Vanole

pmillen, I bought a KBQ 2 years ago. Love the thing. In fact I have it down in Fl and am going to be paying it a visit early next week. Heading south on Sunday and lugging along some pear and peach splits. I am sure you will enjoy it alot. Best brisket cooker in my herd.

I have seen a few of these running around here in Va Beach and got to admit I liked the sublime look. Coatings etc have come along way. Even in the motorhome world you can get a Vortex coating on your front end cap which is much like a Rhino spray in bed liner but tougher. They can even match color and graphics. Seen this process on motorhomes twice. Once on a big money Newell and on a Ithasca Meridien. The later had it applied prior to his Alaska excursion and the front end looked pristine upon completion.

That is a nice cook and writeup. I would have mowed one of those down in a nanosecond.

F_C I have to admit the Santa Maria style bug bit me this past march. I ordered a Sunterra 48" and have been putzing around more with that than my other grills. Really enjoying it. I suspect your NR 7 was an old RJ Kamado. Prior to buying my first BGE in 99 I was really intetested in one of those. Followed a bunch of Alan Zenrichs aka AlanZ posts on the old K-Forum and his old forum which is still up and running. Decided to go a different route due to weight and weight constraints on military moves.

Was a military brat born in the PI(1956) and as far back as I can remember we always had 2 grills hanging around. The old charcoal brazier type grill that had a hood that you could attach to the grill base and had rotis attachment. Also always remember this awful orange/green/yellow clay kamado that my dad bought in Japan and flew it back to the PI. Think my dad got his first gasser in the late 70's. His first smoker was something like an ECB but not made by Brinkman. My first Kamado (Kikuya Hibatchi Pot) I bought on my 1st Class Midn cruise (1974) at the PONY store outside the gate of Yakota AB. My cousin who was a C-141 pilot hauled it back to the US. That kamado has made the CONUS-OCONUS circuit 3 times. Along the way I have added multiple grills charcoal, gas, pellet and a couple more ceramics. Each grill has its own purpose, though I do have a set of duplicate gassers but different models. Its been a great journey and my kids are continuing the tradition.

Understand your concerns. Regarding the rain its been a non issue here in Va Beach for me, knock on wood. I did buy the gen 2 damper arm and rain cap for extra protection. After approx 70 cooks I have yet to have the robotic damper arm stick. I give it a quick wipe at conclusion of cook. I normally run this on a battery pack and its a mizer on juice. Anything is possible but dont see how it could stick while cooking. If you run it in Access Point mode juice consumption will go up. Concerning cloud requirement its not needed you can put your Smobot in the Access Point mode.

I agree with Heuer on the 20cfm being a bit large for a kamado. However Fireboard lets you control fan output to a degree. The fireboard fan is made by auber instruments. Fireboard does not mark up the price that Auber offers the 20cfm fan at. Additionally Auber offers a 10cfm fan or a 6.5cfm fan. So you have choices. Additionally I know the original poster of this thread (Dathzo) utilizes the pit viper along with the fireboard as well as I do with great results. I also have the Flameboss 200 and utilize that fan with the Fireboard and have no issues at all. Totally agree with Heuer concerning Mr Collins. He totally stands behind his product and flamebosses help desk work wonders when your in extremis. Alexa works with fireboard if so inclined. Built in battery power is a plus if you lose power. Since fireboard got in bed with yoder the fireboard now offers cooking programs like my MAK 2 Star or other members of this forums Timberlines. With all that said as of late my go to controller has been the Smobot. Like Dathzo said above the data logging isnt the best out there but that devices temp control is tough to beat. Like that it allows my BGE's or Primo to pretty much operate as intended sans fan.

Sounds like a case for Jackie Chiles aka Kramers lawyer on Seinfeld.

Nice comparison and writeup. I find that on particular cooks I too turn to specific grills/smokers for the job.

Their is a gent "dski grillz" on youtube who has that attachment for one of his kettles. He has a few videos of gabby's in action. Additionally he has multiple grills too include a Sunterra Santa Maria style grill. Dski is the one who set the hook in me to plunk down my money on a Sunterra back in March. Have not looked back since...one of the best grill decisions I ever made.

I have had no issues with I believe 31 SMOBOT cooks. I know their are folks who have beta tested the SMOBOT out their maybe one of them will chime in. If really worried pulse Curtis or Eric at SMOBOT with your concerns or questions. They both are very responsive.

I sent you a PM about Kamado King and Augie. He may have the exact draft door you need. He worked at Imperial Kamado before buying Makosan out when Mako retired. He has a grunch of knowledge on the old clay kamados. I have 2 old clay kamados. One from the early 60's one from 1973. The older one was 1 of 2 my dad bought when stationed at Clark AB. The 1973 model I purchased outside the gate of Yokota AB when I was stationed in Japan. Very Respectfully, Jeff GO NAVY Fly Navy or AAL

Here is an old link to the Imperial Kamado website. The imbedded links in this still work. You will find some info in the repair section on painting etc. http://web.archive.org/web/20090802061836/http://www.imperialkamado.com:80/i_history.htm

Not sure this will make it thru have pretty sketchy internet at present location. I think the primo hinge is fine no problems with it. Sounds like you have an overbite/underbite situation which is correctible. By chance when standing in front of the handle what side are band bolts on? I ask this because a buddy of mine drove himself bananas trying to fix his issue like yourself. We were lounging around his pool and I noticed his band bolts were on the right side of grill when facing it. My XL's bolts are on left side when facing it. Quick call to Primo to verify bolts should be on the left when facing the grill. We flipped the bands and his lid issue disappeared. Who would have "thunk it". BTW his grill was brand new when bought and delivered assembled. On the Primo University pages they have a write up on correction of overbite/underbite situations. I hope you get JR fixed and up and running.

Looks fantastic. My wife is Colombian and she puts a Colombian spin on this dish. One of my faves. We have been to one of his restaurants in Chicago. Was not bad. Still find it hard to believe Rick and Skip are brothers.