too much ash with diy vortex?

[Transit98]

Try a different bag or brand charcoal it's the only variable I can think that would consistently be giving you these results- I made my and it worked fine - I left it at a friends house and bought a Original Vortex in support of the community.


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[bamakettles]

B&B lump or briquettes.  You'll be happy and put this to bed.


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[Stoneage]

That sounds like a plan!
Let us know.

[ohen]

Quick update for anyone interested: last weekend we tried with different charcoal (Royal Oak hardwood lump) and left the vents fully open.  Results are inconclusive: the chicken was covered in particles, albeit fewer.  I made the mistake of wiping them down instead of tasting them first to see if it was actually problematic.  Will repeat this test, the flavor from the RO lump was better than the Kingsford.

[mdjason]

Do you have a picture of the vortex you're using? I'm no expert but my vortex functions fairly simply with no results like what you've been seeing


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[bbqking01]

My concern would be "tasting" uncooked chicken.


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[Kneab]

When I do my wings on a 22" with my poortex I normally run the bottom vent wide open as well as the top. I put the wings in the circle around the vortex. Cook them for 25 minutes without opening the lid. I then flip them over and cook for another 20 minutes remove them and toss them in  whatever sauce I am finishing them with. I then put them back on for 5 to 10 minutes. My internal temps are usually over 180°

I have not tried this on an 18" kettle.
I have an 86 and 89 red one touch 18" kettle and the 89 has larger lid vent holes than the 86. The 89 definitely runs hotter but not sure by how much. Maybe this is part of the problem since yours is an 81. Also the one touch kettles might run hotter than the three wheelers because of the increase in airflow due the size difference in the lower vents as well.

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[HoosierKettle]

I haven't seen enough information presented to figure out what the problem might be.  What is your cooking temperature?  A cheap oven thermometer could help figure out what the temp is doing.

You said you had success grilling chicken. Why not grill the wings how you did the chicken?


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[ohen]

Here's a picture of the homemade "poortex" hahaha I love that name .

It matches the dimensions of the small one on the website, except the bottom diameter is 1/2" shorter.  We used stainless steel pop rivets to hold the sheet metal together (yes, the rivets are in backwards, we were just messing around).

Temps in the kettle reach over 400F when grilling with all vents open.  We taste the chicken only after it is cooked.

I think we've exhausted all options related to the poortex itself, so the next cook we will likely try grilling wings without it.  I am still disappointed in myself that I didn't try the wings before wiping them down last time, I think we wouldn't have tasted the ash.

I really like how even the cooks turn out, there's no need to flip the wings, which is why I keep trying to get this to work!  It's better than a convection oven