I recently purchased a large Vision Kamado off of Craigslist. Sorry no good stories of the purchase. I have used it 5-6 times so far and am really pleased with the grill. I am having trouble getting the grill over about 250. I open up the bottom vent all the way, and the top vent all the way and it still peaks at about 200-250. I have no idea how folks get their grill up to 600 or so to cook a pizza. Last night I opened up the bottom vent and used a magazine to fan air into the bottom vent. It got up to about 225 and held. What am I doing wrong?

Could be:

1. Bad/wet charcoal. B&B is crap if that is what you are using. Royal Oak from Walmart works well.

2. Charcoal is in too small of lumps. You need the fire to breathe, and it can't if you fill the firebox with tiny chunks. The bigger the lumps, the better the airflow, the hotter the fire.

If you are completely wide open you should be getting much higher than 225*F. I know this sounds dumb but have you verified with another thermometer? Are you using enough charcoal? Do you have any obstruction on any of your vents? What charcoal are you using?

Yep, load that sucker up with big chunk lump charcoal. As was said above, go to Wally World and pick up the red bag Royal Oak. Also, how are you starting your fire?

Charcoal is dry, but it is B & B. Didn't realize it is crap. I am lighting it using the Academy house brand chimney and newspaper. The vents are open to the environment. The grill is in the middle of my patio with nothing really around it to block flow. I kind of verified with a different thermometer last night. I put the meat thermometer into the exhaust vent and it was similar to what the built in grill thermometer was showing.

Last night the grill did get hot, but that was due to cooking a bunch of chicken thighs and a grease fire starting. Had to pull the chicken and smother it out. any tips to help me out when I relight it? I guess I could just clean out all the old coal and that would eliminate most of the chicken grease.

Since you bought it second hand, have you given the interior a good look over and cleaning? Make sure the bottom is cleaned of ash. Also, check to make sure the ports in the ceramic firebox and grate are clear.

Start the fire in the pit. You can use firestarter cubes or a propane torch. When you are done cooking, just close your vents to save the remaining coals. On your next fire, just stir the coals and add fresh as needed.

I had a terrible time when I first got my egg. After I switched away from B&B and made sure not to use too many tiny chunks, things got much easier.

Have no issues with B & B

Check your seal as well. I need to replace mine.

Open the bottom vent and make sure the opening of the fire ring is lined up with the vent.

I think the opening in the fire ring isnt lined up with the bottom vent, or there is a big build up of ash obstructing the vent. Low temp is either damp charcoal or not enough air. If you had an air leak you wouldnt be able to keep it down around 250.

For a blazing hot fire I always clean out old lump and pour a bunch of fresh, and lots of it. I save the old lump and use it for low and slow.

What do you guys use for reigniting the old charcoal? Currently I just use the chimney, but only fill it halfway. Wait for it to get going well, then pour in and mix it up some. Should I get one of the torches? I am not really interested in the electric loop thing because there isn't an outlet really close by my grill.

http://www.amazon.com/Rutland-Safe-Starter-Squares-144-Square/dp/B00138MO16/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1448315596&sr=8-5&keywords=fire+starter

I use these with good success. 1 square in the middle of the pile gets it going every time. 1 box lasts forever, too. I would steer clear of a chimney in a ceramic cooker; I believe my Grill Dome manual explicitly states not to use them.

I just use a third of a firestarter stick, if you use a chimney you will likely over shoot your target temperature .

I use a looftlighter, but it requires electricity.

Are you keeping the cast iron vents on the top? I'm pretty new to kamado cooking, but for me to get the egg to 6-700 deg. I take the cast iron top part off completely , and control the temps with the bottom vent only. Even with the top vents completely open I can't get the temps above 350ish with the cast iron vent on.

I use a map torch to light mine. I pile the lump up in the firebox and find a little hole in the side of the pile where I can blast the torch into the middle of the lump in about 30-45 seconds it's hot enough to burn on it's own. If I'm in a hurry I have a battery powered Dewalt vacuum that converts into a blower and I will hit it with that for about 1 minute. Then I close the lid and let it get to temp. I then I flatten out my charcoal pile and put on the grate.

I just reread the OP. Just take the top vent off, that should fix the problem. Did for me!

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I use a looftlighter, but it requires electricity.

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+1. I also have a MAPP torch that I'll use sometimes. Using the looftlighter, I'll tear off a few pieces from the charcoal bag, and put them in 2-3 places in the lump. I'll hit those until they flame, and then keep going until they burn out. But, I kind of like playing with fire, and that's probably not necessary.

If you have an outlet nearby, you can set up a cheap fan aimed at the bottom vent. I melted the porcelain off of my original grate doing that once. I had it under the plate setter to burn off the stuck-on bits from the previous use, and it got ridiculously hot.

I have trouble keeping the temps high if the grill has gotten rained on a lot after my last use, even with new charcoal. The ceramic absorbs moisture, and it has to be cooked out.

Also, your grate holding the coals might be an issue, not letting through enough air. Make sure the holes are open enough. You can replace it with something like this (for the BGE, but I'm sure that they make them for other brands as well).

As usual, y'all were right. Small lumps of B and B charcoal were plugging the bottom grate holes. Cleaned it all out, loaded it with big chunks and it heated up like a champ. Cooked a pork butt tonight and it was great!

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Also, your grate holding the coals might be an issue, not letting through enough air. Make sure the holes are open enough. You can replace it with something like this (for the BGE, but I'm sure that they make them for other brands as well).

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This was probably the single best upgrade I ever did to my grill dome. Ash and small chunks fall through and keeps the air flow up so much better. Low and slow cooks barely have the bottom vent open at all. Much better consistency between cooks too.

No real idea on lighting charcoal, but fat wood and old cooking oil make it easier to light wood

For long cooks, I agree with other posts. Clean out the grill first and make sure nothing is obstructing airflow. Then I hand pick the charcoal clumps to make sure I have big pieces only. I do not pour it in.

For grilling, this is where I will just pour in charcoal and use a mix of different sizes.

Temps - all about good charcoal and airflow.

It is backwards thinking, to make it hotter, open the bottom vent, take of the top cover, or even leave the lid of the grill open. Maximizing airflow will make the fire hotter. You would think keeping the lid closed or the cover on to trap the heat in would help, it actually keeps you from getting higher temps.

Be careful for direct grilling, use small amounts of charcoal. Opening the lid or leaving it open to grill will really ignite the fire. I have ruined some food and a seal because I had too much charcoal and the fire got up to over 1200 degrees because I had the lid open too much.

For low and slow temps, load it up with charcoal. You are keeping the lid closed the whole time and almost keeping both vents all the way closed. You have minimal airflow, so all the charcoal wont catch. I have cook for 16 hours before without opening the lid, and had probably half the charcoal left.

With the charcoal that is left, I stir it around so small pieces and ash fall through the grate. Add some new charcoal and light just like normal.

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Open the bottom vent and make sure the opening of the fire ring is lined up with the vent.

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THIS ! I used my BGE once or twice before I found that bit of wisdom on youtube. The opening was not aligned at all, yet it still worked well enough to grill steaks etc. Once I aligned it the way it was supposed to be, it lit easier, faster and easily climbs way up there on the temperature if you let it.

And of course it was my fault for putting it in there wrong as we had taken it all the way apart so the pieces would be lighter to load and unload from the car.