I use my SnS for low and slow. (Ribs, Butt, Brisket)
I use my Vortex for hotter and sear. (Wings, Chicken Pieces, Cast iron Skillet)
I use my Vortex for hotter and sear. (Wings, Chicken Pieces, Cast iron Skillet)
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jfmorris
Hi Jim. To date I have used the SnS just twice in total. The Vortex is used about 80% of the cooks on my Performer Deluxe. In fact I am doing chicken thighs with it for dinner tonight. And yes, I light the coals right in the Vortex over the gas igniter. Works perfectly. Never have to move the Vortex. The other 20% of the kettle cooking is with the rotisserie or with coals right on the grate.Comment
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I can see your usage being low with the SNS since you already have other dedicated smokers like your Recteq. The SNS is great for low and slow, or reverse searing a steak.
Being able to use the ignitor with the Vortex for a hot and fast chicken cook sounds good. I've got a little "play money" left in the budget and think you've influenced me to get a Vortex!
. Oh - do you have the medium sized one?
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Vortex. I have both and prefer the Vortex. I hardly use my SNS anymore. If you are anywhere near Lafayette, LA, then I'll give you mine. If I want to low n' slow then the snake method gives me the longest and most consistent pit temp on my grill. With or without the Vortex. Great for searing, radiant heat, etc. I mainly cook chicken and steak so the Vortex is my go-to for both my kettle and my BGE. It's also the more budget friendly option (esp. if you get the knock off version).Last edited by Beefchop; September 9, 2021, 11:08 AM.Comment
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Vortex for sure for chicken. I have even used it for thin pork chops and veg, like corn and brussels - just move it to the side. It gets insanely hot. I only use the SNS for low and slow now, or to do steaks. Actually, I am back to the WSM or the pellet grill for low and slow, so I rarely use the SNS at this point.Comment
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jfmorris Jim, I like the results I get on my 18†kettle with the Vortex, but I like the results I get on my BGE cooking indirect @ a dome temp of 375. Thirty minutes on one side, flip for twenty and sauce or not for an additional ten, you might want to give that a try before investing in a Vortex. By the way way I’ve been wondering, if cost wasn’t a factor and you could only have one cooker would it be the performer or the SNS Kamado?Last edited by LA Pork Butt; September 9, 2021, 12:58 PM.Comment
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I assume you mean using the kamado in kamado mode, with the heat diffuser, and not in "SNS" mode? I guess it would have to be, in order to have even heat. I am more than willing to give that a shot, and it gives me the full cooking grate for the wings. Assuming I can find some by the weekend - Sam's had none (fresh or frozen) at lunch today.Originally posted by LA Pork Butt View Post
As far as only having one cooker... That's tough. I suppose I will say it would still have to be the Performer Deluxe, with the reasons being:
1. Huge number of accessories available for 22" kettles.
2. Huge work surface on the Performer Deluxe cart, along with charcoal storage and propane ignition.
3. It's light enough to move by yourself, and can be moved safely. I have no qualms if I were to want to put it in the back of my truck using my ramps, strap it in, and take it on a camping trip or to the church or a park to flip burgers. The SNS Kamado is never ever leaving my pool deck and pavilion area unless I sell the house.
I've got the kettle rotisserie, and of course the SNS trifecta for the Performer - in fact, I use that DNG over at the Kamado so that I can use the DNG that came with it, which included the roasting rack, for prep and transport and cooking. If I could only have one grill I would add a plancha to the Performer and be done with it.
That said, if you were recommending a single grill to someone, and the budget allowed for the SNS Kamado, and they don't care about a work table, and it will be stationary/fixed, and don't care about a rotisserie option, then I have no hesitation recommending the SNS Kamado. And as you've seen from my cooks, I've almost exclusively used the SNS Kamado this year. The only reason I am keeping my Performer and not handing it down to my son (who wants it!) is that I need it for the rotisserie, and for excess smoking capacity.Last edited by jfmorris; September 9, 2021, 01:24 PM.Comment
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I have both for the WSCG. I only use the vortex for chicken, but for that use I just don’t feel like it can be beat. The SnS is definitely not a required item for the WSCG or really even a kettle if you get a ring and diffuser setup like the new Mastertouch models have. However, I’m recently finding a new fondness for it. I can get the grill going in about half the time and feel I get better control or consistency in smoke being able to position chunks on top of the SnS. In kamado mode you hope to get chunks in the right spots to burn at the right time. I’ve had a couple kamado mode cooks that were very light on smoke, like the chunks all burned up in the hour it takes to stabilize temps or after a few hours into the cook when the meat takes little more.Comment
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I think the fact that the Vortex will light and act as a chimney on my Performer is leading me to order one, even though I still will try LA Pork Butt 's suggestion of 350+ indirect heat on the SNS Kamado in the meantime. The reason? I know the Kamado will probably do it, but the Vortex on the kettle will get lit and ready much much faster. I imagine I can be cooking in 20 minutes with the Vortex on the Performer, with the gas ignition. On the SNS Kamado, it's going to take several starter cubes and I imagine at least 45 minutes before I have it dialed in to 350.Comment
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jfmorris you didn’t suck me in. I have had the Vortex for over a year now. I was just noting we ordered from the same place.
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jfmorris Hey Jim, before you decide on the actual Vortex brand, check this one out I bought several months ago. It’s only $19 ,it’s a good quality and the exact same thing as the Vortex. I have both the SNS and this Vortex knockoff. I use my vortex a lot more than my SNS. I also have a dedicated smoker, the WSM. My wings have never been better since I started cooking them with the vortex. With the Vortex being centered inside the grill, you have equal heat flow going up, down and around all your chicken pieces. You won’t have to rotate them on the grill anymore. All I do is turn the wings over once during the cook.
One other thing, I would measure the distance between your grates before ordering one. They make some a little shorter in height than others. Be sure to check the mfg’s. specs before ordering also. My top rack actually rests on top of my "Vortex" a little, but not really a big deal.
I also use my vortex for reverse searing my steaks, it works perfect. I just move the vortex to the back of the grill for my off heat smoking. Then put my steak right over the vortex for searing.
Last edited by Panhead John; September 9, 2021, 02:38 PM.Comment
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John, thanks for the link, but I already ordered the actual Vortex brand one before seeing this. Good to know its a wing making machine!
As someone who has competed with knockoffs of products that I've designed, I tend to want to reward the guy that came up with the product, if I can. So I don't feel bad about spending an extra $20 with the Vortex guys in this case. Might be a harder pill to swallow if we were talking an extra $200.Last edited by jfmorris; September 9, 2021, 02:50 PM. -
Sure Jim, totally understand. I can say though, this one is a good quality. I’ve used it at least ten times now and there’s no warping at all and is a good thickness of the metal.
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Given that I have a 14.5" WSM, a PBC and a stick-burner I primarily use my big kettle for grilling. I find the SnS to be excellent for 2-zone grilling. I've never used the Vortex so I can't speak to it's abilities for grilling. What I can say is the sear zone for the SnS is nuclear hot and I don't see anything in the design of the Vortex to suggest to me that it produces an even hotter sear zone.Comment
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I haven’t taken the temps of either, I do have both of those, but I’ll almost guarantee the vortex will get as hot as the SNS. Now you got me thinking Jeff, I might use my infrared thermometer one day and see which is the hottest, or if they’re the same. ðŸ§Last edited by Panhead John; September 10, 2021, 01:56 PM. -
IR on Vortex has gotten to 700 plus. Don't recall exact. I do know >700. Never did measure SnS. My go to for reverse sear is the Chimney Grate from BBQ Dragon. www.bbqdragon.com
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Well folks, the Vortex came yesterday, and I cut up a smallish (3 to 3.5 pound) chicken into pieces at lunch, and its dry brining in the fridge now on a wire rack. My plan for the first run of the Vortex today is just to fire it up on the Performer, let it go full blast, and cook the parted out chicken after seasoning with a rub - probably S&G, since I got a bag of that mixed up.
My goal for this first run of the Vortex is that I want to see how the skin crisps up, for when I am ready to do a batch of wings. I've already got a 10 pack of chicken thighs in the fridge for the second run, and I'll be trying Attjack 's recipe for grill fried chicken with those, probably tomorrow night. We were supposed to be playing poker with my parents and my daughter's family, but the grand baby has the RSV virus, and is sick+contagious right now, so that has been punted. I'll likely deliver a plate of the chicken to them tomorrow night though.
If this all goes well, I am looking forward to buffalo wings for two on the Vortex soon.Last edited by jfmorris; September 15, 2021, 12:19 PM.Comment
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Henrik - it did not disappoint. Skin was super crispy, chicken was moist even though I overshot temperature in many of the pieces. I was mostly tracking the two breasts to hit 160-165, and some of the dark meat was much higher. Treatment was a simple dry brine, a light brush of avocado oil and a dusting of KC Royale.Last edited by jfmorris; September 16, 2021, 06:39 AM. -
The dome thermometer was right over the fire, and was wrapping around past its max and past the starting point, and I was afraid to use a grate level probe at the high temps, so I have no clue how hot I was cooking. That was probably the drawback of this running wide open.
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For anyone wondering how hot the Vortex gets at the grate, I took some temps. with my laser gun. The temps are equal to the temps right above a full charcoal chimney. No surprise there really.
TEMPS ABOVE A CHARCOAL CHIMNEY
TEMPS AT GRATE LEVEL OF THE VORTEX
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I didn’t do it last night Jim, but next time I’m gonna see what the actual temps are of the sides and top of the lid from the outside. Don’t know what that will prove, just curious to see. I’m gonna do it after the lid has remained on for at least 15-20 minutes. -
Panhead John I used the same IR thermometer as you to look at my grill last night. The very TOP of the outside of the dome was about 500F, even though the analog thermometer was much higher. Down towards grate level at the bottom of the side of the lid, it was only 250 or so on the outside of the dome. I know it had to be much hotter at grate level than that.
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Well, after the first run of the Vortex, I wanted to report back on my thoughts.
First cook was a whole chicken cut up into 8 pieces, dry brined, brushed very lightly with avocado oil, and seasoned with Hank's KC Royale. I put the Vortex narrow end up on the charcoal grate, filled with charcoal from my LAST 2-pack of 2018 KBB, and turned on the Performer's propane ignition for 5 minutes. For 15-20 minutes there was billowing white smoke (why I've not bought KBB since 2018!), but once the flames were shooting out of the top of the Vortex, around the 20 minute point, the smoke died down to nothing, and I went ahead and put the cooking grate on, and dropped the chicken.
I rotated the lid 90 degrees every 10 minutes, kind of following the advice over at Vortexbbq.com, but am not sure it was necessary. Things seemed to cook pretty evenly, and most of the chicken was done within 30-35 minutes. I have NO idea what temperature I was cooking at, as the dome thermometer wrapped around past 550 and past the starting point, and I didn't want to risk destroying one of my Thermoworks air probes.
The cook? Chicken was perfect. Skin was very crisp, despite not being quite as browned as I would have with direct grilling or deep frying. Even though most of the chicken overshot the temperatures I would normally cook to, it was all very good. I think wings will be great with this thing, and tonight I am trying @Attjack's Vortex fried chicken thighs, weather permitting.
I worked the ash sweeps a few times and then closed all vents after the cook, and when I came back an hour later, the Performer was cold to the touch, and the Vortex was more than half full of charcoal. I am thinking for tonights cook, I just need to top it off with a scoop of fresh charcoal to the top, turn on the propane, and let it rip again. I can see this living in my Performer most of the time, since I have the SNS Kamado for doing things the SNS way.Comment
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Well…I have a Vortex that I use in my WSCGC. And it IS a wing cookin’ machine. Hands down, perhaps the best 30-40 bucks I’ve spent in years.
No opinion on the SNS as I don’t have one…and have never actually seen one in person. But it does seem to get high marks around here.Comment
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