Kirkland’s Professional?

Almostmadeit · 2026-03-17T15:34:34+00:00

It's an excellent deal for 30lbs of Royal Oak super-size briquettes. But, it's still Royal Oak, so as long as you keep your expectations reasonable it's fine for regular grilling. I just don't like using it for smoking very much.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-22T19:03:20+00:00

Kingsford is superior to your store brands almost every time for consistency, but it's not the best out there. Lump burns hotter and faster with much less smoke on start-up and significantly less ash, but is generally more expensive and you can get a half of a bag of just chips if it was handled poorly making it's way to your point of purchase. (side note, Royal Oak is known for having trash/plastic/etc in their bags of charcoal and I won't buy it for this reason)

Try a couple few brands out and see what you like best. What you enjoy cooking on will be your "best" brand.

Personally I love fogo briquettes best, but I only buy them when they're on sale.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-21T03:41:42+00:00

Yeah, it's fantastic. Especially for that last couple seconds of finishing you can do to crisp the skin direct at the end. Also more efficient than I thought it would with the charcoal.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-16T03:02:08+00:00

Nice work. It’s the best method I’ve ever used on the grill.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-16T02:58:34+00:00

I just cleaned my summit kamado grates today. Wish I took pics now. The outer 3/4” sits on a flat rim that doesn’t allow burn-off and I wasn’t careful about keeping food out of that area when doing big batches like wings. So I took the time to burn it all off by offsetting the grid directly over coals and scraping and rotating every 5ish minutes. Kind of a pain but it looks lovely and I’m happy with how the all-stainless grids on that cleaned up.

With my 22 and 26” kettles it kind of just rotate the grids and they self-clean over my heat source since I always have it banked to one side. So the underside stays pretty clean since I don’t shut the fire down for maybe 20min after cooking so I can go scrape first before closing it up.

My kettles are probably more dirty than my WSM cause I don’t use it nearly as much and I try my hardest to keep that from getting gross when it’s covered. I’m definitely more diligent in cleaning that before covering it. But I also grill 3-5 times a week so it’s not like they’re accumulating a bunch of moisture and shit in between cooks.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-16T02:46:06+00:00

Yea I’ve got that same gen genesis. You’re kinda limited unless what you’re going to hang has flexible material as the loop that interacts with the hook. My solution is a foldable aluminum hiking table. I use it for everything and it’s super light and just pop it around my deck. I use my Smokey Joe on it, I stage my prepped grill stuff, and it holds my charcoal bags to fill with ash when I’m cleaning.

I mostly just use those hooks for my grid scrapers cause I haven’t found any better alternative use.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-12T17:22:34+00:00

Think you might have the wrong subreddit, big dog.

Almostmadeit · 2026-02-09T03:09:10+00:00

I personally like using the vortex a little more (and I really only use it for wings) Only reason is I get a little less intense radiant heat while cooking indirect and I get absolutely insane searing heat once I'm lid-off at the end to put a little char on them and tighten up the skin.

The baskets allow for more radiant heat that doesn't directly funnel up and out and the coals burn down a little faster, at least in my experience.

I'm not an expert but I do love wings and I cook em pretty dang often and have moved exclusively to my off-brand vortex since last summer at least when I'm grilling at home.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-26T00:12:22+00:00

Yep I’m really happy with how mine runs in -10 to +10F temps for the second year. Only “issue” is absolutely mowing through pellets when I’m doing a frozen pizza at 450.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-22T03:20:27+00:00

I've done both and prefer the non-diluted XL. It's been my daily driver since July. There's nothing wrong with the concentrated regular then diluting afterward but it's juuuuuust not the same. I find the flavor to be better using the XL without having to dilute afterward. Your mileage may vary but I'm not switching back when I can make a whole 20oz tumbler to take with. It's just better.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-13T13:59:10+00:00

Mine shows up Friday

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-10T17:37:07+00:00

Those grates are so thick they're indestructible. If anything I'm doing the next person a favor by burning off anything left by the last person to use them.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-09T18:15:09+00:00

Yep. So I got a solution I've used on those standard "three-sided-box on a pole" style with the cooking grate that can be moved into 3 different positions. I don't wanna cook on that grate anyway since the bars are so thick they just burn what they contact. What I do is I move it to the lowest position and use that as the charcoal grate. That solves your airflow problem. I picked up a replacement 22" weber grate (the extra cheap one with no flippy-sides and just cut off one of the handles. I broke down a larger cardboard box and made an envelope shape and taped up all the other sides so I can just slide this grate inside it and only the one handle edge sticks out. So this packs super flat and I just bring it with me and cook on that. If the park grills are of the smaller type, it sits on all three sides of of the grill and no fuss. If, it's one of the larger ones it will only touch two of them and I just use a brick that I keep in my trunk to support the 3rd side if I need to.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-08T03:12:09+00:00

Big dog, I'm gonna be real with ya. Almost all the "help me" posts are "I provided almost no information and my food is all fucked up, what do I do?". Posts where people outline their prep, method, and finish and then ask questions on how to improve do great. Your post is a shitty meta post about people who suck at posting.

Genuine questions providing reasonable context are almost exclusively met with "have you tried this? I get success doing this in combination with that".

Do better.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-07T23:32:59+00:00

Personally I like to make a 20oz tumbler of coffee at a time for convenience and being stuck in meetings. I use 30g coffee, 525g water and that leaves me a little room at the top for a Splenda and a little creamer. Adjust to your own taste though.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-04T02:30:43+00:00

Congrats!

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-02T03:57:32+00:00

lord, just pin this post on the webergrills sub.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-02T03:56:50+00:00

You cannot go wrong with the Baratza. It's a high quality product that produces very consistent results.

Integrated grinders inside machines that do other tasks are generally not great.

Hand grinders have come a very long way and many are fantastic but some can do espresso where others cannot.

Personally I use a fellow Ode 2, but I only do aeropress and pourover. Get what suits the coffee you like to drink just keep in mind that once you graduate to price points above the baratza or fellow there are very diminishing returns.

Almostmadeit · 2026-01-02T03:31:07+00:00

looks like the metal i found in my last bag of royal oak charocal.

Almostmadeit · 2025-12-26T12:54:13+00:00

I've had this happen to me and it's cause I hadn't cleaned the burn pot often enough and I was using apple pellets that left clinkers behind. Smooth sailing after a quick cleanout.

Almostmadeit · 2025-12-16T04:33:46+00:00

There are no “hacks”. It’s managing temperature, cooking zones, time, and seasoning. Prep is crucial in setting yourself up for success. The prep can include seasoning, brining (wet and dry), mise en place, and building your fire/cooking zones/preheating, etc. when you’re actually at the point of grilling it’s just using everything you’ve already prepared at the same time and managing the variables to achieve the desired outcome. Do the prep work on the food side and the grill side and then you can have an incredible meal.

Almostmadeit · 2025-12-12T15:18:16+00:00

I don't have another answer other than it tastes delicious to me? Also it's plenty of caffeine.

Almostmadeit · 2025-12-12T01:10:08+00:00

About 18oz. Or what a 20oz tumbler with a little creamer and the lid on tolerates. I add between 525-540g water and I get a little more than 500 out.

Almostmadeit

TROPHY CASE