Big Green Egg or Kamado Joe

[Mandle]

Too many choices, BGE or PBC ? I like PBC for its simplicity however have been eyeing BGE or similar for a long time now.

I'd throw the Weber Smokey Mountain into the hat here, its easy to use, has good access to refresh fuel and wood, water pan to keep things moist and regulate heat, can be broken down to transport easily.

Every pit has its pros and cons, which is the reason you may eventually get one of everything.

 

[Indio]

I've had a Kamado Joe for four years or so now. When I was comparing brands, it seemed BGE is the Mercedes and Kamado Joe is the Lexus. From reading threads on the subject, some felt the hardware on the Joe is better than the BGE. I use the BGE platesetter on my Joe; I have the Joe heat deflector as well, but I prefer the BGE platesetter since I can still add wood chunks and mess with the fire some. Overall, I have been very happy with the Joe, and the only thing I would change about my decision would be to get the big/XL Joe instead of the regular size.

So how do you add more charcoal in Joe once you get it going. Remove all the grill grates, deflectors ?

 

[Indio]

Oh, Hi! Thanks for the compliments.

June 30th is the next gig at Triple Voodoo friday evening. I will probably cook 6 or 8 briskets, beef ribs maybe, pork ribs probably.

Would love to but city is bit out of the way. What time are you planning to start on June 30th? Can I order ahead as I don't want to drive into city & find out you are all sold out

 

[Mandle]

Would love to but city is bit out of the way. What time are you planning to start on June 30th? Can I order ahead as I don't want to drive into city & find out you are all sold out

Sure I'll send you a menu and you can prepay and order.

 

[mikev]

If you can swing the Kamado Joe model you want up front it will be cheaper than the equivalent BGE. Plus the Kamado seems like they are constantly improving while the BGE is relying on like a few thousand years of kamado cookers

kamado-joe-vs-big-green-egg

fixed.

You really can't go wrong with either one, though. I just recommended a Kamado Joe to a friend of mine. It comes with more farkles than the BGE, so the initial cost is a fair amount less to have comparable setups, like you said.

That said, I am of the opinion that you're better off learning to use a kamado with just a grate on it and/or with a heat deflector for indirect stuff and smoking, and THEN deciding what kind of fancy extra stuff you want to use.

 

[CannonFodder]

So how do you add more charcoal in Joe once you get it going. Remove all the grill grates, deflectors ?

Sorry just saw the reply today. Kamados are much more efficient than other types of smokers, so you won't need to add more charcoal, but I do find that I need to add more smoking wood. This might have to do with how I build the fire. With the BGE platesetter, I can drop smaller to medium sized chunks in there and then push them around a little with the ash scraper tool thing. The Joe heat deflector leaves little space around the edges.

Edit: This is in reference to using the BGE platesetter on the Kamado Joe.