Kamado Joe Ceramic Cooker/BBQ Review

The Kamado Joe Review

Well I received my Kamado Joe BBQ four weeks ago and so far I am very impress with this Kamado-style cookers. The company Kamado Joe started out back in march 2009. Ever since then they hit the market pretty fast and furious with their Kamado Joe ceramic cookers. Today they are quickly coming one of the best Kamado-style cooker on the market. I presently own two large Kamado Joe BBQ and one Large Big Green Egg BBQ. Now its time for the review that everyone has been anxiously waiting for.

The Kamado Joe grill came partially assemble in a well protected cardboard crate/box. 

The ceramic BBQ was also very well packaged inside of the crate to protect it from damage while handling. You will need two person to assemble this BBQ since its pretty heavy and you have to lift it out of the crate to place the Kamado Joe in its nest. You will also need the following tools a 6mm Allen wrench and 14mm open end wrench or a deep socket to tighten the bands. It only took me and my wife approximately 10 minutes to assemble the Kamado Joe cooker. It was also pretty easy to assemble and you didn't need a rocket science degree to assemble the Kamado Joe like other grills! You can see that Kamado Joe has put in a lot of thought in the ease of the assembly of the Kamado Joe. You can get your local dealer to assemble this grill but it can be easily done by you which you can see for yourself on this video created by Kamado Joe on how easy it really is in assembling this Kamado Joe.

Features/Specs of the Kamado Joe:

Here are the specs of the Kamado Joe cooker which I got from their website (www.kamadojoe.com):

·        Dimensions… ………….46.5” wide x 48” high x 28” deep (118.1 cm x 121.9 cm x 71.1 cm)

·        Cooking Surface… …….256 square inches   (650 square centimetres)

·        w/Rack Extension… …...407 square inches   (1,034 square centimetres)

·        Weight… ………………188 pounds    (85 kilograms)

·        Heat Range… ………….225°F – 750°F+    (82°C – 399°C)

·        Base/Lid High Fire Heat-Resistant Ceramics

·        Glaze Heat-Resistant Ceramic Coating

·        Top Vent Powder Coated Cast Iron

·        Cooking Grate 304 Grade Stainless Steel

·        Fire Box/Fire Ring High Fire Heat-Resistant Ceramics

·        Fire Grate Powder Coated Cast Iron

·        Handle & Side Shelves Finished Natural Bamboo (Teak Finish on Black Grills)

·        Bands/Hinge Powder Coated Galvanized Steel or Stainless Steel

·        Draft Door 304 Grade Stainless Steel

·        Cart Powder Coated Cast Iron

The Kamado Joe is by far the thickest ceramic Kamado I have seen to date. The base and lid ceramic is 1 1/4" thick. the ceramic was originally a brownish colour which changes colour as you cook with the grill. The ceramic is also a little porous which doesn't affect the cooking or quality.

The gasket on the lid and base is very thick and of very good quality and its a felt like material. I made the grill reach 1000 degree F a few times and the gasket didn't even show any sign of wear or burning! Here's a picture of the Kamado Joe gasket test done by GrandPas Grub over at the greeneggers.com.

a layer of gasket material between the bands and the cookera layer of gasket material between the bands and the cooker

This is what GrandPas Grub said about the test he performed: "I put a lot more heat on the KamadoJoe gasket then I did on the BGE Felt or BGE Nomex. It is hard to get an accurate temperature reading on a soft material but the IR read 1280°. MAPP burns at about 2900°. The torch tip is a Turbo which produces a wide burn as opposed to a pencil point burn.

This was done for 30 to 40 seconds, distance of 2 to 3 inches.

As you can see in the picture the gasket material is stuck to the upright and no over-burn or spreading occurred. The gasket material was cool to the touch within 15 seconds of taking the heat away from the gasket material. "

Has you can see above the gasket used on the Kamado Joe is top of the line. They have installed a gasket on the upper vent to hold it in place and to give it a better seal for smoking. 

They also went one more step further and installed a layer of gasket material between the bands and the cooker. Doing this also provides a better fit between the cooker and the bands. 

There upper vent is made of powder coated cast iron. The upper vent should be seasoned like a new cast iron frying pan before using. This will prevent it from rusting and will help it to keep its nice black look for many years to come. The big advantage of the upper vent is that you don't need to take it off during high temperature cook. Due to the fact the vents opening is the same size has the ceramic opening on the cooker! There vent when closed gives a good seal to put out the fire.

The cooking grate is made of 304 grade stainless steel and has a hinge section on it for the ease of adding more wood chunks or wood chips during smoking.

The Kamado Joe has a stainless steel vent in the bottom made of 304 stainless. Which has a very wide opening to allow a good air flow for high temp cook.  Also the vent opens and closes very easily. I personally think they should of had a screen on the opening to prevent ashes or sparks to fall out which can be a fire safety hazard. Also with their wide opening of the vent makes it really easy in the removal and cleaning of ashes.

The nest of the Kamado Joe is made with powder coated cast iron. Its made pretty solid and let me tell you its a lot harder to tip this grill compared to other Kamado stile cooker. The nest has very lardge casters with two of them that are lockable preventing the grill from moving during use.

This grill also comes with two laminated bamboo and powder coated stainless steel shelves. Each shelves comes with four hooks to hang your BBQ tools or accessories. The grill also has a oversises bamboo handle on the lid for the ease of opening the lid. Which comes handy when wearing big thick BBQ gloves!

The 10-inch cast iron powder coated fire grate inside the cooker is also a lot thicker than other cooker. Also the fire box inside the Kamado Joe is a bit larger and deeper than other Kamado style cooker. The picture bellow were taken from the Kamado web site.

The Kamado Joe also come with a oversize Temperature gauge which is pretty easy to read from a good distance and has a range of 150-900°F. The gauge has a 2-3/8" long stem which is secured in the lid with a bolt. Their gauge is also pretty accurate. The first picture bellow came from the Kamado Joe website.

Included with the grill is a well made ash removal tool and good quality Grill Gripper.

Theres also lots of accessories you can get for this grill. I strongly recommend getting the heat deflector and there pizza stone. Here's a video of all there different accessories they have.

Also all the accessories made for the Big Green Egg also fit inside this grill which is a big bonus. You can also get custom made accessories here from the ceramic grilling store for your Kamado Joe. Which makes excellent accessories and theire service is phenomenal!

The Ceramic Grill Store

Summary

I made lots of cooks on this grill ranging from ribs to Pizza and a few high heat test run. This grill performed extremely well compared to my other kamado style BBQ. It was very easy to light and very fast to reach the desired cooking temperature. It was pretty easy to control the internal temp of the grill. The grill was also very efficient in maintaining the desired temperature. You can see that Kamado Joe actually listen to theire cutomers and consumers in the design of there high quality grill to meet there needs! 

There customer service and support is the best I have seen to date. I had a slight issue with my grill and I sent them a quick email on the issue and within minutes of sending the email my phone rang with Bobby the owner of the company on the other end! Now that's customer service and did I mention this was on Saturday late afternoon! Also a big advantadge of this grill is that its a few hundred dollars cheaper then theire competition!

VERDIC:

I rate this grill 4 1/2 out of 5 star rating. If they would of had a screen on their bottom vent I would of gave them a five star rating hands down!


UPDATE: I have been inform by Bobby Brennan the owner of Kamado Joe that all grills will have screens installed on them in 2012. 

A point to remember is only use lump charcoal inside these grills and never, never user a lighting fluid to light the fire!!!

The above pizza stone is the BGE stone since I accidentally drop and broke my Kamado Joe stone. Also the internal temp was 700 degree F when I took this picture. I hope you like this review of the Kamado Joe!


The Kamado Joe is available in Halifax, NS from Heritage Hearth in Bayers Lake industrial park.


Picture of the proud Owner's of Kamado Joe Company!