MostlySmoke
Knows what a fatty is.
Mayday,
You are the only kid on the block with one of those!! Looks great!
You are the only kid on the block with one of those!! Looks great!
The reason I didn't load very much coal for the cook was I was afraid to overheat the Kamado and crack it again.
For yesterday's first cook, the cooker was loaded with about 1 gallon of Hard Coals Lump for the pork. Then, an extra 2 quarts lump added for the chicken. Wasn't enough for either cook.
Another problem is ash buildup. The ash suffocates the coals and chokes off air flow before the coal burns out. I think the ash is not able to fall through my rusty coal grate as easily and cleanly as it would with a smooth grate or one with different configuration (?).
Am keeping my eyes open for something I could use as a new grate, but have not been able to find anything up here. Thought about buying a commercial drain cover, but they are costly up here at ~$60. Needs to be 7" diameter.
Here's a picture of the ash pattern and unburnt lump from the overnight bakeout. Only used about a gallon of lump and choked down to ~280F. Damper open ~1/2" and smoker top ~1/4" for the night. Quite a bit of unburnt coal left.
Will try Nam-Char next time (higher quality, low ash). Have a small stash left, but the local shops have not been able to bring it in lately.
If I load the firebox up to the fire ring, how do I manage the ash issue so that the coals don't suffocate?
Suggestions?
May
Looks good. Add coal all the way up to the fire ring.
PLEASE DO NOT fire a clay Kamado like a Big Green Egg!
I can't stress enough for anyone with a claypot to download the manual for the pre 1976 BGE from the Naked Whiz!! You risk overheating and damaging all the fine work you've put into this. Start out with the suggested amount of briqs/lump and add as you cook.
I just got a Medium Sakura Hibachi Pot Kamado from my BIL's brother that will be my next restoration project and when he told me that he filled up the firebox EVERY time he cooked it was no wonder the thing is in pieces.
I would suggest using furnace cement over the JB-Weld joints. I only say this because I was using the claypot base mod in my WSM and it cracked-I pieced it back with JB-Weld and after a few cooks it cracked at the reapair. It was not in direct contact just the heat sink in place of the waterpan. A little insurance as I see it.
First of all, thank you both, as I used your experiences and photos to restore an ancient #3 last week. It was a craigslist score and even has the Japanese stamp!
I'm kicking my self for not documenting the process, but it wasn't much different from yours, just less work. The only crack in the egg itself was in the bottom and I JB Welded it and covered it with furnace cement. The firebox had several cracks which I gave the same treatement, but it appears that the cement doesn't adhere well to the JB Weld. When heated, it appears to bubble up. Did you do anything to prepare the surface? I let the JB Weld dry for 24 hours and did the same with the furnace cement.
Anyway, it's a really good cooker. Surprisingly, very little lump, draft and time was needed to get it over 400. The wife wasn't too pleased with the addition to the family, but the beer can chicken in an hour won her over. I'm really impressed with this 20+ year old cooker.
I know the feeling! When I rebuilt my Large Imperial Kamado it developed a crack in the dome after I painted it also.
I'm repairing the cracks in my BGE and you've really got to have a clean surface for the furnace cement to adhere to, the edges I've feathered flake of very easily, unlike the claypots.
Have you thought of reinforcing the JB Weld with some fiberglass tape? Apply some Weld, put a strip of tape on and rub it in so that the Weld works its way into the weave and then rub another coat of Weld over it. Use a plastic baggie as a glove...
I don't know if that will screw up the expansion/contraction of the rest of the cooker and cause more cracks elsewhere, though.
The drilling the hole at the end of the crack to stop propagation is a really good, really old trick. Do you want to drill all the way through to stop the crack and then fill and touch up the paint on the outside at this point? Hope someone else has tried it on something like your cooker and can give you some first hand advice...