Whenever we want to enjoy some delicious, moist, tender pull off the bone smoked spare ribs, we usually had to wait until the weekend. I don’t get home from work until about 5:15 PM and by the time the Kamado Joe is all fired up and ready to start smoking, the time would swing past 6:00 PM – 6:15 PM, meaning our smoked spare ribs won’t be ready until 10:30 PM at the earliest (if we employ the 2-2 method).
With the iKAMAND, BBQ ribs for dinner on a weeknight is now possible and the ribs will be ready by the time I return home from work. Since my work is only a short drive away, I can take my 1 hour lunch break to go home and start the smoking process on the Kamado Joe, then let the iKAMAND take over until I return home after work, 5 hours later.
I just need to prepare the ribs (or whatever I want to smoke) the night before (wash, rub, remove membrane, etc.) and prime the Kamado Joe for the subsequent weekday cook, i.e. clean out the fire box, empty the ash catcher, fill it up with charcoal, place smoking wood chunks and a fire starter in the charcoal bed.
All I need to do when I arrive home for my lunch break is fire up the Kamado Joe, start up the iKAMAND and place the ribs on the grill grate.
With the iKAMAND, I can monitor the Kamado Joe pit temperature at the palm of my hand and control the heat remotely. And by the time I return home, dinner will be ready.
12:00 PM – Lunch Break
12:30 PM – All Fired Up
Getting the fire going.
12:40 PM – iKAMAND Dialed In
12:45 PM – Ribs In
1:00 PM – Back to Work
6:00 PM – Dinner Is Served
This is both the first time I’ve used the iKAMAND for an actual cook and also the first time using the iKAMAND to control a cook remotely.
For reference, the iKAMAND was used with a Kamado Joe Classic II. A Kamado Joe charcoal basket is used with the original Kamado Joe charcoal grate still in place at the bottom of the fire box. The ash tray was inserted and the iKAMAND damper opened to 50%:
Top vent dialed in a 25% past the first mark on the Kontrol Tower:
Here is the iKAMAND monitoring result after smoking two St. Louis spare ribs, Memphis style, at 225º F in the Kamado Joe Classic II for 5.5 hours:
The pit temperature fluctuated between 217º F and 225º F but remained at 223º F for the duration of the cook.
Don’t mind the meat probe temp, I over shot the probe and pierced it through the rib with the tip of the probe partially exposed on the bone side. Quick temperature read out put the ribs between 184º F and 194º F:
I also fried up a batch of shishito peppers on the Kamado Joe cast iron wok with 2 tablespoon of olive oil and a sprinkle of 3 Eyz BBQ rub as a side:
What a great time to be alive!