Canadian Recommendations

[chionk]

Hi All,

I currently have a Bradley but it is annoying to constantly babysit and I havent attempted a long smoke (8hr+) due to having to constantly remove the burning pucks. I want to upgrade to a lower maintenance pellet smoker but in Canada our options are a bit limited and I was wondering if anyone out there at experience with theses brand:

- Pit Boss
- Char-Griller
- Camp Chef
- GMG - I was looking at this until I found the noise issue - Is it that big of a deal?
- Masterbuilt
- Weber
- BroilKing
- Cabelas Pro

Appreciate the advice!

 

[dubob]

Hi All,

I currently have a Bradley but it is annoying to constantly babysit and I havent attempted a long smoke (8hr+) due to having to constantly remove the burning pucks.

I have a 4-rack Bradley that I've been using for over 10 years. I am confused by your highlighted statement above. I have never removed the burned up pucks until the cook has been completed. The pucks get pushed into the water pan and just sit there until I'm finished with my cook. Why do you feel like they need to be removed before your cook is completed? I've also never felt the need to burn up more than 6 to 8 pucks on any given cook I've done in my Bradley. That gives me plenty of smoke flavor on any meat I've ever done in it. But I've never done pulled pork or brisket in it. I use my Camp Chef Woodwind SG for those. It does a great job on those two long cook items. I have done turkey breast, whole chickens, ribs, game birds, and small venison roast pastrami cooks on the Bradley with no issues at all with pucks or removing them AFTER the cook is done.

 

[chionk]

I have the Bradley Original. The automatic puck move pushes out a new puck every 20 min (i think). For mine once the bowl has 6 puck in it, it becomes too full to accommodate another used puck. This will prevent the automatic puck mover from discarding future used puck. So finally one will just sit on the heating element forever and continue to burn. I will not get smoke from a new puck, but rather just old burnt pucks. For this reason I have to constantly empty the bowl otherwise old pucks just smolder.

 

[dubob]

I have never, in over 10 years of using my Bradley, used more than 8 pucks to smoke anything. At 3 pucks an hour, 66 pucks would last 22 hours of smoking and I can't think of anything that a Bradley would be used to smoke that would take 22 hours to cook. Probably over 95% of everything you would smoke in a Bradley would be 100%, completely cooked/smoked in 10 hours or less. Even the Bradley manual only RECOMMENDS (not mandates) emptying the water bowl every 2 to 3 hours. I have no clue as to why you think this is a problem. That's all I'm going to say on that subject.

I have a CC Woodwind and like it very much for the pulled pork, ribs (beef & pork), chicken (pieces & whole birds) that I cook on it. I prefer my Bradley for jerky & fish. I have no idea what customer service will be like in Canada for any brand you mentioned. I don't use my CC for grilling burgers, steaks, etc. I have a gas grill for those cooks. But my CC works great for smoking the cuts and types of meats I mentioned above.

 

[chionk]

HAHA It was suppose to be 6, not 66 (edit made), I see the confusion now.

I have done an hr bricket that ate up over pucks so I had to be cleaning that thing out multiple times. For wings or something that takes under 2 hrs I dont have to clean it.

Thank for the response, I havnt looked into the CC Woodwind and will do now.

 

[jmtyndall]

I don't see Grila Grills listed there, but they deliver to Canada. If you're near Calgary you can even check some out in person.

Grilla Grills Shipping and Returns in Canada

We’re proud to announce that we are now shipping Grilla Grills to Canada. Click here to learn more.

grillagrills.com

 

[chionk]

Yes i am as a matter of fact. Do you have any experience with them?

 

[jmtyndall]

Yes, I have the Grilla OG as they call it. The unique round-shaped one with a gorilla shaped window that you can see the fire and I love it. I also converted an old Traeger to use a Grilla controller because the Grilla had a meat probe, finer temp control and a proper shutdown sequence.

My OG is top quality construction, nice thick metal and has been dead reliable for years. I have the PID controlled one (AlphaSmoke) but I like that I can choose to cook in mode 1 (PID) or mode 2 (traditional), and actually I use mode 2 more than mode 1. They claim it gives more smoky flavor which may or may not be true, but the temp swings aren't that big and I don't get why people are so hung up on degree-precise temp stability. It just doesnt matter, but that's a tangent. Other than that, as far as I know the Grilla models have stainless cooking racks, heat deflectors and fire pots. They all come with an upper rack and have an extension available. Also they have a double wall insulation on the bottom half of the grill to help with temp stability in the colder months which isn't a major selling point, but insulation is better than no insulation I guess.

If you're on Facebook there's a group called "My Grilla Grill Smoker" where people are always posting recipes and asking questions. The owners and design engineer are even known to pop in and answer questions