AJS390

Looks great!

That's a screenshot of the app for my Smobot temp controller. It works great, keeps everything exactly dialed in and monitored from anywhere. There's a web interface that has more detailed data, too, but it isn't as easy to share. Not the most necessary tool for a three hour cook, but it's fun to use and let's me feel free to leave home if I need something with no worries.

To be honest, I hate questions like this. "Worth" is such a subjective value that you can have as many different answers as you have people responding. I have done both, and I find the dojoe to be fun to use and a definite advantage if I'm doing multiple pizzas. There's no big loss of heat from opening the lid, and you can see how done the pizzas are getting. But I also had great success without the dojoe, and it is a bit of a hassle to handle. There's also the potential for it to be hard on the gaskets, but that's true for cooking at high temps in general anyway. @John Setzler has also talked about the different things you can use the dojoe for, like baking or broiling (basically anything that can be improved by browning the top more). So I guess my answer is it depends. I think it's fun to use and I had the money to spend, so to me it's worth it. But if you are perfectly happy with your results without it and are someone who is concerned about "bang for your buck", you probably wouldn't be too happy with it. Also, if space is no worry, at $250+ for the dojoe you're a good chunk of the way to the cost of a dedicated pizza oven, which might be a better option all around if pizza is your passion. Hopefully that helps, even if it's really a non-answer.

I haven't had time to do much cooking, but today I was able to make a 3 lb boneless leg of lamb I picked up the other day. Rubbed it down with a Kansas city barbecue rub, then smoked it at 250° until it hit an IT of 150° (it took almost exactly 3 hours). Turned out amazing, juicy and tender with a great barbecue flavor.

To answer your question, I haven't paid that much attention but I know it's been at least an hour (after starting to cook, not counting warmup and stabilization) with charcoal left over. No problems with dropping temps. I personally choose to lift the dojoe off and set it on some blocks I have set up for it when I'm done so I can close the kamado up and snuff the fire. Not a problem for me, I just use my high heat gloves with an added leather glove around the tabs on the side (just folded up) with no issues. I don't have any dogs or children to worry about burning...

Nope, just flour, water, yeast, and salt. And I definitely use a scale, volumes are too unreliable. My suspicion was also that it could be too much toppings, but I try to keep that consistent. It could just be that I need more practice, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone else had experienced the same thing to try to shorten the learning curve.

I have a question for those of you with experience with the Dojoe. The last couple of times I have used mine, I've had issues as the cook goes on. I get everything lit up as the instructions say, let the dome heat up to 450, install the dojoe, and let it sit for 30-45 minutes to stabilize at the temp I want (right around 600 is what I aim for). I have had it holding rock steady on the dome thermometer, and the first few pizzas turn out perfect. But later on the bottoms are burning before the tops are cooked. I assume this means the stone is getting too hot, but it just seems a little confusing to me since the dome temp isn't changing at all. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions? FYI, I launch the pizzas on parchment paper and generally use a 65% hydration dough. Would it help if I upped it to 70%?

For what it's worth, I have never received any response from KJ customer service other than what you mention, an automatic email with a claim number. But I have so far always received a replacement item, unannounced, delivered to my house (although 2 times might be a bit of a small sample size for "always"). Just shows up out of the blue with no notice of shipment or anything. I understand how you feel, it's frustrating and unprofessional. But hopefully one of these days you'll be surprised by a delivery of a replacement firebox. I personally hate talking on the phone, but even I think that it would make a world of difference if they just had someone you could talk to. In the meantime, how broken is the firebox? You might be able to use it for now with some minor repairs until you can get a new one.

@JeffieBoy I know the whole border situation makes things wacky, but I'd be surprised if they don't sell Chiavetta's marinade there in Ontario. It's the big thing in Buffalo. Easy enough to make your own, but the pre-made bottles actually usually end up being cheaper

Just as a follow-up, I finally had a chance to cook the second steak I got with this gift, a 16 oz strip steak. It was also delicious, tender with great flavor. Cooked it using pretty much the exact same process I used above. I threw some garlic ciabatta bread on the grill to toast too.

Just an update, I went for it and ordered the Smobot with the custom cap and rain cover. Got it in this week, and it's been fun to play around with. Used it for the first time yesterday to cook a chuck roast and had a blast. It was super easy to set up and worked exactly as expected. I had a ton of fun playing around with it, it's just my type of gadget.

I've always just used a wire brush too, never lost any bristles. But a buddy of mine stands by the grill rescue brush. I don't have any personal experience with it. https://grillrescue.com/ Edit: Now that I think about it, this may not be the best idea for a kamado grill due to the amount of water involved.

I've used Napoleon's coconut charcoal, and it went pretty well. It definitely has a unique smell, very sweet, and doesn't really impart any flavor to what you cook (which can be ideal, especially when baking). I was able to get up to very high temps with it as well. I also like the idea of how renewable it is. On the other hand, there are some drawbacks. It is quite a bit more expensive than regular lump charcoal (by the lb), is very slow to light and get up to temp, and results in a lot of ash. The ash is very fine though and easy to clean out.