Second air damper


 
M

M Andreyka

TVWBB Fan
Anyone ever put a second air vent damper on their kettles? On my 26 it seems like it needs more air flow when cooking higher heat items like chicken, when the lid is put on it seems to greatly lower the temperature
 
There have been some people that will add air vent dampeners to their lids, but generally they do so on a cheap throw away lid like a 22.5". I probably wouldn't recommend doing it on a 26er lid unless you just have a junk extra lid. There is a member on WKC that actually has four lid vents installed, but he isn't afraid to mod about anything. Drilling out the holes in the vent won't be fun though.
 
If you really want to crank up the heat you can leave the lid cracked open to increase air flow. Or just don't put the lid on. That'll get the coals roaring.
 
Along this line of thinking, does putting tin foil on the charcoal grate around the vortex increase the temperature in the grill because all the air/oxygen is going to the coals?
 
Richard in NS said:
Along this line of thinking, does putting tin foil on the charcoal grate around the vortex increase the temperature in the grill because all the air/oxygen is going to the coals?
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That’s my experience in a nutshell, it does not get as hot without the foil gunk collection system. Which really simplifies the cleanup too!
The other thing I’ve noticed is that the Vortex gives off enough heat that the accumulated gunk on the bottom of the kettle burns to nothing but dust and the sweepers clean the bowl very easily!
 
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Interesting about the foil under the vortex. You would think that would restrict air flow. I'll have to give it a try this weekend for my gameday wings!
 
How hot are you wanting to cook in the thing? I've got a 22.5 kettle, and it gets up to 450 pretty easily. I generally cook most things around 350 that I'm trying to cook indirect. Up much above that I'm more in a searing mode and I want the lid off.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
That’s my experience in a nutshell, it does not get as hot without the foil gunk collection system. Which really simplifies the cleanup too!
The other thing I’ve noticed is that the Vortex gives off enough heat that the accumulated gunk on the bottom of the kettle burns to nothing but dust and the sweepers clean the bowl very easily!
Click to expand...
Agree with Tim, hotter cooks and quicker clean up Win- Win.
 
timothy said:
I've been thinking on using something like this with a hole cut out for the Vortie.
Then 1 piece of 18" foil laid over, crimped, and cut the hole .
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I like the idea! Easier than cutting the three pieces of foil when it’s windy!
Let me know how it works out, I think that would be a good tool, one more thing to store! Hahahahah!
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
How hot are you wanting to cook in the thing? I've got a 22.5 kettle, and it gets up to 450 pretty easily. I generally cook most things around 350 that I'm trying to cook indirect. Up much above that I'm more in a searing mode and I want the lid off.
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I was using my 18” yesterday and used 2/3 a chimney of KBB. The coals were ashed over grey when I put them on to heat the grate, when I put the chicken on and the lid the temp dropped quite a bit. I took a temp reading through the vent towards the end of the cook and it was 280. From now on I will just crack the lid
 
On my 26 I crack the lid if I want to get above 400°. However I have the parts but haven’t installed yet to add a vent to the charcoal bowl. My thinking is I can possibly achieve higher heat without cracking the lid and the bottom vent could also act as a place to put my pitmaster -IQ when I go low and slow...
 
Dustin Flavell said:
On my 26 I crack the lid if I want to get above 400°. However I have the parts but haven’t installed yet to add a vent to the charcoal bowl. My thinking is I can possibly achieve higher heat without cracking the lid and the bottom vent could also act as a place to put my pitmaster -IQ when I go low and slow...
Click to expand...
I drilled a 1 1/4” hole for my pitmaster IQ aluminum hose barb under the charcoal grate
 
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