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This is cool but I just wanna say as an avid bbq-er this sounds like one of those cases of optimizing the fun out of something. babying a grill for 6 hours in the sun as a tired dad getting an excuse to drink a modelo and nurse a crappy cigar getting away from the stresses of raising a family is a feature, not a bug - but also as a fan of perfectly smoked meats, I get it. This piece speaks to me.

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I expect that building and optimizing this thing was the fun.

And perhaps where you see alone time while grilling, OP's dad saw alone time for hours in his workshop tinkering with things like this.

You can drink your beer while avoiding your family just as easily with a controller. Also, egg (kamado) style grills are very good at holding a specific temperature if you get the inlet/outlet airflow dialed in

Disagree. The heat tends to spike when the fire hits a piece of wood.

You dont use wood in the Egg, you use charcoal, and not the petroleum infused stuff. Natural hardwood lump charcoal. You can smoke stuff for 6 hours not really touching it once it is dialed in.

I use hardwood charcoal and some lumps of wood, as do many people.

I use charcoal generally but have had no problem with my kamado Joe holding a temperature within 10 degrees of a set point for 3+ hours

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