# Costco Kamado



## molove

After realising I'm unwilling to pay the price for one of the major brands, I've just pulled the trigger on Pit Boss Kamado from Costco. Details here: http://www.costco.co.uk/view/p/pit-boss-24-kamado-grill-ceramic-bbq-cover-1031588

If you get it in store it's £480 (£399+VAT), though you need a Costco card, or know someone with one.

I picked mine up yesterday, it's a heavy beast, I took a friend to give me a hand with it, but it turns out that Costco will send one of their employees to help you get it into your vehicle. The box only just fitted in my Mondeo Estate. I had borrowed a heavy duty sack barrow to get it from the car to BBQ Corner at the end of the garden, which made things easier.

It took about 30 minutes to put together. The demo model in Costco had been somewhat wobbly and the lid wasn't sealing properly, so I had been a bit wary, but mine went together easily and sturdily and the lid seems to be sealing quite well though I won't know until I've had a chance to fire it up with some wood chips in it.

The unit does have some flaws, mainly to do with the vents. There is nowhere near enough felt gasket under the top vent to seal the join between the top vent and the kamado body. The sliders in the bottom vent are pretty loose. I shall see how bad these are when I do the first smoke producing burn in it. Both issues should be easily fixable, either a bead of  high temperature silicone gasket between the kamado and the bottom of the top vent assembly or another layer of felt/nomex gasket under the top vent. For the bottom vent I made some little aluminium shims to hold the sliders tightly closed.

It's not really a 24" Kamado like the Kamado Joe Big Joe, it's only about 20" across the grates. The unit comes with 2 folding grates that stack on top of each other, a ceramic diffuser plate for indirect cooking, a cover and a tool for removing ash. The unusual size means that there are very few accessories that will fit it, but tbh the only accessory I needed was the diffuser plate so I can do low and slow.

Here's some photos













2017-04-10 16.07.47 copy.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






Here are the aluminium shims I made













2017-04-11 16.30.04.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






This is them in action













2017-04-11 19.09.59.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






I may need to put a bead of high temperature silicone gasket over the join between top vent and kamado












2017-04-11 19.13.16.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






Here's the diffuser plate













2017-04-11 19.12.57.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






I also made a plate to fit the bottom vent so I can use my Auberins temperature controller for long unattended cooks













2017-04-11 15.40.49.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






I have been doing a low temperature run today with a small amount of charcoal to "cure" the unit as instructed by the manual.

My impressions so far are: It seems quite easy to dial in a temperature, and the temperature gauge is nowhere near as inaccurate as I thought it would be













2017-04-11 19.11.35.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 11, 2017






Hopefully I'll be running a leak test tomorrow, and doing a cook on Friday. I'll keep you informed.

So far my first impressions are good. I know it's not going be as easy to use as a BGE, KJ or Monolith or as good quality but it's between 1/2 and 1/3 the price and I'm happy to work with the shortcomings. I'll write a review after I've lived with it for a while.

Piers


----------



## homeruk

be interested how you get on with that, been drawn to them last couple of weeks but think the other half has noticed and she has been looking at firearm websites lol

did you get it at the watford one?


----------



## molove

homeruk said:


> did you get it at the watford one?


No, I got it at Thurrock. I had a look at them on Friday. I think they had about 8 on the shop floor. So after a think over the weekend and deciding to go for it, I think they were down to 4 on Monday when I returned to buy it.

Luckily, my other half likes it when I get new toys as she gets to eat nice food, and it means I can't say anything about the amount of shoes she buys ;)


----------



## smokin monkey

I bought one last year, did not get the heat deflector plate with it :-(













image.jpeg



__ smokin monkey
__ Apr 12, 2017


----------



## molove

Smokin Monkey said:


> I bought one last year, did not get the heat deflector plate with it :-(


Apart from not getting the heat deflector are you happy with it?

I'm doing a few tests with mine atm, before I do my first cook. I have noticed the top vent isn't very air tight so lets a quite lot of smoke through when closed, but this may not be a problem as it did extinguish the coals when both vents were closed. Today I'm seeing how well it runs using my temperature controller.

Do you use it for high temperature searing or just low and slow? And if you do use it for high heat stuff, how are the felt gaskets holding up?

I like the way you've mounted yours in the work surface.


----------



## smokin monkey

This is a post I did when I got mine.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/242866/i-knew-that-would-come-in-handy

Kept some parts from an old Gas BBQ, that made a nice Heat Deflector.

I use mine most weekends and been very happy with it.

The top vent on mine is pretty sloppy as well but has no effect.

After I fitted my controller etc, and fan assembly, I sealed around the vents with High Temp Sealant, that helps.

Most cook low and slow 105'C - 130'C but have run at 200'C to crisp Pork Belly Skin.

The only other thing I use, is a charcoal basket, used inside the original clay/pot charcoal basket.  It's a stainless steel beer keg, cut down to fit, with holes drilled in the bottom.  The reason I use this, is, I have seen "Kick Ass" Charcoal baskets used in Kamado pits, so I use this and it keeps the high heat off the original basket?!


----------



## molove

Smokin Monkey said:


> After I fitted my controller etc, and fan assembly, I sealed around the vents with High Temp Sealant, that helps.


So do you have your controller permanently attached to the kamado, and only use the kamado with the temperature contoller?


> The only other thing I use, is a charcoal basket, used inside the original clay/pot charcoal basket. It's a stainless steel beer keg, cut down to fit, with holes drilled in the bottom. The reason I use this, is, I have seen "Kick Ass" Charcoal baskets used in Kamado pits, so I use this and it keeps the high heat off the original basket?!


That's a good idea, I had seen the Kick Ash baskets and they do look good. I'll keep an eye out for suitable container to convert to charcoal basket. Any chance of posting a photo of yours at some point?

I did find a place in the UK that's sells Kick Ash baskets but they have sold out of the ones that fit the Pit Boss at the moment, hopefully they will be getting them back in at some point.

https://www.bbqandsmoke.co.uk/products/kick-ash-basket-kab-vb


----------



## smokin monkey

Use controller is permanently fitted to the Kamado, I purchased a couple of extra fan housing, so these stay fitted to various pits, then I move the controller. Saying that I have four controllers.

Will take a picture later and post it up.


----------



## smokin monkey

Here's the pics of Beer Keg Charcoal Basket.

Cut the handles in the keg as I was cutting or, just makes it easier to remove.

Also removed the metal ash plate from the bottom of the original fire bowl to allow ash to fall into the bottom.













image.jpeg



__ smokin monkey
__ Apr 13, 2017


















image.jpeg



__ smokin monkey
__ Apr 13, 2017


----------



## homeruk

No more replys  please! I don't know how long i can hold back making a purchase of one :drool


----------



## homeruk

Ordered delivery Friday :th_crybaby2: new type with higher lid to incorporate sliding door for shoving pizza in without lifting the lid up :439:


----------



## molove

All in all my first cook in the Kamado was a success, though a tiny bit fraught at times whilst I tried to figure out how use it with my temperature controller.

I originally placed the temperature probe too close to the cold pork collar I was cooking which resulted in the temperature overshooting. I then had the strange phenomonen that when the temperature eventually dropped below the set temperature, the air that the controller applied made it cooler in the kamado, which meant the controller blew more air in and made it even cooler, so by the time the fire picked up and the temperature started rising, to much air had been applied and I got another overshoot. So, I had to intervene manually to stop the controller blowing too much air and the temperature overshooting again once it had cooled back down to my set temp.

And later for some completely unknown reason after the temperature had settled I opened the top vent slighly, causing another overshoot, luckily this time it returned to the set temperature fairly quickly after the top vent was closed back down again.

The hunk of pork, a 2.2kg pork collar rubbed with Meatheads Memphis Dust, smoked for about 12 hours to 200F, was delicious.

I put the temperature issues I had down to user error/still learning the quirks, and I'm reasonably sure I should be able to avoid the same issues in future cooks.

I had plenty of charcoal left in the fire basket after the 12 hour smoke, so it does seem to be fairly efficient, though perhaps not as efficient as the Akorn.

Once again, had guests round so taking photos of the food wasn't high on my agenda.


----------



## molove

Second cook today on the kamado.

An ox cheek smoked at 275F for 6 hours to 210F, rested for half an hour while I cooked the veg.

I had no issues with the temperature controller, that kept the temperature within 5 degrees of 275 for the whole cook.













2017-04-23 13.03.52.jpg



__ molove
__ Apr 23, 2017


















_DSC1686.JPG



__ molove
__ Apr 23, 2017


















_DSC1692.JPG



__ molove
__ Apr 23, 2017


















_DSC1696.JPG



__ molove
__ Apr 23, 2017






It was delicious by the way


----------



## homeruk

Looks good whats the green spinach?


----------



## molove

homeruk said:


> Looks good whats the green spinach?


No it's chimichurri

Recipe here http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/chimichurri-sauce-2


----------



## homeruk

Looks interesting will give that a go at the weekend [emoji]128522[/emoji]


----------



## smokin monkey

That looks great, glad to hear you have managed to control the heat.


----------



## molove

Smokin Monkey said:


> That looks great, glad to hear you have managed to control the heat.


It looks like it was just a matter of temperature probe placement and finding an appropriate setting for the top vent - about mid way between 0 and 1.

I'm glad I don't have to get into trying to adjust the parameters of the temperature controller.


----------

