Red River Smoke

I did a spatchcocked 17 pound bird and an 8 pound breast (on the top rack) in an Akorn last year so you should have similar realestate on your Classic. My trouble with turkeys in the kamado is getting the skin to crisp up, I had better luck with a dry drip pan when I ran one with liquid in it to make gravy the skin came out kind of rubbery.

I would probably start with my random orbit sander and do like 120 grit and then 220 then 320 grit. Wipe it down with a tack cloth, put a coat of finish on then use the orbit sander with like a 320-400 grit, wipe down with tack cloth then do 2 to 3 more coats of the finish using some 00 steel wool or one of those 400 grit sanding "sponges" wiping down with a tack cloth after sanding. it's up to you if you want to get the frame super smooth but you'll at least want to rough it up a couple of times to help the finish bond. Otherwise looks like a good solid table, congrats!

The adjustable rig from the Ceramic Grill Store is super nice, will do what a KJ Divide and Conquer will do and the quality can't be beat. I also got one half stone and a half rack to do levels for veggies or whatever. My next purchase for the grill will definitely be an ash basket, probably Kick Ash, but I'm not opposed to going cheaper. I also have it in my head I want a big soapstone for smash burgers and that would also double as a pizza stone. I'm less inclined to want a rotisserie, I feel like they cook pretty evenly with the deflector in place, but it would be a fun toy to have. Oh I also have the spider from CGS mostly to hold my wok, but I haven't used it yet.

@ckreef first I need to build a grilling patio, the decks out of room!

It seems to come up fairly often, people looking for table ideas or plans, so I thought I'd share this. It's on buildsomething.com, which is owned or sponsored by Kreg so nearly everything uses a Kreg jig in some way and it's a pretty nice looking table. If you're building for a different Kamado, measurements may need to be adjusted. https://www.buildsomething.com/plans/P1A4791A1C9AD93CC/Big-Green-Egg-Grill-Cabinet

Welcome and usually when people say a full firebox, they mean right up to the heat deflector tabs. Also, most won't use a chimney to start their lump unless they are doing a high heat sear on steaks or something. For doing a brisket or something low and slow I will make sure all the ash is out of my grill, put a "full load of lump" in the firebox, use one cottonball soaked in alcohol to light it in the middle, then after about 10 minutes when I just have a glow from the coals I'll put the heat deflector in and close the lid with the vents fully open, after another 5-10 minutes I'll start closing vents down to anticipate, but not go past my desired temp. Some cook with briquettes on here, but most use lump charcoal and that's usually what the kamado manufactures recommend, it produces less ash and I think it has a cleaner taste than say blue bag Kingsford. Hope that helps.

@bko Here is a picture I took for another purpose, but it should help you as well, so the ceramic is 24" side to side and those ears the tables attach to are probably another inch and a half on either side. I can't remember if you can easily remove those from the band. The hinge probably sticked out 4 inches from the back of the grill and the handle is about 3 inches in the front. Hope that helps!

@ckreef I was super skeptical too actually, because I also don't care for liquorice but I was pretty happy with the results. Looks good, glad you like it! I may need to make it again soon.

Papa Murphy's is our go to not frozen or homemade pizza, we like it better than most of the delivery options in town, and way cheaper! Are you aiming for around 425 on your dome temp? I remember making one on the gasser with a pizza stone and it was kind of a disaster, have not tried one in the kamado. I bet it would work better on the elevated rack because you wouldn't generally cook on a stone in the oven. Also love the calzone idea!

Anyone see or heard of these before? On sale on Amazon today, although the regular price would be pretty reasonable if they work. A few questions asked and answered on Amazon, but no reviews so far. Link: http://a.co/d/0jm8Hyb

Yeah I paid $599, it sold out before it discounted here, I know a few stores dropped down to $499. I've said it a few times, I would rather have gotten one than not, but I did hold on until July to see if they would drop in price.

Yeah, I just was reading emails and saw that the online price was now $650 until the 13th. Not terrible for having it delivered.

@Binderbill14 yeah the more I use mine for different things the more it makes sense to me, even looking at the videos from CGS i could see it was useful, but until you play with it you don't realize how clever it is.

I would doubt it, it's not like it goes instantly cold, I can't even put the cover on mine until hours later. I haven't had my ceramic that long, but I think they just crack sometimes, could be a flaw in the manufacturing or just bad luck.

Crazy! I've been dealing with some sub-par lump lately too, the Royal Oak in the yellow/green bags, (Menards) leaving everything much smokier than anticipated. It hasn't flared up like that though, glad all will be well though!