Bayou Classic Ceramic Grill

I have one and just purchased a second. I love mine and have never had problems.

I bought one a couple of weeks ago and followed the advise on this site. Initial burn in OK, shut down fair. I could not find a 19" grill grate for smoking so I got a webber 18.5" and it fits under the 19" grate that comes with the grill. Bought a pan on Amazon and lightly smoked a rack of St Louis ribs. Three hours cook time and they were great, no water pan and not to many wood chips. So now I can smoke and I am looking forward to grilling some steaks. Q do I need to put a drip pan under the meat or just let it go to the fire box?
Does the plate setter for the BGE work with the Cypress Grill?

Info
I smoked my first 8.5 butt on the Classic and it was the best ever. Used cherry wood chunks. Injected the but with a recipe from Amazing ribs and rubbed it with my dry rub. One half hour heat time for the grill and a cook time of 5 hours. Meat came to 150 after 3 hours at 230 degrees and then it was double wrapped. I have cooked on an electric smoker for years and this is so much better.
Smoke on borthers

I am not a kamado/ceramic owner so pardon my ignorance, but how available are aftermarket items for this cooker. Can you buy stuff made for Green Egg or KJ and use it on the Bayou Classic. I am thinking about stuff like the daisy wheel top and some of the other things that people add on. Also, what about replacing the little gasket eventually?

I was oogling over one at Lowes myself recently and was pretty impressed. Just wondering if it makes more sense to go with a BGE or KJ over the long haul. Would love to hear the collective wisdom of the brethren on this aspect.

benniesdad said:

I am not a kamado/ceramic owner so pardon my ignorance, but how available are aftermarket items for this cooker. Can you buy stuff made for Green Egg or KJ and use it on the Bayou Classic. I am thinking about stuff like the daisy wheel top and some of the other things that people add on. Also, what about replacing the little gasket eventually?

I was oogling over one at Lowes myself recently and was pretty impressed. Just wondering if it makes more sense to go with a BGE or KJ over the long haul. Would love to hear the collective wisdom of the brethren on this aspect.

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I went with the Akorn for $299 as an intro to kamado cooking. I looked at the other BGE knock offs, but decided to try the Akorn first for a year or so.....see how I like this style of cooking and then make further decisions.

After almost a year with the Akorn, I can say with absolute certainty that kamado grills will be all I care to use for a long, long time. I'm sold on them. Efficient, versatility to do 18 hr 225 smokes or 600 degree ribeyes, quick to light, quick to snuff out, reusable lump, low ash, bake with oven-like precision and very low maintenance.


I'll be keeping my Akorn for portability when I want to travel with it, but getting an XL BGE in the near future ( lifetime warranty on parts, huge user base-tech support, longevity of service life, huge cooking surface and etc).

Just my opinion, but if I'm spending close to that kind of money, I'd rather go with a product-manf. that I'm sure will be around for as long as my grill is.

I do not have a Bayou Classic, or any other kamado for that matter, but in researching them I have seen many complaints about the Bayou Classic coming with cracked fire boxes or shells, or that cracks have developed shortly after purchase. Lowe's sells them for $699. At that price point, I would go with the Kamado Joe or the Vision. They come with stands and other accessories and seem to have good customer service.

Mrpotamus said:

I do not have a Bayou Classic, or any other kamado for that matter, but in researching them I have seen many complaints about the Bayou Classic coming with cracked fire boxes or shells, or that cracks have developed shortly after purchase. Lowe's sells them for $699. At that price point, I would go with the Kamado Joe or the Vision. They come with stands and other accessories and seem to have good customer service.

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100% in agreement. The BGE/KJ/Primo reviews look a lot better, and those companies seem to stand behind their products a lot more. Akorns are good too.:thumb:

However, I will say that the bayou classics cypress grill does look pretty cool, but this aint no fashion contest.

Trumpstylz said:

100% in agreement. The BGE/KJ/Primo reviews look a lot better, and those companies seem to stand behind their products a lot more. Akorns are good too.:thumb:

However, I will say that the bayou classics cypress grill does look pretty cool, but this aint no fashion contest.

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Agree, you can't go wrong with any of the 3.

After market items for the Cypress Classic are not so many. 18.5 inch grill grates fit and the Weber makes on 18.5 inches. It took a lot of searching on the internet but found some grill grates that look promising. There are no plate setters but the BGE plate setter fits just bareley. I am using and inexpensive pizza stone for a plate setter with mine. I like the unit and it is a good starter Kamado type cooker.

I love this unit. Used mine 50-60 times, and have had no problems. The only issue is the fit on the door, which is fixed with high temp silicone. ONce that is done, it works great, and at this price point, it is a bargain. You can get 2 of these for the price of one BGE.

I don't own any type of ceramic grill but I have checked a bunch of them out(BGE, KJ, Primo,etc). They all look good and I would love to have one but.....I just don't see them being large enough to handle the big briskets(15-20lbs) and more than 2 full untrimmed spares.