The Chairmaker

After 4 years of tremendous use, I noticed a crack in the base of my Costco Pit Boss kamado grill. 😟 To be absolutely fair to Costco they arranged it to be collected and refunded straight away with no fuss or questions. Absolutely sterling service!

Those wood wool firelighters work well, but they tend to produce a lot of smoke. The method that I use is a cheap butane weed burner. You can pick one up off Amazon (or off the high street) for less than £20 (and that includes 4 cans of fuel). That'll get the charcoal started totally smoke-free in a few minutes. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Range-WEED-BURNER-Cannisters-Butane/dp/B008CIT3MS/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=weed+burner&qid=1620388466&sr=8-5

Really? What a coincidence!😊

This is by far the cheapest system that I have found. It's a perfect fit for my Pitboss K24, and as these are generic grills I'd wager that'd fit Louisiana Grills, Monoliths and a host of others. 90 of your finest Sterlings delivered to your door. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Onlyfire-Cooking-System-Kettle-Similar/dp/B084RRCMWW?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Get some good wood chunks for low'n'slow. Chips burn out too fast for me. Ive boughtg from Grilling Wood off Amazon and they're great value. My new favourite is olive wood though.....it's as hard as iron and produces a lovely long smoke and flavour. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CBMJ3BT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm not a big believer in "tainting" a Kamado. Anything volatile that could be absorbed isn't going to last long the temps that kamados can reach. As far as I'm concerned it's an old wives tale. Maybe if you tried to burn a load of very green wood, or poured old engine oil into it then you might damage the material, but who's going to do that? I use good quality lumpwood because it burns long, the smoke taste and smell permeates the food (who wants their food to taste naff?) and because it doesn't produce much ash. There's really no need to overthink these things.

Don't use those "instant light"burn in a bag things. The charcoal is really small and it stinks of fire lighting fuel. Horrible nasty stuff. Buy decent lumpwood charcoal. Again, most of the superstore stuff is pretty naff. See if there's a firewood supplier close to you....their charcoal is far superior and it will last way longer than superstore stuff. My local supplier sells restaurant charcoal in 12kg bags for £15 or for a tenner if bought on their premises. It's quality stuff and a bag will last ages. https://www.logsdirect.co.uk/restaurant-charcoal-12g There's loads of online suppliers too. Amazon, Big K, Fogon, etc etc.

Why bother? Lumpwood works perfectly, is what's recommended and is freely available.

Yes, only burn lumpwood charcoal. Briquettes produce far too much ash for a kamado.

I change the felt seal on my 24"Kamado roughly every 2 years. It costs about £16 each time. If that KJ type seal lasts longer than 7 years then the maths works out for me. The big question is will it?

Bump

Tinfoil. No added moisture, just wrap it tight once the internal temp stalls at 63-65. You could probably run it unwrapped to be honest. I wouldn't expect the stall to last very long on a all piece like that. Total cook time for the 2Kgnpiece was about 6.5 hours.

Smoke away.....I did a small 2kg brisket point end the other day. Injecting it helped keep it moist. As with any brisket,it's done when it's done. Get it into the stall, wrap it and get it to about 93C internal. Probe for tenderness. I unwrap at that point and give it another 15-30 to crust up the bark.

I wouldn't worry about tiny cracks in the glaze. Look at most kamados once they've been through a heat cycle or two and they'll all look like that. It's called "crazing". Onlt be worried if the actual ceramic has a proper crack in it. https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1138015/cracks-in-glaze-on-top https://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/5519-fine-cracking-in-glaze/

I've done brisket and ribs at the same time in a Kamado. Brisket on the main shelf and the ribs on an upper shelf. Works fine. No, there's no "pollution'. Well, not unless it was delicious, smoky goodness!😁

BGE were probably the first to mass introduce Kamado barbecues. I always think that they are way overpriced. If you want to splash out then Kamado Joe are also pricey, but they are genuinely innovative and have moved the game forward unlike BGE that seem to be selling virtually the same product as 20 years ago. KJ popularised the Divide and Conquer system, a Kamado rotesserie, new metal seals and so on. Mid price you have your re-badged grills like Pitboss, Costco and so on. These are great grills and IMHO offer a lot of bangs per buck. There's shedloads of accessories becoming available through the likes of kamado.co.uk.

I don't think that it makes much difference TBH. If you are using a Kamado and have filled the fire box to the brim then having the wood buried at the bottom would clearly mean little or no smoke for a while. Harry Soo knows his stuff when it comes to BBQ, but that doesn't mean that he's correct on everything. Watch him making "competition" ribs, for example. The amount of sugar, sweet syrups, squirt-on "butter", more sugar, honey, etc etc that he ladles onto the ribs is ridiculous. Yes, they finished product may look nice, but I'd wager that all you could taste would be overpoweringly sweet. I barbecue to taste meat, not tacky sugar!

Ive used a ceramic tagine on my Kamado before. Its a bit irrelevant TBH as the tagine prevents much in the way of smoke flavour getting to the contents. Might as well bung it in the oven!

I would think that you'll get lots of nasty flavours from burning green wood. The wood will emit a lot of moisture that will make a tar-like substance. It's one of the main reasons why you must dry wood before burning it in an open fire/wood burner...it ends up coating the chimney in creosote. I personally wouldn't bother trying to source decent cherry/oak from a tree surgeon, having to split it and then having to dry it for months. Just pick some up off Amazon or similar....there's load of decent suppliers of good quality chunks that are UK sourced. Plus, you also get to experiment with different flavours such as mesquite. My new favourite is olive wood...as hard as iron and really slow burning. Lovely flavour from it too.

Brilliant, thank you.

Interested in these units. Any forthcoming discounts? 🙏

Auplex are the makers of many of the grills that are just rebadged. Shipping from China for a single grill would be expensive...far better to buy one locally. have a look here: https://www.kamado.co.uk/

They are now £180, so if you picked on up for £85 you got a bargain!

The best steak that I have in a long time came from Bone and Block in Liverpool. A 1Kg ribeye from old ex-dairy cows. Pricey, but worth every penny. https://www.boneandblock.com/collections/ex-dairy-beef 60 day aging is perfect for my tastes. I've aged ribeyes to 100 days and they start getting a touch too funky for me at that point, but 60 days gives a lovely balance between the aging and the beef taste. Highly recommended.

Don't use a water tray. Kamados don't have huge airflow through them and as a result you'll end up steaming the brisket which won't allow a bark to form. If you are worried about the meat drying out then inject it first. An Oxo cube in a pint of boiling water will make a decent stock. Or use something like a clear beef bouillon.