Wonderfully informative series of videos, JM. Thanks so much for your hard work.
With all of your cooks, have you gotten a sense for how the Akorn performs in the wind?
Thanks.
JM, When you were holding at 150ish, what did the Kamado's stock temp guage read? I cooked 2 racks of spareribs on mine yesterday and was able to hold at ~ 275 according to the guage and they came out perfect.
I'll be aiming for 225 today JM, I'll letcha know how it goes.
For the record, your timings would have been helpful at the beginning of the video.... how long before you closed the vents down from full, how long before you ratcheted it down the 2nd time.
Kamados are like freight trains for heat. If too much lump got burning early, it might have gotten you past the 225 sweet spot. No idea, just wondering what else to try, besides a water pan to help curb it, although someone has mentioned that on this cooker, that might just steep out the fire.
Wish me luck, and keep those mods comin!
This does make sense, but then there's this...I watched your last video and to be really honest, your cooker behaves exactly like my Bubba Keg at low temps. It may be an air leak issue, but if it's like the Bubba Keg, it's an effeciency issue. Now that I've got an egg, I can say definitively that the double walled insulated keg (and I'm assuming your grill is similar) is holds in heat WAY better than the egg...but it's almost counter productive degree on low temps. The egg's get hot on the outside (despite what the marketing material says). That's the whole reason they are able to maintain lower temps...because they can diffuse enough heat to hold lower temps with a big enough fire that the grill does not go out. The BK (and possibly chargriller Kamado) are almost too efficient and it works against us. Saves a lot on charcoal though.
The solution is to cook more meat. If you have a big roast in there (or multiple big roasts), it will hold low temps a lot easier. It's just too efficient to hold 225 for an empty cooker.
Any more info on this? Dozens of charcoal cookers and kamados use water... is there something special about this one?
Maybe the flow keeps too much moisture?
I cant fully explain this to you because i don't fully understand it but i think it has to do with the convection action in the BBQ when the lid is down it will circulate the moisture as well. I'm sure there's a better explanation out there but like i said i don't fully get it but have experienced it and never used water or any liquid again and my meats always come out moist and tender.
This does make sense, but then there's this...
The Komodo Kamado is a very well insulated cooker. You can comfortably put your hand on the outside of it at searing temps. That said, you can also hold very low and slow temps, reportedly for up to 48 hours on a single load. Is it just that it's a super tight cooker?
Love to hear more feedback on this. Sounds like its priced right at $249 after rebates etc.
I was on the fence with this vs the 22.5" Weber Kettle with a Smokenator