John Setzler

Pour it all in the grill. I have never had any issues. I am in the smaller piece preference camp. I hate having to break apart big chunks with a hatchet.

I was recently fortunate enough to get my hands on some of the Shogun series knives form Dalstrong.... (http://www.dalstrong.com) These things are amazing... the packaging was impressive as well... I think I have found "MY" knives now... we'll see how these pan out over the next few weeks using them in my Man Cave kitchen... I have given the two chef's knives a workout already and I am perfectly happy with them...

I'll give you a tip... go to an auto parts store and get a tube of the Permatex copper and use a thin bead of that long with the existing adhesive to stick those down.

Moving to the correct area of this forum.

You can also ask yourself if the Akorn is worth 3x the price of a Weber kettle. And is a Weber kettle worth 3x the price of a cheap charcoal grill? 1. The grill is a tool. A great cook can cook on any of them with success. The experiences will be different but the end results won't be for the most part. Better tools don't typically produce better cooks. They might produce happier cooks though. Happiness with the tools you choose is important. 2. Some tools work better than others. If you are passionate about grilling, I'd recommend a better tool for the job. I am passionate about grilling. I have been for a long time. When the time came where I decided I wanted a better tool (the kamado grill) I fell into your same spot. I had saved my money to buy a ceramic kamado grill. Right before I was ready to buy it I saw the Akorn at Lowes for $299. I decided to give it a try because I wasn't sure that I needed to spend the extra 4x I was planning to spend either. I bought it, put it together, started trying to cook on it. I had a good time with it. I immediately found myself looking for fixes and workaround to make it do the things I wanted it to do 'better' that it was capable of doing them out of the box. Fixes and workarounds were working ok for the most part. I was able to make the Akorn do everything I wanted it to do. I put it through it's paces cooking on it almost daily for about six months. I was still left wanting in the end. The Akorn was not going to stand the test of time for me. The finish was burning off on the outside and I was seeing rust, especially around the removable ash pan on the bottom. With great care I might have been able to get 2 years use of of the Akorn. The average owner who grills a lot less than I do might get 4 years out of it before difficult problems set in. 3. If you are passionate about your project, you should buy the best tools and accessories you can possibly afford. I have learned this lesson the hard way on more than one occasion. I like the 'buy once cry once' mantra here. When it comes to cooking these days, whether it be on the grill or in my kitchen, I buy tools and accessories that I expect will last me a lifetime. In a lot of cases, I would have saved money by doing this the first time. If you do choose the Akorn, my advice to you it keep it under a covered area and do not let it get wet. Mine was kept under an awning and never used out in the rain or left in the rain. I still had rust issues. If you buy the akorn, be patient with it. It is not as air tight as the other ceramic grill options and it is more difficult to control the temperature because of this. Once you realize that specific pinpoint temps are not a requirement to do ANYTHING in the world of barbecue and grilling, you will find that you can cook successfully on the Akorn.

It doesn't really 'hang' but the hooks do connect so that you can use the d/c rack to lift out the basket.

Kamado Joe has introduced charcoal baskets for the Big Joe and Classic Joe grills. This product will come standard in the Pro Joe. These baskets are stainless steel construction and they are heaver material than any of the others I have used in the past. Each size comes with a divider that can fit into the basket in either orientation. These baskets are also designed to connect to the bottom of the Divide & Conquer rack so you can lift it in and out of the grill with that rack if you like. These are available from Atlanta Grill Company: https://atlantagrillcompany.com/

@CentralTexBBQ @DerHusker I don't think this is gonna be too difficult at all. I am keeping thing simple.

Call me a glutton for punishment... I am getting married on Saturday and I am catering our wedding lunch. We are having an "I Do BBQ" at noon on Saturday... a short wedding ceremony followed by a BBQ lunch. We are keeping it as small as possible... about 75 guests... an outdoor covered area.. should be fun overall. I have 65lbs of boston butt here to make pulled pork. I'm also serving a homemade coleslaw, bbq baked beans, cornbread, and pickled onions. I'll have burger buns available for anyone who wants to make a sandwich.. I"m also using homemade rub and a homemade KC style BBQ sauce.... I have never cooked for this many people at once. The biggest group I have ever cooked for was about 40 or so... about half the size of this crowd.

I just put my starter in the fridge for at least two weeks. I normally feed mine every day even though I only bake about once a week. It takes me less than 5 minutest to feed it. Before putting it in the fridge, I fed it 1:1:4 starter to water to flour. It made a very dry dough ball. That high flour concentration with the low temp in the fridge will keep that starter more active over the duration of it's stay in the fridge. It's not a bad idea to feed it a higher concentration of flour if you are going to put it away for any length of time.

Moving to accessories section...

I have also quit using jars in favor of tub shaped plastic containers.

I don't recommend deep frying over an open fire. Do that at your own risk.

Deep fry them. Seriously though, crispy doesn't really exist from a grill ike it does from a pan or a deep fryer.

I have all three sizes. If I could only have one it would be the Classic. I fire up my classic about 10 or 12 times for every time i light the big joe. I'd rather work around the smaller space issue on the classic than have to fire up the big joe for smaller cooks most of the time.