Summit Kamado E6/S6 owners: what do you wish you'd been told when you got yours?

[Grant Cunningham]

Well, my E6 has arrived! I've got it assembled and, as I write this, is currently undergoing the "burn in".

Coming from a Kettle, I know I've got some things to learn. I've already read about the heat control being the "opposite" of a Kettle (top vs bottom vents), but what other things am I going to discover between the two? What have you learned that no one told you about — good or bad?

Help me shorten my learning curve!

 

[DanHoo]

my .02 ( even though I don't have an E6 ) is get good lump.

 

[Mark Foreman]

l use JD lump in mine. The other thing I discovered was it was easy to cook for two on it.

 

[Grant Cunningham]

The other thing I discovered was it was easy to cook for two on it.

How so?

 

[Mark Foreman]

How so?

I use a small chimney and pile it up. Good for a couple of burgers, chops, or steaks. I guess it surprised me due to the 24 inch size. It’s much bigger than a kettle. Like I said, it wasn’t hard but it did surprise me. Wasn’t something I thought about when I bought it.

 

[Dustin Flavell]

It would say it does not operate like a WSM or kettle even for low and slow. I have always made low and slow adjustments from the bottom leaving the top vent wide open. Wide open top vent on the E6/S6 will get runaway temperatures that are tough to recover from. I set my bottom vent between the first and second holes and once I get to 275 make all fine adjustments with the top vent.

Enjoy your cooker. I have had mine for a few years now and the rest of my cookers are collecting dust

 

[GrantT]

I really love my S6 and don't really have too much to add.

I really am happy I purchased a second charcoal grate. I never remove the bottom one now and use it for all my low/slow and longer roasts, but when I want to sear/grill, I pop in the additional charcoal grate on the top level and get a lot closer to the coals. I converted my two Weber baskets into a single SnS style basket and use it almost all the time that way....1/3 the grill for searing, the other 2/3 for indirect.

 

[CarlB]

I also purchased the additional charcoal grate based on Grant’s suggestion, I haven’t used it yet but can see how handy it will be.

 

[Rick-SC]

For those of you thinking about the newly re-released SnS low profile, I recently found that you can leave the lower charcoal grate in the lower position and have the SnS rest just on the upper ring. Added bonus, if you set up the SnS on the opposite side of the snapjet, I think you can use the starter to light. chimney and then dump it into the SnS. I have that on my list to test

edit: confirmed that the chimney fits perfectly over the snapjet if the SnS is on the opposite side of the grill (picture below - sorry it's not a great one)

Regarding things I wish I knew - I've never had a ceramic kamado, but I can say mine definitely hasn't been as stable as I've heard those are. It can get pretty dialed-in but it definitely does still fluctuate. Which is good in one sense because it's really responsive to minor changes in the vents.

 

[Rick-SC]

 

[Gary London]

My thoughts are:

Lumpwood by its nature is going to burn a little inconsistently compared to briquettes.

Interesting reading the E6 guide for low and slow. It says 35-45 briquettes for 8-10 hours of cooking. If I have read it correctly all the coals are lit. This is surprising but if you have a load of lit briquettes they will burn consistently. That's a lot of heat to choke back at the start but once you're dialled in it should be stable.

I've done 1 long cook. I used lumpwood. Just a few lit lumps at the 10 O'clock position. It needed a few minor tweaks but sat comfortably in the 225f - 260f range for 8 hours.