Grid Iron arrives Monday!

[HawkerXP]

Very Nice! Good luck on the new adventure!!

[RonB]

Lookin' forward to pics from your first cook.

[dave_trimble]

For those who were asking, yes, I will be doing a write-up on the grill. It will probably come in stages, and I will be happy to answer any and all questions to the best of my ability

[mattcotool]

Can't wait to hear what you have to say. I want a pellet pooper and I have it narrowed down to the Grid Iron or a Yoder YS640.

[dave_trimble]

The main thing that made me rule out the 640 is that it has a small hopper at 20 pounds, and to make things worse it has a reputation of being a pellet hog. But it still looks like a very nice smoker.

[dave_trimble]

OK, first impression. I haven't cooked with it yet, so this is only covering appearance, construction, and operation.
Things I like:

• Solid construction
• Powder coat is great, and the copper vein finish on the hopper lid and main lid is gorgeous. I only wish they had done the chimney cap in the same finish.
• The wheels, while not as big as I’d like, are really high quality. They roll very smoothly, and are durable. All four wheels are casters with locks.
• Big hopper. Advertised as holding 30 pounds of pellets, and while I haven’t tested its maximum capacity, it looks like it’ll hold 30+ pretty easily. The hopper also has a nice lip all around the top to prevent any water intrusion (you can see this in the hopper picture I posted earlier in the thread.)
• Heavy-duty stainless fire diffuser and drip tray. The diffuser in particular is very thick steel. It definitely looks like it will keep its shape over the years. Anyone who owns a Traeger knows how the heat diffuser gets all twisted out of shape after the first couple of cooks. This one’s much better.
• Roller grates. For those of you who don’t know, Blaz’n uses ¼” stainless steel rod for their grates, and the rods are able to spin freely within the grate frame. Ostensibly this is for easier cleaning; you scrape the grates, give them a quick roll to the other side, and scrape again.
• Very quick start. When I press the power button, it's spewing smoke in less than 60 seconds. My Traeger Select needs 3-5 minutes to get going initially. The Grid Iron also gets up to temp very quickly. I haven't timed it, but it gets to its starting temp of 350 (the manual says to always start in 350, then change it to your desired setting after it gets up to temp) in easily less than 10 minutes. Maybe I'll time that next, if anyone cares. It also changes temps much quicker than any of my Traegers.
• Very narrow temp swings. I'm going to do a second write up today or tomorrow detailing my temp readings with the Fireboard, but sneak peek: total distance between peaks and valleys when it reaches the requested temperature is around 7 degrees F. Meaning it's hitting the set temp +/- 3.5 degrees.

Things I don’t like:

• The first time I fired it up, it was blowing ash all over the place. Very quickly, the top of the smoker had a fine layer of ash all over it, and so did all of the inside. I called Tim at Blaz’n, and he said it would go away after the first few cooks. Pit member theman56 recently had this post detailing the same problem, and his fix for it: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...over-the-place. I have added spacers of my own, but a little smaller, and it seems to have helped greatly. Something to keep an eye on.
• Pull-out fire pot: This is something most would have as a positive, but every two to three cooks I’m replacing the foil on the drip pan anyway, so I’ve never really felt the need to clean out my fire pot without cleaning the rest of the interior. Plus, the way It fastens concerns me. When I fired up the grill, there was a good amount of smoke coming from the top of the pull-out’s cover. I have seen some pictures of Blaz’n grills out there with bubbling paint and rust over this spot, and I’m a little worried about that happening to mine. I’ve asked Tim about it, and he’s looking at my pictures of the situation.
• Blaz'n's claim of double-walled construction is a little exaggerated. From the cooking grates up, everything is single-walled, except for the insulated lid that they gave me at no extra cost. Below that level, the "double-wall" consists of two chunks of steel on the bottom of the smoke chamber, not even fastened down, and one each on the front and back walls, attached with one screw. These sections are not sealed off in any way from the air circulation in the smoke chamber, so I have some doubts about their insulating properties. I'm sure they help some, but not as much as if the grill body were build truly double-walled. See these two pictures for what I'm talking about.
• 

So far, I have no regrets purchasing the Grid Iron. Of the three negatives so far, one is likely fixed, one may turn out to be nothing at all, and the last likely won't affect me much in my climate.

[Jerod Broussard]

I plan to attach a welding blanket to the backside when the ambient temp gets under 40.