Well, I did it! Went to Home Depot this morning and bought the Unibit to install one of my Guru's on the RK. It went pretty easy.

I had decided to install the Guru under the handle on the front of the Kettle so it wasn't sticking out anywhere where someone could walk by and brush up against it. Since the lower bowl isn't spherical like the WSM is, it appeared that the adapter would want to rock back and forth and allow some of the air to escape where it was mounted but I found 2 places where the adapter set perfectly flat ~ One was just under the handle, above the charcoal grate and the other was further down and below the charcoal grate. Since the useful air coming from the deflector part of the adapter is only about 130º, I had reservations in placing the unit too low thinking I might not get enough airflow at the extremes when I line charcoal up 180º around the rear of the grate. This turns out not to be the case. Also, the unit would stick out pretty far using the 10 CFM blower and it was so close to the handle that extra care would be needed to insure no one would brush up against it. I had considered mounting above the charcoal grate because of my conversation with Finney but after looking closer, the charcoal grate probably would have blocked much of the airflow because of the diameter steel it uses. I decided to go with the lower mount below the grate. Also, I offset the mount just enough so that the Guru would be centered below the handle. (Chris A., if thumbnail images are a problem, please let me know.)
EDIT: Typo

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bill Hays,

Mighty Damn fine job you did there Bud.

Thanks Bryan. Installation was actually painless and, no chips in the porcelain!

Mr Bill,

How is the Guru working out for you on the ranch? Since the weather looks nice this week, I want to drill mine and get it going before this weekend's big cookout.

I'm eager to hear your results :-)

Ed,

Between the move, the weather and the schedules around here, I haven't had the time to babysit the 1st cook for 6+ hours but tomorrow between 10 and 11 am, she'll be fired up with 1 full loin back rib. The other 2 from the cryo pack will be cooked Saturday for SmokeDay. I plan on setting the laptop and webcam up to monitor temps through the cook so there will be a graph probably on Thrusday. More to come....

BTW, I plan to start this out with the 4 CFM blower to see if it will handle the size of the RK. I'll give it an hour and if I'm not satisfied, I'll change over to the 10 CFM blower. I think I'll do 5 minute intervals to get a better graph.

Here’s a graph with complete chronology of yesterday’s cook.



12:00 Started the cook with 85 original Kingsford lined up across the back and 20 lit new Kingsford at one end of the line. Guru powered with a 4 CFM Blower.
12:55 Tried to replace the blower with a 10 CFM unit and found the wires to be broken inside insulation.
1:35 Installed repaired 10 CFM Blower.
2:40 Removed water pan from grill over coals.
3:05 Peeked to look at coal status.
3:20 Added ¾ Weber chimney of lit new Kingsford.
4:45 Temps are dropping. Firing up the gasser.
4:55 Moved ribs to the gasser. Trying to maintain 250ºF for duration of cook.
7:20 Checked the ribs with the toothpick and it passed.
7:25 Pulled 2 ribs off the end ~ Picked up with tongs and the rack broke in half. Pulled.

A few weeks ago, I tried a burn in the RK (no guru or meat) with the coals lined up much like they were yesterday and I ended up laying more across the top of the line which helped the temps up to the 240º range. I should have done that again yesterday but I tried to make this setup work. I’ll do that with Saturday’s cook of the remaining 2 slabs of loin backs and also start with ¾ Weber Chimney instead of just 20. I’ll also start with the 4 CFM blower as I think there was enough airflow, just not enough lit fuel. I’ll also put the water pan back on and see how it goes. I think I’ll have much better results this time.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way the ribs turned out but I should have taken them off 30 or 45 minutes earlier. Had a nice crust on the outside and they were very moist on the inside.

Bill,

Thanks for the writeup, It definitly looks like the Guru evened out the grate temps at either 8" or 16" from the coals. I'll be drilling my RK this weekend when The Dad comes down for the big smoke day. Actually, we're making two days of it.

I honestly don't see why you bother tediously lining up the briquettes like dominos. I dunno, maybe you're chanting a mantra or something during the time it takes But seriously, you don't line your briquettes up like that in your WSM. I had good results using the minion method on the RK the last cook I did. I just piled up a chimney of unlit and put about 20 lit on top. That's more lit than I'd use on the WSM, but the RK is much bigger too.

I'll let you know how my guru cooks on the RK Saturday and Sunday. Have a good smoke day!

quote:

Originally posted by Ed Jones:
Bill,

Thanks for the writeup, It definitly looks like the Guru evened out the grate temps at either 8" or 16" from the coals. I'll be drilling my RK this weekend when The Dad comes down for the big smoke day. Actually, we're making two days of it.

I honestly don't see why you bother tediously lining up the briquettes like dominos. I dunno, maybe you're chanting a mantra or something during the time it takes But seriously, you don't line your briquettes up like that in your WSM. I had good results using the minion method on the RK the last cook I did. I just piled up a chimney of unlit and put about 20 lit on top. That's more lit than I'd use on the WSM, but the RK is much bigger too.

I'll let you know how my guru cooks on the RK Saturday and Sunday. Have a good smoke day!

LOL Takes 4 or 5 minutes and no mantra. I've been trying to get a long burn (6 hours) like Scott posted about a while back and this is the way he did it. How long of a burn did you get with the "pile" method?

Well, I pulled the ribs at 6 hours so I know it went that long. I wouldn't use the RK for an overnighter, but for ribs I think you should be able to easily use the lazy "pile" method w/o much grief. Tell ya what, I'll pay closer attention when I cook this weekend and let you know how long it'll go and if I have to add fuel.

Sat is a rib roast so I'll cook with a grate temp of 350. Sunday is ribs so I'll cook with a grate temp of 225. The WSM will hold two pork shoulders.

quote:

Originally posted by Ed Jones:
Well, I pulled the ribs at 6 hours so I know it went that long. I wouldn't use the RK for an overnighter, but for ribs I think you should be able to easily use the lazy "pile" method w/o much grief. Tell ya what, I'll pay closer attention when I cook this weekend and let you know how long it'll go and if I have to add fuel.

Sat is a rib roast so I'll cook with a grate temp of 350. Sunday is ribs so I'll cook with a grate temp of 225. The WSM will hold two pork shoulders.

That supprises me but it's good to hear. I still plan on lining them up just to see how it goes. Looking forward to your results. Charge your camera battery!

Om shanti shanti om is always a good mantra to use while you're lining up your briquettes

I bet I can line them coals up faster than you can drill your RK. Good luck with that this weekend ~ Post Pics!

I'll post some pics later, but just for the record: I could not get 6 hours out my coals using the pile method, even when I cheated and used Kamado charcoal. I used a chimney full of unlit and about 15 lit. That's simply not enough in this beast since it's no where near as efficient as a WSM. I intend to try again lest I have to give in a use what I intend to call the Domino Method