DWFII

FWIW. I had a LBGE given to me. It was a mess. I spent near $500 on accessories, etc.--a new firebox, grid, grill, and so forth and had half again that much in parts and pieces given to me by generous people over on the egghead forum. When I got into seriously putting it all back together, I discovered I had a hairline crack in the base. Being retired and on a very limited income, I was sick at having sunk so much into it. People advised me to just cook with it, anyway. So that's what I did. I've had zero problems despite a slight underbite that I cannot seem to get rid of--it holds temp really well and shuts down relatively quickly. Makes a killer pizza, as well as butt, spatchcock, and brisket. But so does my Akorn.

I found this very interesting. Looking forward to your first cook using this method.

Some one said above that this was a boobytrap waiting to happen. And I have to second that. When I first got into Kamados i bought an Akorn from a large online dealer. When I got done putting it together I noticed that it had a major dent in the dome. So I called Chargriller and eventually sent it back for an exchange with the retailer I bought it from. This happened two more times--major production flaws and almost always a dent. The last time I got the Akorn assembled and the dent in the dome was minor...and I was sick and tired of putting them together. I sent Chargriller some photos and got some sort of authorization to send the grill back...I don't recall the details...but I was determined to keep the grill. Having got it assembled and being relatively satisfied, I decide to move it into a shed (it was February) for storage until spring. I grabbed the front handle (all the grids etc. were inside) intending to roll it out of my shop. Now you have to understand the wheels are right below the handle. And you also have to understand that I was tired and sick and tired of building Akorns with all the attendant unpacking and fussing, etc.. The problem was that when I grabbed the handle I hadn't made absolutely sure the dome was latched. And the none of the latches on any of these had a spring closure and, in my experience, the latches were universally sticky, in any case. I tipped the Akorn towards me and the wheels immediately rolled backwards dropping the whole bottom half to the cement floor. The Akorn fared no better than Humpty-Dumpty did. The bottom half was so damaged the whole thing was unusable. It's a booby trap. The latch doesn't automatically close, hinge opens fast, it's top heavy (as they all are) and the wheels force you to tip the Akorn to move it. Almost a definition of booby-trap. Eventually I bought another Akorn...this time the one with the cart. No tipping no worries. The kamado is fine. The cart is not that well designed much less well made, however, and the whole bottom shelf structure can break and detach just moving it over uneven ground. But I managed to jury-rig a fix for that with some bolts and fender washers and a drill bit...and it is even more solid now than it was originally. I am quite happy with my Akorn now but whoever designed this thing wasn't thinking long term. Just my opinion...YMMV

IIRC, the old rule was 1.5-2 hours per pound...it doesn't make any difference if a 7lb. butt is cut in two pieces, it's still 7lbs of meat. Do the math...7x1.5 =11 hours minimum, 14 hours max.

Probably. But the trick is not to bring it up too fast. I light one starter cube in the center of my charcoal and let it come up. Start closing vents about 75-100 degrees before your target. Not really that difficult esp. if you read some of the posts here and take note of where vents want to be for any given temperature. The only time you might want to dump a chimney full of coals into a kamado is if you're shooting for a high heat cook--like pizza. Even then vent management can easily keeps things in control esp. if you anticipate. And somewhat out in the weeds...why worry about how long it takes? Why barbecue at all if it is just gonna be another of those frantic, rush-rush activities that weekends are supposed to free us from?

Well, I'm not an expert and I've never even seen the Summit in person. That said, while it is true that kamados take longer to get up to temp than, say, a Weber kettle, or a barrel cooker, there's not a lot of difference between the Akorn, for instance, and a Weber Smokey Mountain. Both take about 20 minutes. And once at temp, the kamado will hold temps better than anything I've used over the last 40+ years. I've never had a problem getting up to or controlling temp with either of my kamados--BGE and Akorn. Cool-down...to zero or close by...on the other hand, takes three to four hours. It really depends on what you want to do. Open air grilling isn't really a thing on Kamados. But pizza is! 'Nuff said.

I'm of two minds with the CI grate. It's OK and can, I suppose, impart nice sear marks. But I bought a third party, SS grate and if nothing else it is much easier to clean, needs no seasoning and will handle every chore at any temperature as well or better than the CI grate. IMO...

This has already been done...for centuries--it's called Scotch.

Thank you....see my IG feed--here

Yes, IIRC, it was right around that price.

I got about four bags of that this summer...I like it.

Thanks @fbov Well, I wanted that to work but all my probes are bent at a 90° and when I dangle them through the vent the tip of the probe ends up touching the sides of the dome. I saw a photo above where just the straight part is inside the top vent... but I wonder how the probe can be accurate, or even helpful, if it is only reading the last three inches of the top of the dome and nowhere near the cooking zone?

Are some meat probes straight? Mine all have a 90° bend, so when I push it through the top vent, teh tip is in danger of hitting/toughing the sides of the dome. How do you get around that? In the photo above is that 90° angle outside the top vent...is that what I'm seeing in the photo?

How do you get "exit temperature" on a kamado? Just dangle a remote through the top vent?

Me too.