BGE, Primo, Kamado Joe, Big Steel Keg


 
W

William Schmitz

TVWBB Fan
A little over a year ago, my Weber kettle had given up the ghost, and before jumping right back into another Weber I experimented with a cheap Master Forge Dually Charcoal Grill from Lowe's. While there are definitely some things I like about it (huge cooking surface, the ability to raise or lower the coals), it's simply not a quality product like Weber.

For instance, I hate that it leaks air so badly that you cannot extinguish a fire and save any bit of your charcoal (horribly wasteful); I have finally resorted to scooping the hot coals into an empty paint can to put them out. Not ideal.

I suspect that I will buy another Weber when I replace this grill. But for the sake of being thorough, I am looking at the following as alternatives:

The Big Green Egg
Primo
Kamado Joe
Big Steel Keg

One of the reasons I am looking at these is for the ability to do very high heat pizza (Neapolitan style). Obviously this will also be my main griller for steaks, chops, burgers, chicken, etc. However, I'm not really interested in their smoking capabilities as I also own a WSM and expect that to remain my main smoking implement.

So, do any of you own one of these? What are your impressions? How do they compare to each other? Etc. I'm not looking for comparisons to the Weber, as I kind of know what I'm gaining and giving up there . . . cost, etc. I'm more interested in how they compare to each other.

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill
 
I own a Primo Oval Xl and i like it alot. Its fuel friendly and temp control is great. But its alot of $$$ . And the egg and the Primo will burn the gasket (between the lid/body) if it gets to hot. So then you have to buy a HH gasket and change the factory one. The hottest i have run my Primo is 550 with the gasket intakt.

You get a year of charcoal and alot of meat if you go with the weber vs The Primo.

But its up to you ofc.
 
My friend has a medium size Egg and loves it. However that's his only bbq and uses it for grilling, smoking, etc.

Seems like a lot of money to spend if you just plan on grilling with it.

Why not invest in the 26" Weber kettle, that will give you more space to grill for larger groups.
 
I have a large BGE and it has pluses and minuses like everything else. The cooking surface is 18.5 inches just like the WSM so you can get a good visual on how much you could grill on the large BGE. The XL is bigger near the size of a 22 inch weber but costs a boat load of money. I think the Xl with a cart and a plate setter(used for indirect) you are talking about $1000!

BGE Pluses:
Uses little charcoal but you must use lump. I put some Stubbs briquettes too since they have low ash content.
Once it is lit the temp stays where it is at.
Baking bread at 350-450 for 1 hour no problem.
Baking pizza at 650 no problem.

BGE Minuses:
Expensive $650 then rising and relatively small cooking space 18-22 inch round grills
there is only 1 zone of heat and there will be hot spots, do NOT listen to people who says there isn't. So seer over direct and moving your steaks to the indirect side can't happen. There are aftermaket parts to help with this though see http://www.ceramicgrillstore.com/ for info.

For me I think of the BGE as an outdoor charcoal oven that you can use as a grill. The limited space is a big draw back but it is quite versatile. Nothing beats homemade bread in the summer time without heating up the kitchen.

One more thing, forget about everything you learned on the Weber Kettle the BGE cooks totally and I mean totally different.

I've seen some links on this forum about baking pizza on the Weber so I would do some more research before you layout the cash.

Happy Grilling
D
 
I have a Large Big Green Egg. I've had it up to the 800+ range to do some searing of steaks. The gaskets got cooked and turned crisp. Replaced them with a Nomex kit Fred's sells Nomex Gasket Kit and it's been great since then.

I mostly smoke in mine but do occasionally do pizza at 550-600.

At the moment I use my Egg 90% of the time, a smokey joe about 5% and Q100 portable about 3% and 2% a 20" Pro-Q WSM clone.

The downside to the egg is it's lack of size. The large is 18" and the XL is 24" and the weight/size difference is enormous. I really like the Primo Ovals as you can get full racks of spares in them with ease (check out the Traeger rib rack) and it's got more room. Was about to pull the trigger on a PRIMO XL oval when the local Sams clubs had the Large Green Egg with Nest and side tables for under $950. Just couldn't pass up the low price.

I noticed that this year Lowes has a Bayou Classic Ceramic grill that looked very good when I saw it at the spring changeout. The price is very competitive to a BGE given the "nest" and sidetables are part of the package. Lowes isn't listing it online so not sure if it's just a local test or available nationwide. Some people had issues with early models of this ceramic grill though and not sure if the "redesigned" one is any better. Just though I'd mention it.
 
I have had both as well and am happy with my Weber and WSM. One drawback I will add is it's very difficult t do mods on a ceramic. There almost isn't anywhere to go with them. Drilling equals future cracking and warranty voids. You also can't add a stacker type addition if you need extra room like you can with the WSM.
 
I have a kettle and a grill dome ceramic grill. I like both a lot. As said earlier, the ceramic uses little lump. I love it for long cooks for that reason. I actually have been using my kettle more lately. I miss the indirect style cooking on kettle, so thats why i been cooking on my kettle. For whatever reason sometimes the food on my Weber seems more like bbq taste, when dong indrect. I don't think the Weber dries out food more than a ceramic like they advertise. My food from Weber is just as juicy.
I love having both as an option.
I can get the Weber up to 400 with vents shut down with only 30 briquettes. So also depends how much you cook and what kind of cooking you are going to do. That's just my opinion.
 
I believe the Primo is the best ceramic cooker because of the oval design in the sense that you can cook like most of us with the Weber’s which is offset indirect, plus most big cuts of meat are not round
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. I believe that most serious and good cooks/chefs do this because you need different heat zones in a grill especially when cooking multiple items and to catch the drippings to keep from the off fumes on large cuts.

We use ours for an outdoor oven mostly, pizza, casseroles, roasting of various things, etc…. Also for those really bad weather days (cold, wind and rain). They do not keep or make meat more moist, the cook does this by not overcooking! They will keep the bark/exterior moister. However you can grill at a more modest temp like 275-350 consistently with out letting your coal get all lit and out of control.

Plus Primo is the only ceramic made in the USA! Be careful not to get into the ceramic forum clutches as in “the cooker makes the food better”, only you can do that with heat and fire management along with knowledge of procedures, spices and methods!

I love my Primo, however for normal grilling the Kettles get used and for bbq the bullets get loaded!

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Glenn Said "Be careful not to get into the ceramic forum clutches as in “the cooker makes the food better”, only you can do that with heat and fire management along with knowledge of procedures, spices and methods!
"

I wish I said that myself! Excellent point!

D
 
There are pros and cons of ceramic and other cookers. Most are insulated and use less fuel.
You can fit more meat on a WSM however.
The upfront cost is a lot higher on ceramic cookers too!
I have heard stories of these cookers cracking.
Buy a WSM cooker and it will be the last one you ever buy. The Weber company will always be here (I think) to get parts too!
What about taking a ceramic on the road? FORGET THAT!
Use a kettle for grilling, and a wsm smoking I say!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Buy a WSM cooker and it will be the last one you ever buy. The Weber company will always be here (I think) to get parts too! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I said that when I bought my first performer.... It will be the last one you SHOULD have to buy
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JSM, I know exactly what you mean! I have an 18 and 24 inch kettle, 18 inch wsm, and a go anywhere portable! Webers are addicting as heck! I told my wife that I want a performer now and she just glared at me!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by dean:
JSM, I know exactly what you mean! I have an 18 and 24 inch kettle, 18 inch wsm, and a go anywhere portable! Webers are addicting as heck! I told my wife that I want a performer now and she just glared at me! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I get that same look when I said I wanted to add a red Performer to the stable of five Webers we already have
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">... Be careful not to get into the ceramic forum clutches as in “the cooker makes the food better”, only you can do that with heat and fire management along with knowledge of procedures, spices and methods!

wsmsmile8gm.gif
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I believe the Primo is the best ceramic cooker because of the oval design </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Agreed.
 
Agree AFA shape preference. If I were to spend the $$$ for a ceramic it would be the Primo XL due to shape and size/capacity.

Never cooked on a ceramic, but I do like the Primo's when I see them in use and on display. I have some of the food grate extender accessories that I use to add another layer of space in the Performer/Kettle and the quality is excellent.

Haven't had the urge yet to change up to one though.

In the end fire control/skills are the primary, and I like the ability to have a separate smoker and grill combo. In the years that I have had the WSM and the Performer I have never come away from a cook thinking "If I only had a ceramic the food would have been so much better"

Perhaps ignorance is bliss in my case
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I also like the portability/weight of the WSM/Performer. For storing, moving, etc.

Sure do like those Primo's though.... the fact that they are made here in the U.S. is another plus IMHO.

If I ever change Performer out I would look for a quality unit that allows you to raise and lower the coal grate. That's something I miss. It's a handy option.

In the end a HastyBake would probably win out over the Primo for my next choice given the $$.
 
Howdy, I have a Big Steel Keg and I can tell you both the pros and cons to my Keg. But the main thing I want to say is I had my Keg first and still got a WSM and a Weber Kettle.

On the positives the Keg is well insulated, and does not use much lump. It is easy to bake most anything and pizza seems to come out great. The vents are easy to understand once you get it figured out ie. top vent at 2 bottom vent at 1 hold 225* or bottom vent cracked and top vent at 1 for 225* all depends on the cooker. If you are one of the lucky ones(I will explain in a bit what I mean) there is a wheeled base and side tables. You can get a trailer hitch adapter for it and hook it to a trailer hitch. And finally not being made of ceramic makes it less likely for something to break if it got knocked over.

On the down side the main issue is the identity crisis the Keg is going through. First it was known as Bubba Keg, then Big Steel Keg, and now Broil King Keg. The original company that made the Keg sold it to OMC in Canada in December and so the availability of Kegs and any accessories have been few and far between. There have been lots of promises of updates on the BSK forum but as of yet nothing really said. Due to the changes and supposed updates to the keg(?) I dont know if the trailer hitch adapter will still work on newer kegs. Another problem is the inability to add more wood if needed and if for whatever reason if your coals go out you have to pull everything out to add lighted lump. Another issue that could be a problem though some people love it is the cast iron top vent if you get caught out in any moisture you need to reseason the cast iron ASAP and being that the keg retains moisture like it does in my case during the winter the cast iron vent froze shut.

When a person could get A Bubba for $299 it was a heck of a deal and a BSK for $499 wasnt to bad but with all the changes and like everything else the price has gone up even more, all sorts of different price points depending on where such as a stripped down version for $329 at OSH or Ace Hardware for $679, and the stuff that came with the Keg is decreasing
 
Something I forgot to mention is you can grill direct at a moderate temp with a modest amount of lit charcoal without as much overcharring to your foods.

Not for everyone as there is a $1,000-$1,500 premium over a Kettle.
 
I have a 22" Weber Kettle from 1979, and a small green egg. The egg is OK, but I believe that they are overpriced for what you get. The Weber gets used more than the egg, but I use them both. For things like grilled chicken, the skin is crisper on the Weber. I like using both, and sometimes it is nice to have a choice. In the egg may be better for baking bread or rolls, or pizza than the kettle. Each has strong points. If you have the room and the money, try one of each.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Glenn W:
Not for everyone as there is a $1,000-$1,500 premium over a Kettle. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's a lot of chicken
 
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