Grue666

First attempt at beer can chicken yesterday. Amazing flavour and very moist but disappointed that the skin wasn’t crisp and ABSOLUTELY no beer flavour. Waste of good beer IMHO but I like the upright cooking position and will probably try again with a ceramic stand instead of a beer can.

1 hour ago, ade73 said:

Received an email this morning saying delivery tomorrow from AO, do you get any update on that, email/text with a time slot or on our way be there in 10 mins? 

Yes. Email and text on the day or the night before with a 2 hour time slot and a phone call 30min or so before they arrive. Van is also GPS trackable from the link in the time slot email. 

9 minutes ago, TheBeardedDan said:

you just need to wait it can take a while

Patience was rewarded. 1 minute after posting the message I got an email saying it has been dispatched. Literally arrived at 16.21

48 minutes ago, Comacchio said:

Has anyone received theirs via XDP so far? My XDP tracker is showing it's been at the collection depot since 11am on Friday, no further updates. Poor communication is a personal hate of mine.

The one I bought for a friend at seconds past 08.00 is still “being processed”. She’s getting worried

4 minutes ago, bbqoldie said:

it...has arrived! woop! via AO.com and in one piece...also not worried about theft anymore..if you can pick it up you can have it. How the heck am I going to get it to where it needs to be in the garden without messing up the grass on the way there is another matter.

I took everything out of it - firebox etc, and then 2 off us were (just about) able to carry it

20 minutes ago, Comacchio said:

Yep sure did. Had a laptop on all night with a chrome extension refreshing the page every 5 seconds. Actively monitored it from 0730 - got one as soon as it went live at 8, first batch was sold out by 8.01.

We’ll done. Now for the lottery of whether they arrive safely or not. My Kamado was fine but my Aldi Hanging egg chair was mislaid by the courier!

28 minutes ago, Comacchio said:

Anyone get lucky?

I got 1 for a friend at 08.00 and currently have one in my basket waiting for another friend to decide if she wants it. Did you get one?

1 minute ago, Comacchio said:

I can't find the page now but it was on the Aldi website saying Sunday 16th.

1 hour ago, Chrisah1 said:

For temps the major options are inkbird off Amazon. I have the six probe and whilst great when Bluetooth drops off you lose the curve. So get a WiFi model. 

Thermopro and thermoworks spring to mind. Amazon is full of options in general.

Meater Block I have not used but reviews are very variable. Some swear by it others think it's rubbish. Again I would go with the WiFi block unless you have an old phone to link Bluetooth on the meater+ to your WiFi as a gateway. Expensive. 

You can get a fan with probes from bbqguru which may help you maintain temps as well. But can get expensive. 

WiFi options always pricey. You can get good cheap radio and Bluetooth. I only have used inkbird and I would pay extra for WiFi next time (approx £100)

I bought the Inkbird IBBQ-4T and was very happy with it although even on wi-if there were occasional short dropouts on the graphs. Currently 10% off on Amazon with a free BG-HH1C instant read but I bought a few weeks ago with 20% off so may be worth checking back frequently to see if voucher amount improves. Although with main BBQ season approaching discounts may stop for all i know.

27 minutes ago, Kentish Man said:

This looks good! 

Only comments I'd add is there's no need to use the chimney starter, just put a lighter wooly (or whatever you use) on top and let it heat up steadily. For a low and slow, I think using the chimney starter, even with only a little charcoal, runs the risk of lighting too much charcoal up and overshooting the temp you want.

I don't actually ever use a chimney starter, I just don't find it necessary. The Kamado basically operates like one anyway so there isn't any significant time saving, it's not like lighting briquettes for a different type BBQ.

Again, no right and wrong, just my experience on the AK.

Yes I think that’s the way to go. Part of my learning curve. I’d read about doing it that way but stuck with (modified) old habits - nothing like learning by mistakes  

12 hours ago, YorkshireSmoke said:

I think pork shoulder will be my next cook. Any tips? Did you just start with some smoking wood, or add more during the cook?

Hi, I’m no expert and as I said this was done as a learning exercise as much as anything else as it is such a different beast to the MT I’ve previously used.
I bought a cheap rolled boneless shoulder - 2.5kg as currently on offer in Tesco @ 3.50/kg (rather than risk an expensive Butt if it all went pear shaped). I trimmed and salted it the night before with about 2 teaspoons course sea salt and left it in fridge. Early rise and nearly filled the fire bowl but wouldn’t do that next time as so little charcoal was used, I lit a handful of charcoal using my Weber chimney starter and put that in the middle of the firebow then sprinkled some Apple chips around the coals - not sure how much 100g or so and closed the lid. I rubbed the meat with Meatheads Memphis dust - 2or 3 tablespoons and rechecked the Kamado. This is when things went wrong as the temperature rose faster than expected so I closed all vents and crossed my fingers. As it happened the dome thermometer was reading high as already mentioned so things weren’t as bad as feared when I get the meat on and temp was soon OK. 

I then did very little other than play adjusting the vents periodically to try keeping the temp around 107ºC. I didn’t open the lid during the cook/add more chips. 

What would I do differently? Use less charcoal (not that it was wasted as closing the vents at the end left loads unburnt for next time), work out how to add wood chips mid cook as smoke flavour was lacking because not all had been used up/ not enough used - I’m still coming to terms with just how efficient this thing is. Give myself more time - I’d now be confident to start it the night before and leave it with little or no intervention.

Am I on the right track?

9 hours ago, YorkshireSmoke said:

Dome temperature and grill temperature - I set up an Inkbird wireless thermo at grill level and was surprised that there was a consistent 50C difference between that and the dome gauge. I expected a difference, but should it be that much? The ink bird was set up at the side of the grill above the gap next to the heat deflector. Could that be the reason?

To be on the safe side I kept the grill at 200C for the cook, as I didn't fee comfortable dropping the dome temp below 150C. On the plus side I found it quite easy to maintain the temp at a consistent level.

Interesting. I used the AK for first time yesterday and chose a Pork Shoulder as it is quite a forgiving piece of meat that would provide a good meal and offer plenty of time to learn about the Kamado. I certainly learn a lot about setting the vents for temp control and just how little charcoal is used over 12 hours. Set up for indirect cook with 2 Inkbird probes. The dome probe was set up a little way from the meat but still in the indirect area. 

Like you there was a distinct temperature difference of a little over 50ºC for most of the cook but after about 9 hours the 2 matched almost exactly - certainly within 2ºC. I can’t really explain why that happened and didn’t do any comparison during the curing burn on Saturday. 

If you weren't already planning it, I would suggest you get the delivery guys to open the package and give it a quick check. When they Brough mine I overheard one saying "We better not drop this one" and then he promptly let the wind blown lorry door slam into the corner of the packing. No harm done though and they were very helpful. Mine had a few minor imperfections in the enamel but nothing else (same as my Son when his arrived last week).

21 hours ago, Chrisah1 said:

Thanks for that awesome pic.

Ok, so internal diameter is about 45cm. The overall diameter is 51cm? This may be useful for rotisserie options. 

What is the inner diameter of the fire bowl? I've been looking at baskets that are 29cm, 30.5cm, 34cm and 35cm. 

I've taken a couple of photos of the firebowl if that helps.

21 hours ago, Chrisah1 said:

I think that this is the best starter kamado to see if you're genuinely into it and it can work for you at home. Use it for five years and upgrade....or let it languish and never get another kamado again. Sorted. 

My thoughts exactly 

21 hours ago, Chrisah1 said:

And if you're serious you then have to consider rotisserie and bbqguru fan controller haha. Slippery slope. 

My Inkbird IBBQ-4T arrived today so the slide has started...

21 hours ago, Chrisah1 said:

 

 

4 hours ago, Pharmeruk said:

Yes, that’s perfect thanks. Think I will risk it and order the 20” YNNI divide and conquer system as it is 43.8cm

I’m interested to hear how it all works out and whether you feel the advantages are worth the cost. I would need to convince SWMBO that an accessory is worth 1/3 the cost of the oven!

I do plan to buy a Smokeware chimney cap however but they are currently OOS

15 hours ago, Pharmeruk said:

Hi There, I managed to order an AK on the 25th after refreshing the page for 2 hours...finding in appear in stock then go immediately out of stock before i could complete the sale. I kept trying on my way to work and after about 45 mins i was able to add to cart and purchase....result. Now I am just waiting eagerly to get it.

Could anyone who has already received theirs, please do my a favour and measure the internal diameter at the opening of the grilling area. I am wanting to get a YNNI divide and conquer system and I watched BBQ Life UK manage to get an 18" (38.2cm for their holder) one to fit but not the 20" (43.4cm for their holder). He had a 2019 kamado but I have heard of a few folk with the 2020 version who have managed to get the 20" to fit comforatbly. 

Is this the measurement you want? Internal diameter.