Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

RiverGrille Stampede... anybody? Beuller?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    RiverGrille Stampede... anybody? Beuller?

    Hi folks! Need a bit of help... weather has turned warm and sunny, which is giving me my annual case of "Maybe I should get a new grill" fever. Been doing my research and one has caught my eye, but I can’t find any info or mention of it here in The Pit. Here’s a link -



    I also didnt see a review of it (or any RiverGrille products for that matter) in the reviews database. Max Good who should I talk to about fixing that?

    Thanks in advance for any help provided. :-)

    #2
    I've looked at these when in Home Depot in the past year. Personally, my impressions were "meh" - you get what you pay for.

    There is a reason this grill is 2 to 3 times the grate square inches of a Weber Kettle, but still around the same price. And that is, overall lightweight construction. Looking at it, I feel like it will leak - a lot - leading to little ability to regulate temperature. Heck, if it doesn't leak, the fairly small air inlet on the end won't be enough. I am sure it will work fine for direct or 2-zone cooking, but question how well the air flow will work in it for smoking. You could probably build the fire at the right end, and put the meat on the grate at the smoke stack end, for smoking.

    Personally, the biggest mess will be the clean up. The charcoal grates are attached to the ash pan, and you lift both out, and turn upside down to dump the ashes and any spent charcoal. Seems messy. I guess I've gotten too spoiled by the ash sweep and ash collection system on my Weber Performer. its just so easy to dump the ash bucket on the Weber kettles.

    Personally, if I were spending this money 10 years ago, I would have said heck yeah - this looks like a great grill! My advice today, is to spend that $169 on a Weber Premium kettle (with the ash bucket), if you want to get into charcoal grilling. You will be much happier in the long run with the capability and flexibility and potential accessories available.

    Comment


      #3
      +1 on jfmorris. Can't got wrong with a kettle. Add this https://abcbarbecue.com/product/slow-n-sear-2-0/ and you can cook just about anything you can fit on the kettle.

      Comment


      • treesmacker
        treesmacker commented
        Editing a comment
        So, why wasn't that slow n sear available back in the day, when I had Weber Kettles? What year did that arrive?

      #4
      Their low end smokers I've seen at Home Depot are so poorly made they make cheap offsets like Char-Griller look good. However, they do offer a few interesting designs and a slightly higher quality offset that I have yet to see in person. They're on my list to add to our reviews. Stampede looks like their ultra cheap-cheapo-cheap stuff. You can get a nice Weber kettle for the same price that will work way better and last way longer.

      Comment


      • jfmorris
        jfmorris commented
        Editing a comment
        Glad to hear the expert had the same opinion I dd on this one! I was holding my breath all afternoon....

      #5
      Yep I always go by the grills in HD and Lowes before anything else and agree with the other two gentlemen. Get a WK add a Smoke 'n Sear and you will be much better off.

      Comment


        #6
        Thanks for all the replies folks, I appreciate your help very much. :-) I’m going to try to reply to all your replies here in one fell swoop... hopefully I don’t confuse the issue lol. Hope the discussion keeps going. Things like this are one of many that make The Pit awesome!

        Now that I’m off work and have the time, here are some things I should’ve put in my original post. First, I’m definitely looking for a drum shaped grill - even though I’ve come extremely close to pulling the trigger on Weber Kettles on a few occasions, I always remember that I’ve never had any luck cooking on kettles.

        I also should’ve mentioned that I’ll be using whatever I settle on strictly for grilling, not for smoking. I do all my smoking in a Pit Barrel Cooker, and the results I get out of that fine piece of engineering are so yummy that it eliminates the need of a dual purpose grill.

        Finally, a feature that’s very important to me is the ability to raise and lower the coal grate (more on that below).

        Now then, on to the individual replies...

        Max Good - really appreciate your reply, and the news that RiverGrille is on the to-do list for the review database. That’s because in one of the few threads on here I found on them, you had much the same comments three years or so ago that you had here. That gave me pause... given the high reviews on them at Home Depot’s website (and there’s a bunch of them), I’m wondering if maybe RiverGrille stepped up their game between then and now? I’ll be interested to see what a knowledgeable subject matter expert had to say when you (or whoever does the review) puts it through its paces.

        Funny you mentioned Char Griller, as that’s exactly what the new grill would be replacing. :-) I’m on my second one actually, and at the risk of being branded a heretic Ive had great luck with them. I keep mine covered , but outdoors, and get about 7-10 years out of them. For all the horrible things said about them, all I do is pull great meat after great meat off them.

        jfmorris - you, sir, may have saved me from a major faux pas with your observations on the cleanup! I didn’t realize the coal grates attached to the grill grates and you’re right, that would be a nightmare. Thank you! I think the concerns on temp control would be mitigated by using it strictly as a grill, and the ability to raise and lower the coal grates that I’m looking for.

        klflowers - I hear you on the Smoke-n-Sear, that thing has GOT to be a game changer for kettle owners! And I will admit that trying to smoke on something like the grill I floated here would probably be a nightmare due to the low end construction contributing to airflow leaks and causing temperature issues. I had the offset smoke box for my previous Char Griller and it was awful... hence the Pit Barrel Cooker sitting beside my current Char Griller (which DOESN’T have the offset smoke box, lesson learned lol).

        So I guess this thread now becomes a request for recommendations given my requirements - drum style not kettle, ability to raise and lower the coal grate, non-nightmare cleanup, and ability to smoke on it is not a factor. And one more... $300-400 is about the max I’d want to spend, and at the higher end of that it had better figure my taxes up in January too. LOL It’s not that I’m particularly cheap, but more that if I come off that kind of cash and am disappointed it would torque me off every time I fired it up.

        Ready... GO! And thanks in advance once again. The help, fellowship and witty banter are all very much appreciated.

        Comment


          #7
          I was thinking you need something like an Argentine Grill. What about something like this (just about the max you would spend)?

          Comment


          #8
          Mastering a 2 zone setup, or else using something like Grillgrates, is the key to learning to grill on a kettle. My issue with the drum shaped grills you are seeing at Home Depot and Lowe’s is that they just won’t last - I don’t want to buy the same grill every 2-3 years.

          It’s not quite a barrel shape, but at $369, the PK Grill will last a lifetime...

          https://www.pkgrills.com/the-pk-gril...lassic-silver/.

          Comment


            #9
            Somebody correct me if I'm not recalling this correctly, but I've seen a certain amount of positive comments on here about a charcoal grill made under the Kingsford name, at a budget price? Not necessarily a barrel as I recall, but more like that than a kettle. I think they were available at Home Depot or Lowes?

            Comment

            Announcement

            Collapse
            No announcement yet.
            Working...
            X
            false
            0
            Guest
            Guest
            500
            ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
            false
            false
            {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
            Yes
            ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
            /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here