Red River Smoke

I totally feel that way too, although this was a relatively small investment, the wok, wok shovel, wok ring, a cleaning brush and shipping was about $55, the extra grate at Home Depot was $10. Even though it's not chrome plated (comes greasy) I think I might try dropping a steak on it to get a good sear, also would be useful if I wanted to hang a water/dripping pan without the Smokin' Stone for some reason.

bluayeddvl, my end game is to move to a ceramic, probably a Costco Pit Boss or if I can find something nice that's used and I will most likely get a woo ring then.

I had been reading about people having fun cooking on woks outdoors and thought, I don't even have an indoor wok! (We also have a flattop stove, so I think an indoor wok would not be the way to go.) So I did a little research and ordered a nice carbon steel wok and some accessories from the Wok Shop in San Fran. (16" with the loop handles so it would fit on the Akorn and still close the lid if I wanted). Got it seasoned and did my first cook on it last night. Super fun and tasty! I know some people will say that a kamado is not an ideal heat source for we woks, and I will try it on the turkey fryer at some point. Couple things if do differently next time are let it heat up a little more before putting the food in, and I probably overloaded it a bit, but the family was happy and it's a learning process. I must have got it seasoned correctly because it was very non stick. Also I got a 17" charcoal grate from a Weber kettle and that sits on the deflector tabs and the Wok sits on that to get it closer to the fire.

The Forkish 48 hour dough is amazing, I made it a couple weeks ago when friends were over and it was a big success!.

Looks nice!

I think something like this could work as a rain guard, just have to remove it when opening the lid, can't think of a good way to secure it easily.

The Smokin' Stone if they don't have it already, and I like the stainless steel grate, but I know plenty are happy with the cast iron.

The seller just got back to me, they are down to $325, but I'm not going to bite unless they go lower, I said $275 and I'm gonna stick to that.

Yeah, I actually felt like $275 was a bit of a stretch for getting a used grill with no warranty and missing a key accessory worth about $60. instead of the stock deflector I probably would have bought that new adjustable rig from Ceramic Grill store, that seems like it would be close to the Kamado Joe's divide and conquer in flexibility.

A two year old K24 bought from Costco came up locally the other day. I'm interested in moving up from my Akorn so I asked a few questions. They had it listed for $400, cover and dual level grates, but no deflector stone. They said it hadn't been used much, but the wooden shelves and handles looked a little worn and in need of a new finish. I was pretty up front that it was worth $275 to $300 to me, used without the deflector, and knowing that the new ones will probably go on sale next month or maybe in July. They declined and I don't blame them, they wanted to move to a Traeger, but I couldn't see paying more for this particular unit. Anyone think I passed up a deal?

I have a Fireboard and am really liking it, I don't have the fan control, but it's nice to know it's a relatively small investment to add that in the future. I also wonder what would happen if the company folded, would the WiFi feature be useless at that point? Bluetooth is non dependent on web access, but that's not really why I own it, but it's nice to know it won't be just a brick if the company folds. That being said, I think the company is safe, AmazingRibs.com keeps touting them as a gold medal winner and I see them getting good reviews from other places too. The App is really easy to use and intuitive and all my measurements seem very accurate. Soon I am going to order the weatherproof case and probe organizers from Fireboard, so I recommend it!

Looks good, happy cooking!

Looks good, I have some boards I want to make in a future project!

Right? We had a Runnings ( kind of a farm and fleet store) open up near us last fall and that's where I found it, good stuff and a fun name!

Made a Costco pack of pork shoulder (15lbs) on Saturday, this was actually my first really long cook with my Akorn, turned out great! Used Meathead's rub recipe, and dumped on some Pig's ### sauce (nice surprise how good that was!) after it was pulled. Otherwise just let it go almost 12 hours with some hickory thrown in with the lump pulled them off around 197 degrees. The shoulder I thought was larger got done about 45 minutes quicker, really loving having multiple probes with the Fireboard. I think the wind was swirling a bit as I had a little harder time than usual maintaining pit temps, I was aiming for about 240 at the grill, but I did let it climb a bit at the end trying to push through the stall. Also the first time I really noticed a stall, so I'm thinking that my other ways I've done pulled pork before I had a kamado were running hotter than I thought and I didn't have a good way to monitor it. Had some happy family and friends with the end result and I had fun cooking anyway, also made some cheesy hashbrowns to go with.