Looking to buy an acorn ... question: what's the difference between an Akorn jr ... good deal now on Amazon ....and an akorn chargriller which every vendor seems to be out of stock on.
The best way to get consistent temperature on these is to block half of the passage between the smoker box and cooking area. Get your coals and wood burning about 350 degrees and then open the top vent all the way and close your inlet until you're at 235. If you have small logs, feed it every 45 minutes. If you have chunks, feed it every 20 minutes. Oak burns hottest in my experience, hickory will lower your temperature and fruit wood is right between them. So either use one type of wood or dial it in with your mixture from the start.
Prob with YT videos today is that everyone wants to be a winded TV star- this took 1:21 min to start! Cut the sh!t, lets go back to the old yt where everyone got to the point already
take the bottom stand off and make a shorter one out of heavier metal, will lower the gravity on it so its less top heavy and solve all your issues. you could also just cut the ones on it and make is shorter and re bolt the legs to the cart
I bought a cast grill for my grill then a homeless guy stole my gas tank a couple year later I looked in there and the new grate is rusty what should I do?
I recently bought a cheap charcoal grill with an offset smoker. I have never smoked any food. I found smoked shotgun shells on RU-vid and want to try them. One question I have is I put the charcoal/wood in the offset smoker side of it but do I put the food in that same barrel or the barrel where I grill with charcoal?
Spent past 2 summers smoking and I have to agree with using charcoal and having lots of it. Tricky business keeping the box hot for 6-8 hours with just wood. And like you said, the flavor at the end of the cook is what matters!
I worked at a BBQ restaurant years ago and was just gifted one of these. After watching several videos, I ended up never getting the heat regulated. As soon as I'd get it to temp it would start cooling off again because it didn't have enough coals. If I adjust the damper just a fraction, it also cools significantly.. Electric smokers are the way, fellas..
Sir, I've had my Char-Griller Akorn Kamado since 2016. I have the dark red model. It was $250 new at the time. Menard's is just under $300 if you catch 11%off sale. BEST bang for the buck cooker/smoker I've had for backyard cooks. I'll be happy to add my thoughts for those who would like just a little more. 1. You're correct, it can be difficult to maintain a 225F level. I also have adapted to 250 - 275F for most cooks. 2. Double wall steel construction - no cracked, damaged, broken ceramic that is devastating considering the up-front cost and replacement. 3. I also am a heavy user, year-round in NE Ohio, south side of the snow belt. Never store mine outside, ever. Inside the building when not in use, never covered. Covers will retain moist/wet conditions and destroy this much quicker. 4. Absolutely agree on cooking area. Have made many BBQ's to feed 4-6 easily. 5. Smoking stone is a must. If you like pork shoulders & brisket like we do, you should use it. I keep 2 spares on hand just in case the unthinkable would happen. No joke. Saw a friend drop his right before installing for a cook. 6. I've never used add-on fan/vent controls. I'm old school, I keep open air temp probes operating during the cook. This gives me the best reason for "sorry, I can't fix your car or lawnmower today" because I have a live fire running. 7. Recently purchased a large 1437 pellet smoker, it's nice and all, but it does not cook the same as a coal fired pit. I'll go to my grave on that. 8. Yes sir, you can cook 600F +, the issue is the gaskets. Once they bake that hot a few times they will be noticeably affected. You only heat to 500F+/- for cleaning/re-season purposes. Get a pizza oven if you have "high temp" dough requirements that often. I did. No regrets. 9. Do I like my Akorn? HELL YES! So many great cooks over these years at an affordable start up cost. 10. Would I recommend this model to anyone getting started in the world of smoking at home? Absolutely YES! **If you're actually focused in the art**
Do you find the occasional piece of gravel in your lump? Cleaned out my smoker today and yet again there was a piece of gravel from cowboy brand lump…. Is that weird!
Late comment, Brilliant water pan idea that I will use on my Char griller 5050 with firebox. I will set the charcoal grate/tray on the bottom of the cook chamber, and an alum 1/2 pan fits perfectly on top of that. I can see that the pan can be slid left or right to adjust, just like an adjustable deflector plate. I was getting too much radiant heat using the charcoal grate/pan inverted as a deflector.
Well, I just started cooking with wood. Last week, I cooked a brisket using charcoal and hickory wood without soaking it, and the taste tasted like it was cooked when a house burned down. This week I took the rest of the wood, gave it a quick soak, 1 hour, and used it to smoke ribs and a couple of steaks. And the flavor tasted way better. The tasted sweet and nutty. It was more bitter not soaking. So it's a personal preference thing to me.
I find just making a big fire with small.pieces of beech wood at first and then working into bigger (relatively) pieces of oak and have no problems. If its eventually gonna be all wood why not start with a pyro show while you're cleaning grates or seasoning?
People stop using briquettes instead use real hardwood lump charcoal made from real wood, not sawdust and glue. It will give you a far superior smoke. Great taste!
