Kamado Joe 2 Years Later

i did a video two and a half years ago discussing the kamado joe big joe ii that i just purchased and i thought it was time to do an update video if you've been researching these grills then you may have heard things like quality versatility and the flexibility of this grill and all those things are true and have held true over the past two and a half years i've gotten stable temperatures for low and slow or even high temperatures for doing things like searing or pizzas and you get as much smoke as you want being able to put in as much wood chunks as you prefer and there are tons of different accessories which makes it incredibly versatile and you can really do any type of cook that you can think of the things that sold me on the grill were really just the accessories that were included with the grill that i didn't have to initially pay extra for also the updated hinge and control tower the updated seal all that stuff played into my decision but now let's talk about how that stuff has held up over the years it's really been two and a half years i put two in the title just because two and a half years sounded weird but it's been two and a half years that i've had this grill i rarely cover it and it sits out in a southeast louisiana sun all the time there's no shade in my backyard and it just gets direct sunlight the finish of the grill has held up incredibly well the control tower is showing a little like sun bleaching but that's just my fault for not covering it and then the shelves which are kind of made out of that black plastic material they are showing a little bit of wear and tear but for two and a half years in the sun i think they still look great the hinge is still in excellent condition as well as all the other hardware on the exterior and interior of the grille now the fiberglass seal is showing a little bit of wear and tear but i think that's natural and they do sell those seals if it ever were to give me issues i could one try to file a warranty claim and see if it's covered under warranty or two just purchase a new seal and install it myself i've tried to pay special attention to taking care of my grates so i use steel wool to maintain mine and they still look phenomenal after two and a half years of use now let's talk about some of the accessories that i use and recommend so the first one that comes to mind of course is the jotisserie a lot of people ask hey what should my first accessory be you know once i've kind of dialed in using the grill and i would have to say go for the jotisserie it is just incredible being able to have a rotisserie grill at your disposal whether it's chickens doing pacana which is incredible giro meat it is wonderful to have that flexibility if you then add on a basket on top of that you can start spinning wings which i've done a video about and those are really the best wings that i think i've ever had i don't really enjoy going out for wings anymore i would much rather stay home and just spin some wings on the kamado joe my only complaint about the joetisserie is that the motor is not waterproof so you're not supposed to have it out in the rain it rains a good bit where i live it might not rain where you are and it's really still no big deal i've put foil over it in the past and it hasn't really been an issue but i did just want to mention that other accessories i've got the cast iron half moon griddle and i also have the cast iron half moon great as well over the years i've found that i'm using the griddle much more than the great both are fine but to get a sear i love getting that griddle way up in temperature we're talking 800 900 degrees something like that and then getting a nice quick sear on a stake just on that flat cast iron absolutely wonderful so i have found myself using that a bit more often than the grate itself but still really enjoy both of them the next thing that i have or that i've gotten over the years is an ash basket now it's not the name brand one and it's not the one that kamado joe makes it was just a knock off that i found on amazon i'll put a link in the description below it's held up great over the years and i enjoy it for two main reasons one is that the ash just falls right out of it you don't really have to clean out the ash from the bottom to keep that airflow up so keeps excellent airflow going the other thing is using the jotissary with the basket i can put the divider in the basket and bank the coals pretty easily to one side i'm sure you can do this without a basket as well but those are kind of the main things that i use it for and it's really come in handy the next two accessories are temperature controllers i've used both the i command gen 1 and gen 2 as well as now the fire board so i just put a video out on the fire board that's the one that i am now recommending people to get the i command i think if you're looking between the two i think the fire board is the way to go but i've greatly enjoyed using temperature controllers on my big joe as well it really doesn't need it because the big joe is great at holding temperature i'm a techie nerd i enjoy the ability to keep up with my cook when i'm not at home using wi-fi so i do enjoy those luxuries the other thing is i like the insurance if i'm doing an overnight cook or if i'm doing a cook where i leave i don't think i've had a single experience without a temperature controller where the grill like ran away on temperature but it is nice to know if i've got a 70 brisket on there and i go to bed that no matter what that little thing is going to keep temperature i'm going to wake up and it's going to be doing just fine so i like that aspect of the temperature controllers as well and they work great with the kamado joe big joe ii now let's talk about some of the cons the first one is the price absolutely so if you're looking on atlantic grill company you're probably going to see the kamado joe big joe 2 for i think 17 or 1800 i got mine from the costco road show and i paid 1500 bucks so i highly recommend waiting for that to come around to your area and trying to do that also a couple times a year atlanta grill company will have an online like black friday sale or like a father's day sale and they'll mark them down significantly i don't know if they're going to drop to that 1500 range but they get pretty close so i would wait for that 18 to 1900 bucks for the two is very expensive i know that they also had the version three out as well now using that slow roller so i don't have any experience with that it's hard for me to see the value justification especially if i got my grill for 1500 bucks to upgrade to the big joe 3 is a significant amount of money and i just don't know that the slow roller is going to add that for me so i'm perfectly happy with my big joe ii but again major con being these things are expensive i do think they're quality but they're expensive the thing that's giving me the most trouble and this is by no means a deal breaker is that top control tower after a few cooks it starts to gum up and it kind of locks up on you so once you get the girl to temperature it moves freely and is totally fine so i'd say once a year or so i find myself having to like deep clean it just to get it to move easily again i will boil mine in soapy water scrub it and then throw it right back on there and it's totally fine so again not a major issue but i just want to make you aware of these things that this is a pretty common issue that i've seen online i've also seen some people where they actually have the paint start to peel off of that control tower i haven't had that issue but some people are having that so it seems a pretty common issue is the control tower kind of gumming up on you just want to make you aware it's also been my experience that my heat deflectors tend to break so the first set that i got had a chip in it and that could be because i bought the display model from the kamado joe road show at costco so that could just be a result of wear and tear kind of moving around in a store or maybe someone nicked it then later on i'd say another about a year later i had another one break on me i think it's temperature related i'm not 100 sure but i want to let you know that kamado joe swapped them out for me both times at no cost because it was a warranty claim and i got new deflector plates both times within a week so the customer service in my opinion and in my experience has been phenomenal which i think paying that much money that kind of goes with the territory i would expect that level of customer service and they have been providing that in my opinion some people are probably gonna hate on this con but i think i'm just gonna mention it depending on the type of person that you are this is a more involved grill it's not like your set it and forget it like a traeger where you just set the temperature walk away five minutes later your grill is ready you throw the meat on you're done it's a little more involved to get up to temperature really it's no big deal but just takes a little bit more time might even take a little bit of practice if you have a temperature controller it's much more like set it and forget it you kind of start the fire and then just let the temperature controller take over if you're not using a temperature controller then you're going to have to like play around with dialing in your vents your top vent bottom vent it's really not hard and i actually enjoy that aspect of it having more control especially putting the amount of wood that i want in there to get the smokiness that i'm looking for i really enjoy that control some people might not be looking for that but again not a big issue at all but it is going to take you probably 30 45 minutes to get the grill up to a nice stable temperature it's just going to take a little bit more time my last con is going to be the size that you're getting for the price i mean you can get a 22 inch weber and the classic version of the kamado joe is fairly small the big joe gives you plenty of space but that is something to consider the amount of money that you're paying for the capacity that you're getting they do make shelves to expand the grilling surface which is great but i think that is a con that kind of ties into or dovetails into the price is that for the price you're not getting a massive amount of space to grill stuff again i've got the big joe never been an issue for me rarely am i doing anything larger than a brisket and it handles a full pack of brisket just fine i've done multiple pork shoulders at the same time totally fine but i did just want to throw it out there that if you're going for the classic the classic is actually going to have trouble fitting a full packer brisket on there without a brick or some other method and you might want to look at sizing up to the big joe for a few extra 100 again that's one of the cons is the cost overall i have been incredibly happy with the big joe the barbecue that i am able to get off that thing has just been amazing i've been impressed with the quality the customer service and every piece of food that i've had come off of that grill it can really take your barbecue grain as high as you are willing to go as much as you're willing to try it can deliver all of that there really aren't any limitations to what you can do with this grill other than just the capacity of what you can actually fit on it i hope you found this video informative and helpful if you are in the market for a kamado joe style grill thank you so much for watching break it yourself don't forget to thumbs me up but the most important thing that you can do is if you know someone who's interested in barbecue kamado joe share this video with them the algorithm absolutely loves that thanks again for watching break it yourself and we'll see you next time

Channel: Break It Yourself

Views: 86,688

Rating: 4.9199486 out of 5

Keywords: kamado joe, kamado joe brisket, big joe, kamado joe big joe, big joe 3, big joe 2, kamado joe classic, kamado joe review, kamado joe installation, kamado joe big joe 3, kamado joe big joe 2, bbq, weber, big green egg, bge, biy, break it yourself, ceramic grill, kamado joe vs big green egg, weber summit, kamado grill, classic ii, kamado joe classic ii

Id: wKMDU0RVhM8

Length: 11min 44sec (704 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020