Anyone have both a WSM and a Ceramic (Kamado) cooker?


 
J

John P

New member
I'm excited- over the weekend I picked up a large-size "Big Green Egg" for free from Craigslist. $150 in new metal parts later, I've got a fully functional ceramic cooker. I gave it a light workout this weekend- grilled chix breasts for fajitas, and a smoked 4.5lb pork loin glazed with that dynamite orange/sriracca glaze:)

I'm curious. Anyone have both a WSM and a Green Egg or eqivalent? What are the strengths/ weaknesses of both?

Interestingly, I see a lot of posts on eggheadforum.com about temperature control and overnight cooks- if anything I thought a ceramic cooker would be even easier than the WSM, which in my experience has been pretty much "set it and forget it". Biggest difference so far has been fuel consumption- even at 35 degrees ambient, I held the Egg at 250 for 5 hours on about half a chimney's worth of Kingsford!

Comments?

John P
 
(in Gilda Radner voice)

Nevermiiiiiind....

My search-fu was weak. I am all caught up on the WSM/BGE debate now :)

John P
 
Originally posted by John P:
I'm excited- over the weekend I picked up a large-size "Big Green Egg" for free from Craigslist.
John P
Click to expand...

how on earth did you land getting a BGE FOR FREE ????
 
John - Can you post a link to the posts debating BGE and WSM? I haven't seen this on the site. I've seen the BGE at the stores, but can't get past the weight and price. I'm happy with the WSM, but always curious.

Thanks, Peter
 
John P,

Trust your instincts. A BGE works just like a WSM only more efficiently. But they lack in capacity. All your WSM knowledge is directly applicable.

I start my BGE without a chimney. I put a starter cube on top of the lump for low & slow, and bury it under the lump for grilling.

Jim


Originally posted by Chris Finney:
BTW: The Eggheads are a cult. Beware.
Click to expand...

True words.
 
I have a LBGE, and a WSM. I started with the WSM I picked up new for $150 (09/2008), and loved it. I picked up the new LBGE for $600 (06/2009), and love it as well. Although I use my egg a ton, I am a Weber freak. I have many Weber's, but have recently admitted my disease. I am storing them at family members houses so that I have something good to grill on when they ask me to cook at their house.

I noticed you said you used Kingsford in your egg? You'll have better results with just lump in that egg, less ash to deal with and choke the fire. But whatever works for you is good.

Originally posted by Chris Finney:
I've got two Primo ceramics and two WSMs. (plus others)
I like them all.

BTW: The Eggheads are a cult. Beware.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I frequent the egg forum every day like this one. I always jump up to defend the Weber's when they come under attack (I dont know why they feel they need to bash Weber cookers, I think many of them sucked at cooking, so they blame their former cooking device). The forum is weird too, they delete posts they dont like. I posted a link on their forum to a tri tip cook on this forum, and it was removed within a few hours. Someone wanted to know how this lump I bought worked, so I posted a link to a picture of it burning in a Weber on this site. A few hours later, thread was no where to be found ...
 
I've got a WSM and a Kamodo Joe (think Large BGE, but red). I've had the WSM for about a year and a half and got the KJ as a gift in December.

The KJ does a great job high heat or low and slow. The issue is capacity.

I've decided, since I want to cook some comps this year, that'll I'll continue doing my comp meats on either my WSM or the Cajun Bandit.

I'll use the KJ for other things - and I've still got to work the Performer in the rotation!

So many grills - so few nights to cook out!

Pat
 
Thanks for the responses!

Pete- I just typed "BGE" into the "Find" bar and came up with a bunch of links. One such comparison is here:

http://tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/fo...740011965#7740011965

Simon- Not intending to brag, really. I got lucky- a guy an hour and a half away was advertising it not as a cooker, but as a big ceramic weight suitable for use as a boat mooring (!). Grabbed it, put $150 into a whole new set of hardware, and was off to the races.

Good point about the lump vs Kingsford- right now K is all I have, but I will invest in some lump shortly.

And yes, the eggheads are a funny bunch. Lots of eggstrordinary puns on that site (holy #&@, now I'm doing it too!) and an almost religious fervor to defend their contraptions- maybe because they were so eggspensive (jeez, I did it again!)

Anyway, it's becoming apparent just based on reading here that it's not an "either/or" proposition. To do anything that requires heat changes during the cook cycle (e.g.g., a quick sear followed by a slow roast- and holy mackerel, that makes 3 puns in one post!), the egg is great. For capacity and low and slow cooking in normal ambient temps, the WSM wins. I do both kinds of cooking, so my spring project will be a nice table that accommodates both cookers so my backyard doesn't look like someplace the Clampetts would live.

Cheers, all!

John P
 
Originally posted by Chris Finney:
I've got two Primo ceramics and two WSMs. (plus others)
I like them all.

BTW: The Eggheads are a cult. Beware.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. I frequent the egg forum every day like this one. I always jump up to defend the Weber's when they come under attack (I dont know why they feel they need to bash Weber cookers, I think many of them sucked at cooking, so they blame their former cooking device). The forum is weird too, they delete posts they dont like. I posted a link on their forum to a tri tip cook on this forum, and it was removed within a few hours. Someone wanted to know how this lump I bought worked, so I posted a link to a picture of it burning in a Weber on this site. A few hours later, thread was no where to be found ...[/QUOTE]



I have two LBGE's, but I use WSM's and the Cajun Bandit when we compete. I've experienced great customer service from both Weber and Big Green Egg so no complaints there. Both are great cookers.
The deal is the eggheadforum does suck! They do moderate to the extreme and delete posts. For instance-I collect and restore old Japanese and Chinese earthenware Kamados and have cooked on them for years. People find them and ask for info on them and how to restore and cook with them. They may look like a ceramic BGE, but they are earthenware fireclay, and they use less fuel and overheating them will cause them to crack. I've posted repair links to the Imperial Kamado website and they always delete the threads.

I disagree about the comment that many of them sucked at cooking, Eggheads are a creative lot and the popularity of the Eggfests is proof of that people will go to great lengths to show the versatility of their ceramics. I've cooked three Evergreen Eggfests and had a blast each time. What does Weber do?

You'll learn more from the Naked Whiz, BBQ-Brethren and even the Primo forum than you will ever glean from the eggheadforum!
 
I'll second that opinion about the BGE being more than a little snooty. We've been cooking on the Kamado for 35 years and it is an excellent cooker. They don't even want to talk.
 
Late to the party, and not too much to add. I've got a Kamado #7 (roughly 22" grate), and love it. It's very versatile with respect to temperature ranges, and can hold a rock solid temp much like the WSM. The WSM is my go-to rib, butt and brisket cooker though, as I trust it more for less attending during cooking. My Kamado can have a tendency to have some temp "surprises" on occasion that can ruin an all day or night cook!

And, yeah, the ceramic folks tend to get a bit too much into the "mine is better than yours" thing. They are all great grills, it's the skill of the person that is operating them that really matters!
icon_smile.gif


Rich
 
I've got an Large BGE that I purchased in May of 2009 from Sams Club (Dallas Region thing) and a 20" Pro=Q Excel (Which I'll say is WSM Like).

I've been doing most of my cooks on the BGE because size hasn't been an issue and the "cleanup" afterwards is easier in my opinion.

Had the Pro-Q first and temperature contol on it was much simpler than the Egg, but once I got the hang of the egg it's not an issue to cook for 10-12 hours with just 7 LBS of Lump.

The Pro-Q winds for capacity, both can grill or smoke/Q, During winter months or during rain it's easier for me to control temps with the egg now and of course I like the lower fuel consumption.

As for forums I mostly lurk here as the people and talent are great and the site isn't just a rah-rah for the single type of cooker as can be seen by us here with a great mix.
 
I have both or I should say I had both, I recently sold my #7 Kamado and I'm in the process of ordering a Komodo Kamado.

Similar to Brad, I did the majority of my cooks on the Kamado and probably will continue on the Komodo Kamado for the same reasons.

In my experience temp control is about the same, I use the Stoker on my long cooks so these cooks there's no difference. WSM is easier to add fuel or wood too (although I've never run out of fuel mid cook on Kamado) due to the door.

While you can do a high heat cook on a WSM it's a lot easier on an Kamado type cooker and will use much less fuel.

All the principals you use in running your WSM apply to a Kamado type cooker, if you're an experienced WSM user cooking with a ceramic cooker will be a breeze.

The two are a nice combo to have, I've run them SID BY SIDE many times and it's a true pleasure and I CANNOT WAIT to run my WSM next to my new Komodo Kamado.
 
Dave, send me your email address (mine is in my profile) and I'll be happy to give you my thoughts as a former Kamado owner.
 
I am late to this post too, but the tiled ceramic cookers are cool. I came across a website once where you can custom order the tile pattern. How cool would a checkerboard cooker be?! Unfortunately, how expensive?

For whatever it is worth, my experience has been that the ceramics are "... too perfect" for my taste. Specifically, every meat I've tasted off of one has been too juicy and too rich, if that makes sense.

Obviously, no one wants to bite into dry meat, but you get to a point where it is just too much juice. Kinda like the discussion I read a second ago about "... fall off the bone" ribs feeling mushy. Perhaps it was operator error, but I still prefer the stuff I pull off the Weber any day.

Maybe I'm a simpleton, but there is a lot to be said, for good, old fashioned BBQ w/o a lot of bells and whistles... But then again, I am using a Weber with a water pan, instead of some old fashioned smoker with a firebox.

To my mind, at least, the WSM is a unique blend of performance and affordability. Last year, I settled a case and came into a fee so I set out to buy my dream BBQ cooker. I looked at several of the old school smokers (the smallest of which cost twice what I paid for the WSM) but ultimately "... settled" on the 22.5 WSM.

I got the Weber in part because of brand loyalty, but also because I found this forum with so many folks using the cooker and sharing their experiences.

I was also impressed to see that BBQ competition teams were using the Weber successfully. That is kind of a double whammy which shows that you don't always need the most expensive cooker out there, and sometimes, simple things are the best things.

OK... I am climbing down from my soapbox and off to drive my car WITH A MANUAL TRANSMISSION!

JKC
 
Jim I have a ceramic and a weber kettle for some reason I also like somethings off my weber better.Right now I havea spare on I wanted it on my weber but with stuff going on I threw it on the domr with my stoker.I got an awesome deal on my grill dome or I probably would'nt have one.For long cooks the ceramic is the way to in my opinion but I never cooked wsm.I'm comparing to my kettle/smokenator which is a great combo.For some reason I get better smoke and smoke ring from my kettle.I don't know why.
It's great havig both though.
 
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