BobE

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on the new Pit Boss!

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new Big Joe! after 2 years on a KJ Classic I still have a hard time getting a sustained 700F. Your going to use a lot of fuel so start full and make sure you have good air flow. My best results seem to come from a clean (no ash) grill fully loaded with medium sized lump charcoal. The fire is started using 5-6 alcohol soaked cotton balls get things going quickly over a wide area. The bottom and top vents are wide open and then I start adjusting at 500F. I try and hold 550 for 15 minutes to get the interior hot and stable, then open up the vents again to get to 700. It seems to work maybe 60% of the time. Good luck on your next Neapolitan style pie!

I'm not familiar with the Akorn Jr. On my grill I have everything in place, charcoal, heat deflector stones, and grill before lighting. I put 2 alcohol soaked cotton balls in the ash drawer, light them and then slide the drawer under the charcoal. All vents are wide open at that point. After 10 minutes I take a look at the dome temp and start adjusting as required. The dome stays shut until the meat goes on so there is a lot of thermal mass that's at the desired temperature. The only thing that's added is the cold meat so the time to recover to the set temperature is minimized.

Welcome to the Forum and congrats on the new-to-you Acorn! Lump vs briquettes... you can use either, they both produce heat. Most on this forum, including me, use lump. It produces much less ash and really doesn't seem to cost more because these grills are very efficient. Good luck with the temperature, it takes a little practice and patience to get comfortable.

Welcome to the Guru Mike and congratulations on your soon to be delivered KJ Classic II. There's lots of great advice on this site, it's an awesome resource. Best of luck with the first cook!

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on you Akorn Jr! I don't have much to offer beyond the good advice you've gotten so far except that you could try starting the fire with heat deflecting stones and grills in place, that way everything is up to temp when the food goes on.

Thanks for posting, you've got a very nice setup and have made some picture perfect cooks!

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your soon to be delivered KJ Big Joe 2. Share a pic (or 2) of your new Joe on the patio when you get it. Enjoy the first cook!

Welcome to the forum Mike, you've got a tough decision on your hands. The good news is either one is a great choice. I 'make due' with a KJ Classic 1, it hasn't disappointed me after 2 years. Just about any quality grill cover should work, just replace it as needed every 3-4 years. Best of luck!

Welcome to the forum William, glad you joined. You live in an awsome part of GA, I just got back home after a week in a cabing in Hiawassie. Beautiful country up there.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your soon to be delivered grill. Best of luck with the first cook!

Welcome to the forum BigBDM and congratulations on your new Kamado Joe. It looks right at home on your very picturesque patio!

Welcome to the forum B3, the Akorn is a great grill! Glad you're getting something useful from this site. A brit, living in Australia, using a Japanese style grill, to smoke food American style. Ya just gotta love it

Welcome to the forum JuneWL! My advice would be to do a 'Search' (upper right hand side of the title bar) using Japan or Japanese as the key word. Best of luck.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your setup, VERY nice, well done! Glad to have you on board.