Aussie BBQ Forum

urbangriller wrote:
.....Um Gauge Marker....half moon and mark 1 from above?.......what are you trying to say?

Chris

Robot wrote: I shut the bottom to 1 and the top to just the half-moon notch. It topped out at 105C and stayed there for half an hour. Success!

Made sense in my head when I typed it ha ha ha

I just checked and it is sitting right on 100, hopefully it will still be there in an hour.

spclst69 wrote: I just checked and it is sitting right on 100, hopefully it will still be there in an hour.

Word of advice, don't trust the reading of the temperature gauge on the front.

WarmBeer wrote:Word of advice, don't trust the reading of the temperature gauge on the front.

Thanks. Any recommendations on a probe?

Maverick ET 733

spclst69 wrote:

WarmBeer wrote:Word of advice, don't trust the reading of the temperature gauge on the front.

Thanks. Any recommendations on a probe?

I've currently got an iGrill, but I've got to agree with Gumb, above.

I plan on ditching the iGrill for as Maverick as soon as I can con the Minister of Finance.

spclst69,

Bit cold for a half moon this time of year, at least here in melbourne.

Anyhow just relax and start to use it, get to know it and it will be your friend.

So I assembled my new Dragon Kamado on Tuesday and lit it yesterday. This is one great piece of kit!

I used redhead charcoal (robot turds?) for fuel. I do need to learn how to light charcoal - but after two attempts away she went. I ran it at 175C for a couple of hours to season and burn of the "manufacturing stuff" and then reduced the top and bottom air and by 11am had it settled at 110C. Thought it was a shame to waste the charcoal so threw in a lamp shoulder. Monitored both it and the pit with a Maverick 735 (fantastic bit of kit, Chris). The temp crept up during the day till it was 121C at 7pm but that's no biggie. Took off the lamb at 7 and it was spectacular. Much nicer than the gasser ones I've cooked. Sorry no photos but I was in a hurry to get dinner done before the cricket started.

I cannot believe how set and forget this beast is. I didn't have to fiddle with the air at all. And at the end closed off the air inlet and outlet and the temp started to drop - I'd say she went out pretty quick. Looked at it this mornimg and it only used a quarter of the charcoal (probably burnt way less than a kilo) which isn't bad considering it was lit for 11 hours. This will be very economical to run and great for an overnighter.

The only mod I have done is the extra washer on the vent on the top of the dome but the rest appears well sealed.

Thank you all for your advice on the forum about " the Beast". I now have a plan for Saturday and Sunday while watchinng the V8s - brisket

Cheers
Steve

That's great Steve. You'll love this BBQ for years to come. Please make sure you have your camera ready this weekend

Good news Steve!

Robot turds are a bit hard to light, get some Lump charcoal, add a bit to the top of the Robot Turds, it will light easier and the turds will light from that.

Cheers
Chris

Thanks Chris. Will try that. Actually my second (and successful) attempt was lighting 3 heat beads in a chimney and putting them into the centre of the robot turd volcano. The volcano lit - don't think it had a choice

Cheers
Steve

Picked up a Dragon at that insane sale as an early birthday present. Wasn't too hard to put together and I swapped the wheels around to use the rounded bar as a handle. I added a washer for the top vent as well. I was looking at Titch's advice about the hinge but I couldn't understand it. There is no tightening of the hinge as it's a pin? I'm probably misunderstanding something.

Seasoned it and threw in a pork neck to test how well I could hold the temps and I did pretty well with keeping it around 250f. I haven't checked for leaks yet though but closing the vents seemed to put out the fire overnight okay and left me with leftover charcoal so I know there's no major leaks at least. Might put a gasket in the lower vent. Love the Dragon to bits already. A nice move from my falling apart and full of leaks works horse Weber kettle. Oh yeah, the neck turned out alright but it was a small-ish piece and I pulled it right as I pulled it out without resting it as I had to leave the house, so it was a little dry. Looking forward to trying some new things with it and trying to incorporate some Vietnamese flavours to do my parents proud. Hopefully I can make something that will be worth it when I enter in the Victoria competition in october.

> I was looking at Titch's advice about the hinge but I couldn't understand it.

loosen the screws where the hinge is attached to the lid
firmly push down the lid so it's tight and level
tighten screws

repeat for screws attaching hinge to base

Hi guys,

Very new to BBQ and looking to get a dragon with the current sale at Barbecues Galore. One question - I'm interested in cold smoking salmon and/or trout....can one do it in the dragon?

If so, any recommendations for method/recipes?

Thanks!

Good choice and yes you can cold smoke in them. It's just a matter of using it as a container for the food on a cold day and adding some smoke in a couple of different ways. The ideal is a smoke generator like the Smokai which sits outside the pit and blows the smoke in through the bottom vent for instance. The food just sits on the normal grill inside and heat isn't sent in to the pit by the Smokai. Another method is a smoking tray which slowly burns pellets or chips and is a cheaper option but that sits inside the pit and does generate heat. You should find plenty of info in the smoking or kamado section.

Michael_Dunn wrote:> I was looking at Titch's advice about the hinge but I couldn't understand it.

loosen the screws where the hinge is attached to the lid
firmly push down the lid so it's tight and level
tighten screws

repeat for screws attaching hinge to base

Sorry for taking so long.
get your Akorn to a decent temp.
Close the lid and loosen the 4 screws that hold the hinge, just back them off a few turns.
let the lid relax on the base .
tighten the screws.
Makes the seal seat flat