# New Cooker



## NaClH2O (May 25, 2004)

About two weeks ago, I bought a new cooker, a Char Griller Akorn kamado cooker. I have a Traeger pellet cooker that I like, but it's not a grill. I needed a grill, plus I wanted something that was more versatile than the typical grill. For the price, I think this thing is great. I've only used it twice so far (been out of town a lot), but it seems well built. As you can see from the pictures, my first cook was a round of burgers. I followed that the next night with some steaks. My next project when I have the time is to figure out how it does as a smoker.


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## Gottagofishin (Dec 17, 2005)

Sounds great. I've had eggs for years and love them.

I would suggest switching to lump charcoal instead of briquettes. Lump burns cleaner and hotter. Briquettes have wax and other additives that can leave an undesirable residue behind. 

With lump, you can also shut the grill down when you are finished cooking and the lumps will go out. Next time you cook, just knock the ash of the remaining lump, add a little more to replace what was burned, and relight the fire.


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## NaClH2O (May 25, 2004)

The briquettes are Stubb's brand. They are much better than regular charcoal briquettes and only have a little bit of starch as a binder. They are much denser than regular briquettes, too. After several hours of burning, there is still over half left the next day after I shut it all down. I'm using those Weber wax fire starters, too. Good combo.


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## mas360 (Nov 21, 2006)

I just bought that very same Chargriller Akorn from Lowes. I use briquette and so far it has been great. A five hours long 225 degrees smoke used less than 5 lbs of briquettes. To start the fire I used one card board core tube from the toilet tissue roll. I stuffed it with half a sheet of paper towel and pour some used cooking oil on the balled up paper towel. I placed the card board tube in the middle of the grill and piled briquettes around it before firing it up. A hair dryer helped blowing air into it and within 15 minutes I got the coal going. The first time I over did it and got the temperature up to 450 degrees. After some adjustments with the gate at the bottom and the chimney on top I brought temperature down to 225 degrees and held it there for four hours.

It was amazing how efficient this grill was. A 10 lbs bag of briquettes gave me three smoke sessions. I still have about 60 lbs of briquettes left to burn before going to lump charcoal.


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

Someone had one of these for sale a few weeks ago but I can't find the thread now. I can't remember who it was, any ideas?

Here is a thread about mods and fixes for the Akorn.

http://www.kamadoguru.com/topic/551-akorn-mods-fixes/


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## bowmansdad (Nov 29, 2011)

Nice pit. I've had a BGE for about 10 years. I start with briquettes and add wood for smoke and flavor. After i'm through and shut the Egg in, I usually have 1/3 or so briquettes ready for the next cook. 10 lbs. of charcoal will last at least 6 cooks.


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

Nice pit, congrats!


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## peckerwood (Jun 9, 2012)

That is a nice cooking rig Salty Nacho!!!


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## CaptJack (Jun 13, 2004)

I know of a few others that have that cooker and love it


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## tunchistheman (Feb 25, 2010)

Been eyeballing one at HEB every time I go in. How's the cleanup? As far as old coals and ash the next day.


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## NaClH2O (May 25, 2004)

tunchistheman said:


> Been eyeballing one at HEB every time I go in. How's the cleanup? As far as old coals and ash the next day.


I haven't made it that far yet (been busy since I bought it), but the ash pan releases with two clips and slides out. It should be easy. Unused charcoal just sits on the grate above the ash pan for use at a later date.

One update I can provide is that the cover works great. I've had issues with covers on another grill (a gas grill that was wider than it was tall) staying on with the wind that is so prevalent around here. I've had the cover on the Akorn for about three weeks and it hasn't budged and still looks brand new.

I plan on cooking on it some more this weekend, so I'll report back with any additional thoughts I have.


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## mas360 (Nov 21, 2006)

tunchistheman said:


> Been eyeballing one at HEB every time I go in. How's the cleanup? As far as old coals and ash the next day.


I took out the ash tray after three smokes and it was about half full. It took one minute to pop it out and after dumping the trash into the compost bin it took about three minutes to put it back in.

I simply closed the dome top and put the Acorn away after each use. On next cook, I put on nitrile gloves and piled the used coals together to form a volcano shape with a toilet tissue cardboard core stuffed with crumbled up paper towel, which was wetted with used cooking oil, in the center. This was the coal starter for me. Since it was so efficient that I did not have to add coal to it but only once every three cooks (each cook was four to five hours long). The 20 lbs briquette bag is going to last a long time.


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