I've had the Kamander for a few months but just had the chance to try it out over July 4th holiday.
I had two boston butts and decided to pick up some ribs for a tasty mid-smoke treat. and I had never done ribs before, so It was more of an experiment.
I started the charcoal and a few logs around 630a, once the fire got going and i closed it, I quickly realized my first mistake. WAY TOO MUCH Charcoal. I was used to using a trailer grill/smoker and piling up the wood/charcoal, and man was that a mistake. It was at 550 degrees, so I emptied it all and let it cool down, got the grill down to about 175 and then put on about 5 coals, and two chunks of hickory, got the heat back up to 275 consistently and then put the meat on.
Over the course of the day I added a couple of coals here or there, but mostly just wood chunks.
Attached picture is with the drip pan still in there, however, I took it out about halfway through - just to be able to get the coal/chunks in easier. Once it was gone, it make it much easier. I'm not knowledgeable enough of how it might have affected the cook time/smoke/flavor though. However, I don't know that it's a good expectation to smoke (and be able to add wood) while keeping the drip pan on there.
Put the butts and ribs on around 830a - 1030a ribs came off and wrapped in foil, then back on, then unwrapped and back on around 1130. at 1230 the ribs came off and were very tender. Next time I'd leave them on about 30 min longer i believe.
I barely adjusted the top damper, past 1.5-2, and kept the bottom damper about the same if not lower. It pulled smoke really well.
Was easy to stay at 250-275 pretty much the whole time - except when I got fidgety and wanted to sneak a peak of course.
The butts stalled out around 150 at 130p for about an hour. I needed them off in 3 hours so I got the heat up to about 290-300 for the last few hours, pulled them off and wrapped them around 5 when they hit 197, and pulled them even though I wanted to get them up to 205 if I could.
Meat was tender - bone slipped right out. I wish I could have gotten the heat up a little longer - but I wasn't disappointed at all. Had plenty of pork for the party, and have been eating on it for a week! I think if I hadn't have had the mishap with the grill getting too hot and losing an hour and a half of cook time - I'd have no regrets.
I'm looking forward to the next one, it's as easy as it gets.
And now that i have done ribs, I can feel comfortable with that option as well!
[attachment removed after 6 months]