2 New Smoker/Grills from Camp Chef Today!

[3montes]

I'd like to look out my window and see those two pallets being dropped off in my driveway. It is rather sad they don't make them here in America. I have a number of Camp Chef products mainly a camp stove/griddle and some cast iron and have been happy with it. For quite awhile now I will scour the internet looking for American made products before I buy anything. Wife said we need new tongs in the kitchen so next time I'm in Wal Mart pick some up. Nope. Found Eklund brand made in America and bought them. Just a warning the Eklund brand on Amazon appear to be knock offs if anyone goes to buy.

 

[Inscrutable]

I'd like to look out my window and see those two pallets being dropped off in my driveway. It is rather sad they don't make them here in America. I have a number of Camp Chef products mainly a camp stove/griddle and some cast iron and have been happy with it. For quite awhile now I will scour the internet looking for American made products before I buy anything. Wife said we need new tongs in the kitchen so next time I'm in Wal Mart pick some up. Nope. Found Eklund brand made in America and bought them. Just a warning the Eklund brand on Amazon appear to be knock offs if anyone goes to buy.

Yeah, in this world economy, it is indeed hard to find it all sourced and made here. With any halfway complex system, usually SOMETHING is at least sourced overseas.

 

[DougE]

I’d just like to see your stable of smokers.
Could you give us a video tour of your smoker stash.
I remember seeing you in your front yard with a Brinkman.
You were in 20 mph winds, showing everyone that you can smoke anything on a ECB. That was when I first joined up here. Been a great ride!!
Al

Seemed like a ton of members had ECBs back when I became a member. Although I don't use it anymore, there are still a few around.

 

[TulsaJeff]

I have a brand new charcoal ecb still in the box around here somewhere.

 

[TulsaJeff]

Seemed like a ton of members had ECBs back when I became a member. Although I don't use it anymore, there are still a few around.
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Man… I’ve sure smoked a lot of meat on one of those red electric models

 

[DougE]

Man… I’ve sure smoked a lot of meat on one of those red electric models

They work great, and the one I still have works. I've thought about rigging it up with a PID for small batches of sausages, but haven't done it yet.

 

[DougE]

Back when I joined, Char griller was king, ECB was queen, UDS were common, pellet grills didn't yet exist, and a select few owned real smokers like Lang. My how times have changed.

 

[912smoker]

Seemed like a ton of members had ECBs back when I became a member. Although I don't use it anymore, there are still a few around.
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Same here Doug and that red machine provided some great meals!

Keith

 

[Inscrutable]

Man… I’ve sure smoked a lot of meat on one of those red electric models

Yup … I went through 2 of those original manual ones back in the day. Sometimes nostalgic for the refreshing simplicity.

Sidebar … my most vivid memory of one is being awakened by the Easter Possum at 2am, had knocked it over and lapping up the water/drip pan remnants from my smoked ham. (Had been too tired to clean it up on a cold/rainy Sunday night.) Our dog will bark at anything/everything, but she just stared silently at the intimidating wet greasy possum, didn’t want any part of it.

 

[tbern]

Yup … I went through 2 of those original manual ones back in the day. Sometimes nostalgic for the refreshing simplicity.

Sidebar … my most vivid memory of one is being awakened by the Easter Possum at 2am, had knocked it over and lapping up the water/drip pan remnants from my smoked ham. (Had been too tired to clean it up on a cold/rainy Sunday night.) Our dog will bark at anything/everything, but she just stared silently at the intimidating wet greasy possum, didn’t want any part of it.

Lol, just recently had a possum visitor up on our deck. haven't had any around for a few years. man they are ugly looking creatures!!

 

[tbern]

This morning I looked out my office window and a large RTL truck had pulled up. I went out to meet the driver and he had 2 pallets from Camp Chef. One is the new Woodwind Pro 24-inch and the other is the 36-inch Apex grill with the gas attachment.

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I'm going out of town tomorrow but I will look forward to getting these put together soon and testing these out and letting you guys know how they stack up.

Has anyone used these yet? If so, what do you think so far?

I tend to like most of what Camp Chef does.. they have some good products out there. It's not American made but they seem to do a great job of making sure the products are made to high standards.

I still use the original Woodwind and the Woodwind Wi-fi that I've had for years so the products do hold up well if they are kept covered and receive basic maintenance.

hi Jeff, just wondering if you have had any chance to cook on that new woodwind pro yet? just curious about how good or bad it cooks with that smoke box feature.

 

[TulsaJeff]

hi Jeff, just wondering if you have had any chance to cook on that new woodwind pro yet? just curious about how good or bad it cooks with that smoke box feature.

I'm still playing with that one..

Almost every other review I see makes it seem as if you fill up the wood box, open up the damper to let the fire hit the wood for about 10 minutes and you have constant smoke for 90+ minutes but I'm definitely not seeing that in my own experiments.

I am getting less than 30 minutes so far. I have tried chips, chunks, chips + chunks, and pellets and in varying quantities.

I am getting great flavor, for sure. A couple chunks of hickory or mesquite providing smoke for 30 minutes gives way more smoke flavor than an entire session of pellet smoke.

Also the temperature of the smoker makes a difference. When cooking on lo smoke, there's just not enough fire to get the wood box to smoking. At higher temperatures like 325°F (163°C), the wood box turns to ash in mere minutes.

I figure there's a sweet spot in there somewhere.

I don't mind putting more wood in every 20-30 minutes mind you, but the whole point of a pellet smoker is to be able to set it and forget it and that sort of takes that element away.

Plus, if I'm going to sit there and baby sit, I'd just as soon be using my reverse flow stick burner.

I see great potential but I'm not there yet.. gonna have a pow wow with Camp Chef soon so we can make sure I'm doing everything correctly and/or I may NOT be smarter than the box!

If anyone else has one of these, I'd love to hear what you're doing that's working and what's not working.

Other than that, it works better than almost every other pellet smoker, just like the previous models of Woodwind.

Stay tuned!

 

[RCAlan]

I'm still playing with that one..

Almost every other review I see makes it seem as if you fill up the wood box, open up the damper to let the fire hit the wood for about 10 minutes and you have constant smoke for 90+ minutes but I'm definitely not seeing that in my own experiments.

I am getting less than 30 minutes so far. I have tried chips, chunks, chips + chunks, and pellets and in varying quantities.

I am getting great flavor, for sure. A couple chunks of hickory or mesquite providing smoke for 30 minutes gives way more smoke flavor than an entire session of pellet smoke.

Also the temperature of the smoker makes a difference. When cooking on lo smoke, there's just not enough fire to get the wood box to smoking. At higher temperatures like 325°F (163°C), the wood box turns to ash in mere minutes.

I figure there's a sweet spot in there somewhere.

I don't mind putting more wood in every 20-30 minutes mind you, but the whole point of a pellet smoker is to be able to set it and forget it and that sort of takes that element away.

Plus, if I'm going to sit there and baby sit, I'd just as soon be using my reverse flow stick burner.

I see great potential but I'm not there yet.. gonna have a pow wow with Camp Chef soon so we can make sure I'm doing everything correctly and/or I may NOT be smarter than the box!

If anyone else has one of these, I'd love to hear what you're doing that's working and what's not working.

Other than that, it works better than almost every other pellet smoker, just like the previous models of Woodwind.

Stay tuned!

Just my honest observation…. That Camp Chef looks like a really nice pellet smoker and the idea is much like the Smoke Daddy wood burning smoke generators. The only issue I see with your Camp Chef and you’re in the process of trying to figure it out is the volume of wood that the wood box cup can hold. Lower the grills set temp, the slower the wood chunks, chips or pellets will burn in the wood box. Higher the set temp and the fuel will burn off in minutes. I would try loading it with wood chunks only and place a couple of hot ashed over charcoal briquettes on top of the chunks. Set your Camp Chef at 225*-250* degrees and give it a test run on how long the wood chunks will produce smoke. FYI.. Placing a couple of charcoal briquettes on top of the wood chunks will start the ignition of the wood chunks and the briquettes will also help clean the smoke being produced. Kinda like the logic behind how gravity feed smokers burn clean smoke. I’ve been using a wood burning smoke generator on my Austin XL going on 4 years and I’ve had great success with it after I figured out how to properly load and use it, along with a few modifications. Give my tips a test shot and post back how it turns out.. You should get a longer burn/smoke time, but again, the volume of wood chunks that the wood box holder can hold is the only drawback that I can see. Will you get 90 minutes of smoke? Probably not, but you should definitely get more the 20-30 minutes. Good luck

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[TulsaJeff]

Just my honest observation…. That Camp Chef looks like a really nice pellet smoker and the idea is much like the Smoke Daddy wood burning smoke generators. The only issue I see with your Camp Chef and you’re in the process of trying to figure it out is the volume of wood that the wood box cup can hold. Lower the grills set temp, the slower the wood chunks, chips or pellets will burn in the wood box. Higher the set temp and the fuel will burn off in minutes. I would try loading it with wood chunks only and place a couple of hot ashed over charcoal briquettes on top of the chunks. Set your Camp Chef at 225*-250* degrees and give it a test run on how long the wood chunks will produce smoke. FYI.. Placing a couple of charcoal briquettes on top of the wood chunks will start the ignition of the wood chunks and the briquettes will also help clean the smoke being produced. Kinda like the logic behind how gravity feed smokers burn clean smoke. I’ve been using a wood burning smoke generator on my Austin XL going on 4 years and I’ve had great success with it after I figured out how to properly load and use it, along with a few modifications. Give my tips a test shot and post back how it turns out.. You should get a longer burn/smoke time, but again, the volume of wood chunks that the wood box holder can hold is the only drawback that I can see. Will you get 90 minutes of smoke? Probably not, but you should definitely get more the 20-30 minutes. Good luck

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

I have not tried the briquettes on top of the woodchucks yet but I will definitely give that a try soon.

I’m cooking a turkey today for a late Thanksgiving weekend and with the smoker set at 250° and only leaving the damper open for about 3 to 4 minutes, I have been able to get around 50 minutes of smoke on a single chunk and the smoke was nice and thin for the entire time, but smelled a lot stronger than the pellet smoke does.

Looking forward to tasting of the turkey and seeing how that goes.

 

[tbern]

Thanks for the update Jeff , appreciate it!

 

[tbern]

RC allen, thanks for your input also!

 

[LoydB]

Now that I have a TSM country style for my <175 degree F smokes, I'm looking to replace my MES with one of these. I am most attracted to it because of the wood drawer, something that seems like a no-brainer but isn't offered on any US-made pellet grill that I can find.

Any new thoughts on this since November?