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CampChef Woodwind

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    CampChef Woodwind

    Hi all - was a member for a bit, but then moved to an apartment. Now that I'm back in a house, I bought a new smoker and I wanted to share my experience. I am a relatively junior smoker so take this review with the appropriate grain of salt. (see Meathead's guide on the Science of Salt)

    After a lot of research, I chose the Camp Chef Windowood with Searbox. Its' FANTASTIC! I has a COS before and was always stressing about keeping the temperature right which is tough when you're chasing around two little ones, have a life to tend to and it's the northeast so the temperature is never steady.

    Now that we're in Florida I wanted a more relaxing lifestyle and to be able to actually follow Meathead's directions for smoking - grab a beer, a book, take a nap, etc. Hard to do with the COS. BUT, with the Woodwind it's practically set it and forget it. Don't get me wrong, I took a lot of pride in smoking on the COS, but the lack of stress and still getting great food is well worth the tradeoff.

    PROS: Easy as turning a knob, two meat probes, simple ash removal. The smokebox has a ton of room - with two levels of racks it's amazing how much I've fit in there. I just make sure to put the non-drip items up top (potatoes, corn, tomatillos, etc) and the meat down below. The searbox has enough room for four ears of corn or six burgers (depending on size) or even to crisp up your smoked wings or get some sauce caramelized on the ribs (in smaller pieces of course).

    CONS: Not sure the probes are as accurate as I'd like (I still need to verify this), but the readings seem to be off by about 10 degrees - I say that because when it says I've hit X temp, the inside does not look like X, but I leave it on for another 30 minutes or so and I get that right temp. Might be me not using the probe correctly or it is indeed off. Will update this review when I get my instaread and compare. Also, the smoke flavor isn't as strong as on my old COS. The smoke can't be as concentrated in the pellets or you'd oversmoke everything, but I am going to research ideas like wood chips in the beginning or something to get a more smoky flavor.

    CONCLUSION: If you're looking for a solid, large, set it and forget it with decent smoke flavor, the ability to grill and reverse sear without having to buy two setups, then the Camp Chef is for you. I'm a big fan so far and have only had one issue with the grill which was user error. Read the manual, followed the directions and boom, solved the problem which I caused in the first place.

    I'm getting back into smoking again which I'm really happy about - so far I've done smoked wings a couple of times, pulled pork, ribs (of course), guac and hot salmon. BTW, if you haven't tried meatheads hot salmon recipe you are missing out - everyone raved about it.

    So you'll see more on here more hopefully and I'll start sharing photos - glad to be back and I can't wait to learn more each and every smoke!

    #2
    What pellets have you been using? If you haven’t yet, try some CookinPellets 100% Hickory. It still won’t match an offset, but might improve things. For the price, the Woodwind looks very nice.

    Also, test your probes with boiling water and an ice bath. Can you boil a pot on the sear burner?
    Last edited by glitchy; September 27, 2019, 05:39 PM.

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      #3
      I like my A-Maze-In smoke tube...
      Shop for wood pellet grills, smokers, and griddles. Try new recipes and learn about our 8-in-1 grill versatility. Our grills help you craft BBQ recipes to perfection.


      and... Congrats on the Woodwind

      Comment


        #4
        Get an instant read thermometer and a remote Pit temp monitor that has WiFi or something you can read inside. I’v Had 2 flameouts in my LUX and my Fireboard save the meat I was cooking. Of course they always happen in the middle of the night. Good luck.

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