Got the green light to buy the E6 Kamado

[Darryl - swazies]

I've got a bit of a newbie question for y'all. I picked up my first WSM (18) almost a year ago and a 22" Premium about six months ago. So, I'm still pretty new to this cooking with charcoal thing. But, I'm also now in love with it. I suspect my wife will hate you for answering my question, but what are the advantages of a Kamado over what I have now? Are there other kinds of cooks I could do, better quality, different flavors, etc.?

The items you own will do everything the kamado will do, it's just a different kind of technique I guess you could say.
I don't know a lot about it yet, I have read and watched a lot on them though.
The kamado series will do a great job smoking and double as a great grill too. While I can smoke on my 22" kettle I believe this is far superior for smoking.....other who have used the new 6 series more would know better.

 

[GrantT]

The second lower grate sounds like a grate??!! idea..........
I was watching people on vids move it down when looking for the smoke with the diffuser and then back up for a steak cook or whatever.
It is convenient that the same grate does both jobs but it would be more convenient to just leave the bottom one in all the time and move the middle layer when needed....most of my cooks are hotter, hopefully that will change though, I can see a brisket in my near future.
I will just follow the instructions that come with it. I had the performer done in about 30 minutes, not worried I thought there may have been a slick trick or something when it comes to mounting the bowl.

So the diffuser runs too cold of temps you are saying and you like to use foil instead?
Or you like to have one side hotter than the other in a smoking situation.

thanks for the extra grate tip, I like that idea a lot.

I love the factory diffuser for smoking...it is very large and leaves only a small space around the outside edges, but I find it is TOO protective at higher desired temps. It does not make sense to me to light a nice hot fire, then cover it up!

I do a LOT of indirect cooking (spatchcock chicken, pork roasts, beef roasts, turkey) at higher temps (400 - 450 degrees), and I find the Weber diffuser is TOO large for this....it diffuses too much of the heat in the lower level. I prefer to use a smaller pizza stone wrapped in foil, or a smaller drip pan instead, or just a couple layers of tin foil....and with the extra charcoal grate, I can just sit any of these on the middle layer as a smaller diffuser as the grate hole is covered up. So, it really opens up that middle layer for more functionality...

Another example...using the extra charcoal grate as a searing grate lets you sear using the extra thick bars on the middle layer (getting nice thick sear marks if you are into that kinda thing) with charcoal on the lower level. Just adds on more optional thing....

 

[W Paul]

The items you own will do everything the kamado will do

Well you weren't supposed to say that! How am I to justify a purchase to my wife? (Seriously, thanks for the background. Maybe as more people start to use it we'll hear more about where it excels.)

 

[GrantT]

I've got a bit of a newbie question for y'all. I picked up my first WSM (18) almost a year ago and a 22" Premium about six months ago. So, I'm still pretty new to this cooking with charcoal thing. But, I'm also now in love with it. I suspect my wife will hate you for answering my question, but what are the advantages of a Kamado over what I have now? Are there other kinds of cooks I could do, better quality, different flavors, etc.?

Kamados (the generic term) are typically much more fuel efficient than a typical "kettle" style grill and the steel Kamados (Weber Summit Charcoal / E6 / S6 for example) use air gapped steel as an insulation layer. This is probably the most significant difference.

I've never tried to smoke on just a normal Kettle so no direct comparison, but you can use a lot less fuel in some situations for sure....my last brisket cook on the S6 was like 16 hours on a single load of charcoal with some left over - and this was at below freezing temperatures.

Kamados are also a bit of a hybrid....they do much of what many other grills do...but maybe not as GOOD as the others in all cases either. You could probably argue a WSM is a better smoker, a Premium a better grill....maybe. But the E6/S6 can do ALL of what the others do? I think all these points are somewhat arguable depending on the experience of the user as well....there are some completely ingenious people out there doing on a $100 grill what other (*cough* *cough* - me) spent $2000 on.

I would put it this way....If you could ONLY have one grill and had to get rid of all the others, a Kamado would pretty well come out on top in most cases. The S6/E6 with it's 24" grate is large enough to do almost everything, fuel efficient, and has pretty well cured my upgrade envy. It's a great smoker, a great grill, and a great outdoor oven. I have had Kamados for years - ceramic and steel, but at 18" always found them just to be too small...and they were not great "grills"...the layout is too high, and not wide enough. I always wanted a Kettle, but had no space. I've now got the best of all worlds I think.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I love the factory diffuser for smoking...it is very large and leaves only a small space around the outside edges, but I find it is TOO protective at higher desired temps. It does not make sense to me to light a nice hot fire, then cover it up!

I do a LOT of indirect cooking (spatchcock chicken, pork roasts, beef roasts, turkey) at higher temps (400 - 450 degrees), and I find the Weber diffuser is TOO large for this....it diffuses too much of the heat in the lower level. I prefer to use a smaller pizza stone wrapped in foil, or a smaller drip pan instead, or just a couple layers of tin foil....and with the extra charcoal grate, I can just sit any of these on the middle layer as a smaller diffuser as the grate hole is covered up. So, it really opens up that middle layer for more functionality...

Another example...using the extra charcoal grate as a searing grate lets you sear using the extra thick bars on the middle layer (getting nice thick sear marks if you are into that kinda thing) with charcoal on the lower level. Just adds on more optional thing....

Yeah I like the steak idea, you could put the fire in the bottom, leave the second grate on, put the steaks up top for some semi indirect charcoal smoke flavor for 20 - 30 minutes or so, then just move them down to the second level and probably sear really hot, like in the 800 degree range. Sounds awesome. I do hear what you are saying about the higher heat and indirect. Now the older versions, or the first version I guess had the same diffuser plate but the side had flaps on them similar to the cooking grate, you could add charcoal or wood and leave the diffuser in place. Sounds like you need to get your hands on an old diffuser plate.

I will be ordering that second grate.....did you contact weber or did you purchase through Weber site or how did you go about it. I do have pizza stones I could use for that non full diffuser technique you shared, thanks for the tips I know I will use them.

 

[Jim C in Denver]

Well you weren't supposed to say that! How am I to justify a purchase to my wife? (Seriously, thanks for the background. Maybe as more people start to use it we'll hear more about where it excels.)

One appeal of a kamado is that it can be both a good smoker and a good grill in one unit. But you've got that covered with your two units -- kettle is a good charcoal grill and your WSM is a good charcoal smoker.

So for you, the potential advantages are more niche. Being insulated, a kamado can be a good cooker in cold/bad weather. And you can crank the temps in a kamado way way up to sear a steak or cook pizza. A kamado is also super-efficient on fuel. But you can buy a LOT of charcoal with the money you don't spend on a pricey kamado.

I think people get kamados mostly because they think they are cool and fun to use.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Well you weren't supposed to say that! How am I to justify a purchase to my wife? (Seriously, thanks for the background. Maybe as more people start to use it we'll hear more about where it excels.)

I wasn't going to purchase this kamado, I had other ideas in mind but all things considered ( and peoples opinions on how good they are ) it is in my best interest. It will do what the WSM can do. I have never used a WSM but both are designed for a low n slow smoke. I am sure both will excel over the other in certain areas but I wanted to make sure my new " dedicated " smoker was able to also be a top notch grill too. I haven't seen anyone really say anything bad about one yet since the firming up update. While I am waiting for mine to arrive still, I know this grill will be a very premium product and keep me going along side the performer until I get too old to want to mess with charcoal anymore.
If you are interested in owning one I will be doing a full review on how everything goes, from assembly to the grill and smoke experience.
Also you could probably sell the WSM and keep the 22" kettle if you wanted a kamado.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Well you weren't supposed to say that! How am I to justify a purchase to my wife? (Seriously, thanks for the background. Maybe as more people start to use it we'll hear more about where it excels.)

One appeal of a kamado is that it can be both a good smoker and a good grill in one unit. But you've got that covered with your two units -- kettle is a good charcoal grill and your WSM is a good charcoal smoker.

So for you, the potential advantages are more niche. Being insulated, a kamado can be a good cooker in cold/bad weather. And you can crank the temps in a kamado way way up to sear a steak or cook pizza. A kamado is also super-efficient on fuel. But you can buy a LOT of charcoal with the money you don't spend on a pricey kamado.

I think people get kamados mostly because they think they are cool and fun to use.

My decisions were based on ideas of people stating they can lock in a 225 and hold it....like lock it in. The cold weather advantage, I live in Ontario.
I do sometimes use a super high heat cook on things like wings. The build quality looks amazing. It's bigger than a 22". I watched a guy on youtube fill up the bottom of this thing, and set it to 225 - 250 and let it go as long as possible. Like near the end the lid was open and he was stirring the remaining coals. He got 55 hours and change out of a half bag of charcoal. Now I watched another guy get 23 hours out of it, the grill went out be said it seemed like the ash just got built up and there was charcoal left so you would have to keep an eye on that. He used 3kilograms of charcoal so about 7 pounds or so.
The 22" sticks as a good grill and will fit a rotisserie I still have to pick up.

 

[Bradley Mack]

Kamados (the generic term) are typically much more fuel efficient than a typical "kettle" style grill and the steel Kamados (Weber Summit Charcoal / E6 / S6 for example) use air gapped steel as an insulation layer. This is probably the most significant difference - it went to -10C or so that night.

I've never tried to smoke on just a normal Kettle so no direct comparison, but you can use a lot less fuel in some situations for sure....my last brisket cook on the S6 was like 16 hours on a single load of charcoal with some left over - and this was at below freezing temperatures.

Kamados are also a bit of a hybrid....they do much of what many other grills do...but maybe not as GOOD as the others in all cases either. You could probably argue a WSM is a better smoker, a Premium a better grill....maybe. But the E6/S6 can do ALL of what the others do? I think all these points are somewhat arguable depending on the experience of the user as well....there are some completely ingenious people out there doing on a $100 grill what other (*cough* *cough* - me) spent $2000 on.

I would put it this way....If you could ONLY have one grill and had to get rid of all the others, a Kamado would pretty well come out on top in most cases. The S6/E6 with it's 24" grate is large enough to do almost everything, fuel efficient, and has pretty well cured my upgrade envy. It's a great smoker, a great grill, and a great outdoor oven. I have had Kamados for years - ceramic and steel, but at 18" always found them just to be too small...and they were not great "grills"...the layout is too high, and not wide enough. I always wanted a Kettle, but had no space. I've now got the best of all worlds I think.

I don’t think I could have said this any better. I didn’t buy the weber kamado for just smoking, or just grilling... I bought it for the versatility. The Eggs and Joe’s are heat masters, but the ceramic‘s weight and some limited features turned my interest to the Summit Kamado. (Not to mention I’m a Weber fan.)

I had only received my WSM in Dec 2020, and I love it. I didn’t chose the 18.5 as it was a gift from my wife for Christmas. Being a dedicated smoker is exactly what I want from it. I didn’t own a kettle or performer, but only had a Genesis. Once the charcoal bug bit, I knew I wanted a charcoal grill of some kind. After weeks of researching, I found the WSK fit the bill and checked all my boxes. I have no regrets and absolutely love it.

As far as assembly. The WSK was actually pretty easy to assemble. It took me 2 hours, but I had a few welcome interruptions that day, it was a beautiful day and the weather was fantastic... and honestly, I was in zero rush. I just took my time, enjoyed being outdoors, and was meticulous with assembly. I’d just suggest following instructions and try not to jump ahead, or tightening all bolts with a wrench until absolutely necessary.

B.

 

[M Mason]

I'm jealous.

Great photos by the way!

 

[GrantT]

Sounds like you need to get your hands on an old diffuser plate.

I will be ordering that second grate.....did you contact weber or did you purchase through Weber site or how did you go about it. I do have pizza stones I could use for that non full diffuser technique you shared, thanks for the tips I know I will use them.

Not really seeing the need for the old style diffuser as I never have had to add charcoal during a cook, but I just don't think the diffuser as is optimal for higher temps...though I am pretty sure some use it that way too.

I just purchased the replacement grate from an online Weber parts dealer.... I think it was https://www.grillspot.ca/ :

Weber OEM Lower Charcoal Grate

SKU: 65815

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Thanks Grant, I should be getting one of those ordered next week.
Part number helps if I have to use a different site.

 

[Brad Olson]

I suspect my wife will hate you for answering my question, but what are the advantages of a Kamado over what I have now?

Well, you get to have an insufferable air of superiority when hanging out with your friends who have "ordinary" grills and smokers...

A kamado's ability to generate and retain heat is tough to beat.

 

[Bradley Mack]

Thought I’d post another dish I made with the assistance of my WSK. Grilled chicken breast, skinless and boneless. Sliced and served over a pasta bake with lots of cheese.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

So I had a transport truck delivery yesterday.....in my little neighborhood....lol
Had the 5 bags of Furtado smoking chunks delivered, and 2 bags of Jealous Devil XL lump on a skid for me.
Apparently it was too heavy for Purolator. I ordered these from https://gospelbbq.com/ out West here in Canada.
Furtado smoking wood ( http://furtadofarms.ca/ ) claim to have non kiln dried wood and they think highly of it.
They should as it is the product for sale, but I do see it sold out all over the place. It comes in 13 pound bags, there is a fair amount of pieces per bag. I haven't used any of it yet, we just got snow lol....and both me and the wife have had a bug for the past 3 days, but all back up and running again. I tell you it's been a while since I was sick, and on about the third day you start typing in COVID symptoms into google lol, but we are all good to go with no worries that way. So anyways I picked up peach, apple, cherry and hickory. Lots of wood chunks, not sure but it may last a year. I wanted to stock up a bit when I started seeing every bbq and wood chunk and charcoal locally sold out.
Just waiting for confirmation the bbq joint I ordered from had received the E6 from Weber and that will be the next delivery probably by transport truck because I did order an excessive amount of charcoal to go with the new bbq. 2 bags of Premium green egg lump( I had to give it a shot just once ), 2 bags of Kamado JOE XL lump, and 2 bags of the yellow XL super premium FOGO. I currently am using the black bags now and like them a lot.
Hopefully sooner than later, I have a lot of premium meats I have just purchased ready to smoke.
Keep posting new KAMADO pics if you like, I love looking at them.
Picture are rough, its a copy of a copy, I am not home to import the original pics.
no biggie just some prime cuts, NY strip roast, Picanha, blade roast too.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Not really seeing the need for the old style diffuser as I never have had to add charcoal during a cook, but I just don't think the diffuser as is optimal for higher temps...though I am pretty sure some use it that way too.

I just purchased the replacement grate from an online Weber parts dealer.... I think it was https://www.grillspot.ca/ :

Weber OEM Lower Charcoal Grate

SKU: 65815

Thanks again, I went to that site and they were sold out....you probably and then signed up for back in stock and they are there again.
I will have everything at my house I want before the grill shows up it seems.
The painful assembly and the burn in will take forever!!!!

 

[GrantT]

I look forward to your initial photos/videos/thoughts on the new grill. There is no feeling like those first few cooks, the new discoveries, the *** moments etc.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I look forward to your initial photos/videos/thoughts on the new grill. There is no feeling like those first few cooks, the new discoveries, the *** moments etc.

Second lower grate arrived yesterday, everything is at my house, charcoal, wood second grate, just waiting on the bbq and cover to arrive still....holy cow it is taking it's time.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

The balance of the charcoal arrived Saturday with the new E6.
Got it built today and currently running some heat through it to burn out any unwanted.
I don’t have much to review on it so far other than it is huge compared to the 22.
I couldn’t even imagine what a 26 looks like.
I wish the build quality was a tad better.....stickers on crooked is a thing, makes it look cheaper.

 

[Kevin L (NKY)]

I would like to hear your comparisons of the differences of the E6 and your performer,you know all the pluses and negatives. Plus of course your cooking shots. That should burn a hole in my heart......