# Char griller akorn help



## kamadoqueen (Jun 21, 2017)

Hi I get the temp up to 230 and I think that it has settled in  at that temp so I put the meat on the grate the temp starts to climb back up but will only get to about 215 and it will stay there for awhile then it will start to drop. Any help please.


----------



## yraen (Jun 25, 2017)

I've got a few questions for you to help me try to figure out what happened.  What thermometer are you using?  Where on the grate did you place the food in relation to the thermometer?  What type of fuel are you using?  Are you using the cooking stone, a water pan or some type of heat deflector?


----------



## kamadoqueen (Jun 30, 2017)

I was using the maverick et732 and I also tried my I grill thermometer as well. I had the probes towards the back of the grill and the food in the front. the food wasn't to close to the probes. I was using the cowboy lump coal. I am using the stone as well. I did notice that there were some big pieces of lump should I break them up in smaller pieces. I did buy a bag of royal oak to try. I don't have to many choices of lump charcoal to buy here in PA. Thanks any help would be appreciated.


----------



## cough2 (Jun 30, 2017)

I'm having the opposite problem in my Akorn. I am using frontier lump and it gets too hot. 

I did notice that after 4 hours it hums along at 230 nice and steady. 

Am I using too much fuel, too many chunks.  

My practice is to break up a starter cube into 3 pieces and spread them around into the lump, then place pieces on top, nestle a couple of chunks in there, open the vents and close the lid. 

I purchased a PID controller with probe to solve the same issues as the poster.  Not sure if it was worth the $. 

Need to learn how to build an "appropriate" fire. Last night's St. Louis ribs were good, had  a slight smoke ring, but not the deep smokey flavor I was aiming for.


----------



## yraen (Jul 8, 2017)

Kamadoqueen said:


> I was using the maverick et732 and I also tried my I grill thermometer as well. I had the probes towards the back of the grill and the food in the front. the food wasn't to close to the probes. I was using the cowboy lump coal. I am using the stone as well. I did notice that there were some big pieces of lump should I break them up in smaller pieces. I did buy a bag of royal oak to try. I don't have to many choices of lump charcoal to buy here in PA. Thanks any help would be appreciated.


Leave the big chunks, the smaller pieces might fall through your grate.  Also, the bigger chunks allow more air to flow between them.  I'm not sure how much fuel you load up with but here's how I load mine.  This load did 2 pork butts (overnight) and then 3 racks of ribs went on the next morning when the pork came off.  The lump comes up to right below the stone.  Actually that load lifted the stone slightly at the top of the picture.













charcoal load.jpg



__ yraen
__ Jul 8, 2017






I cleaned the center circle of those small pieces before lighting that piece of starter cube you can see at the top of that circle.  It's about 1/3 of one of the cubes.  I open all my vents, light the cube and leave the lid up also.  I give the cube roughly 5 minutes to burn out (or if I look and it burned completely before 5 minutes is up) and close the lid.

I'll set my top vent to the below picture:













IMG_20170610_1545323_rewind.jpg



__ yraen
__ Jun 25, 2017






And my bottom vent to this:













IMG_20170610_1545425_rewind.jpg



__ yraen
__ Jun 25, 2017






By the time I've got my food situated that will be going on and run my probes I will be using to chart the cook, the smoker is usually between 200 and 220.  I'll go ahead and put the food on.  It will usually settle into about 230 with those settings.  It varies a little but never by more that 10 degrees.

On your next cook, try a circle of fuel with the center empty for air flow.  Light it in one spot only, and start small on your settings.  Opening the top more will help increase the temperature to a point, then you will need to allow more air to flow to the fire so it will get bigger.  I pretty much keep the top and bottom set about the same amount of air flow.

Any adjustments you make give it adequate time to settle in, 20-30 minutes before changing anything else.  On kamado style cookers, it's slow to recover from overshooting your temperature.


cough2 said:


> I'm having the opposite problem in my Akorn. I am using frontier lump and it gets too hot.
> 
> I did notice that after 4 hours it hums along at 230 nice and steady.


You're on the opposite side.  Too much fire to begin with.  I'm sure you've seen how long this cooker takes to cool down so you can put the cover back on.  Start with only 1/3 of the fire you're starting with and see how that does.

The PID controller can help keep it at temperature, but I would not use it to get up to temperature.  Most of them get too big of a fire going in the beginning and then it takes you hours in this cooker to bring the temperature down as you've seen.


----------



## cough2 (Jul 8, 2017)

Yraen 
Thanks for the pointers. Have you got any experience with the top top temp regulator?  I have one coming thinking that this will help with my issues. 

Thanks,
C


----------



## yraen (Jul 9, 2017)

I've got no experience with a top temp regulator.  What would worry me on the Akorn is it's ability to retain heat.  If you overshoot your temp, the top controller closes until it comes down.  With this taking so long to cool, there is a good chance it will put your fire out.


----------



## cough2 (Jul 24, 2017)

I bought the tip top temp regulator and it works great!  Better than I thought it would, in fact.  

Your point regarding over shooting temp is a good one. If that happens you can close the kamado's top vent until temp drops. 

It also helps to build a smaller fire. The initial set up should be done without food to get where to set the opening for your desired temperature. 

I am using a wire plate hanger to hold on the regulator as seen on YouTube. The videos on there run the gamut but a couple are very good with respect to the how-tos. 

It's a nice device for an over night cook when you'd really rather sleep.


----------



## catskilltrikker (Sep 3, 2017)

I made a charcoal basket for my Acorn. Helps keep the smaller pieces from falling thru to the ash pan while still hot and also makes it easier to reuse any un-burned charcoal. I also got lazy and bought

a temp controller. Meat temp is going to bring down the temp on the Acorn for a short time after it is placed on the grate.













CIMG4553.JPG



__ catskilltrikker
__ Sep 3, 2017


----------



## jackdowney (Sep 4, 2017)

I have never faced any difficulty working on the Akorn Kamado. In fact it is very easy to control the temperature on this one. Quite precise in nature. Of course sometimes retaining it at the same temperature becomes an issue. On the whole it is an OK buy.


----------

