Is The Vortex The Answer To My Kamado Smoking Dreams?
Does the Number One Barrel Smoker Accessory IMPROVE Kamado Smoke Compared To Accessories Like the SloRoller and or my Double Indirect Setup? To find out, I am smoking a pork butt using the Hunsaker vortex basket inside my Kamado Joe to see if the benefits barrel and drum smoker crowds swear by can be replicated inside a Kamado grill.
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Chapters
00:00 – Before there was a SloRoller
01:04 – Vortex championship endoresement
01:49 – When is direct/indirect BEST?
04:38 – Cold smoke & hot smoke makes the difference
09:50 – Setting up a Kamado with the Vortex
13:52 – Results & Taste Test
#kamado #porkshoulder #smokedpork
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I´ve been using the 18,5 " Vortex plate on the charcoal baskets of my kamados for about a year and it works very well. There is a slightly different taste just as mentioned in the video. But to be honest , I use the Vortex plate and the regular deflectors without specific intention to create a certain taste. I simply tried it because the Vortex plate was already there as I had bought for my WSM. It´s a nice little tool !
Man that looks good! I'm not surprised with your conclusion that., the accessory that's not designed for the kamado doesn't work as well on the kamado. I am surprised the overnight salt brine didn't turn the pulled pork into ham. I've owned my Big Joe 1 for 10 years and love it. I get more from your channel using the kamado for what it was designed to do.
I assume Al Frugoni would disagree you cant do big meats over open fire
Hey SDBBQ, love seeing your experiments! Given all of the benefits of double indirect, have you ever tried triple indirect, or even quadruple indirect? Would love a video where you just keep stacking plates and see at what point there’s no longer any additional benefits
What size did you use? 18.5” or 22.5”?
Why not just trim the vortex down a bit for a better fit?
Great experiment though!
Interesting trial you did here. Glad to hear double indirect is still the best. I did a port butt a few weeks back using double indirect method and it came out great again. The smoke taste was very light compared to offset pull pork I had in Durango last week. I don't know if adding more smoking wood during the cook is key or what. I think I will try using by Grill Gates as my top deflector next time with a pizza stone as the one next to the fire. I want to see if the holes in the Grill Gates allows more smoke to the meat.
This was an interesting experiment. The pork butt looked amazing!
You could make one of these from an old propane tank.
A skinny 30-lb tank would be a good size.
I love making my own stuff.
Also, get a smokai. You can then do real cold smoking.
I thought an overnight brine would turn it to ham?
I think that the Vortex PLATE, which is just the wheel on top, sold separately, may be a better fit for the geometry of the Kamado. I believe it is also larger (19 inch), which may help there.
Who else thought that top was going to spin?
That's a great experiment James. That is interesting how the smoke flavor is less apparent when adding the vortex plate. I'd used it on a WSM in the past. Just perhaps the hot steel plates burn and filter out some of the creosotes as they pass thru them, sort of like a second stage, first when passing thru the hot coals, then thru the plates. You may need to add additional wood chunks. Also, most lump charcoals have uncarbonized remnants that contribute to smoke flavor. The heated plates probably burns out some of the volatiles emanating from burning charcoals as well.
Can you comment to any differences in the season-all by Fiesta vs your personal blend?
That’s what makes a drum smoker so good, so in theory this should work well
Have you reviewed the Kick Ash can? If so, can you link the video? Thanks!
Good experiment. Maybe this will inspire someone to build something specifically for ceramic cookers that serves the purpose and allows for more smoke flavor.
I enjoyed watching your "test and tinker" with the vortex basket! Thank you.
@SmokingDadBBQ great job James. Nice test.
Really interesting video James. I’m curious with the double indirect method if a smoke tube on top of the slow roller would give a clean smoke flavour. I’ve been getting great results on my pellet grill 🤔
Hope your keeping well.