be maintained)....if you keep everything wide open UNTIL you reach 250, then you are going to overshoot the desired 250 temp. Now you will have a bit of troube maintaining the lower 250 temp.

As for overshooting the temp and trying to lower back to 250...I suppose you could cut off air flow completely and watch the temps go down...and when close to 250 on the guage open the vents back to the desired position for 250 cooks...?? This seems complicated and harder to achieve. I think patience is the key....dont open vents too much at the start. Plan for extra time to get to 250 slowly...then you are golden!

[fcnich]

Yes i agree with Doc, you do have to plan a bit for a low slow cook. I light a small amount of charcoal, top open about 1 1/2 turns and the lower vent pull out about an inch with daisey wheel open. i will give it about 2 hrs to soak. I check temp about every 15 min or so and slowly close down the bottom and top keep desired temp around 235 to 250. Load meat and and away i go. Usually a small adustment if the temp moves up some, it will stay at temp for many hours.

[kad1979]

In my rookie opinion I have also found it much easier to control the temp once it is heat soaked. I have found that if I dont heat soak the KK and want to do pizza at say 625 the temperature will fluctuate wildly when putting pizzas on and off. If I heat soak it and slowly bring it up to speed I can easily dial the temperature in and I also believe I get a better product off the grill. That said, it does take a bit of patience and time.

[dub]

For quick starts on lo-n-slos you can use a chimney starter with about a 1/3 of a full load scattered across a big load of lump. Make sure your damper settings are correct for the low temp so things don't run away.
A 250 deg fire in a KK will fit in your hands. The extra lit coals will help heat the cooker and then will die off.
That said,there is no sub for patience and time.

dub(cooker temp has inertia!)