Akorn - No longer sold by Bunnings

[niko123456]

you didnt wait long enough after you lit the charcoal. wait longer for the temp to stabilise a bit more. the taste you were getting is charcoal lighting. always wait till there is really thin smoke coming out.

Approx how long do you reckon between lighting and cooking?

[Gumb]

When it gets to temp it's ready and you should be able to adjust the vents so it stays at that temp straight away, and a little practice will help get that right. So time depends on what you are cooking and what temp you want. It also depends on what you do to the fire. i have a Q Master Senior controller i can attach to the kamado and it blows a lot of air in to the fire box to get up to temp so it doesn't take long, say 20 minutes. You can use a hair dryer or heat gun to speed it up too.

[WarmBeer]

So, has anybody in Melbourne (South East suburbs) seen one of these at their local Bunnings?

Want to go have a look at one, and see if they're happy to price match.

[titch]

So, has anybody in Melbourne (South East suburbs) seen one of these at their local Bunnings?

Want to go have a look at one, and see if they're happy to price match.

They will not price match that I know of.
Pakenham has one for 400, I have not seen it.
Notting Hill has one for 200 with a dent, Floor stock.
Easy to fix if your tool handy.
Fountain gate has none that I could see.

( I work in the stores sometimes doing Maint )

[Gumb]

None at Scoresby.

[WarmBeer]

Hmmm, none at Moorabbin, either.

Might need to scout a little further afield tomorrow night. Failing that, it's the Dragon from BBQ Galore, me thinks.

[Gumb]

You might try the super store in Vermont Sth or the one in nth Bayswater. I think if you ring around they can see on the computer if anyone somewhere else still has stock.

[Fents]

you didnt wait long enough after you lit the charcoal. wait longer for the temp to stabilise a bit more. the taste you were getting is charcoal lighting. always wait till there is really thin smoke coming out.

Approx how long do you reckon between lighting and cooking?

If you are doing low and slow i'd be waiting at least 1 hour before i put the food on and to make sure the temp stabilised. If its a high heat cook then probably about half that or at least until most of the charcoal is lit.

Ive had the acrid taste too once, its yuck. havent had it since i started waiting a little longer.

[Gumb]

Sorry mate but I disagree with that completely. I've never had to wait for it to stabilise more than maybe 10 minutes and that includes the kamado and Weber kettle. Once a kamado settles at temperature it's good to go and I can't see any need to wait an hour. Just my opinion based on a lot of cooking on both.

[aussieant32]

The dragon kamado is essentially the same unit. After about 15 minutes max the temp is rock solid

[Gumb]

Agree, the only thing that would cause you to have to wait is if you let it overrun the temperature by stoking the fire too much initially. Ceramic kamados take some time to get back down but not so a metal body like the Akorn.

[urbangriller]

you didnt wait long enough after you lit the charcoal. wait longer for the temp to stabilise a bit more. the taste you were getting is charcoal lighting. always wait till there is really thin smoke coming out.

Approx how long do you reckon between lighting and cooking?

If you are doing low and slow i'd be waiting at least 1 hour before i put the food on and to make sure the temp stabilised. If its a high heat cook then probably about half that or at least until most of the charcoal is lit.

Ive had the acrid taste too once, its yuck. havent had it since i started waiting a little longer.

If your Kamado is not up to speed in 15-20 minutes, something is wrong.

If there is an acrid taste then something is also wrong...most likely damp charcoal or charcoal that is not completely carbonised.

Chris

[12x7]

The acrid smoke flavour is a real turn off.

Here's two things that can cause it.

1) You are using indirect cooking with a deflector and you have fat from the last cook on it. You heat the deflector to over 170C and it starts to smoke or in some cases catches fire. Until the fat is burn off do not put your food on as the smoke makes the food taste acrid. The worse type of fat is pork or lamb. The way round this problem is to cover the deflector in foil when you cook so it is always clean, clean off the old fat/burnt bits off the deflector before you cook or use a drip tray under your food which again keeps the deflector clean.

2) Don't let the fat catch fire! If you are cooking a leg of pork for example using indirect and the fat pools on the defector and starts to smoke/catches fire the smoke is acrid and gets into the food.

Re: how long to get the Kamado up to temp. After a bit of practice with properly placing the charcoal and using lighters such as the looftlighter you can get the Kamado quite regularly up to 200C in 15-20 min even in a ceramic Kamado. You have to watch it when you want (or unwanted!) to go to the 300C and over as it is very easy to quite quickly to get over 600C with the vents wide open.

[Gumb]

I think mine would explode if I ever let it get to 600

[alimac23]

The acrid taste I know all too well, I was using mangrove lump charcoal and when I had a fresh load in my Akorn I would light it and it would stink for an hour before it settled in, subsequent cooks with the same lump were fine.

Since I've switched to gidgee I've had none of the stinky startup smoke and it also burns a lot hotter so it's a win win