AmateurPitBoss

Let us know if this fits, my AK is 2 years old and would like to add one and a Kamado Joe style top vent too

Pics????? I'm interested

Anyone got any suppliers of good value lumpwood still with stock? I've always used barbequik. Their restaurant lumpwood is 30 quid delivered for 2 x 12kg bags. So many places seem waaaaay more expensive than this.

How long have you been using this kamado? Bought mine a year ago, thought the same as you, even asked a welder to cut me a steel disc out a bit bigger, he let me down. The plate is fine, used it week in week out and never had an issue, even when the rack is literally full of ribs/brisket/chicken. If you've only just bought the kamado, use it for a month or 2 before deciding up swap the deflector out, honestly

I just fill the fire box every time, then shut the vents off after cooking. Usually get 3 cooks per load of fuel with only a small handful of new fuel required each time. Amazed at how little fuel I've got through in a year considering I use it loads

I wouldnt hold ya breath mate. DX had mine for 10/11 days last year too You got a nice bit of kit coming. Chill, and get watching some youtube so you are a pro when it arrives!

Yes I've lied, dual probe thermometer is great. I grabbed an ink bird one for about 25 quid I think. Pulled pork or brisket have been hard to get wrong for me. YouTube is your friend. A single natural lighter towards the back, bottom vent fully open and lid open. 10 mins later, close lid and close bottom vent to only have a single row of holes showing (I was surprised at how little air it needs to sit around the smoking temperature). Usually have top wheel half way closed but adjust this to suit. Bigger temp changes made on the bottom vent. Cook your meat to a temperature and it saves opening it up often. Everything I've cooked has come out really well and family and friends have loved it

I initially thought the heat deflector could have been a bit bigger, but it's been absolutely fine, no signs of cracks of anything. Not used a pizza stone in there and not found any other accessories I would need. I've used mine about 60 or 70 times in the past 12 month of owning it. Even cooked Christmas Dinner on it

You won't needn't get another cover chap, the one it comes with is good quality. Mine has spent 12 months outside and still looks good as new. This kamado is great, literally the best thing I've spent 300 quid on.

Have you watched any videos on YouTube etc about getting it lit properly for different types of cooks? I've only had mine a month or so and used it at least 10 times already. Make sure it's got very little ash in the bottom so the air flow is good. I just fill it with lumpwood each time and use a natural lighter block under a couple of lumps in the middle, then leave it with lid open and bottom vent wide for 10 minutes. Then close lid and leave vent wide until close to temp I want to cook at. Very surprised you are having issues, I've found it incredibly easy to work with. May be your fuel, infuse barbequick restaurant grade lumpwood. Good value and I managed to cook a pork shoulder for 15 hours last week with plenty fuel left over for this weekend cook. Steve

No problem. All went fine in the end. The pork went down a storm. It's my first experience of the stall. After putting the message on here the temp dropped to 180 and got stuck there for literally 5-6 hours. It worked out perfectly as it reached 198 at 3pm so wrapped it for an hour an half before we ate. Didn't wrap it at all on the kamado but it did have the skin on so remained super moist. 15 hours to cook in total.

Hey folks. I've had the kamado chugging away over night with an 8.5lb bone in pork shoulder. At this weight I was expecting a 16 hour cook but this minute the pork is at 187F. We haven't got people arriving until 4pm today so another 7 hours. My plan was to take this off when it hits 200F. Should I carry on with this plan and wrap it in foil & towels or just let it go u until midday ish whatever temp it's at? Smells amazing outside our house this morning ! Pic below of the Lamb kleftico I cooked last weekend too. Cane out amazing, would highly recommend this 👌

You aren't the only one mate, the first piece took me about 15 minutes to peel off! I was going to give up but then found a nack. Certainly crap tape but it ain't doing much.

Cheers, I've got an ink bird thermometer on the way anyway but will see how I get on again this weekend. Got brisket, ribs and spatchcock chicken planned 😆

So I smoked my first brisket on the kamado today. Fairly happy with the result but did find that the temperature ran away a bit and couldn't keep it down. Let me know if you have any tips. I fired it up this morning with a full load of lump and fair bit of apple chunks mixed in, started using a couple of lighters from the top. Managed to get it to sit at 200-225 for a good hour before putting the brisket on. 1.5kg total with point and flat separated. Once it hit 160 (3 hours) I wrapped it in paper and put it back on. The temp In the kamado had run up to about 275 even with it pretty much shut down. Pulled it off at 200. Left it to rest for about an half an half in the oven on 50C. The flat tasted great but the point was really dry. If anything I thought this would be the other way around? Should I just have pulled it off at a lower temp?

Right guys, after a bit of advice from those already using their aldi kamado. I've done 2 cooks now, managed to control temperature ok, but if anything didn't see as much heat as I expected. First cook I kept fuel to a minimum but even with vents open it didn't shoot over 200. Tonight I used far more lump, one starter buiried in the top middle and it went up well, at 150 I closed top vent with wheel wide open, and bottom vented slider across. It rose to about 230 max and held there. I kinda expected to need to close it down more than that, especially the bottom vent. I was only cooking some burgers just getting practice in and they were great but are these setups about right for that temperature? Would I literally need to have everything fully open to sear steak? At what temp do you guys start closing things down? Are do you do it a set temp below your target? Apologies if this is discussed elsewhere already, figured they are all different so best to ask on the aldi page...

Struck mine up last night. Chuffed with it. I followed the manual advice and kept the fuel to a minimum for the first cook. Didn't take it over 200 C but did manage to control the temperature pretty well. Still stand by my comment about the heat deflector being too small, anything towards the edge of the grill was getting crisped up still. It could easily be 30mm bigger. I won't have any issues with this being bare steel rather than a stone will I? Will load it right up in the next few days as all the instruction videos I've watched lead me to think controlling temperature is easier with it full??? Might just have to get me a massive pork shoulder for the weekend!

It should be 13". Its only 11.5 though

Seems I've been lucky! I've got a few very minor pock marks but only the size of pin heads. I'm not worried about them. Very impressed with the quality to be honest. Knowing they are half the price of the budget competition I wasn't expecting so much. As said before by others, the deflector is too small, really not sure why, but I'm.gonna get a piece of steel cut the max size the hanger will allow. Can then use the clay deflector as a pizza stone. Bloody heavy guys, don't build it on your own like I did! Looking forward to my first cook 👌

Mines being delivered in an hour. After seeing all the issues, I can't say that I'm expecting it to be without faults. Fingers crossed Will be getting a thorough check over before its built up.

Mines been with the delivery depot for a week now, still no call to book in delivery, despite 4 calls to try to organise myself, but getting nowhere. My impatience probably isnt helping things along 😂

@Toucs Dont know if anyone on here can comment, but a few people have recommended the Barbequick resturant quality lumpwood to me, ordered online. I had 2 12kg bags delivered yesterday for 27quid. Makes it pretty good value as im sure even supermarket crap cost more than this by the kg.

Great news! Good to know there is someone out there likely to respond better than Aldi with issues.

Shame it's arrived with slight damage but yea a bit of enamel paint will sort it. May even get some money back from Aldi if you push them. Mines been at the delivery depot since Friday, still no sign it being delivered, tick tock, tick tock!

Has anyone had their 2019 Aldi Kamado's delivered yet? XDP courier reviews are absolutely awful online. I cant wait for it to arrive and get the first cook going! Existing owners - I read the reviews about the heat deflecter being a bit small, I was thinking about getting a thick steel plate cut to suit but will this work with it being hung from the grate above? Got a steel fabricator I deal with regularly through work and figured as long as it wasn't painted it would be fine.