Charcoal Addict

Not for my purpose. This is my 8th year using a Kamado Joe. I’m used to controlling the temp with vents only. I can do low and slows without the controller. I’m usually multitasking and doing wood working projects and other things. The temp controller offers peace of mind when I’m juggling tasks. You always have to keep your phone on you during hot & fast cooks. It was a little annoying to have to manually reactivate the fan in the app every time you open the lid. There was no real difference in start up times when using a propane torch vs the IKamand.

Everyone has different sensitivities. One person’s over smoked food is another person’s delight. The high efficiency of Kamado means less airflow. The smoke lingers for a longer time. You rarely need to exceed more than 4 chucks of wood for briskets, ribs and pulled pork. You generally only use 1-2 chunks for turkey, lamb and chicken. You only need one wood chunk for fish.

The first test with the iKamand went well. I would use it for any cooks over 275 F. It’s more work than necessary to keep fidgeting with my phone and a controller on shorter high temp cooks. It was bought for those low and slows. It looks like I’ll need to use a ziplock to protect the power adapter on rainy days.

I took the screws out. I nicked myself on the metal filings left on the handle. I thought it was odd they didn’t use the same fold over technique used on the OEM draft door that came with the grill. All the other manufactures use a metal fold over to eliminate any sharp edges on the adapters.

It’s getting it’s first test spin after updating the firmware on a simple pork chop cook. I really only bought it for low and slow cooks. What the heck, I wasn’t going to make any brisket on a work night.

No big deal. I have the construction/wood working background, I can fix stuff like that. For the average consumer, they should revise the draft door to make sure there’s no sharp edges on it.

The IKamand finally arrived today. The store I ordered it from last week sent me the wrong controller. It’s sitting there doing it’s firmware update. It was surprising easy to connect when compared with the CyberQ Wifi. I did nick my thumb installing the draft door. I have a steel teaming tool. I plant to remove any sharp edges left from the plant. Otherwise, it’s smooth sailing. It’s a little strange the factory didn’t fold over the metal on the door handle to create a smooth finger friendly lower vent handle similar to the folded handle on the original lower KJ draft door.

I used a steel reinforced epoxy to repair the broken mounting bracket on my Napoleon tumble basket. I was very careful not to get any epoxy on any surface that would come into contact with food. It seems to be good as new. It’ll require a test spin to see if the JB Weld can hold up to the heat.

Soap stone can handle a pizza. It would work. It’s overkill. It’s 3 or 4 times the weight of a pizza stone with no real added benefit over using a pizza stone. The results would be the same. There’s more benefit in elevating the pizza stone higher up in the grill to cook the toppings more evenly. Pizza stones are lighter and easier to elevate on a riser or KJ expander. A slab 3/8 of steel cut into a circle to fit the Kamado would have a bigger benefit. You get a different texture to the crust.

A new toy arrived via courier. The all new Napoleon rotisserie rib basket. I’ve been using the Octoforks to spin ribs over the past few years with the major draw back of overcooking the last rib on each end. You also have to cut the rack in half to use the Octoforks to cook ribs on the Kamado. I had a ribolator and sold it. It’s really a Ferris wheel rather than true rotisserie. Hopefully this 3rd solution will finally be the ticket to rib perfection. The Napoleon rib rotisserie basket is pretty cool and designed to do what the expensive ribolator never did. That’s spin ribs for true Rotisserie goodness. I’ll have to go rib shopping for a maiden voyage. I can also do fish, chicken breasts and thighs using this racks. The only drawback, It’s Big Joe Only. It’s too big to fit on a classic.

I think KJ worked out 90% of the kinks. It’ll be nice to have a weather proof controller. Ziplock bags ain’t cheap these days. The BBQ Guru required a lot Ziplock back to protect it. The LED froze up on a cold winter day. It was time for an upgrade with a better app.

I have an older 2nd Gen Kickash on the 2nd Big Joe. I’ll order a KJ basket for that unit as soon as they have stock again.

I’m finally pulled the trigger & bought an IKamand. I feel KJ worked out all of the major kinks. I’m also getting weary of the bit and piece involved in the CyberQ Wifi. It was time to make the plunge. I was a little disappointed that you can’t buy food probes separately from the grill probe. I guess the worst case scenario is having a back-up for a failed grate probe if one fails. It feels like a strange omit not to sell separate food probes. The IKamand should arrive sometime this week.

I don’t expect anything to last forever. It was purchased in Sept 2018. It’s relatively young to see product fatigue. I use it as a long as it’s useful. I’m inclined to Test Kamado Joe’s version on my second Bog Joe to see if it performs any better as a replacement. I’ll reserve judgement based on what I see with the KJ basket after 21 months of usage.

Which do you Baking dish do you prefer for making Chicago Style pizza. A seasoned metal baking dish or the ceramic baking dish like the one sold by KJ? You get a more buttery crust inside a seasoned metal Chicago deep dish pan. The KJ ceramic dish provides a firmer more airy crust at the bottom. Otherwise the results are pretty much the same.