Keeping your backyard classy and functional is a big task. The Kamado Joe Classic and Big Joe will help you attain that feat with their features and amazing cooking prowess.
Having an outdoor grill is fun, you can cook any food that you want while basting in the sun. The grill will bring you all the satisfaction to your cravings for any recipes that you want that day.
While conventional grills can cook with precision and great finish on the food, Kamado grills do it better.
These are very versatile types of grills that bring enough heat for any type of food.
This is an ancient style of cooking that originated in China thousands of years ago.
It has been adopted by many cultures and is modernized throughout time, which can be a bad thing.
However, with the Kamado grills that we have today, you cannot complain about the modernization.
They are far better than most grills that we have been used to cooking in.
Kamado Joe is a company that was discovered not too long ago. They have been constantly producing Kamado grills that are very unique and powerful for any kind of recipe that you want.
The Classic Joe is a Kamado grill that is considered a pioneer of the new grills that we usually see. It can go up to high temperatures and has many useful features included in the product.
Features and unique systems are the key selling points of Kamado Joe so the Big Joe is no different when it comes to that. This grill is a part of the Kamado Joe Big Joe grill series.
So if you want something more than just a grill, read on as we take a look at what these grills can bring to the table. We will see all the similarities and differences between these two grills.
Significant Differences Between The Classic Joe and Big Joe
One of the most important things that you need to know and consider before purchasing or choosing between two grills is the difference between the two according to your preferences.
While the company follows a standard of making their grills as powerful as possible, they do make some features that are unique to a single grill which you really need to know.
See, not all people have the same preferences or lifestyle. Some might like having friends over and have a small meal and then play games right after eating the food you cooked.
While others have a more social life that wants to bring in the best and largest grill to cook with both speed and quality. Such are things that you need to consider when buying your grill.
There are no major differences between these two so the differences will be brief. Let’s get right into it and see which Kamado Joe grill is better for you with the following differences.
Size Difference
Of course, the most obvious difference between these two grills is the size.
They are made for two separate grill series so you should know by the name alone that they are different in size.
Yes, at first glance, you will see that the Big Joe grill is larger than the Classic Joe.
However, the appearance is not the size that we would be talking about as that is hardly important.
We will take a look at the actual cooking size or cooking area of each grill. Kamado Joe puts effort in designing these grills to make them cook larger portions of food than other same-sized grills.
Classic Joe
Now, while this Kamado grill may seem like a small grill, it packs a lot of features that allow it to have one of the bigger total cooking areas in any grill of its size which is a huge advantage.
The Classic Joe has an 18-inch diameter which means that it has somewhere over 250 square inches of total cooking space. This is amazing already but it can still be expanded.
The cooking area and grill grates of the Classic Joe combine for around 300 square inches of total cooking space. This is made possible by a feature that we will be talking about later on.
With that total cooking space, the Classic Joe can cook multiple steaks and burgers at a time. This is amazing since you will not be able to tell that it can cook many foods by looking at it.
Big Joe
Many Kamado Joe users waited for this grill series to come out. That is because some complained about the size of the grills that Kamado Joe produced being too small.
Once the Big Joe came out to the public, it was easily sold out in pre-orders and was immediately followed by the successors name the Big Joe II and the Big Joe III grills.
The size of the Big Joe cooking grate spans 24 inches which means that it has a main total cooking area of 452 square inches which can also be expanded like the Classic Joe.
This will allow you to cook steaks and even whole chickens in the grill. The Big Joe grill, with its large capacity, is perfect for parties where you have many people coming over your house.
Now that you know the sizes of the grills, you should have an easier decision to make. Do you party with a lot of friends or do you just want to have a grill that can cook a meal for the family?
The Firebox
Kamado Grills from Kamado Joe use ceramic for insulation and these grills are thick. That means that once they heat up, they will stay hot to cook for long periods of time.
The firebox, where you put your charcoal in, is also made with ceramic. These are heavy grills that you will need to find a solution to set them up or lift out of the place when you need to.
Kamado Joe made the fireboxes with six parts that you can disassemble. That way, you can carry them one by one to remove a little bit of the weight that the grills have.
While the Classic Joe and Big Joe have this same feature, they do have different features within the firebox itself. That is the divider that allows you to cook at different temperatures.
The Big Joe grill has a firebox divider which means that you can put the charcoal on one side of the firebox while leaving the other side empty. The heat will then be concentrated on one side.
With this feature, you will be able to sear meat on one side while keeping the other food warm on the other side. This will help you cook many foods at the same time for large gatherings.
Similarities
Now that you have seen the major differences between these two grills, it is time to move onto the similarities. These are the reasons why the company is loved by so many users.
We will be talking about the significant features of the grills from Kamado Joe that are unique to them. The best features that all grills have in the Kamado Joe line and series of grills.
Kamado Joe Airlift Hinge
As I have mentioned, the Classic Joe grill and the Big Joe grill are made out of ceramic.
That includes their lid which is a little smaller than the main body so it still packs a lot of weight.
With that being said, these grills are prone to accidents such as getting your hands or fingers slammed between the body and the lid of the grills.
That is why you need to suspend them.
Kamado Joe made a unique feature that you will never find in other grill brands. That is the Airlift Hinge which is a hinge that not only helps you lift the lid but also reduces the weight.
See, the Airlift Hinge is a very powerful feature that pulls and locks the lid in place. With this kind of suspension, Kamado Joe was able to reduce the weight of the lid of their grills by 96%.
That means that a kid can easily open the lid of the grill or you can do it with just two fingers. The lid also locks in place wherever you want it to stop so you can adjust the height of the lid.
Divide And Conquer Cooking System
So aside from the main grates that are included in the Kamado Joe grills, they also have a feature that expands the total cooking space so you can make multiple recipes at the same time.
The Divide and Conquer Cooking System is layered or tiered grates. For the Classic Joe and the Big Joe, they have two-tiered grates to expand the total cooking area in the grill.
With this feature, you will be able to cook other recipes at different temperatures as well. These grates also have half-moon options to create a smaller expander if you need a smaller space.
You can also purchase the other accessories such as the cast-iron heat deflector and it will fit right into the cooking grates. This allows you to cook with indirect heat simultaneously.
Temperature Control
One thing you cannot do with these grills is to control them digitally. You have no options for controlling the temperature with buttons as they stick to the authenticity of the cooking style.
In order for you to control the temperature, you will need to adjust it with the vents in the grill. There is bottom ventilation and a top vent that allows for temperature control.
You can control grills from Traeger digitally or even through your phone but these charcoal grills cannot be controlled when you are away from them.
If you are just starting the fire and you want to speed up the process, you can open the bottom vent to get as much air as you need. This is the temperature control for higher increments.
Once the Kamado grills reach the desired temperature, you can then close the vent at the bottom or leave a little bit of opening. The top vent is for smaller increments in temperature.
You will be able to see the temperature inside the grills without actually opening and measuring it as these Kamado grills have built-in thermometers on the lid for accurate measurements.
Performance
These Kamado Grills from Kamado Joe are great in cooking. These Kamado grills can reach temperatures of up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit, perfect for cooking and searing meat.
This also means that you will be able to cook pizzas in just 5 minutes. With that high temperature, you can cook anything that you want and make it go lower if you need to.
The lowest controllable temperature of the grills is 250 degrees Fahrenheit. That means that you can also smoke ribs or any meat that you want in these grills.
Something I love about the grills is that you can even grill a pizza or cook a frozen pizza on these grills making it multi functional. You are going to like everything about he
Joetisserie Option
If you want another style of cooking with these Kamado grills, then you can switch to the rotisserie option. There is an included accessory on these products that you can use for this.
The Joetisserie is a feature that spins food in the grill to create an even finish on your food. The durable spit rod is very reliable and it can turn chickens or pieces of meat of up to 50 pounds.
The wedge shape of the spit rod allows you to put the food and the skewer in without letting heat escape. It seals the heat inside the grill which makes it great for cooking evenly.
I usually like to cook chicken this way and it makes the chicken more juicy and tender. Overall, chicken tastes so much better and if you have not tried using this feature while cooking a chicken, you are seriously missing out on a lot.
Conclusion
Cleaning is not a problem with these kinds of grills. Since they can get up to high temperatures, you can just fire them up and let the food residuals burn, and then brush them away.
The grills also have an ash catcher underneath for the firebox. You can just clean the grill grates with soap and water separately, no need for you to damage the ceramic parts inside the grill.
Both the Classic Joe and the Big Joe are amazing versatile grills from Kamado Joe. if you want to cook anything, you can buy one of these, just know the size that fits your lifestyle.
With just a few cooking sessions, you will get used to these grills and you will never be going back to the usual common grill that you are using!
In my opinion, the food tasted almost the same on both grills so you are left to decide which grill is better based on the features and the price point!
So which one would you choose? Let us know in the comments below!
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