I've read that the air management is much more efficient with a kamado and that you can go much longer with one load of coals. Can anyone comment on this?
There is no comparison between long cooks on a kettle VS a Kamado. The kettle will require the addition of coals doing long cooks, more than say 3 hrs. Kamado's will go for 17 to 27 hrs with one load without having to do anything if you are able to control the air flow.
I've read that the air management is much more efficient with a kamado and that you can go much longer with one load of coals. Can anyone comment on this?
Yeah, I was talking my experience, I never knew about any snake method 20 some years ago when I used to use kettles. It is good to know that you can get that long. It is nice that with other cookers you can get how ever many hours you want and know you don't have to add coals. I like/need my sleep.:biggrin1:
I can also get a pork butt and brisket ready with the sides and fixings for a 5pm dinner by waking up at 7-8AM after a good nights rest.
Keep em both. Nothin wrong with having a few different tools for different jobs. Fwiw I would give up any of my webers, and I have many other cookers. There's just some thing beautifully simple about a weber kettle.
Whoo boy, I sure wouldn't want to risk that time frame. A lot of you guys love your kettles which is good. Me, I don't plan on ever going back.
For those interested, the Wally mart near my work has the Weber table models for $225 right now.
Yes I used the diffuser. But the heat source is still coming from the bottom with no real way to escape it. Maybe add multiple diffusers? You cant move things around or block it off. Also when doing things such as prime rib the grease drips on the diffuser and burns and leaving a nasty taste to the meat. It will easily ruin a $80 prime rib that way. I just think having the heat source coming from under the meat is not good. In my opinion it's just not true indirect cooking and is the kamado's weakness.
This is all just my opinion. I'm sure there's plenty of people that could cook award winning brisket on it. That person is not me. I'm just not sold on the design. Also it's almost 200 pounds and all you get is 18" of grill space. Yes you can stack, but things get silly at that point. Maybe the Kettle will cause me frustration and I will love the Kamado again. Right now I just don't. I know it's not apples vs apples, but I'm curious to see what a $150 kettle can do against it.
Don't get me wrong at all.....the ceramics are phenomenal cookers......Just that if he's headed this direction anyway, thought I'd throw down the welcome mat !!!!! Welcome !!!!