Deflector/firebowl gap

[youraveragepunter]

Hi, I've picked up a pit boss Kamado from Costco, my deflector spider/rack should arrive soon then I'll need to buy a deflector to suit. I believe 40cm is recommended by the rack seller...but I'm wondering if it will make much difference going to 38cm deflector which are much easier to find.

What is the avg gap between deflector edge and firebowl amongst all the kamado a out there. I.e when looking from above how thick is the ring of space which allows heat and smoke to rise from the bowl into the cooking chamber?

Cheers
Punter

[choicebro]

Hi Punter,
I have a Kamado Dragon which is a steel version of the Kamado grill.
The gap around the circumference of my deflector to the fire bowl is approximately 2 1/2 inches.
It is big enough to cover the size of the drip trays that I use so they are not exposed to the direct heat of the coals

There seems to be enough gap for the smoke and heat to go past.

For the deflector I am just using a pizza stone, on its own and not wrapped in foil. From memory it was from a cheap kit I bought from bunnies.
I place a drip tray on top of that for each cook and that sits on a little trivet made of tinfoil to keep the tray off the direct heat of the deflector.
the trivet is just a length of tin foil roll into a 10cm diameter snake the size of the drip tray.
I find that helps to stop the juices from the cooking meat heating up too much and burning.

I'll post up a pic when I can if you want, currently having problems with the usual image hosting site that I use.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Choicebro

[12x7]

Should be fine. It is something you can experiment with.

[youraveragepunter]

Yep I think 38cm will work fine. The trivet for the drip pan is a great idea I'll use that too