Pro-Tip: When you get your Smoking Stone, put one of the legs at the 6 o'clock position to protect direct heat from hitting the hood thermometer, giving you a false temp reading.
Here’s hoping we’ll see you cooking with Joe Jr. again, at least when not camping 🙂 I just received my Joe Junior two days ago, after watching your other videos cooking with it.
I've been using an Akorn Jr since 2019 for all our camping trips. Bought it for all the same reasons, lighter, less concerned about breaking it, plus it is pretty budget friendly. I've been very happy with. I can't wait to see what more you test with it, and what I might learn.
I have both full size and the JR. Im very happy with both. Akorn JR has a lot of space and the fuel last a long time. On the Jr I made 3 bone dino, then a spatchcock chicken on one set of fuel. Please do more AKORN videos. Thx
I got my jr. at the beginning of the spring. I don't even go camping, I just use it in conjunction with my classic 3 and I LOVE the junior. Super fast, extremely efficient with charcoal. I love that I can sit on a chair with beer and grill while sitting.
My Akorn Jr is my main grill, been using it for ~5 years. You can get more smoke flavor by adding much more smoking wood but run your bottom vent at a 2 & top vent a bit less than 1. Also helps to use “fresh” smoking wood, the bagged stuff burns so quick & spikes temperatures. I used to work for a tree service so I stocked up on a variety of woods & can really see/taste the difference in my food. Very deep blue colored smoke
For a small set up i rock with a 14.5 WSM. Its amazing how much you can fit in it, and you can also use it as a regular baby kettle. Not to mention its only like 15lbs. You can one hand it easily.
The weber Jumbo Joe is a great portable option! 18" grate, lid bale to lock the lid in place and less than $90 US (and way less on sale). SNS and Vortex both make versions for the JJ. Also, lots of guys have setup deflectors to use the whole cooking grate when smoking.
I'd love to see a few more cooks on the Akorn Jr. I'm a family of 2 and would love to see it head to head with the joe jr for more than just camping purposes.
I just bought one of these this year for camping. Because it is light and more portable, it is a great option. We have been enjoying smoked meats at camp all summer!
I like kamado cookers, my PK even more but for camping and portability I absolutely love my my Slow N Sear Travel Kettle, I have yet to have a cook that did not go perfectly. Its the right size, light weight, temp control is awesome and its set up very well for 2 zone cooking or smoking a small Boston Butt (which I have done and turned out fantastic).
Nicely done ! We RV & have now replaced my 23 year old gas portable grill with a Joe Jr. Yes, it's heavy but I do not move it much. From my pickup to the roller stand. It works great..My lighting torch is about 1/3 the size of yours as well. looks like a big pirate pistol. It works great as well. The weight savings would be nice though.
Nice thing with the Chargriller is you can go to home Depot and get 1.5" tubing and for under $20 make legs for it so it goes from a table top or ground unit to a counter height Surprised you didn't do an initial burn in before cooking Woodwind Pro deserves to be higher upon the smoke chart 🤦
I always really liked the Akorn series as they are so inexpensive and can perform so well. Punch way outside their class. I picked up a Jr, 6 years ago and found it very tough to get the temp to dial in steady. I basically chased it which I know is a bad thing with this style of cooker. I didn't have the added gaskets or frankly kamado experience. This was my try at it after coming from kettles, WSM's, a cookshack model 55 and such. I loved the little thing though as I knew this was operator caused. Tried to work through it, but unfortunately it went nuclear on me in honestly 30 minutes and it was toast. The one thing about Char-Griller then was parts had to come from the states and extremely expensive. The replacement gasket was almost half the value of what I paid for it at the outset. Maybe things have changed. One item I think I definitely erred in was using a third parties metal deflector for it. It was quite inexpensive compared to the official smoking stone. The gasket setup SD has done here I think is perfect and would definitely help. One other thing I wish they would do is offer a optional dome thermometer, or at least be compatible with others out there freely available. The stock one is total garbage. I used my smoke meter accordingly. I don't need the portability they offer, and honestly I'd go with a Joe Jr, now when they go on sale as they'll last and are supported. My .02c but definitely keen to see you continue to cook on this wee Akorn as they and the entire product line I just have to pull for and support. For what they offer and also to help outline where the heck I went wrong. Thanks kindly, and great channel too. And I am a subscriber. :-) Dave
I pulled the trigger on the Akorn Jr not because I didn't have a Kamado style grill but because it's much lighter compared to the other kamado style grills and I didn't want to use a large grill when I'm only cooking for a few people. I bought it for $100 brand new on FB marketplace and also because you said Kamado Joe bought out Char-Griller. I'm loving the jokes you put into the video it's a nice change from your old format of videos which I also enjoyed.
Great video, as always, sir! Based on your videos, I bought an Akorn to use until our move out of state is finished. I've actually been considering a Jr for mobility and smaller cooks, so this video was nice to see.
I owned the jr for a while and thought about taking it camping. But was afraid of it breaking. Just picked up a new PK and think it will make a good camping grill
Please make a video of everything you can do on the akorn jr, just like you did on the Kamado Joe jr. I bought the Joe jr over a month ago online and was scammed from the website I purchased it off of, after watching this video I decided to go for the akorn jr, it’d be nice to see all it can do.
Love my jr (at my gf place) while my akorn is at my place. One common issue is they’re GREASE pits. I gotta deep clean both of mine every cook, I always want a clean smoke/cook
Hi James, I have a rather random question for you. You have been using a Joe for long time, on the hinge is a number, either 457 or 609, do you know the difference? Also mine has a gold badge rather than black? I can't find an answer anywhere 😢 Thanks in advance
Hello, quick question: what type of gasket do you use exactly? Is it high heat? What is the name of the gasket brand? Thank you. Edit: I found your video on your channel about the gaskets! Thanks for making it!
Hi James, love your videos! I own a stick burner and ran across your channel last year. I immediately started following you. I finally pulled the trigger and received my Big Joe III yesterday. What are your thoghts on using a Smokai, would you do a review on it?
Hey hows it going man I’m from northern california and really enjoy watching your videos. I just recently added a kettle joe to my line up and have used it for a few cooks including trying to recreate your over night brisket using the big joe grid extender and a water pan and even got the classic joe heat deflectors under the water pan to try and duplicate your double indirect method but no clue if that’s the right way to approach it lol. would really like to see your take on a hot and fast double indirect brisket cook on a kettle joe man that would be awesome lol
Love my Joe jr but a buddy of mine bought the Akorn Jr off Amazon for around $260 CDN on sale. And he loves it. One of the nice things with it is he says the exterior doesn't get really hot which makes it nice for transporting.
Just purchased the smokeware swivel extender for my Akorn Jr. Tight fit but wanted to be doing OTT and obviously able to take a bit more for wings etc. Been using for about 3 weeks
Great video, Have you ever got to put your hands on a Komodo Kamado I’m very interested in these especially the big 42” . I know they are crazy expensive.
I’d love to try one but they don’t have demo units for review (I asked) and based on how much I lost buying 4 offsets to review them independently I will need some help from them to make this happen
Hello James, I notice you use foil for many of these applications. Is there anything else we could use in it's place? Could you place in a shallow pan?
That’s an important point. Longevity no doubt my joe jr wins that argument hands down. But the camping angle I see some benefits of cheaper and indestructible
@@SmokingDadBBQ the problem is that moisture or rain can find it’s way between the metal. It gathers in the bottom ash pan and then you hear water sloshing around. It takes time to get the water out. And this was after one storm where I couldn’t put a cover on it since it was hot. Over time I guess moisture sits on the bottom even with the cover on and it just rusts. The top part was ok, but the entire bottom was unrecoverable.
I hated my acorn...didn't want to spend the money for a ceramic...regret that purchase.....if you want to camp and cook, why not a barrel smoker like the bronco?
I was wondering about exactly this. Being a New kamado Joe Owner I didn’t want to take what I would see you as a backward step and buying an akorn but this is making me think about it.
@@SmokingDadBBQ I got it for camping 🏕️ your video convinced me! Kamado should thank you 🙏! Tell us more about it on trick and tips if you like 👍 I’ll be happy it’s still in the box 😆
You had an odd full size Akorn. I've owned 2 and have used more and seal was excellent in all. I'm wondering if it's because you insisted on latching the big one. The latch was supposed to just be for moving. Also, doesn't look like you oiled the grid. BTW, threw away my Akorn Jr. because it caught fire in the ash catcher. What I mean is that some embers went down between the inside and outside at the air vent. The bottom of it burnt up. Char Griller would not honour warranty on it.
@@SmokingDadBBQ The cookers are in the foreground and you're standing far back (in video and thumbnail). You look like "James Jr." I'm trying to imagine all the time you spend cooking at home and then you wind up cooking on vacation. It would be restaurants for me!
Two-timing Sarah with the Joe Jr. Shame! Shame! Shame! I do wonder why you always cook boneless pork shoulders. I just cook them with the bone in, then the bone pulls out with no effort whatsoever.
