Welcome to The Pitmaster Club, a special place to share ideas and stories at the #1 BBQ website in the world. As Director of Equipment Reviews and Keeper of the Flame for AmazingRibs.com, I test all kinds of residential grills and smokers and typically have at least a dozen on my deck at any given time. Thanks for signing up. Let's have some fun!
-
-
Max,
Have you seen Lone Star Grillz's Insulated Vertical Smokers? Here is a link to informative videos about both of them.
Would you review them and give your opinion?
Thanks -
I have no affiliation with Lone Star Grillz. I am in charge of sales and marketing for Blue Lake Citrus Products, a citrus juice company. I got a Backwoods G 2 Party smoker in April of this year and love it. I relied heavily on the reviews of Backwoods smokers on this web site to make that purchase decision. I am thinking about buying a second insulated vertical smoker, ran across the videos of Lone Star Grillz's, and was impressed. But I don't want to invest that much money in a smoker unless someone who knows more about smokers has reviewed them.Comment
-
They look good and I've heard good things about them. I'm working on several other products right now. We may review Lone Star down the road.Comment
-
I have a question about the Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24". You gave it a gold medal. One of the reviews from Amazon customer was that he thought the metal was kind of thin. Is that true or his opinion. I know for @ 300$ you can't expect a tank. Is it good enough for fall/winter use which is the #1 reason I want one without breaking my budget. Don't want to worry about charcoal when it's snowing & cold. Is there a safe way to insulate it to keep heat in?Comment
-
The Smoke Vault 24 is built to sell at a modest price point. The construction is actually more solid than many similar gas smokers and definitely better than the cheapo models. It has a wide temperature range which helps when ambient temps are extreme, you can go low on hot days and high on cold days. If you live in an area where temps drop extremely low in winter, insulation or a wind barrier may be helpful. Just be sure not to cover the vents on the side and top. Here are tips for cold weather cooking: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech...d_smoking.html
BTW, I just checked our Where to Buy links on my Smoke Vault Review page, the SV 24 is selling for $230 on Amazon.Comment
-
I'm very excited to be a new member of this society. 1st of I'm sure to be many questions. Does anyone have a recommendation of a Bluetooth enabled thermometer to keep track of the internal temperature of my Weber Kettle. I am currently using 2 igrill mini's. 1 to watch the temps of my meat and the second one I drop through the exhaust vent to keep track of my cooking temp. It's really convenient but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Suggestions?Comment
-
Hey Draugo... Welcome Aboard
I use a Maverick ET 732 for everything, it is not blue tooth but has a really good range to the receiver unit... I have no experience with the igrill mini... but other around here do, maybe they will chime inComment
-
Welcome to the Pit, Draugo. Like smarkley I have no experience with the I grill or any of the blue tooth thermometers. I have used several remote thermometers over the years all of which had transmitter or receiver problems, in general they were inaccurate and unreliable. I have recently purchased a Thermopen and a Maverick et 733 dual probe and I personally have not used either one. You can find AR reviews on both on this sight!Comment
-
Welcome to the Pit Draugo26 ..
I use the Maverick ET 735 and it has Bluetooth and up to 4 probes. It transmits to my iPhone or my iPad. I really like sitting in my family room watching the game and checking on my cook without having to go outside. Someone told me they were going to come out with a wifi version soon too. Not sure about that though.Comment
-
Thanks for the response. The igrill mini seems to be working well I'm just not sure how accurate it is but it must be close. Can the ET 735 be set up for a range of grill temps? i.e. can I set it up to warn me when the temp. drops below say 225 or if it climbs above 250? I am going to try and verify how accurate the igrill mini is because it does allows me to pre-set the before mentioned parameters and is about 1/2 the price of the ET 735. I just drop the probe down through my exhaust vent on my Weber Kettle. What I did notice while watching the video for the 735 is the grill clip that places the probe just above the grate. Do you all think that the temp is more accurate in that position of if I'm getting a good reading dropping the probe down through the vent? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I am really enjoying this website. My ribs seem to get better and better thanks to Amazingribs.com. I tried the "fuse" technique which I learned on this website on my last rack and except for a few minor adjustments on my exhaust vent I was able to maintain my temp range between 235 & 240 for almost 7 hours without lifting the lid or adding coals every hour. Thanks for the advice!Comment
-
In response to comment #11.2. The igrill mini operates via Bluetooth for both ios & android. I've attached a screenshot of one of my customized "range pre-sets". It shows what the temp. was when I took the screenshot (239) & about a 3 hour window of what the grill temperatures were. This particular pre-set was set for a minimum temp of 225 and a max temp of 250 so I received a warning when the temp went above 250 and then another alert when it went below 225. You can see when I dropped the probe in at about 2:00pm then when I lifted the lid to place my ribs on the grate at about 2:15pm, and then you can see when I was making vent adjustments at about 2:20. At around 2:30pm I had my temp pretty much dialed in. You can see that about 4pm the temp started to rise so I made another slight vent adjustment. The downside is that it can only handle 1 probe so I have the "grill temp" mini paired to my Samsung Note 4 and if I need a meat probe I've got another mini paired to my iPhone 6. The cost for the mini with Amazon Prime is about $32.00
Comment
-
Hi, Max~
Meathead referred me to you for this question. Is $420 a good discount price for a new Pit Boss K22? Would it add any additional capabilities to my beloved Weber KG? Thanks!
GJC
Comment
-
GregCumbee That's not a bad price, but I saw the larger 24" models selling in Costco last year for $400. Pit Boss cuts a lot of corners to keep their prices down. They will be a little harder to control than a higher quality kamado brand, but at the end of the day, those heavy ceramic ovens are going to hold temps pretty steady. Of course with a nice accessory like Slow 'n Sear you can do some mighty good smoking with you kettle. Be that as it may, kettles and kamados are very different so it would certainly add to your capabilities.Comment
Comment