Thunder77

Yum! Well done sir!

Welcome to the Guru! Lots of great people and great info on here!

That is the one I have as well. I am very pleased with it.

I did not go from one to another, but simply added to my collection. I got a Primo Junior Oval. While I love the Junior for a lot of reasons, I am NOT getting rid of my Akorn yet! 1) Unless I find a great deal like I did on the Junior, I could buy two or three Akorns for the price of one ceramic grill. 2) I personally would never buy a BGE. Don't like them, don't like all the hype surrounding them, and don't care for the cult-like following they have. (Apologies to BGE owners. ) 3) If you buy stock BGE accessories, they are EXPENSIVE. AND a whole lot more expensive!

Good Find! I have an Akorn that I have had for about 2 years. It's all @TKOBBQ fault. He talked me into it. I just recently bought an adjustable fire grate, and it is a welcome addition. Not necessary, but nice to have. I also bought a hinged stainless steel cooking grate, because I killed my stock cast iron grate. (A lot of high heat cooking took the seasoning off.) I think you will be happy with the Akorn. I am pleased with mine.

Welcome to the Guru from another Akorn owner! I have had mine for a little over two years, and I am very happy with it. I make highly requested chicken and turkey on mine a lot. I got it for basically the same reasons you did. It was on sale, and I figured I could break into the kamado world for a lot less money. I am very glad that I did. There is a wealth of information on this forum. The only thing I did was add the smoking stone, and install a gasket around the lip of the ash pan. Be careful to avoid letting water get in, because it will accumulate in the ash pan, and could rust it out. Don't ask how I know this...

That looks pretty good. I have some baking stones that are 7.5 inches square that I can put side by side to make a 7.5" x15" Stone, but that is not great.

Thanks for the quick response. My main concern would be that the the sheet pan would pass too much heat, and burn the bottom of the pizza. I will definitely look into the sheet pan though.

Good morning all. Yesterday i wanted to to try out Junior for some bread baking. It has worked so well for everything else that It though it would be good for bread. I filled the firebox, lit the fire in two spots, and left the bottom vent wide open . I had the top vent open to about 1/4" crescent. I had the heat deflectors on the top of the grates, to use as baking stones. The grates were in the upper position. Now for the bread I was making, I needed 450 defgrees F. I figured the Junior could handle that. I could not get above 450, and When I added the bread, it dropped to 350, and never came back up to temp. Has anyone else had issues with Junior for high temp cooks? Maybe I didn't light enough charcoal in the firebox? I have no trouble getting higher temps without the heat deflectors, but I needed some kind of baking surface.

I have had mine for about 2 years now, and I am very satisfied. I remember to cover it most of the time It stays out in the weather all year long. I put a gasket on the ash collector pan, and that helped a lot with temp control. My lower shelf is showing a bit of rust on it, and I have some rust around the disk that holds the ash pan onto the body. I attribute that to the occasional water collection in the bottom from leaving it uncovered. My original cast iron grate is shot. I replaced it with a nifty stainless steel one I found on Amazon. I do a lot of high heat cooking, like pizzas and bread, so I probably contributed to the demise of my grate. I got my Akorn, and my Akorn Junior on clearance at Walmart. I paid $227 total for BOTH of them. So I figure that I already got my money's worth out of them, but they will likely last a few more years. My main beef with Akron is that is does not come with the heat deflector. If I was was just breaking into the kamado world, I would buy the Akorn again.

That sir is a fine looking pizza!

I don't know about the extra cost. I have an Akorn. I purchased it for the reasons stated above: I wanted to break into kamado cooking, but I am not made of money. With the two small mods I made to my Akorn, I am very happy with it. I get raves about the pizza and bread I make on it, and my turkey is requested on a regular basis. I am with you; If I was spending that much money, and I didn't care about portability, I would go ceramic. Here is an interesting review of the BKK. Maybe it will explain why it might be worth so much. https://amazingribs.com/grill-smoker-egg-or-kamado-style-combination-grill-smoker-tailgater/broil-king-keg-5000-review

I have also read that it isn't a good idea to use garlic in sous vide, unless it is garlic powder. Has anyone else heard that?

I love woodworking and doing home improvement projects with my wife. We also like to go out on Saturdays, and troll thrift stores, and old furniture stores for stuff to rehab. I have also recently gotten into flying drones, but that is a bit of an expensive hobby.

No, not with acorn flour. Bread baked on the Akorn. It was a gorgeous weekend, and I felt like I needed to make some bread, but I didn't want to heat up the house, so I fired up the Akorn for my oven. I made Ken Forkish's Harvest Bread with poolish. It's a fairly easy but really flavorful bread. Forkish say the aroma reminds him of wheat fields at harvest time. It has a nice, nutty, slightly sweet flavor. Leftovers make great french toast!