Mrs B bought a Acorn cooker....I told her we didn't need it

tom b

tom b

somebody shut me the fark up.
Joined
Oct 12, 2015
Location
Temecula...
she said "I don't know who you are right now" I said ok get it. it was $199 wal mart sale WTF? if you have any advice it would be appreciated, techniques, mods any and all.
 
Tom, you're right, you don't need it. Leave it in the box and bring it to me in September when we have the bash, and I will dispose of it properly for you.

:mrgreen:

But seriously, there's quite a few of our members here who have them and really like them. I'm sure some will chime in, but the two things that stood out for me is they can get hot really fast, and some folks have had to do some mods to leak proof the lower vent.
 
I cook on one at the beach all the time...no mods at all. Super efficient and IMO, probably the best cooker for $200 your going to find. I cook steaks at 700*, cook ribs/butts/etc at 275-300....piece of cake.

The downsides are, you have to close the vents down almost all the way to keep the thing from climbing up over 300. The grates are cast iron, be careful on how you set them down, I cracked the middle one the second time I used it.

I bought the heat diffuser plate and the cover for it. Mine came with the second rack that has turned out to be handy.

Start with a smaller fire in there, add a few chunks of some wood to it and let it do its thing. It doesnt need much fuel, dont be surprised when you use the coals over and over.
 
I really like my Akorn. Treat it like any Kamado and start small fires and catch the temp going up about 50* from target. You have to shut the vents almost all the way down. Most of the stock vents are leaky. So it could probably do with better sealing there. I had no problems with the lid gasket leaking. I also like the smoking stone but a Weber charcoal grate and Walmart pizza pan work well. I do want to make a charcoal basket for it.

For smoking mine likes to run 300-320. My favorite things to cook on it is chicken and pizza. If you get one of those round brinkmann pizza stones it fits in the top rack pretty well and makes a perfect place to bake some pies.



 
They are a great bit of kit,I use both of ours a lot.
As mentioned the heat can get away on you if your not careful
Seared steaks ,lid down with a very hot fire,no deflecter, awesome
 
Here is also a few pics.
 

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I like mine. Very versatile but i tend not to smoke much on it, more for grill type cooking.

Its heavily modded.

Basket:



Lower grate:



Upper grate, custom stainless steel by ebijack



Pizza pan diffuser



Custom intake







All mods were done by the original owner the brethrens own Ebijack.
 
Moose said:
Tom, you're right, you don't need it. Leave it in the box and bring it to me in September when we have the bash, and I will dispose of it properly for you.

:mrgreen:

But seriously, there's quite a few of our members here who have them and really like them. I'm sure some will chime in, but the two things that stood out for me is they can get hot really fast, and some folks have had to do some mods to leak proof the lower vent.
Click to expand...

thanks Moose but I think we will play with it a bit.
 
Thanks for all the pictures and tips guys.

What size is that basket Ninja? Oh and pizza stone too?
 
So I fire it up yesterday afternoon, Caught it on the way up and got it to run around 300 and hold that pretty good. headed to the bar for a bit. when I got back the temp was about 275 the plan was to break it in with a fatty but was running short on time so I just grilled up some pork sausage patties for a little break in, then I opened it up a little got it running about 400 and Mrs B grilled some shrimp for a shrimp cocktail. Opened it up a little more and then a couple if pizzas.





pictures suck but the food was good. I think she will like this cooker, It is really for her but I'm sure Ill put it to work some too.
 
I hope you get some good use out of it Tom. I almost got one a while back but realized that other cookers I have does what it does. If anything I have to thin out the herd but probably never will....The non used cookers are in "moth balled" If you're familiar with the saying.

The most important thing is getting use out of a cooker...I hated seeing mine not get used which is why they are in storage.
 
tom b said:
Thanks for all the pictures and tips guys.

What size is that basket Ninja? Oh and pizza stone too?
Click to expand...

Not sure the exact size, Ebi would know since he built it. I think the base is just the stock charcoal grate.

The lower grate is a weber charcoal grate for a 22. I think the pizza pan is 16 or 17 inches, id prefer smaller.
 
Fwismoker said:
I hope you get some good use out of it Tom. I almost got one a while back but realized that other cookers I have does what it does. If anything I have to thin out the herd but probably never will....The non used cookers are in "moth balled" If you're familiar with the saying.

The most important thing is getting use out of a cooker...I hated seeing mine not get used which is why they are in storage.
Click to expand...

Thanks Keith, I really tried to talk her out of it but she wasn't going for that. I have to many cookers already but oh what the heck
 
I used the original coal grate. I might have also used a second cheap coal grate at 90 deg for when using lump.
The expanded metal stops just before the 17" Webber coal grate for a 22" Weber. I do not remember the height. Easy to measure.
15" deflector for me was the best size for a pizza pan, found one at Gordon Foods. Using a 16" used more coals since more of heat/smoke get blocked with the smaller gap. Personal choice.

IMHO, the intake was a required change. I could easily set any temp I wanted from 180 up. And repeatable! And I could have the exhaust open to the #2 setting and still set those temps. Most use the exhaust only open to the reversed "D" for all low n slows. For me that gave a bad taste/stale smoke flavor.
You/she will want to close the intake before opening the lid when checking food etc. This helps stop the giant temp fluctuations from the rush of fresh air being pulled in. And the fire balls when cooking HOT. With my intake mod, it is easy to reset the same opening after closing the lid and the temp will come right back with in a few minutes. The factory one is a real PIA to reset temps if you cared where in the temp range you wanted to cook.

Most of the dome gauges are WAY off.
 
Last edited:
I like the Acorn. Mine had a ding in the lid when it came shipped, and they were good about replacing it. Is a good pizza cooker. Gets hot fast. Poor man's BGE.
 
tom b said:
she said "I don't know who you are right now" I said ok get it. it was $199 wal mart sale WTF? if you have any advice it would be appreciated, techniques, mods any and all.
Click to expand...

Sounds to me Mrs. B wants a gift in the future. Congrats on the akorn, you will love it. Be sure to check out www.kamadoguru.com, lots of good info.
 
Previous posts have great tips. I have both the Primo XL and the Akorn. One thing that's great about the Akorn is that it is light enough to transport in the back of a pick up. That doesn't happen with a ceramic. I do believe that no two individual kamados will operate exactly the same. After a half dozen cooks, you'll dial it right in within 20 minutes or less and be on your way.
 
When they start talking like that you better start checking your hole card. :wink:
 
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