KARUBECUE has landed

[smokeasaurus]

The food this unit produces is excellent (from what I have seen here) . The only thing that has kept me from grabbing one is the open fire on top. Up here in the mountains it is not the pit to have.

[Tater]

I've had my KBQ for right at 2 months now and couldn't be happier. I have never had anything cooked on a pellet grill so I can't give an opinion there but I have fired this thing up every weekend since receiving it and can tell you that I along with my daughter, parents, sister, brother-in-law, co-workers and all other friends and family that have tried the food agree that it’s significantly better than what I've cooked on the BGE. Hell, I was even told that my entry fee for this year’s fantasy football league will be considered paid in full as long as I show up with a freshly cooked brisket! I do agree with everything ericpete mentioned including the issue with finding a temp probe that would fit in the corners. The biggest concerns I have using the KBQ is the open fire and the fact that the entire thing gets extremely hot, so if you have young kids running around you'll need to figure out how to keep them away. As mentioned it does need to be fed every 20-30 minutes, so if you are looking to set it and forget it this probably isn't for you. Other than that I’ll say that to me the KBQ is well worth the money.

[dalefipp]

My KARUBECUE has landed!

[attachments deleted after 6 months]

[1Bigg_ER]

My KARUBECUE has landed!

You should be cooking ribs already

[1Bigg_ER]

Ok, I read this thing from stem to stern and I am impressed but I need some truly honest, unbiased opinions here. Before I add another cooker to the fold (I just sold 2 in the name of getting skinny for moving next year), I need to know how this thing cooks compared to Kamados and Pellet Poopers. I have 3 Kegs (Kamados), a Traeger and a Smokin-It #3 Electric smoker. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I had a PBC but it just wasn't for me. It's one thing to order a $300.00 cooker and it not be all that and a bag of chips but if I drop $1400.00 on a cooker, it better be badazz and just be out of this world. It needs to just blow the doors off of what I am cooking on now.

So, in short, does the KBQ cook THAT much better than Kamados and Pellet Grills? Night and Day difference?

Tough question I know, but I need to know how it compares.

Thanks!

I was a PBC guy too, you probably have seen my PBC thread.
I'm not here to convince anyone about this thing. I'm just sharing my experience with it.
I don't do tricks with my photos, I just don't have that kind of time. I shoot with my Nexus phone.

Having said that, You'll be hard pressed to find a stick burner in that price range that doesn't require you to be a smoke scientist to get great clean smoke that's imperative to great clean BBQ.

It's very portable (try moving a BGE or a Lang at will), it can cook for an army. Results are pretty much replicable effortlessly.

At that price, I don't want to be the dude that recommended something that you ended up not liking.

All I can say is, if I happen to be in the market for another smoker, I'll get a second KBQ before I buy another smoker.

[Histrix]

I agree with 1Bigg_ER about the KBQ.

I bought one mainly because I wanted a small stick burner because I've been cooking on kamados and kettles for decades but decided I wanted to play with real wood. However, I did not want to buy some huge heavy steel thing. Nor did I want to spend the next couple of years learning the art and science of fire pit mastery.

For me the KBQ was the perfect choice. It offers more capacity than I will ever need. It is light and rustproof and very well made. And the main attraction is the the method it uses to "downdraft" smoke thru a hot bed of coals and easily supply the cleanest smoke you're likely to find anywhere.

While I have had mine for a few months life has prevented me from using it as much as I had hoped. I've only been able to do a couple of chickens and a couple racks of baby backs. What I have made was easily as good as what I've done on other cookers and that was without really trying. I was mainly just interested in firing it up just to play with it. Playing with fire/woods, poppet open/closed combos, temp settings.

One thing I did when when doing ribs the one time was that it might be a good idea to pull the grids out and rotate them 180° and put them back in at about the halfway point as I found the back few inches of a couple racks were a bit overcooked for my preference.

So far I am very satisfied with mine and hope that in a few more weeks I'll be able to start to use it regularly and get more serious about the process.

As to whether it will provide everyone a "blow you away" experience I think that would be impossible for anyone to say. Hard to judge what someone elses taste buds and experiences have been.

[RG]

Ok, I read this thing from stem to stern and I am impressed but I need some truly honest, unbiased opinions here. Before I add another cooker to the fold (I just sold 2 in the name of getting skinny for moving next year), I need to know how this thing cooks compared to Kamados and Pellet Poopers. I have 3 Kegs (Kamados), a Traeger and a Smokin-It #3 Electric smoker. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I had a PBC but it just wasn't for me. It's one thing to order a $300.00 cooker and it not be all that and a bag of chips but if I drop $1400.00 on a cooker, it better be badazz and just be out of this world. It needs to just blow the doors off of what I am cooking on now.

So, in short, does the KBQ cook THAT much better than Kamados and Pellet Grills? Night and Day difference?

Tough question I know, but I need to know how it compares.

Thanks!

I was a PBC guy too, you probably have seen my PBC thread.
I'm not here to convince anyone about this thing. I'm just sharing my experience with it.
I don't do tricks with my photos, I just don't have that kind of time. I shoot with my Nexus phone.

Having said that, You'll be hard pressed to find a stick burner in that price range that doesn't require you to be a smoke scientist to get great clean smoke that's imperative to great clean BBQ.

It's very portable (try moving a BGE or a Lang at will), it can cook for an army. Results are pretty much replicable effortlessly.

At that price, I don't want to be the dude that recommended something that you ended up not liking.

All I can say is, if I happen to be in the market for another smoker, I'll get a second KBQ before I buy another smoker.

I'm not insinuating that you were doing anything funky with the pics OR that your food doesn't taste as good as it looks because it DOES look awesome and I am sure that it is Sometimes text just doesn't convey the meaning very well. I guess I could do better in trying to find the best way to type what I mean to make sure the right point gets made and doesn't come across as me being a schlupp! LOL.

The whole reason I am so curious is that I bought the hype about the PBC and I personally was let down by it and don't want to go through that with the KBQ. Much more expensive and I am sure it would be MUCH harder to resell if I wasn't happy with it. Just being a little cautious, that's all. I appreciate you and everyone else taking the time to humor me

[TMB]

After reading this thread for sometime and it is a long thread, I would say I would buy one in a heart beat but two things holding me back.

1.  Price, just can't lay out that kinda $$$ right now but after reading and watching videos it looks like a great smoker and seems to be built like a tank.

2.  Kimmie,  my better half does not care for full or strong smoked flavor in her food and I'm sure this thing produces excellent BBQ. 

As for pictures, I love seeing good food porn and to me they do not looked doctored up.  Compared to some of the food on YouTube it looks right on par

Great thread!
 

[RG]

TMB, you bring up a good point about strong smoke flavor. I wanted to ask if the food from the KBQ tastes like food from a PBC. If so, that makes it easy for me to decide that it's not for me. I wouldn't think that it would though since it's not over kingsford coals, no "grease fog" should be present in the KBQ. Also I think running it on "clean smoke" mode should impart just a hint of smoke and be just fine for Kimmie. These are all assumptions on my behalf so I'll let those that own one chime in on this matter of smoke

[smokeasaurus]

Not cooking on one but reading this thread, I betcha the KBQ produces the same flavor profile as a top quality offset would with a top notch pit master running it to get that thin blue smoke.

I am willing to bet that the meat is not oversmoked at all...............

[1Bigg_ER]

Ok, I read this thing from stem to stern and I am impressed but I need some truly honest, unbiased opinions here. Before I add another cooker to the fold (I just sold 2 in the name of getting skinny for moving next year), I need to know how this thing cooks compared to Kamados and Pellet Poopers. I have 3 Kegs (Kamados), a Traeger and a Smokin-It #3 Electric smoker. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I had a PBC but it just wasn't for me. It's one thing to order a $300.00 cooker and it not be all that and a bag of chips but if I drop $1400.00 on a cooker, it better be badazz and just be out of this world. It needs to just blow the doors off of what I am cooking on now.

So, in short, does the KBQ cook THAT much better than Kamados and Pellet Grills? Night and Day difference?

Tough question I know, but I need to know how it compares.

Thanks!

I was a PBC guy too, you probably have seen my PBC thread.
I'm not here to convince anyone about this thing. I'm just sharing my experience with it.
I don't do tricks with my photos, I just don't have that kind of time. I shoot with my Nexus phone.

Having said that, You'll be hard pressed to find a stick burner in that price range that doesn't require you to be a smoke scientist to get great clean smoke that's imperative to great clean BBQ.

It's very portable (try moving a BGE or a Lang at will), it can cook for an army. Results are pretty much replicable effortlessly.

At that price, I don't want to be the dude that recommended something that you ended up not liking.

All I can say is, if I happen to be in the market for another smoker, I'll get a second KBQ before I buy another smoker.

I'm not insinuating that you were doing anything funky with the pics OR that your food doesn't taste as good as it looks because it DOES look awesome and I am sure that it is Sometimes text just doesn't convey the meaning very well. I guess I could do better in trying to find the best way to type what I mean to make sure the right point gets made and doesn't come across as me being a schlupp! LOL.

The whole reason I am so curious is that I bought the hype about the PBC and I personally was let down by it and don't want to go through that with the KBQ. Much more expensive and I am sure it would be MUCH harder to resell if I wasn't happy with it. Just being a little cautious, that's all. I appreciate you and everyone else taking the time to humor me

LOL! Don't worry about me, I'm not that sensitive. I knew exactly what you meant.
But I do understand where you are coming from. It took me 3 months of researching this thing. And there wasn't much info on it then.
Bill looked at me crazy when I was picking it up. I had my mind made up, I didn't want to waste his time with a demo. HAHAHA.

[1Bigg_ER]

@Regular Guy and TMB, the smoke flavor is not actually smoke smoke. It's more of a floral, very clean taste. I can't really explain it.

OK, you know how almost every BBQ enthuisast says to use mesquite wood with caution? I use mesquite with reckless abandon. That's how clean it burns.

[Histrix]

Not cooking on one but reading this thread, I betcha the KBQ produces the same flavor profile as a top quality offset would with a top notch pit master running it to get that thin blue smoke.

I am willing to bet that the meat is not oversmoked at all...............

That is exactly the whole point of the KBQ. It IS a stick burner. It is not a "smolderer" like many other types of cookers that just throw some chips or chunks on some charcoal.

A PBC is NOT a stick burner. A kamado is NOT a stick burner. If one likes the results that come off of a stick burner operated by someone that knows how to run one then they would likely enjoy what comes out of the KBQ as its novel (and patented) method of getting top quality smoke into the cook chamber can even be operated by a knucklehead such as myself.

However, if one likes a very heavily smoked flavor one can also do that on the KBQ. It has two popppets (vent openings) that allow one to choose "clean" smoke or "dirtier" smoke or a combination of the two.

[teesquare]

@Regular Guy and TMB, the smoke flavor is not actually smoke smoke. It's more of a floral, very clean taste. I can't really explain it.

OK, you know how almost every BBQ enthuisast says to use mesquite wood with caution? I use mesquite with reckless abandon. That's how clean it burns.

SO...what temps is it running at Biggs?

[1Bigg_ER]

@Regular Guy and TMB, the smoke flavor is not actually smoke smoke. It's more of a floral, very clean taste. I can't really explain it.

OK, you know how almost every BBQ enthuisast says to use mesquite wood with caution? I use mesquite with reckless abandon. That's how clean it burns.

SO...what temps is it running at Biggs?

100-345 degrees.

For regular BBQ I set it at 215-235

For Sous Vide plus smoke I set it up to run at whatever temp I cooked the meat Sous vide.  So if I sous a pork butt at 158, I will set up the KBQ to smoke at 150-160

For Birds I max it out, get to 360 on a Texas summer day.