bgrant3406

Well, pebbles cook better I think it is really going to be more of the choice of available color and what you will feel fits best in with the look of your ODK. Not sure what the stability of a 32 would be without the legs/wheels, it would also reduce the grill height, unless you built a stand for it to rest on. I would think some sort of a false front to cover the wheels/legs would be easier, but it would be a toe catcher. Give Dennis a call, he is the authority and could fill you in on if a baseless 32 is a realistic build. He can also let you know how long it would take to get something like that to you. Regards.

I was worried that this was going to be a thread about an all male party aka “sausage fest” Great job, wish I was there to help sample!

Congrats on the safe journey home and a hell of a deal!!! For those contemplating a move, here is how I did it, long read and plenty of pictures! Moving a KK, one way to do it.

Congrats!

Once they pass the quick Q+A, how about an essay question, something like: Compare and contrast the effects of direct and indirect cooking with a focus on conduction, convection, and radiation. Bonus points awarded for calculating the heat transfer rate in each scenario. Be sure to show your calculations for each including full formulas used to derive answers. Granted, they can bypass all of this if they know the secret phrase “I have cash and will pay the full asking price!”

You can do the same on a KK, a couple of chunks of wood on top of the coals will give you smoke. The other methods are refinements to give cleaner more consistent smoke and/or longer smoke. I think if you read up on both they are being used for a variety of reasons most dealing with control. You don’t need either, they are refinements you may want to consider down the road. regards

Congrats! Nice find, not sure about hauling it down 40 stairs though another video opportunity missed! How did you manage it?

Congrats! if you had a video of moving your KK down that ramp, you probably would win an Oscar in the scary movie genre as voted on by the KK community! enjoy!

I have the wood/stainless and really like them. Granted I haven’t had them long enough to know much more than they are easy to clean! Having had a sailboat for years I also like that I won’t be refinishing teak anytime soon👍

You know, if you can’t get that nasty fish smell out, Dennis would probably let you buy a replacement KK! You could turn the old one into a planter or fountain or something🤪

Miller lite is my go to stay hydrated beer, nothing wrong with a light Pilsner. Now a lambic or a nice gose on a hot summers day that’s refreshing! As we say in the home brewing world, RDWHAHB (relax, don’t worry, have a home brew!). Enjoy what ever beverage you want!

Not saying I'm biased or anything, but...:) my understanding is that the pebbles requires more adhesive, which would seem to increase the insulation capability and reflect more of the heat waves back into the KK. Empirical proof that pebbles cook better (and yes this is intended to be funny, not start a pebbles vs tile war....cause everyone knows pebbles cook better!)

That appears to be a RJ Kamado, probably a #5. Google RJ Kamado and you will find a lot of info on it, as well as many horror stories. On the parts front, I think you are out of luck unless you can find one to canabalize, they show up on Craigslist off and on. Depending on what needs replacing, you might have to get it fabricated, but your money would be better spent on a new KK! regards

You can buy them standalone (~$18, but watch for sales which gets them down around $12 (I think)). I know they come with the DOT, not sure about other products. I bought a couple on the last sale and use them with Chef Alarm. Once I see the pricing on the fan, I might upgrade from my old BBQGuru Competitor (yep, that old). When that day comes I might call and ask if they can swap out the probes, if not, I have a couple of the straight probes I can use, or try the bending trick like TonyB mentions.

You probably saw the same email I did

First things first, I can’t say enough good things about Geo, the gentleman I purchased my KK from. He ran me through the ins and outs of use, shared stories and overall was a pure pleasure to deal with. On top of it all he kept adding items, an unused pizza stone, the spare parts kit, the torch and hairdryer he used to light the KK. The “few” boxes of charcoal turned out to be 9 boxes of regular extruded and 9 boxes of extruded coffee charcoal. To give you an idea of his generosity, the roti motor and spit were packed away (Geo is in the middle of a move) and should be found in the next couple of weeks, Geo offered to have Dennis ship me a new motor/spit combo, rather than wait. The nice thing is I will get to visit some more with Geo when he finds the spit and we meet up. You could tell that Geo really loved his KK and was happy (hopefully) to recognize that he was sending her off to a new home where she would be much loved and well taken care of! On to the saga of the delivery: Items needed: Truck and Trailer with long ramp Two 4x8 sheets of 1/2” plywood Misc wood scrap to make stand with (more later) and Pry bar / block of wood to lift KK (slide stand under KK) 3 ratcheting tie down straps and minimum of 2 people to load/unload Adult beverages for after everything is in place. My wife was pretty adamant that she did not want two grills on the back patio, I had to agree with her, so the old K #7 was going to a friend, so out with the old: The beauty of having to move the old K #7 out was it gave me a chance to test the strapping down and what to watch out for when hauling something like this. If the K #7 got damaged, no big deal, if the KK did I would have cried like a baby! While most people get to track boats across oceans, I only got to plot the drive from my home to Geo’s, a quick 75 mile trip to Granbury Tx. I hadn’t driven out that way and it was a really pleasant and beautiful drive! When we arrived Geo got to see that backing a trailer is not one of my strong suits, he shared a quick tip on putting your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and then moving your hand in the direction you wanted the trailer to move in. Probably everyone knows this, but first time I had heard it and it worked like a charm when I had to back the trailer into my drive way. One thing Geo had reminded me of was that when you transport a KK you want to take the weight off of the legs by putting something under it. So I built a quick stand out of some scrap lumber I had. Pretty simple, 3 2x4’s and an 11 x 16 piece of 3/4” plywood, net result is a stand that easily slid under the KK and provided a reasonably stable base for the KK to sit on. The KK has 4” of clearance, so you will need something slightly higher than that, the stand was ~ 4 1/4” tall and worked great. To lift the KK, you place a block of wood by one of the front legs and carefully put a pry bar under the leg and using the block against the pry bar, use leverage to lift the KK. Be sure you are far enough under that you don’t damage the tiles/pebbles (I hear Pebbles cook better BTW :)). When I strapped down the K #7, I was able to simply loop the ratcheting straps around the K #7 and attach fore and aft crosswise, as is obvious from the diagram below I”m no artist, but I think you can see how I strapped it down on the trailer. Black line is the first strap and the green line is the 2nd strap. The straps attached to the side of the trailer at grill height, so around the K #7, ratcheted tight and off we went. This worked beautifully on the K #7, not sure if it was that the finish was rougher so the straps had more purchase, or if the body was wider, but no slippage at all during the 20 mile ride to drop off. I think the KK is more tapered and the finish is significantly better, so of course 5 miles down the road from Geo’s, when we stopped to check, the straps had slipped a little. We adjusted them and headed down the road, a few miles later we hit some railroad tracks and the trailer hopped a little and I noticed a new wobble, so we pulled over and adjusted again. You know how they say 3rd time is a charm? They lie! Just before we got to the highway (say 25 mile from Geo’s house, 50 miles to go) we pulled over and checked and again the straps had slipped, so we had to figure out someway to hold up the straps! What we came up with was using a 3rd ratchet strap to hold up the two main straps. We attached one side to the bottom middle left tie down on the trailer and passed that over the top to the right side and down to grill height, we then looped back over the top to the left side, created a loop and then back over the top to the right tie down. We passed the two straps (shown in the diagram above) through the loops in the 3rd strap and ratcheted those down tight. On the looping one we only ratcheted it down snug, it is not intended to keep the KK from moving, only to hold up the other two straps. I didn’t want to put undue pressure on the lid of the KK, as I didn’t want to mess up the gasket, hinge or anything else. And voila, 75 miles later safe and sound at the house! \ Next we had to get it off of the stand and then off of the trailer. We were able to lean the KK off of the stand onto it’s back wheels, we then placed a couple of 2 x 4s under each front wheel and pull the stand off. Pulled the 2x4s out from under the wheels and then it was the typical moving via plywood around to the back yard and onto the patio. Luckily my side yard is pretty flat with only a slight downhill slope right to left, so it was put down a piece (be sure to overlap slightly), roll on to the next piece, rinse and repeat 8 or 9 times and just like that the KK is on the patio. One person could have rolled it across the plywood, but it was much easier with two, one to push and one to guide it. Be sure to push from the base and not from the lid or pull via the handle. It was a hot day, so once everything was unloaded off we went for some ice cold libations and a quick bite to eat where we regaled our wives with our feats of derring do! (they didn’t buy a bit of it). So lessons learned, KK folks are some of the nicest folks around, Geo in particular is a true gentleman and a pleasure to meet and work with. The KK is more stunning in person, pictures truly don’t capture the true essence of the KK. Two reasonably mobile older gents can move a KK up a ramp (on plywood) into a trailer. Secure the ratchet straps so they don’t slip down and avoid large bumps in the road! Once I clear a little more space on the patio, I will be able to put the side tables on and begin to enjoy the new KK!

I had a Klose backyard chef (BYC) and moved to a RJ Kamado #7 and lucked into a gently used 23 KK that I picked up today! So I can’t speak for the KK yet, but on the #7 I’ve turned out better brisket than I did on the backyard chef, main difference I’ve found is the crust on the backyard chef was more pronounced but I prefer less of a crust, the K7 makes moister briskets. The smoke ring that I’m achieving with the K7 is comparable to the BYC, but on the #7 I get the temp dialed in load the brisket/pork butt and go to bed. Regardless of mid summer heat, mid winter cold, rain, sleet, snow, full midday sun, howling wind (all affected the BYC), once the K7 is dialed in, no need to tweak or adjust the settings. I’ve had zero desire to go back to a Klose or other style of stick burner, pellet etc. Really the versatility of the KK allows me to do so much more than the BYC, I’ve never looked back. i saw my first KK today and everything you read on this site about over engineered, beautiful, heavy duty etc. are all true. If you have one close to you, go see it and talk with the owner to get the details. Or call Dennis, he will answer all your questions. regards

Powdered brewery wash (PBW), great stuff! Local or online homebrew shops or Amazon are places to find it. An alternative that works well is unscented oxyclean, make a strong solution in very hot water, let your grate soak overnight and rinse well. It will work well, but PBW works better! Good luck!

Do a quick google search for "Caster Wheel Chocks" the first few returns that I saw could work.

I won on the second try.....but I may have cheated...

It would be interesting to see what pages they went to. What ever it was that drove them to the site, it looks like they stuck around to see what Komodo Kamado is all about.

Congrats! Dennis had mentioned the special packaging that he had to do for your market, interesting to see a "box" then the "bag" and finally the "crate". Enjoy!

Looks like a good wind day based on the reefed main and the heeling angle, would have been fun to be out there!

I normally use Hickory, but every so often I will use pecan as a nice alternative.

A complete "what comes with" each model, the table on the store site is a good start, but folks seem to overlook it and the question pops up every six months or so. I would also include what is in the spares kit, mention the ramp to get the KK off the pallet, crowbar, lifting ropes and the KK info itself. Don't take anything for granted, you have put time, effort and cost into it, the more details you give, the better folks can understand the value sight unseen. Also a good comparison between the high cap design vs the standard, why would one choose one over the other. Another question that seems to come up is which size is the right one. Subjective I know, but maybe in addition to grill size, a more visual representation. Create a brisket/chicken/pork butt scale. Something like (Using made up numbers) the main grill on a 23 can hold three 12lb packer cut brisket or eight 8 lb pork butts or fifteen boneless chicken breasts or twenty 5 oz burgers. Something that the more visual learners can more easily identify and recognize the volume. Possibly a turkey and sides scale for the holiday sales! Now, if I can just figure out how to get Dennis to send me one KK in each size and then fund the purchasing of the test proteins, probably should throw a pallet of each type of charcoal so that once the tests are complete the proteins don't go to waste.