What would you consider as the best outdoor smoker?

Not really. It is not easy to switch from indirect heat to direct on a round Kamado. With mine, I have to remove the top grill, remove the heat deflector, then replace the top grill - while all this is hot, mind you. It makes me wish I bought a Primo in the first place.

Keith:

That was the exact point I was trying to make.

Thanks,

Ken
 
I've gotten exceptional support from Dennis at Komodo Kamado so I'm surprised at some of the comments here, unless KK means another brand.

Several times he has sent improved parts for my cooker without my asking and at no charge.

Another time I tried to order a replacement part (I asked him how much it would cost) - but he sent it to me at no charge instead.
 
Never heard the term heat spreader but I assume you mean the deflector plates. I can set the Primo up with just one D plate. This leaves half of the Primo with the lump exposed. I cook indirect over the deflector plate and then when I'm ready to sear the meat I open the vents and move the meat over to the side where the lump is. With a round kamado you need to remove the deflector plate to get to the lump.

Ahh, I just smoke w/o the plate in the first place for those situations. I think the larger ceramics make this less of an issue (middle and upper grate are further from the coals); I would not want to smoke on the lower grill on my KK w/o the deflector.
 
Interesting thread as I am looking for a "low & slow" smoker that ideally does regular BBQ as well.

The kamado units look great, they seem very versatile, the primo oval in particular.

One question though, it seems the kamado's are primarily direct heat bbq's that can be adapted to function as smokers and low-slow cookers. How do they perform in this regard compared to purpose built low-slow smokers such as the weber smokey mountain or traditional type horizontal barrel type Traeger smokers?
 
The WSM is similar in style to the kamado... they are both vertical upright smokers. The kamados have better insulation and require a smaller fire (less drying of the meat). The WSM is only intended for smoking.

The Traeger is easier to use ( very similar to an oven in use) and is a horizontal smoker. IIRC it tops out at 400-450 degrees.

You can make excellent BBQ with any of these cookers. Only the kamado can cook across the entire temp range (800+ for bread and pizza, 225 for bbq). I've smoked fish and cheese in my Komodo Kamado (below 200F) and I've also cooked pizza and seared steaks (800F). The downside to these units is cost, weight, and a slight learning curve when compared with the Traeger.

Greg
 
Interesting thread as I am looking for a "low & slow" smoker that ideally does regular BBQ as well.

The kamado units look great, they seem very versatile, the primo oval in particular.

One question though, it seems the kamado's are primarily direct heat bbq's that can be adapted to function as smokers and low-slow cookers. How do they perform in this regard compared to purpose built low-slow smokers such as the weber smokey mountain or traditional type horizontal barrel type Traeger smokers?
They actually work superbly. Once you put a barrier between the fire and your food (clay pot, pizza stone or cast iron pan) you get the full indirect cooking (you can also put a pan here to catch the drippings). The nice thing then is that you are getting even heat. With any off-set smoker, the temp is not uniform as the heat/smoke comes from one side. Excellent cooking of course can be done with any smoker :). But the ceramic units are very nice in this regard. In addition, they maintain the moisture better as they are full sealed with heavy gaskets and such eliminating the need for water pans, mopping more sauce, etc. Combined with the even cooking temps, you don't need to do anything to your meat (unless you want to).

Their main drawback is their massive weight and the fact that they don't hold much. You can stack the food vertically and the larger units do the job (I feed up 20+ people with mine). But they still don't compare the massive surface area of an offset smoker.
 
The largest ceramic cooker is the Komodo Kamado "Big Bad 32" (the stainless components alone weigh over 100lbs) and has a grate area similar to the larger home-use offset cookers. However, most people find that 2 smaller cookers make more sense because you rarely need the capacity and the smaller cooker uses less fuel.

I've cooked 11 pork butts at once on my 23" KK (3 levels of grates). Even with a WSM you can cook a *lot* of meat at once. For new BBQers I would strongly recommend that you start with 1-2 pieces of meat on 1 level for your first cook.
 
Interesting thread as I am looking for a "low & slow" smoker that ideally does regular BBQ as well.

The kamado units look great, they seem very versatile, the primo oval in particular.

One question though, it seems the kamado's are primarily direct heat bbq's that can be adapted to function as smokers and low-slow cookers. How do they perform in this regard compared to purpose built low-slow smokers such as the weber smokey mountain or traditional type horizontal barrel type Traeger smokers?

You can turn out championship quality bbq with a ceramic cooker and blow the minds of friends and family. Remember that many bbq teams compete with BGE and Primo.

Personally I use the Primo XL every night and tend to use it as a smoker for smaller cooks for the sake of convenience. Its turns out amazing BBQ and was my "go to" smoker for quite some time and I actually preferred what it turned out compared to my Traeger 075 pellet smoker (which I would normally use for larger scale cooks). I replaced the Traeger with a Cookshack Fast Eddy FEC-100. Now I tend to used the FEC-100 for the majority of my smoke/bbq'ing. It turns out a better product but that isn't to say anything bad about the ceramic cookers.

If I could only own one all-in-one it would be the Primo XL without hesitation. You will love it.
 
Thanks for the replies. I see in all the WSM video's/instructions that people use the water steamer/drip tray as per default, for the Primo (or other kamado's) this doesn't seem to be the case. I see there is a whole debate on the topic of dry vs wet smoking and there seem to be pro's & con's to both approaches. Could someone confirm that I can fit in a water filled drip tray above the heat deflectors of the primo oval xl and hence do regular 'wet' smoking? If so I'm pretty much sold and will go pick one up for xmas...
 
Thanks for the replies. I see in all the WSM video's/instructions that people use the water steamer/drip tray as per default, for the Primo (or other kamado's) this doesn't seem to be the case. I see there is a whole debate on the topic of dry vs wet smoking and there seem to be pro's & con's to both approaches. Could someone confirm that I can fit in a water filled drip tray above the heat deflectors of the primo oval xl and hence do regular 'wet' smoking? If so I'm pretty much sold and will go pick one up for xmas...

Yes you can but I couldn't imagine why you would want to. Moisture is not an issue in a ceramic cooking environment.
 
Yes you can but I couldn't imagine why you would want to. Moisture is not an issue in a ceramic cooking environment.

Agreed. Ceramic holds the heat better so you'll use a smaller fire. A smaller fire means less air moving past the meat (which dries it out).
 
Just joined the forum, thats my excuse for picking up this thread after a few months so please excuse me!

Based in Melbourne, Australia and use the Broil King Keg and find it to be absolutely incredible. Think Big Green Egg made out of metal and you are on the right track.
 
Hello, gadget_addict and welcome to the WBF. I had not heard of a metal version of the BGE before. Interesting. How thick are the walls?

Tom
 

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