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KBU smokers

duckjockey

Got rid of the matchlight.
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Does anyone have any experience with KBU inverted flame smokers? How well built are they? Does the door opening (down) make it hard to use? Are they insulated?

Thanks
 
I think you may be referring to the KBQ (Karubecue) Smoker. If in fact this is the one you are talking about, they are beautifully designed, engineered and built of all stainless steel. They are not insulated. I read somewhere that this is by design in order for the draft fan system (+) to work as it's meant to. Bill Karau, engineer, owner, designer of karubecue could tell you for sure. I own a Karubecue and the downward opening of the door does not bother me in the least. Actually, it allows you to pull a rack out some without dripping juices or greases on the patio, ground, etc.

Like many others, I have owned and cooked on all types of smokers and grills, over the years - gas, charcoal, electric, pellet and now wood. The Karubecue is without doubt the best smoker I have ever owned or could expect to own. The inverted flame system design is genius. It gives you thin blue smoke without having to worry. The only thing you have to do it keep it fueled. Because it is a stick burner, it requires time and attention (as well as electricity) so it won't be for everyone.

I would recommend that you check out the kbq.us website thoroughly - including testimonials. Then read the reviews on Amazon.
 
[ame="https://youtu.be/Ag0sM8dIsHg"]https://youtu.be/Ag0sM8dIsHg[/ame]
 
Here's a couple of pics.

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And a few pics of food smoked on the Karubecue.

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That's pretty slick- definitely thinking outside the box. All this time, We've been trying to make heat go sideways or up in a controllable manner... "down" never occurred to me. Well done!
 
I just picked one up and only have a quick app cook on it but it was fantastic. They are not insulated but that's not a bad thing. Bill designed them that way to keep smoke flowing through them and if they were insulated it wouldn't cool down enough to trigger the draft fan. When the draft fan kicks on it creates a vacuum in the chamber that pulls smoke down through the coal bed. This burns the smoke more thoroughly and pulls it into the chamber. Check out his site, he has a great primer on the thinking. It's designed and built well. Including unpacking everything it took me about 40 minutes to have it ready to go. The door opening down didn't seem to bother me, but the low height is kind of a pain. I may have the boys at work make me some longer legs or maybe a stand for it. It could stand to come up about a foot and still be able to use the firebox well.

It does want a certain size split. I just take standard splits and run em through my chop saw with an old blade in it. Also, to keep the coal bed it wants hardwood like oak or hickory. Other woods can be used along with the hardwood for flavor but the coal bed needs to be there for the best result. My first cook was with pecan because I had it laying around. I found myself feeding a lot of wood. Then I read the manual where it states that pecan is not good for making a bed of coals. Lesson learned. Next cook is this weekend with oak! You can use other woods by themselves but you'll just be feeding it a lot more to keep the heat up.

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Sure seems like a lot of heat/BTUs would be lost/wasted with fire on top.........? :confused:
 
Sure seems like a lot of heat/BTUs would be lost/wasted with fire on top.........? :confused:

All I know is that it recovers REALLY fast and can keep temps up around 300 pretty easily on what equals 2-3 full splits (of course depending on how big you consider a split to be) an hour. I'm guessing that when that fan kicks on and it burns the smoke it's creating more heat from smoke that would normally be escaping anyway.

The open flame is definitely to be considered and I'm not sure if it would fly at a comp. It does come with a cover for the firebox for use on windy days but I don't know what that does to the fire as I haven't tried it yet. It is a rocket hot hunk of metal sitting up top so beware around little ones.

I'll see if I can get some good video this weekend and I'll throw it up here.
 
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