$299 Char-Griller Kamado First Looks

PrinceofQ said:

What about using a Terra-Cotta Saucer as a heat deflector. Then it could also function as a drip pan and you can set it on the Weber 22.5 replacement charcoal grate that you're using. I use the saucer on my WSM with great results.

Let me know what you guys think:thumb:

I have those both already, so I will give it a try once I get my CGK put together

~Jay

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A terra-cotta saucer is a great diffuser, I use one of these in my 2nd keg. Like you said it doubles as a drip pan too.

JS-TX said:

A terra-cotta saucer is a great diffuser, I use one of these in my 2nd keg. Like you said it doubles as a drip pan too.

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Plus it's less cleanup for those like me with OCD lol :becky: Foil the saucer and you're good to go:thumb:

I have two weber kettles and they are great grills. You can do low and slow with it but it is really not ideal for that in my opinion. I usually use my UDS when I want to go low and slow. However, I see a great deal of versatility in the CG Kamado. It will do low and slow very well, and will do screaming hot well if you want to do that. You can cook most anything on this product and do it efficiently as JM has demonstrated. It looks like a great value to me :thumb: I want one!

JMSetzler said:

That's a really nice looking setup for the Weber kettle, but these two systems aren't really all that comparable. The Kamado has a lot of versatility but I do believe that it excels at higher temperature cooks compared to about anything else out there. The Weber with (or without) the Smokenator is fully capable of low and slow cooking.

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Hey JM...looks like it might be time to start up that CGK fan club

I am eager to get mine put together today, but unfortunately my wife is in bed sick and our 3 yr old is running around like a crazy person lol

Hope to get it put together tomorrow

Enjoyed all your great videos man!


Sent from my iPad2 using Tapatalk

I love my CGK, have not had a lot of time to use it but my first two cooks went great. JM thanks for the videos they put me over the edge and got me to buy. It would be nice to get a CGK section going somewhere for posting about our cooks.

PrinceofQ said:

What about using a Terra-Cotta Saucer as a heat deflector. Then it could also function as a drip pan and you can set it on the Weber 22.5 replacement charcoal grate that you're using. I use the saucer on my WSM with great results.

Let me know what you guys think:thumb:

I have those both already, so I will give it a try once I get my CGK put together

~Jay

Click to expand...

I am using a 14" terra cotta saucer in mine. I cooked spareribs last night and it worked great and caught lots of grease that otherwise would have ended up in the ash pan. Cleanup was easy this morning as the grease had solidified. I just removed the greasy foil and tossed it.

First cook was a huge success here. I believe the muffin tin helped keep the heat even and steady, although I did run into a little trouble during the wrap.

Pulled the ribs off to wrap em, and in the amount of time it took me to pull them off, and onto a tray, the locomotive went full steam. The coals and wood I had in there fired up enough that after wrapping and returning to the Acorn, temps were in the 350 range, and couldn't be coaxed down easily. Ribs steamed a little too hot, and were a little too tender for my liking, but the color/flavor was perfect.

After closing it all off, I do see some smoke leaks from around the bottom vent, so I'll likely plug those like JM did. Still, very happy. $.50 worth of charcoal never tasted so good!

I've got two filet mignon's rubbed up and marinating in olive oil, worsteshire and soy. Mushrooms cleaned cut and foiled up in butter, fresh crushed garlic and soy. It's all going to hit the Akorn in a few hours for my first cook on it after getting it seasoned last night.

Count me in. I would love a place where owners could share tips and recipes for the Akorn. Thanks, JM.

I hope I am not stepping on toes posting this here as I was going to start a new thread but decided to put this quick update here. If it needs to be in a new thread let me know and I will move it.

I trialed a slow cook today and although I don't have a video camera I took a few quick shots as the time progressed. I forgot to take a picture of how I started it but just to let everyone know I placed about two inches of lump in a chimney, lit up, let it sit for about 10 minutes and dumped it in the very center of the cooker. I placed a probe in the center of the main grate and shut the air down to .5 on the lower vent and a little less than on on the top vent.


21 minutes in


about 30 minutes in the temps started to fall from the above photo and I opened the bottom vent to almost 1



After opening the bottom vent the temps came up to about 220 and 93 minutes in the temps were still about 220


My timer on the probe only goes to 99 minutes so I had to reset the timer and start it over so this is 118 minutes



140 minutes


179 minutes
http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2499483020082502710KwgCeq

195 minutes Hard to see but it is at 229°F


didn't reset the timer after the second 99 minute cycle but I let it go for about another thirty minutes and it was still at 228 with the bottom air just below 1 and the top cap between .5 and .75. It seems that if I closed it much more than that is just wanted to die out.

After trying that I am curious to see how it does with an 8 lb piece of meat on it. I also think this thing would respond very well to having the DigiQ Dx2 on it if it works as well as everyone says it will.

Edit: I wanted to add that I have no mods to the primary air at this point however I do want to seal around the primary with high temp silicone because as you can see from this photo it isn't sealed all that well. I think I will pull off the whole air plate and add silicone like a gasket and then place it back on.

I think either would work fine. Whats easier?

JMSetzler said:

That's excellent Yours must be a lot more air tight than mine.

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Well you have cooked a few more high temp meals on yours than I have and I wonder if my gaskets will depress more as time goes on. I guess only time will tell. What type of natural lump are you using? I wonder if that is what the difference is as someone else posted above they were holding really steady at 235ish.

Here's my new CG Akorn in it's new home. (Yeah, I had a lot of parts left over after assembly)

Damn, that rocks, Beerbeque, that table's a fortress.

In regards to a blog, message board for CG Kamado owners, great idea, although I don't own one at the time, I own a large kamado grill and have enjoyed your postings. It's tough to beat the BBQ Brethren format, however. It's a clean, sleek page design, very fast loading, and has abundant traffic. You might think about leaving it right here. Either start a new thread after every 40-50 postings, or start a totally separate thread, outside of Q-talk, maybe a new thread in the Discussion Area. Not sure if a regular forum member has such privileges, but it might be worth checking out.