Greetings. First post, wasn't expecting it to be in this thread. I've had one of these for about a month and so far only a few minor issues -
o Seal on lower vent was poor, resulting in the cooker taking forever to cool down and using a lot of lump in the process. Fixed by running a bead of high temp silicone caulk in the opening between the vent and the ceramic.
o A few days ago, I noticed a number of cracks in the lower fire ring, making it difficult holding the charcoal grate in place. I emailed and sent pictures to customer service, a new one should be on its way next week. Customer service has been very good thus far. In the meantime, since I didn't want the cooker to sit idle for Memorial Day weekend, I patched it with JB Weld and for added measure, threaded some wire through the holes in the ring to help hold it together. Looks like hell, but it's doing the trick.
Re: do BGE fire rings crack? According to posts I've read in the BGE forum and on the NakedWhiz site, the answer is yes. We'll see how the quality of this Bayou Classic holds up. I liked that it came with side shelves and the cart is high quality and well built.
So far, I've done ribs, beer can chicken, steaks, burgers, franks, pizza and yesterday made use of the FireWire skewers for some awesome kabobs. I bought a Big Green Egg plate setter and a 14" Lodge cast iron pizza pan which fits the unit perfectly.
I'm having a lot of fun making up my own rubs, marinades and of course, getting hints and tips from this forum which was my main reason for joining. The joy of cooking on this vs. my gas grill has made grilling fun again.
Pics of the six FireWire skewers circled around the grill from yesterday's cook attached.
- Lunchman