As the Kamado Joe warms up so should your food and appetite.
This grill can be used to cook any home recipes usually made indoors or on larger grills.
Anything from briquettes, burgers, steaks, and ribs turn out juicy on a Kamado Joe.
Is the Kamado Joe too hot? – No need to fret.
The grill typically needs more oxygen, less charcoal, and perhaps some adjustments to vents to ease the heat.
If the Kamado Joe got too hot, there are easy fixes available at the tip of your hand; quite literally.
You should prepare the grill with just the right amount of coal and fuel and adjust vents accordingly for best results.
Maintaining safety is recommended at all times and especially when it gets too hot in the kitchen.
Here are some assured reasons as to why the Kamado Joe is too hot.
Kamado Joe Too Hot? – Causes
The main element to heat, fire, and stuff warming up and not cooling is indeed oxygen.
When oxygen is present stuff fires up and remains lit.
When dealing with fire and all things-fire related, it is important to be mindful of hazardous conditions and materials.
The Kamado Joe too hot situation is something that happens occasionally but can be dangerous if not handled promptly.
It is also easier to prevent such instances than to solve them
Causes of the Kamado Joe too hot include:
Uncontrolled Airflow
Anytime the grill receives huge amounts of oxygen through the chamber, the fire will keep growing.
Typically, oxygen will increase the intensity of the fire regardless of ventilation or charcoal amounts.
When the vents aren’t controlled as they should, which typically involves closing and opening them, the Kamado gets hotter.
This airflow through the bottom vents to the control tower means there is no restriction whatsoever to the flames going ablaze.
This can be quite dangerous if left unattended.
Fire Starters/Fuel
Is your Kamado Joe too hot?
You might be using too much fuel, along with the unrestricted airflow mentioned above.
The use of fuel or fire starters along with oxygen is meant to work hand-in-hand with the heat.
Any overuse of fuel for instance means you get a fire much more powerful than expected.
This fire also becomes much harder to bring down to controllable levels.
Deflectors
In case the deflectors are in lower positions, the fire and ultimately the Kamado Joe get too hot.
This is because they allow more air to circulate through the dome if they are placed at such levels.
Deflectors are meant to control temperatures, especially when one hopes to cook low and slow.
If they are placed below the divide and conquer area, they do not provide cover like they are designed to do.
Cooking Grates with smaller holes
Another factor could be the grate.
These are typically delivered with the Kamado and come with larger holes.
If you bought aftermarket grates with smaller holes, they are letting coal through and allowing more air into the dome.
This is a perfect example of aeration gone wrong.
Less Meat
No one ever mentions the amount of food on the grill vis-à-vis heat production.
When the Kamado Joe gets too hot chances are the coal setup was meant for some serious grilling.
Typically, if there is not enough food, the grill is bound to get too hot.
The fire needs to consume something – and it is not.
Faulty Latch
When the Kamado Joe gets too hot, check the latch for openings and other areas where air might creep through.
The Kamado Joe too hot situation happens when air is unrestricted.
Most owners know how to open and adjust the top and bottom vents.
However, even as all these are in the right positions, the Kamado might still get hot.
Kamado Joe Too Hot? – Fixes
The first step to fixing the Kamado Joe too hot situation is restricting air.
Ventilation
Close the bottom and top vents and monitor the temperature gauge to see if temperatures have reduced.
Typically, it should not take more than ten minutes for temperatures to begin lowering.
Adjusting the daisy wheel will not help at this point as it is meant to allow air into the dome.
However, if they still don’t fall below adequate levels, you might consider ‘removing’ some of the fire.
Reducing Coal
Traditional methods of grilling, of which the Kamado Joe is part-and-parcel, center on coal and wood.
Vents on grills have been around for eons, but there are other methods to reduce the heat.
When it gets too hot in the kitchen, remove charcoal and woodchips to reduce the heat and lower temperatures.
This is not a common practice because people fear having to put the coal back in – and start afresh.
With used coal come even better fire starters.
Remove the coal to lower the heat then add them to raise the heat and temperatures accordingly.
Ice
Use ice to bring the heat and temperatures down.
If the Kamado Joe gets too hot, water should do the trick.
The ice typically melts quickly as it lowers temperatures.
Others resort to spraying water all over the coal to lower temperatures.
While all these approaches are workable, they can leave you disgruntled if initiated hurriedly.
It means as you spray water or pour some ice onto the coal, do it moderately.
Too much water or ice essentially means a total extinguishing of the fire.
It becomes that much harder to start it up again with wet coal and bricks along with a wet grill.
Grate
The original grate that accompanies the Kamado Joe boasts adequately sized holes.
These holes don’t allow chunks of coal to fall through.
It means there is more control of the fire and heat than would be the case with aftermarket grates.
Many owners buy grates at the bottom to increase airflow and these have larger holes.
They allow coal to fall through and even if the right amount of fuel, coal, and heat are at play, you will still get higher temperatures.
Reuse Coal
Typically, new and fresh coal burns quickly and hotter.
It also makes it harder to bring down the temperatures of a raging new fire.
It is advised that grill men reuse coal.
Mixing slightly used coal with fresh chunks reduces the heat.
Also, it is better to keep larger pieces at the bottom of the chamber.
Additionally, using bigger chunks of coal reduces heat too.
Use big yet dry pieces of charcoal to better maintain heat.
You can add large chunks on top of smaller ones to reduce oxygen supply and let the fire burn slowly.
Start Low
The final approach to the Kamado Joe too hot problem is in fact to deal with it at the beginning.
It means building the fire up slowly, generating heat from 100 to 200 to 300 degrees gradually.
This requires leaving the bottom vent cracked open slightly and closing the top vent completely.
One can wait for the heat to build up then adjust the daisy wheel accordingly.
It is always better to maintain and build temperatures than to try to bring them down.
How Long to Get Kamado Joe Hot?
As you know, Kamado Joe need charcoal as a fuel.
Charcoal takes time to reach your target temperature, so place the lid on your Kamado Joe grill and allow the coals to heat up.
Usually it takes about 10-15 minutes to heat up.
But you should measure the internal temperature of your grill with a thermometer.
The coals should settled down a bit, and in the form of embers rather than raging flames.
Recommendations
Prepare the grill with just the right amount of coal and fuel and adjust vents accordingly for optimal results.
After only forty to forty-five minutes a grill should be ready to cook low and slow.
Anything too fast leads to dismal results and lots of work trying to bring temperatures down.
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDpeEr6PuWU
https://www.schmidtyq.com/blog/grilling-101-kamado-grill-temperature-control
https://www.pizza-porta.com/blog/2019/8/18/guest-blog-charcoal-rockwood-charcoal
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