I will apologize in advance if this has already been addressed , but I went back in the Kamado Joe forum and didn't find what I was looking for... I have been a long time Weber user & fan. I have a performer and an 18 WSM. They are both now beginning to show their age. My wife would love it if I went down to just 1 cooker but i have my reservations... I have never cooked on a ceramic Kamodo style cooker so please pardon my ignorance...Last nights dinner was lamb lollipops, marinated all day, indirect on the Performer for 5 minutes, direct heat for about 7 and pulled at 125 (love my Thermoworks RFX) . They were delicious, total time from lighting the chimney to putting the chops to rest was about 30 - 40 minutes. Can I do that on a ceramic cooker or is there a much longer heating up process ?? I certainly use my Performer more than I do the WSM and am concerned I will lose that versatility. Looking at Kamodo Joe over BGE or Weber Summit due to availibilty of a rotisserie option, which I love. I appreciate any input.
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I have only cooked on a BGE when visiting my youngest son. He loves his BGE. He went from an 18" WSM to the BGE as his only cooker. If I had to have only one cooker it would be my Weber Kettle with my accessories of the SnS, Vortex and Cajun Bandit rotisserie. I can do almost anything with this setup and it turns out great food. -
Weber summit kamado, checks all the boxesComment
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Kamados probably take longer to reach temp than any other backyard cooker. Figure about half an hour for a ceramic kamado to reach temp for grilling, and longer for smoking. (You can go to 500° and grill, but the ceramic needs to heat soak for the longer cook. So you’ll get a longer startup while the lump dries out and the gray smoke clears, even though you’re only going to 250° or so.)
I have both a Kettle and a BGE. The Kettle will do anything the BGE will, just differently. And the reverse is true as well. Grilling is easier on the Kettle, and smoking is easier on the BGE, but I’m just as likely to put a pork butt on the Kettle, or do steaks on the BGE.
As far as brand preference… whatever. All kamados work the same way. While there are obviously differences between a $300 Akorn and a $10000 Komodo Kamado, the food is going to taste the same (as long as you used each device the way it should be used). Among the most popular brands, about 10 years ago the pendulum was swinging away from BGE toward KJ; KJ got bought by The Middleby Corporation, BGE has a new customer-focused Brand Manager, and now the pendulum is swinging back the other way. There are rotisseries available for BGE; actually, the KJ rotisserie fits.
Honestly, I’d pick whether I wanted red or green. Or if you want black, Primos are great, too.Comment
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Yes, Smokin' Dad from Canada (YouTuber) recent switched back from KJ to BGE - due to customer service issues and focus, I believe. He did a video about it. I watched some of it, but since I don't kamodo at all, I didn't get all of it, and sorta lost interest. But he did a breakdown about some of the differences/issues.
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Ahab I have a Weber Performer Deluxe, and also have a Slow 'N Sear Deluxe Kamado (snsgrills.com), also 22" just like the kettle. So they are directly comparable.
I do not think you could do your 45 minute start to finish cook you describe on most kamados, unless you were just direct grilling with the lid open on the kettle. It does take longer for the ceramic to heat up, and if I had to guess, I agree with Mosca that it may take 30 minutes longer than the kettle to get to grilling temps. Some of that is also due to the fact that when I use the kamado, I fill the bowl with lump charcoal, versus just pouring a chimney that I lit with propane out in the bowl of the Performer.
I like using the kamado for grilling *IF* I have extra time to get it going. But if I am in a hurry but still want to use charcoal, I gravitate back to my Performer. If I am really in a hurry I fire up the Weber Genesis.
The kamado is less responsive to vent changes to change cooking temperature than the kettle, due to the thermal mass of the ceramic. That is a GOOD thing when smoking, but less good when grilling, if the fire gets too hot.
Last comment - I do think a kamado could be your do it all cooker, if you just factor in the time to learn it, and the fact that SOME setups will take longer to get going than on your Performer or WSM. I do not agree with Mosca that all kamados are created equal however, specifically because of the concept of 2 zone cooking, which can be important if you want a hot and a cool zone. The Primo in particular, with its oblong shape and split diffuser setup, makes it easier than on many kamados to do a 2 zone setup. SNSGrills did something similar with their kamado by designing it to use their kettle accessory - the SNS insert - to make 2 zone cooking easier in a kamado. They also make a version of that for the Big Green Egg, but I don't know if it fits the Kamado Joe cookers.
My advice on a kamado is to get the largest one you can afford. While I love the SNS Kamado, it is only 22" for the grate - same as a kettle. It does come with a upper half grate, and I've done cooks where I had THREE levels of cooking, using the charcoal grate as a cooking surface, with the fire in the very bottom.
Something you should look at hard are the Weber Kamado series (used to be called the Summit Charcoal Grill). It is a double walled insulated metal construction, making it lighter than a ceramic cooker, but still insulated and efficient. It has a 24" cooking grate, and comes with everything you need to do direct grilling or indirect smoking. SNSGrills also makes some accessories for it. It is available in a cart version with propane ignition that would be much like your Performer, and being metal instead of ceramic, I feel it would heat up faster and get to cooking just as fast as your Performer does, but give you a little more grilling and smoking space.Comment
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Ahab good point. If you have the Weber kettle rotisserie, there is a lot of reason right there to keep on trucking with your Performer.
I have had offsets, many gas grills, multiple kettles, the biggest griddle you can buy, and a kamado. The one grill I would keep if I could ONLY have one would be my Performer. The availability of accessories; the many ways you can cook on it; the expansive work/prep table; charcoal storage AND the propane ignition are game changers. If only it were bigger. -
Ahab to finish the statement I ran out of space on:
I can grill, rotisserie, smoke, bake, boil and fry on my Performer. And do it with plenty of work space. I rarely use it without either the SNS insert or the Vortex, unless using the rotisserie ring.
So I guess you need to decide... is it worth the cost to buy a slightly larger Kamado Joe or BGE or Primo, plus their rotisserie, to gain 2 more inches of grill space over your Performer? -
I hadn’t even considered sq footage as a deciding factor !!! While i don’t do it often i do like to do the long slow brisket or pork shoulder and I do not have the patience or the willingness to go thru sleep depravation to try to do that on my Performer. it is a snap on my WSM. So i am back to, am i willing to compromise to get down to 1 cooker and a brand new shiny red one at that. I appreciate your input
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Your other option....
KEEP the Performer and WSM, and ADD a kamado.... Just saying!
I'm am down to 4 cookers - Performer Deluxe, griddle, Weber Genesis and SNS Kamado. At one time I had many more cookers, but I can do what I need with those 4. To reduce the number out by the pool, I moved two (Performer and Genesis) to the end yard out of sight, and SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) stopped complaining about the number of cookers out by the pool...
If I could only have ONE grill it would be my Performer. If I could only have TWO, it would probably be my Camp Chef griddle and my Kamado.Comment
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I love my Kamado Joe Big Joe III. But it does some things really well and other things it just gets by. Every cooker is like that. I loved my Weber, but it didn't come close to what I can do with the KJ. That said, my KJ can't do vortex chicken (at least I don't know how to pull that off). It also doesn't have the capacity of my PBX. There are trade offs with any cooker. Don't stress too hard about it, cause if you hang with us for a while you are gonna have more cookers in your future than you intended. MCS is real.Comment
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LA Pork Butt as soon as I hit "Post," I knew that I should check Youtube or Rumble to see if someone had developed a methods for using the Vortex in a Kamado. But I gave my vortex to my son for a house warming present, so oh well! -
I have toyed with using my Vortex in my SNS Kamado, but just don't because I feel with the design - the upper vent being straight above the Vortex - more of the heat will go right out of the kamado, and less circulating convection currents will occur than with the Vortex in a kettle, with its offset top vent. But maybe I am overthinking it.
I think if you do high heat indirect with the heat diffuser in place, wouldn't it be effectively the same as the Vortex? Or not, due to lower airflow...
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I have a BGE and one of the major my reason I got it was that I could sleep through the night while a Boston Butt cooked, and I would be ready to serve at noon. I think something to consider is how do you cook most. I am guessing you are more of a griller. While you can do anything on a Kamado, low and slow, Pizza, roast, bake and grill, IMO grilling is the weakest point. The best way to do reverse sear is to begin with a diffuser, remove it and then sear. I am happy with my Kamado because grilling is what I do least.Comment
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Ahab using the SNS insert and B&B charcoal briquettes, I can smoke a brisket or butt for 10+ hours before refueling on my Weber Performer. Even with Kingsford I can get 7-8 hours at 225 using the SNS. I've done overnight smokes in the kettle before, and just made sure it was full of fuel before going to bed, then popped out there first thing when I woke up. I've done 5-6 racks of baby backs, 4 chickens, 2 butts, or 1 18 pound brisket on the Performer before.
May not work if you are a late sleeper though.
With my kamado, I can fill the bowl with lump, and I've smoked 18-20 hours before, and have yet to ever fully burn through all the charcoal. I am guessing 24-30 hours on a load.Comment
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The concept of getting down to just one cooker is foreign to me, but let me offer up a suggestion not given yet.
Can you do the things you want to do on a ceramic kamado? You bet, with effort and imagination most anything/everything can be done on most any cooker. Just comes down to what trade offs you prefer.
There's a relatively new cooker on the market that will perform very much like the kettle you're accustomed to, and has some similarities to a kamado. It has thicker walls than a kettle though less than most kamados. Has a lid seal and upper and lower control vents. With offered accessories it can give you full surface space indirect cooking (a short coming of the SNS that only gives slightly over half the grate space), and has a designed in rotisserie option that doesn't require add on ring hardware. And to top it off it's got a digital temperature control system with wifi to ease the effort of longer term temp control. It's the Spider Grills Huntsman. The Huntsman – Spider Grills
I'm likely the only person on this site who's actually used one, I've had it for a few months now. If you choose to do some research on it you'll likely see some negative commentary from people who've not used it but are still willing to imagine problems whether they exist or not. I've been very impressed with it and it has pretty much relegated my Weber kettle to storage. There are quite a few reviews on YouTube that might be helpful as well.Comment
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au4stree at 6' tall it's borderline not tall enough, though when using it I really don't think about it. The company has developed an extension kit, basically three sleeves that mount to the top of the legs and raise the bowl another 2 or 3 inches (not shown on the site but they have it by request). If it ever really bothers me I'll order a set.
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au4stree Here is Dawgfatha's BBQ using his SnS in the Spider Grills Huntsman for an overnight brisket cook. Looks interesting.
As always YMMV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyysrZ8Tv3I&pp=ygUVaHVudHNtYW4gc3BpZGVyIGd yaWxsLast edited by Purc; May 6, 2025, 02:02 PM.Comment
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