After months of going back and forth on whether to get a pellet cooker or one of the big box store gravity feds, I pulled the trigger on a gravity fed. Now I just saw this mentioned on TheBBQHQ's social media. Curious how this well this will work:
If I had to guess, it looks like a fairly typical pellet smoker that is designed to use proprietary "wood chips" which will be insanely overpriced. You may or may not be able to use industry standard pellets. Ultimately, performance is probably no difference or worse that more experienced pellet smoker manufacturers due to inexperienced manufacturing partners. But I bet you they expect to make the big bucks off those chips.
I missed it the first time I went there, but if you scroll down a ways, they give more information about it, and I was thinking the same thing about "proprietary chips", IFZBC. That could get very expensive, even if other wood chips would work with this. NumbWhistle which gravity fed did you wind up getting?
Last edited by Panhead John; September 19, 2022, 02:12 PM.
texastweeter, you are right but incomplete! I know that the pellets we make are 100% wood -- no starches etc. to extend the sawdust and make "fluffy" pellets. Other manufacturers do their own thing.
Bottom line -- wood pellets are wood pellets, like charcoal is charcoal!
Panhead John I ended up getting the Char-Griller 980. Went back and forth between it and the Masterbuilt 1050 as my entry into the gravity fed market. Ultimately went with the Char-Griller due to the larger main cooking surface as I tend to smoke/grill whole turkeys and pork loins for the holidays.
The unit I got had a small dent in the bottom of the barrel, but it doesn't look like anything more than cosmetic damage (didn't disturb the paint). I reached out to Char-Griller, and they said they were not able to send a new barrel under their warranty and I would have to take it back to the store. Truth be told, I was too lazy to disassemble it and take it to Lowes for another unit given how big and heavy it is. Plus, I've seen a lot of people remarking online about cosmetic damage when getting the big box units, so I figured I'd keep rolling the dice with each unit I got. On the plus side, if the dent does end up being an issue functionally, my wife said she would buy me a new smoker of my choice - I think she was just relieved that she didn't have to help me return this unit.
I did the burn in yesterday, and hope to season it and then complete my first cook with it this weekend if my work schedule permits (working in college athletics makes for unorthodox work schedules). For the burn in, at least, it maintained a pretty consistent cooking temperature (verified by ambient probe on Thermoworks Signals). Hopefully it keeps that going as I transition to actual cooking on the pit.
Sounds like the dent is not gonna be an issue for you, I can’t imagine why it would. Yeah, I wouldn’t take it apart and return it either, unless the dent was large and distracting. After you get a few cooks with it under your belt, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on it. There’s a few people here with a gravity fed, but not many that I’m aware of.
When I first heard about Easy Bake Ovens (Pellet Grills) I wondered why they didn't make them to just use wood chips, then I figured that the variable size of the wood chips might be an issue. In the same bag I've had everything from almost wood dust to almost wood chunks.
Last edited by 58limited; September 19, 2022, 02:53 PM.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
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Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Chuck in Charlotte Unfortunately there are a couple misspellings on their teaser site, I noticed this a while back. I think the site go-live was rushed.
Ript shows promise, they are the creation of a very well known manufacturer, and I will share this info if I get permission to. Hang tight.
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