T_om

Who knows. Problem solved now though, no batteries needed. Ever. Tom

Saw this today on the local Craigslist: https://jacksonville.craigslist.org/for/d/fernandina-beach-grill-green-egg/6995533286.html The ad did not mention size. Tom

Aww... black bears are cute. Just pat them on the head and keep on truckin'. (Yeah, a joke ) When my long time Navy buddy and I visited his relatives in Montana years ago to do an Elk hunt, they had two nuisance grizzlys in the area. State game management people had not taken them out. Much as I love my 1911 (John M. Browning was a genius), I never even dreamed of carrying it as a bear gun. Tom

Owner of a PartyQ said it worked fine for him... until he tried an overnight brisket and the batteries crapped out. We rigged up a spare wall wart I had (I have collected about 1,300,650 of the things over the years, I counted them) and now he runs it via an extension cord and is a happy camper. For those of you contemplating buying it, he had no gripes with how it worked, but he was super pissed about limited battery life. Tom PS: I now have 1,300,649 wall warts left.

Just tossing this out there, but last week I read about a class action suit being filed against Traeger concerning their labeling on their pellets. They have been claiming their pellets are "cherry", "hickory", etc. when in fact they were not. They were using random hardwoods and infusing the resulting pellets with flavored oils to simulate actual wood flavor. You get flavored oil taste, not smoked wood taste. I have no idea what will become of that suit but it bears out my own personal taste tests from meat cooked on pellet grills by friends of mine. I knew something was amiss with flavor and smoke but didn't know exactly what until I read that news piece. Tom

OOPS! Double post. Sorry Tom

Wow. KJ should really add taking the tables OFF the cooker to the setup instructions for the rotisserie. Thanks for posting this warning. Tom

You might want to contact CharGriller and find out what the safe max temp for those metal grills are. Not having one, all I can add is that 700°F is no problem at all for a ceramic grill, but a metal grill like the Akorn might have some warping issues at that temperature. And it would be nice to know that before it happens. I do a burn-off on my KJ Classic II after each cook to keep it clean. After removing the food, I open the vents all the way. From opening the vents all the way to 700°F takes about 7 or 8 minutes after each cook. Tom

Yep. And not just for long cooks. I fill it full every cook. Here is a shot of the 37 buck basket after an 8 hour cook and a 700°F burn-off cleaning cycle after the cook finished. And this is cheapo Western Premium lump from Wally World. This shot was after I had already taken the basket out, shook out all the ash and small stuff, then put it back in ready for the next cook. This is how much lump is left. And although the basket could have been considered "full" when I started, I actually could have gotten a lot more in there if really needed... but experience with the basket told me it was unnecessary to have it absolutely topped up for this cook. Tom

Thanks for the wisdom, but I did, and it is. Have you? Re: John's post... I don't know which "cheap basket" he bought but the one I posted is indeed a tad smaller than the Kick Ash basket. Which has made absolutely no difference at all as far as I have seen while actually using the thing. The longest cook I have done on it so far is a brisket at 18 hours and it had a LOT of coals left. That's good enough for me. But it isn't my money being spent guys... so spend all you like. Tom PS: Got some ribs going over that basket right now.

I too have an OnlyFire. But for the Classic II. Here is the one for the larger Kamados: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Onlyfire-Barbecue-Stainless-Steel-Charcoal-Ash-Basket-Fit-XLarge-BGE-Grill/273501863881?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908105057%26meid%3D0a2e7588cfb64aa5909b08c32e045db9%26pid%3D100675%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D273501863881%26itm%3D273501863881%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2481888&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci%3A12e612dd-da69-11e9-8012-74dbd180dfe8|parentrq%3A46a15daa16d0aa47a0a65307ffdb6a9f|iid%3A1 Mine for the Classic II is very high quality, stainless, and at 37 bucks a no-brainer. Tom

I got a pretty good deal on some "Western Premium" lump at Wally World recently. A little over 9 bucks for a 30 pound bag. I bought 300 pounds. I don't think the "Western" brand stuff gets very high marks for quality, but this batch has been fine. The lumps were grapefruit size down to about tennis ball size. All obviously hardwood lumps, no boards, bark or extraneous crap in the bag. The burns have been perfect... fast to light, hot, and long burning. Loaded the fire basket full and got 12 hours at 225°F to 250°F, the longest so far, but half the coals were left unburnt after that cook. So the full load could last a LONG time.. About 1/4 of the bag was chips and chunks instead of lumps, but that's fine with me... I burn them in my Weber Performer with no problem at all. Did chicken wings with it tonight as a matter of fact. Tom

No re-bar needed with that technique. Tom

Kick Ash Baskets, like the Slow'n'Sear, get a lot of marketing, er, hype. I got this for my KJ Classic II and it fits perfectly... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Onlyfire-Stainless-Steel-Charcoal-Ash-Basket-for-Kamado-Kettle-Grill/273413922024?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 It cost 37 bucks. A kick Ash basket cost 90 bucks at Amazon. That is a fifty-seven dollar difference for a basket to hold charcoal. Both stainless, both hold charcoal. The hype apparently works. Tom

If a BGE firebox could fit, that means a Kamado Joe segmented "petal" style could fit. I would go with the updated Joe version over a solid BGE unit. Tom