Opinions on the Char-Griller Akorn steel kamado-style grill?
Just spotted one of these in a local big box hardware store. A metal-wall Steel Keg/Kamado-style grill almost as big as an x-large Big Green Egg that retails for $299?! And I can get it in a normal retail store and not even have it shipped? Seems too good to be true...
It seems to get strong reviews, but I figured I would ask here...what's the catch?
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If it's metal then it's no different than any other metal grill other than shape. What makes a kamado a kamado is the ceramic. Without the ceramic what's the point? Might as well use a Weber at that point.
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re: jzerocsk
I have used a BGE for years, and have recently noticed the Akorn in the stores. I studied it and the manual for almost half an hour, and it looks like the Akorn will effectively do the job at a bargin price.
However, I can fire my BGE up to 700+ degrees. Can the Akorn get this hot? (gas grills certainly cant, as their aluminum shells are too quick to shed heat).
I believe that meat moisture retention is the main benefit of a domed kamado style grill.
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re: jbermo
It does get to 700+ degrees. However, the manual recommends not exceeding 700, and the OEM dome thermometer maxes out at 700, presumably to drive that point home.
People routinely stoke BGEs up to 1000+ without any real issues. So that could be a major consideration for someone interested in doing searing or pizzas at really high temps.
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Well....obviously no one responded, but based on positive reviews I read elsewhere and the price I figured I would give it a shot. I have never used a real big green egg, bubba keg/big steel keg or any other kamado grill, so I don't really have a basis for comparison. In fact I have never even used a charcoal grill.
The main reason I always stuck to gas was because I grill most days, and always believed in the outdated notion that you have to let charcoal burn off for an hour before you can cook. Gas - I can light it and be ready to go within 20 minutes. That's not really the case anymore with chimney starters. However, with this Akorn grill (and, I am assuming Kamados in general), you don't even need that since the entire grill is designed much like a chimney (but you can certainly use one in lieu of electric starters or paraffin cubes if you want). I am able to just pile the lump charcoal in, light it up, and it really is ready to go within 20 minutes for direct cooking, so I am still able to use it even after work (and have already done so several times). I was also worried about constantly running out of charcoal, but because you can close the dampers and stop the fire, you can keep using the un-burned charcoal. I should be able to last quite awhile on a single 20lb bag of charcoal...I started with an 8lb bag and that one got me through a good 4 cumulative hours of direct high-heat full-blast cooking, so I can figure a 20lb bag to run 10 hours cumulatively - about on par with what I could expect to get from a single 20lb tank on my gas grill.
The food came out great.
I also used it to smoke some ribs...it took me some time to figure out how to get it dialed in (mainly, I was trying to micromanage it too much, you really do have to wait a good 10 minutes before adjusting the dampers), but once I did I was able to get it to hold temperature for several hours without ever adjusting the dampers.
So, anyone who is considering this as a way to get a decent Kamado-style grill but doesn't want to spend $700 or $1000 on a Big Steel Keg or a Big Green Egg, this is a great, less-expensive alternative. If anyone has any specific questions I'm happy to answer.
