$299 Char-Griller Kamado First Looks

JMSetzler said:

Excellent

I'm still a kettle guy. I use the Akorn about 50/50 with my kettle. In fact, my kettle is getting upgraded to a performer this week.

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I'm with John. I use my kettles for grilling - just easier than setting up the Akorn for grilling, IMO - and my Akorn for low and slow smoking (well, at hot and fast chicken, but still with a difuser in place). That might change over time, but it is working for me for the time being.

I do have a question when I did my ribs sun they turned out great but wasn't much of a smoke ring. Is that what u get with these or am I just used to a deep smoke ring on the offset.

Don't have an Akorn, but have never had an issue getting a nice ring. 2 things I do is put the meat on cold so it stays below 140 for a bit longer, and start the cook off at a cooler temp (250ish) for first hour or so in attempt to develop a ring, and get some smoke in the meat, then crank up heat to 300-325 for the rest of the cook.

It only takes 4 hours or less to cook st louis cut spares using the above method. Loin backs are done closer to 3 hours.

Hello Lads,
I've not been on this forum in quite a while. However, my fancy schmancy Jenn Air grill stopped working and I was going to buy a new regulator for it today as a test. Last night, my wife and I were picking up a few things in our suburban Atlanta Kroger and on display were several of these smokers for $329. I was intrigued and did a little web searching and found this thread along with the Kamado Guru forum. Today, as I went to buy a regulator (that's secret code for Akorn Kamado), I bypassed my Home Depot which is only 1.5 miles away and headed for Lowes. They had one on display and none on the shelves. Upon checking with a sales person, he determined that there was one left in a box. By this time, my wife had caught up with me. Normally, she would have slapped me into some sort of sensible thinking and talked me out of buying one. This time she didn't. Instead, she really outsmarted me and said why not try the regulator first and then come back and buy this if that does not work. I did and the darn regulator worked. So, I'll sit on the fence a little longer and maybe Lowes will put these on sale. Afterall, the JennAir grill is almost 8yrs old and can't last forever. I did pay a lot of $$ for it, so I'll milk it just a little longer. I really only want the Kamado for grilling purposes and pizza. I have another fancy cabinet smoker with an Auber PID controller that holds 225F for as long as I want. I use an Amaz-N-Smoker pellet smoker inside that thing and it does a great job. I will eventually have one of these.

Hello Lads,
I've not been on this forum in quite a while. However, my fancy schmancy Jenn Air grill stopped working and I was going to buy a new regulator for it today as a test. Last night, my wife and I were picking up a few things in our suburban Atlanta Kroger and on display were several of these smokers for $329. I was intrigued and did a little web searching and found this thread along with the Kamado Guru forum. Today, as I went to buy a regulator (that's secret code for Akorn Kamado), I bypassed my Home Depot which is only 1.5 miles away and headed for Lowes. They had one on display and none on the shelves. Upon checking with a sales person, he determined that there was one left in a box. By this time, my wife had caught up with me. Normally, she would have slapped me into some sort of sensible thinking and talked me out of buying one. This time she didn't. Instead, she really outsmarted me and said why not try the regulator first and then come back and buy this if that does not work. I did and the darn regulator worked. So, I'll sit on the fence a little longer and maybe Lowes will put these on sale. Afterall, the JennAir grill is almost 8yrs old and can't last forever. I did pay a lot of $$ for it, so I'll milk it just a little longer. I really only want the Kamado for grilling purposes and pizza. I have another fancy cabinet smoker with an Auber PID controller that holds 225F for as long as I want. I use an Amaz-N-Smoker pellet smoker inside that thing and it does a great job. I will eventually have one of these. The good/bad news is the old JennAir now gets hotter than it ever did. It got up to 600 after I installed the new regulator.

Did my first pizzas today. Turned out great! Cant wait to do my first butt next weekend!

these remain my "if the money comes thru" desire... until then i remain smoker less .. and keep dreaming of even a mini wsm

Just had to purchase one after my local Kroger store had them slashed half price from $299.00 to $149.00. Simply could not pass it up for that price. Will return tomorrow to possible snag another one. One happy camper :-D

yakdung said:

Just had to purchase one after my local Kroger store had them slashed half price from $299.00 to $149.00. Simply could not pass it up for that price. Will return tomorrow to possible snag another one. One happy camper :-D

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Which store?!?! If they have more, I want one!

yakdung said:

Just had to purchase one after my local Kroger store had them slashed half price from $299.00 to $149.00. Simply could not pass it up for that price. Will return tomorrow to possible snag another one. One happy camper :-D

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That is grand theft right there. Congrats!

AugustusRooster said:

That is grand theft right there. Congrats!

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Yep, great price. I've wanted one for a while. I hope to find one today.

Ok I snagged a second one at $149.00. I visited another Kroger down the street and located two in the store for $169.00. The box price indicated by the manufacturer listed it at $329.00. I drove back to the Kroger I purchased the first one two days ago and clear as a bell in bright 6 inch black letters $149.00. I removed the large sign and walked into the store and indicated to the clerk I wanted to purchase this grill at this price. She scanned it and it rang up $169.00. I picked up the sign on the counter and showed her the price indicated then she looked confused. The clerk calls the assisted manager over to relay the problem, and the assistant manager produces a price scanner that looked like a massive Raygun with a large antenna. "See my scanner is showing $169.00" I mentioned to her that I wasn't really concerned with the price on the scanner, I just want the price they advertised on the sign. I asked to speak to the manager. The manager arrives and the first clerk tell him I purchased one of these two days ago at $149.00. He looks at me and says let him have it at $149.00. Instantly I got the feeling he knew I knew someone in his shop has trouble with simple math. Normally I would feel bad, but I have been shopping at this same store for over 25 years. They should have just given it to me because I'm such a nice guy , but fat chance with that happening. The funny thing was, when I mentioned I purchased one of these 2 days ago, three clerks surrounded the box to scrutinize it. I'm happy I scored two egg shaped primo grills at a primo price!

I picked one of these up last weekend at Lowes. They priced matched the sale menards was running. I have it put together and it does feel very sturdy. I have been playing around with temperatures and so far it seems to be either raising in temps or snuffed out. I haven't been able to park it on a temperature yet either high or low. I can very slowly ramp up to a temp and then try to close it down a bit to try to get it to stay but every time I have to shut it down so much that it puts it out and temps drop. Today I bought some BGE gasket and have sealed it up much better. I hear that this has helped others quite a bit. Tomorrow I will give it another test run to see if it helps. I hope to smoke a chicken on Tuesday.

1st Butt completed

We did more pizzas Saturday night (10 total) and it was tough to keep the temp up obviously with opening it that much. I didn't put that much fuel in since I was planning on doing a butt later.
I then prepped it for it's 1st butt. I started by adding more Royal Oak lump around the outside of the existing coals at about 10pm. By 1030pm the temp had evened out at 250 and the butt was put on at 11pm. I went to bed at midnight and checked it before i went to bed. It was right on still. I checked it at 8am and what do you know...250 & holding strong! Probed the butt & it was at 190. Pulled it off at 9am and it was reading 195...couldn't believe how little fuel it used. Let it rest until lunch time & it was definitely the best pulled pork I have made in the last 2 years. I know I am going to have to replace the gaskets soon but this thing is incredible for the price.

For those of you who are able to hold temperatures ~250 have you made any modifications to your CGK? I am also curious as to what your vent settings were to get it to stay steady for so long.

Look at post 474 for my mods

No mods and I can hold temps at 220 or 250 based on the following: Load Kingsford (not supposed to burn as hot) and only light like 4 coals and keep all open. When temp is 70 degrees from desired temp (180 for 250) I move the settings to a 3 on top and bottom. when temp is 25 out (225), I move to the top of 0.7 and bottom of "barely cracked". It will continue to rise very slowly to 250 and usually maintain around there.

Kingsford briquettes? I have been using royal oak lump. I wonder if it burns hotter and is harder to stabilize?

foppa78 said:

For those of you who are able to hold temperatures ~250 have you made any modifications to your CGK? I am also curious as to what your vent settings were to get it to stay steady for so long.

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I usually try to run at 275 but it likes to run about 280. My bottom vent will be a little less than 1 and the top will be at 1 to just over 1. After i light it up i leave vents fully open til it reaches 150 then i shut down to 1 on the bottom and 1.5 on top and let it creep up.