Howdy Meathead Maniacs!
Ok, I appreciate the feedback on the Kamado Is A Chimney. I hope to build on the previous post where we talked about air flow in general and help you understand how air flows through a kamado and why that is vitally important. Hopefully you can then understand why some kamados command a higher price that others in the same class, i.e. ceramics.
First, the guts of 3 different kamado brands. We'll look at the Vision at the low end of the price scale, the BGE at the upper end, and the Komodo Kamado at the very top end of the scale. All three have basically the same guts.
Okay, here are the Vision guts. You can see that the fire grate, air hole, and stress relief crack are clearly labeled. This model of Vision is sold at Sam's and I appreciate Sam's letting one of their Visions pose for these photographs.
Note that this is a solid fire bowl and that all the air enters the lump pile through the air holes. Air can also flow around and through the annulus between the shell of the Vision and the fire bowl.
Now here is the BGE fire bowl. The fire bowl system in the BGE is built in 3 pieces. Let's build our understanding of the BGE from the BGE's shell up to the entire 3 piece system.
The fire ring allows for a complete and full load of lump to be in the kamado. By splitting the fire bowl into 2 pieces, BGE reduces the weight of the assembly and makes cleaning out ashes easier. Note again the fire grate. This allows ash to fall to the bottom of the kamado during the cooking process. Again, notice the air holes in the fire bowl.
The Fire Bowl identified in the picture above is different from that of the Vision above. The Vision is a solid piece with a stress relief crack. Here is a picture of the BGE fire bowl from the side.
Again you see the stress relief crack but you also notice below that the air inlet. There is no such structure in the Vision. This air inlet mechanism means that air can enter the lump pile from the bottom as well as through the holes in the fire bowl. Thus, one would expect airflow in the BGE to be more efficient since air now has another avenue to get to the lump fire.
Now I'm going to show you one of the unique features of the Komodo Kamado (KK). These pics of taken of my KK BB 32" when I was uncrating it. It's air flow scheme, rather than flowing from the bottom vent has unimpeded access to the fire in the lump pile. Thus, 100% of the entering air can only flow through the lump pile.
There are several things to note here. First, the fire box is a two piece structure that is held in place by the fact that it rests against the KK shell and it meets at the stress relief joints created by the two pieces. Second, there is no fire grate. Due to the design of the charcoal basket, all ash drops directly on the KK floor. Third, there are two means whereby air enters the KK. Those two vents into the KK are labeled "Heat Shield" on the left and "Heat Shield Plate" in the center. Those shield also prevent ash from plugging up air flow during long cooks.
Here is a picture of the KK Charcoal Basket in place in the KK BB 32.
So, air flow enters the KK at the far left and right below the stress relief, flows up into the charcoal basket and into the fire. FYI, to give you some idea of the size of that charcoal basket, it comfortably holds 2 regular Kingsford Blue Bags of briquettes.
Okay, now that we see there are real differences in simplicity/complexity of fire boxes. Let's look at how air enters and exits the 3 different kamados we are dealing with.
Here is the top vent of the Vision kamado.
This vent is rather simple and consists of a daisy well mechanism that rotates to open and close the vent. One rotates the vent and changes it's setting via the plastic tab in the 5 o'clock position in the picture above. You 'll also note right under that tab is a strip of metal with numbers ranging from 0 to 3. Those numbers are to help remember vent settings when trying to control temps.
Here is the Vision bottom vent. It is a bit more complex than the top vent.
Notice here that we see a vent frame. Behind that vent frame is a casketing material. The Spark Arrestor Plate and the Air Flow Control plate slide right and left to control air flow. The Spark Arrestor Plate is a safety feature to keep speaks and lit embers from falling onto a wooden deck and causing an unintended fire. Notice that on the Spark Arrestor, there are Vent Numbers, 1 thru 8. Those numbers serve as a guide when it comes to setting temps just as the top vents had numbers for the same purpose. Finally, the Air Flow Control Plate can slide left to a specific position to reduce the amount of air entering the Vision. In this picture the vent is fully open. If one wanted to maximize air flow in the Spark Arrestor would be slid completely left.
Now let's take a look at the BGE vent system. It's similar to the Vision but a bit more complex than that seen above.
The BGE top vents consists of 4 basic parts: The Top Vent Assembly, Slider, Daisy Wheel, and Handle. Whereas the Vision top vent was totally attached, The BGE's top vent is entirely removable and can be replaced by a green ceramic cap when not in use. The Slider is used for making gross temperature adjustments; the Daisy Wheel is used for making finer temperature adjustments. When you want to really crank up the temp, the slider will be completely open. This type of vent allows for a full range of temps to be more easily dialed in than that of the Vision. You can still get the same kind of temps with a Vision, but the BGE allow greater air flow and it does it easier, at least in my opinion.
Here is the bottom vent for the BGE. It's almost a duplicate of the Vision, but the Spark Arrestor has a finer mesh. The Vision and BGE bottom vents are identical in operation.
Now let's look at the vent system for the Komodo Kamado. The KK is unique among kamados in that its bottom vent is actually an air control manifold. Here is a picture of the Bottom Vent on the KK BB 32.
This vent consisted of two controls: a dial vent on the left I use for gross temp adjustments. The dial on the left I use to really fine tune temps in the KK BB 32. Remember in the picture of the fire bowl of the KK BB 32 above there was a Heat Shield on the left hand side of the picture? That is also a draft door that supercharges fires. I can open that if I really want to get the KK BB 32 up to a high temp in a real hurry. This air control manifold really allows for precise air flow through the KK.
Here is picture of the top vent structure of top vent on the KK.
This is the largest opt vent in the kamado world and is based on moving as much or as little air as you need through the KK. What you see is the base and it measures more than 9" across. This top vent, like that of the BGE is infinitely adjustable because it has a screw mechanism right at the 5" mark on that tape. Notice the white braided gasket material. It is that material that the top will screw down onto to extinguish a fire. The top of the vent is as large across as a dinner plate. Here is a picture of the assembly in its operational configuration atop the KK BB 32 that sits on my patio. I call him TheBeast.
So there we have the different fire box and vent structures of 3 well know kamados. I've tried to point out the differences as we've worked through this and how those differences can affect performance.
Let's be a little more explicit in dealing with airflow in the kamado. The Vision is a very good cooker and in the hands of an experienced Vision owner, it can turn out some incredible food. The Vision owner has learned how to control the air flow through the cooker. If I were to try and cook on a Vision, I could do okay, but my cooks would be nowhere as good as the comparable cook by the Vision owner. I have no idea of the nuances needed to really control the Vision. That is why the Vision owner would out cook me for a bit of time.
So too with the BGE. You take the BGE owner and tell that BGE owner to cook on the Vision, you've got hash the first few cooks. And like wise if you take the Vision owner moving over to the BGE. Both would have to figure out the proper vent settings and how the kamado responded to changes in vent settings. If you don't know the response curve of your kamado to change sin vent settings, you'll be eating a lot of hash. Once you get those vent settings figured out and once you know the response curve or your specific kamado, you're in for some extraordinary food on the table!
Many of the nuances of TheBeast deal with how air flows into and out of the KK. The majority of nuances of any kamado will be found in airflow and how well the cook can capitalize on those nuances. I started on a BGE years ago. My kamado mentor made me sit down on a Saturday and learn all about air flow, the response curve of my specific BGE, and made me record my observations. That was the single best starting point in understanding my BGE ever. I had to do the same thing with my Primos. The first Primo Oval XL had a different set of vents settings than the second. They were similar, but not the same. The response curves were much different because of the different vents settings. I honestly think that price differentials among kamados are due, in large measure, to how air flow is handled.
Nest time, we'll build on the first two installments here and talk about how to dial in temps and how to determine the response curve of your kamado to changes in vent settings.
Questions? Comments?
Ok, I appreciate the feedback on the Kamado Is A Chimney. I hope to build on the previous post where we talked about air flow in general and help you understand how air flows through a kamado and why that is vitally important. Hopefully you can then understand why some kamados command a higher price that others in the same class, i.e. ceramics.
First, the guts of 3 different kamado brands. We'll look at the Vision at the low end of the price scale, the BGE at the upper end, and the Komodo Kamado at the very top end of the scale. All three have basically the same guts.
Okay, here are the Vision guts. You can see that the fire grate, air hole, and stress relief crack are clearly labeled. This model of Vision is sold at Sam's and I appreciate Sam's letting one of their Visions pose for these photographs.
Note that this is a solid fire bowl and that all the air enters the lump pile through the air holes. Air can also flow around and through the annulus between the shell of the Vision and the fire bowl.
Now here is the BGE fire bowl. The fire bowl system in the BGE is built in 3 pieces. Let's build our understanding of the BGE from the BGE's shell up to the entire 3 piece system.
The fire ring allows for a complete and full load of lump to be in the kamado. By splitting the fire bowl into 2 pieces, BGE reduces the weight of the assembly and makes cleaning out ashes easier. Note again the fire grate. This allows ash to fall to the bottom of the kamado during the cooking process. Again, notice the air holes in the fire bowl.
The Fire Bowl identified in the picture above is different from that of the Vision above. The Vision is a solid piece with a stress relief crack. Here is a picture of the BGE fire bowl from the side.
Again you see the stress relief crack but you also notice below that the air inlet. There is no such structure in the Vision. This air inlet mechanism means that air can enter the lump pile from the bottom as well as through the holes in the fire bowl. Thus, one would expect airflow in the BGE to be more efficient since air now has another avenue to get to the lump fire.
Now I'm going to show you one of the unique features of the Komodo Kamado (KK). These pics of taken of my KK BB 32" when I was uncrating it. It's air flow scheme, rather than flowing from the bottom vent has unimpeded access to the fire in the lump pile. Thus, 100% of the entering air can only flow through the lump pile.
There are several things to note here. First, the fire box is a two piece structure that is held in place by the fact that it rests against the KK shell and it meets at the stress relief joints created by the two pieces. Second, there is no fire grate. Due to the design of the charcoal basket, all ash drops directly on the KK floor. Third, there are two means whereby air enters the KK. Those two vents into the KK are labeled "Heat Shield" on the left and "Heat Shield Plate" in the center. Those shield also prevent ash from plugging up air flow during long cooks.
Here is a picture of the KK Charcoal Basket in place in the KK BB 32.
So, air flow enters the KK at the far left and right below the stress relief, flows up into the charcoal basket and into the fire. FYI, to give you some idea of the size of that charcoal basket, it comfortably holds 2 regular Kingsford Blue Bags of briquettes.
Okay, now that we see there are real differences in simplicity/complexity of fire boxes. Let's look at how air enters and exits the 3 different kamados we are dealing with.
Here is the top vent of the Vision kamado.
This vent is rather simple and consists of a daisy well mechanism that rotates to open and close the vent. One rotates the vent and changes it's setting via the plastic tab in the 5 o'clock position in the picture above. You 'll also note right under that tab is a strip of metal with numbers ranging from 0 to 3. Those numbers are to help remember vent settings when trying to control temps.
Here is the Vision bottom vent. It is a bit more complex than the top vent.
Notice here that we see a vent frame. Behind that vent frame is a casketing material. The Spark Arrestor Plate and the Air Flow Control plate slide right and left to control air flow. The Spark Arrestor Plate is a safety feature to keep speaks and lit embers from falling onto a wooden deck and causing an unintended fire. Notice that on the Spark Arrestor, there are Vent Numbers, 1 thru 8. Those numbers serve as a guide when it comes to setting temps just as the top vents had numbers for the same purpose. Finally, the Air Flow Control Plate can slide left to a specific position to reduce the amount of air entering the Vision. In this picture the vent is fully open. If one wanted to maximize air flow in the Spark Arrestor would be slid completely left.
Now let's take a look at the BGE vent system. It's similar to the Vision but a bit more complex than that seen above.
The BGE top vents consists of 4 basic parts: The Top Vent Assembly, Slider, Daisy Wheel, and Handle. Whereas the Vision top vent was totally attached, The BGE's top vent is entirely removable and can be replaced by a green ceramic cap when not in use. The Slider is used for making gross temperature adjustments; the Daisy Wheel is used for making finer temperature adjustments. When you want to really crank up the temp, the slider will be completely open. This type of vent allows for a full range of temps to be more easily dialed in than that of the Vision. You can still get the same kind of temps with a Vision, but the BGE allow greater air flow and it does it easier, at least in my opinion.
Here is the bottom vent for the BGE. It's almost a duplicate of the Vision, but the Spark Arrestor has a finer mesh. The Vision and BGE bottom vents are identical in operation.
Now let's look at the vent system for the Komodo Kamado. The KK is unique among kamados in that its bottom vent is actually an air control manifold. Here is a picture of the Bottom Vent on the KK BB 32.
This vent consisted of two controls: a dial vent on the left I use for gross temp adjustments. The dial on the left I use to really fine tune temps in the KK BB 32. Remember in the picture of the fire bowl of the KK BB 32 above there was a Heat Shield on the left hand side of the picture? That is also a draft door that supercharges fires. I can open that if I really want to get the KK BB 32 up to a high temp in a real hurry. This air control manifold really allows for precise air flow through the KK.
Here is picture of the top vent structure of top vent on the KK.
This is the largest opt vent in the kamado world and is based on moving as much or as little air as you need through the KK. What you see is the base and it measures more than 9" across. This top vent, like that of the BGE is infinitely adjustable because it has a screw mechanism right at the 5" mark on that tape. Notice the white braided gasket material. It is that material that the top will screw down onto to extinguish a fire. The top of the vent is as large across as a dinner plate. Here is a picture of the assembly in its operational configuration atop the KK BB 32 that sits on my patio. I call him TheBeast.
So there we have the different fire box and vent structures of 3 well know kamados. I've tried to point out the differences as we've worked through this and how those differences can affect performance.
Let's be a little more explicit in dealing with airflow in the kamado. The Vision is a very good cooker and in the hands of an experienced Vision owner, it can turn out some incredible food. The Vision owner has learned how to control the air flow through the cooker. If I were to try and cook on a Vision, I could do okay, but my cooks would be nowhere as good as the comparable cook by the Vision owner. I have no idea of the nuances needed to really control the Vision. That is why the Vision owner would out cook me for a bit of time.
So too with the BGE. You take the BGE owner and tell that BGE owner to cook on the Vision, you've got hash the first few cooks. And like wise if you take the Vision owner moving over to the BGE. Both would have to figure out the proper vent settings and how the kamado responded to changes in vent settings. If you don't know the response curve of your kamado to change sin vent settings, you'll be eating a lot of hash. Once you get those vent settings figured out and once you know the response curve or your specific kamado, you're in for some extraordinary food on the table!
Many of the nuances of TheBeast deal with how air flows into and out of the KK. The majority of nuances of any kamado will be found in airflow and how well the cook can capitalize on those nuances. I started on a BGE years ago. My kamado mentor made me sit down on a Saturday and learn all about air flow, the response curve of my specific BGE, and made me record my observations. That was the single best starting point in understanding my BGE ever. I had to do the same thing with my Primos. The first Primo Oval XL had a different set of vents settings than the second. They were similar, but not the same. The response curves were much different because of the different vents settings. I honestly think that price differentials among kamados are due, in large measure, to how air flow is handled.
Nest time, we'll build on the first two installments here and talk about how to dial in temps and how to determine the response curve of your kamado to changes in vent settings.
Questions? Comments?
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