kamado anyone?

[homer]

just thought i would post about my Kamado journey in life
had various types of smokers over the last few years, pellet, coal, weber, lousiana etc but always like the way the kamado cooked and was very easy to control and used almost no fuel
the weber smokey mountain 22" cooked lots of food and had great results but felt i was just chucking money in it every time i fired it up..big eater on fuel!
then the 18" kamado used sod all fuel but struggled to cook a whole brisket size wise on it so i opted for a lousiana lg900 pellet grill with added side smoking chamber,, took even more food than the weber and could do great jerky in the side chamber while smoking on the main grill and a took a couple of 6kg briskets in its stride...weber was an electric car compaired to this new baby..it eats pellets by the sack load..i kid you not
so...back still being steered towards the kamado i imported a 29" beast from china weighing in at a little under 275kilos
it arrived at work while i was on holiday and when i returned it struck me..what have i done there was two huge crates sitting there so the unpacking begun
a few measurments later is was apparent this was not going to fit through the house so dismantle it was, it then squeezed through with about 2mm to spare on door frames while on its side and split apart..all sorted we thought until returning with the hire van to collect the stand and accesories..i envisioned bolt togehter but it was one piece welded stainless
managed to get it up on the roof of the hire van and with a few mates pused it over onto the garage roof and roped it down to its final resting place quick break for painkillers and a cuppa and the assembly began
so here we haver a little 29" kamado with a quick chuck on of 2kg of chicken wings, its difficult to see how big the thing is in the photos
done a few smokes now and added a modified pit controller once i was used to how it performed and burnt etc
got just about every cooking surface and accesorie you can think of and a few just in case spares also
well happy with it so far and seems very good on fuel
cat seems to hanging around a lot more to so seems paws up from him also
will post up some more photos of cooks later
















couple of pics of the lg900 also....

[NCPaul]

You have a really flexible collection of gear. I use the smaller WSM and a Weber kettle but have considered a ceramic cooker. How long does it take to get it up to temp?

[homer]

When smoking init I just start the coals with 1 lighter block and leave the lid open until it's burnt out in about 10 mins then lid down and vents fully open it takes about 30 mins then it's time to close up the vents and get the food on
Closing the vents at the end of cooking puts the coals out and can be sorted through and reused
If going for high temp direct heat I use 3 lighters in a triangle pattern..takes just the same time to get to 600f plus

[Snags]

You probably want to invest in a chimney lighter keep those chemicals out of it.
nice piece of ceramic.
Ive looked at them on Alibaba but the freight costs are a killer when you live out in the bush like me.
I can get one from the local hardware chain for under $800 AUD and about $80 to deliver without the hassle
Its my next big purchase

[homer]

Chimney is not the way to fire up a kamado
The firelighters I use are wax impregnated cardboard blocks so no nasty chemicals or fumes

[homer]

Snags...

yes the frieght costs are a killer but not when you compare the costs of the parts
the place i got it from are the factory that make all the costco "pit boss" ones and i suspect maybe also the kamado joes
if you start getting the accesories the margin just keeps rising, ordered every accesorie that was available and even 3 or 4 of some of them..for example lava cooking stone 12 dollars..uk 120 pounds!..stainless rib racks..these things are big 9 dollars..uk 40-50 pounds
pizza stones/heat deflectors 8 dollars..uk 90 pounds
yes its a big outlay but the saving is huge and easily covers the shipping costs, in total i got the whole lot with shipping for the price i would have paid just for a stainless steel kamado joe cabinet
there is nothing bigger available and there is no accesories or add ons available for this size kamado that i didnt buy so its buy once and its over much to the other halfs delight..or should i say feet up crack open a tin and wait for the food to come off