Ware's Jambo Backyard

[64Driver]

Oh man! Awesome looking bones and rig! Thanks for sharing the pics

 

[Sweet T]

looking good! Are those bacon wrapped meatballs? or that the sausage?

 

[jamaicamon]

nice cook! I love the smoker

 

[Ware]

...Are those bacon wrapped meatballs?

Yes. Didn't get a photo of the sausage.

 

[BABYGOTBUTT]

Very nice rig indeed!

 

[cozy]

Looks great! How easy was it to run the smoker? Are you in a cold climate?

 

[Ware]

Looks great! How easy was it to run the smoker? Are you in a cold climate?

Much easier than I expected. I started with a chimney full of lump charcoal plus two mini logs. I couldn't get the temp below ~325F with the two logs, but it was okay because I wanted to burn it out/season it for a few hours before putting the meat on (since it was brand new). From that point forward, I just added one mini log each time the temp started to dip. It was pretty obvious when it needed more fuel. I'm not sure exactly what the interval was, but I would guess somewhere on the order of ~45min. I think I had a good fire because it was difficult to see the smoke coming from the stack.

I'm in Arkansas, and the climate is not usually very cold. It was actually an unseasonably warm ~65F during this cook.

 

[SGH]

Managed to take a few pictures before the food disappeared last weekend. The ribs turned out a little darker than I expected

First let me say great looking smoker and grub. As far as your ribs turning darker, this has been my observation as well when burning 100% wood. The ribs cooked on my BGE, Vault and Shirley all have a different look. The BGE produces the lightest color followed by the Vault and then the Shirley offset. That said, the best ribs I make come off the Shirley offset. Thus I don't worry to much about the slightly darker color. Again, great looking grub and smoker. Enjoy.

 

[Ware]

First let me say great looking smoker and grub. As far as your ribs turning darker, this has been my observation as well when burning 100% wood. The ribs cooked on my BGE, Vault and Shirley all have a different look. The BGE produces the lightest color followed by the Vault and then the Shirley offset. That said, the best ribs I make come off the Shirley offset. Thus I don't worry to much about the slightly darker color. Again, great looking grub and smoker. Enjoy.

That makes sense - the last ribs I smoked were on a Kamado Joe Big Joe.

 

[Ware]

With some nice weather and some free time, I fired up the Jambo on Saturday. First order of business was breakfast, so I smoked a naked fatty for some sausage biscuit deliciousness. Meanwhile, I prepped a couple butts. I wrapped them in pink butcher paper at 165F, and they turned out nicely. I got lazy on the pictures, but I served it up on toasted jumbo sesame seed buns with baked beans on the side.

 

[BoLiles]

Food looks great man!

 

[Woodberg]

How has the temperature difference been between the firebox side and exhaust side of the cooking chamber? From your pictures it looks like at the firebox side, the deflection plate is flush with the cooking grate. For some reason I thought that it used to be a few inches above the cooking grate. It still seems counter intuitive that the heat is directed up instead of down. I'm guessing that with the exhaust side at grate level, the hot air flows up and over the meat and back down to the exhaust. How much of the cooking grate is unusable right by the firebox side?

 

[Corky]

Lordy that is beautiful

 

[Muscrat]

How has the temperature difference been between the firebox side and exhaust side of the cooking chamber? From your pictures it looks like at the firebox side, the deflection plate is flush with the cooking grate. For some reason I thought that it used to be a few inches above the cooking grate. It still seems counter intuitive that the heat is directed up instead of down. I'm guessing that with the exhaust side at grate level, the hot air flows up and over the meat and back down to the exhaust. How much of the cooking grate is unusable right by the firebox side?

The design on my cooker is the same. I've had chicken thighs against the end of the grate and also had chicken thighs on the upper front rack. The chicken on the front rack was done long before the chicken against the fire box. The heat hits the ramp and is deflected therefore slowing you to put meat close to the box.

 

[LarryO1947]

NICE!!!! :thumb:

 

[Coat]

So where is the air intake on a jambo?

 

[Shagdog]

On the Fire Box door

 

[Coat]

On the Fire Box door

What I would have assumed but why cant I see it lol

 

[pgyrogear]

What I would have assumed but why cant I see it lol

It looks like you would adjust the air be the bolts on the front

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Well you know those things are a piece of junk so what time do I need to come by and pick it up? :becky:

This is sort of a follow-up from a previous thread, but I would like to capture my Jambo Backyard-specific experiences here. To recap, I started smoking on WSM's (both 18.5 and 22.5) several years ago. I upgraded to a Kamado Big Joe about two years ago, but I really only used it as a smoker, i.e. I wasn't grilling or baking on it as much as I thought I would. So I decided to start looking for a dedicated smoker... I was leaning toward one of the smaller insulated verticals (Lone Star Grillz Mini, Pitmaker Safe, etc.), but something about a quality offset had my interest. Long story short, a Jambo Backyard followed me home.

I will post more photos, etc. later, but I wanted to go ahead and throw this picture out here for your consumption. The Backyard has some updates that aren't reflected on Jamie's website - I think these are the main differences:

• 5" stack (was 4")
• Stack damper is now a butterfly valve, like his larger pits
• Cooking racks are heavier (3/16", I think)
• Has a 3/8" back door now
• Handles and hinges are painted black (the only change I wasn't crazy about)
• The price is $2350