Char Griller Pellet Smokers

[jeff pile]

I purchased a Char Griller Pellet Smoker from Lowe's last weekend! I wanted to upgrade my Masterbuilt 30" smoker but I couldn't justify dropping $850 on a Traeger.  I stumbled upon this Char Griller by accident and was shocked to see how close in design it is to the Traeger Lil Tex Elite.  I assembled it in around 30 minutes, seasoned it and was smoking 2 racks of baby backs on it that night.  They were AMAZING!  I did do a two hour test run to figure out the temperature fluctuation and also how much smoke to add.  Yes, there is a 0-7 smoke setting that allows zero smoke to a lot of smoke but adding more smoke does make the internal temp of the chamber drop 15-20 degrees but it recovers quickly.  After one smoke I was THRILLED with the results!  I got a very nice pink smoke ring on the ribs and the smoke flavor was spot on.  If you're like me and want a solid pellet smoker without schilling out a lot of dough, this is a PERFECT smoker! 

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• jeff pile
• Oct 16, 2013

Ribs.jpg

• jeff pile
• Oct 16, 2013

 

[wizbeer]

Congrats, I just ordered me a pellet smoke but I'm still waiting for mine.

 

[scootermagoo]

Hmmmm, interesting.  I'm gonna check that out.  How much $, may I ask.

 

[seenred]

Congrats on the new pellet pit, Jeff!  I saw one of those Char Grillers at a Lowes recently...looks like a good grill and a great price!

Red

 

[show me smoke]

Is lowes selling pellets now to run in those smokers?   I looked at one last week, and never thought to look and see what brand of pellets they had

 

[seenred]

 
Is lowes selling pellets now to run in those smokers?   I looked at one last week, and never thought to look and see what brand of pellets they had

Good question...actually I don't remember seeing any pellets at my Lowes, but surely they must be stocking pellets if they are selling the pellet smoker.

Red

 

[jeff pile]

Sorry for the late reply.  It was $499 and is AWESOME!  I've smoked on it 4 straight weekends and have been nothing short of amazed at how well the meat turns out on it.

Jeff

 

[jeff pile]

I believe Lowe's carries pellets for this in 20lb bags but only one flavor of wood which is a mixture of several.  I haven't tried them yet however.

Jeff

 

[seenred]

 
I believe Lowe's carries pellets for this in 20lb bags but only one flavor of wood which is a mixture of several.  I haven't tried them yet however.

Jeff

Do you know what brand, flavor and price?  I'm always looking to try different pellets if I can find them cheap.

Red

 

[wxmanmac]

Try going to Aces Hardware if you have one. They usually carry other woods like cherry, apple and mesquite as well as hickory. They come in 20lb bags and cost about $20. They even will special order it as they did for me when they didn't have the cherry and apple on hand.

 

[azcactus]

 
Do you know what brand, flavor and price?  I'm always looking to try different pellets if I can find them cheap.

Red

http://www.lowes.com/pd_269625-1646...llets&pl=1&currentURL=?Ntt=pellets&facetInfo=

 

[jtrainor56]

I just did a search on line and they have it in our local Lowe's for $449.00 for in store pickup.

 

[mustangrs]

I bought mine at Lowe's on 3 Jan and just got it delivered today.  Unfortunately, while I was doing the process of 'seasoning' the grill, it stopped, and now gives me an "Err" code.  That specific code is NOT mentioned in the owner's manual, and I can't find it anywhere else.  I've taken all the pellets out (as much as I could from the auger prtion) figuring maybe the auger got stuck, but NOTHING.

Anyone else have this problem?  If so, what was the fix?

 

[weekend smoker]

Mustang,

Did you get the CharGriller pellet smoker fixed?  What was wrong with it?

Looking at the pellet smoker as my next purchase.  Was leaning towards the GreenMountain Daniel Boone, but stopped short of buying it when I saw how low cost the ChagGrill was with more space.   Now I am just trying to find what review the grill is getting.

Thanks

 

[mustangrs]

So, I called the company when it went out.  Seems they had heard of the error code before, but even though it was more commonplace, they didn't have it in their operations manual.  Either way, they thought it was the thermometer and/or heating element, so they were going to send me a new one.  Well, since that problem was happening more often they were actually out of stock on the parts and it was going to take them about 2 weeks to get me one.

So, I called Lowe's (where I bought it and who put it together) and they delivered a new one the next day and took that one away.

This one has been working great and the meats are awesome...I have yet to overcook anything and they all have great taste/flavor.  I went to a local store here and found some Mesquite pellets, but I don't think I'm as happy with that flavor...gonna try Apple next.

By the way, my father-in-law went to Lowe's last week in DFW to get the Chargriller and they said they aren't selling itanymore because they had too many returns.

So, that could be good or bad, but it is cheaper than Traeger, but maybe there's a reason they cost so much (you get what you pay for).

Good luck and thanks for checking in.

 

[jwg299]

I see Brinkman has a pellet grill now. I guess it's the hot thing.

 

[smokinadam]

The pellets are a mixture. Not sure the flavor they will give as its a mixture. I like knowing the flavor of wood using. Price is great and reviews are good except a few novice users or lemons. Glad Lowes fixed you up when chargriller couldn't help because backordered.

 

[kerbos5]

So whats the verdict on this smoker, I was very close to picking up the phone and getting a Rec-Tec, but then I was at lowes and noticed this, and for half the price, surely the rec-tec doesn't make the food taste like double the price.....so naturally I came to my fellow smokingmeat forum friends. :)...I figured if anybody knows surely they would. :)

 

[smokinadam]

For the money so far it taste no different than the traeger we got at the cottage. Nice thing is there's a place on it that allows you to adjust the amount of smoke you can use. Not sure the small traeger has that feature. For the price it's hard to beat it!

 

[smo-ken]

Hey Jeff.  Just bought the Char-Griller Pellet Grill and trying to figure out the right settings for slow smoking at low temp with a lot of smoke.  I've noticed that the temps vary widely when adjusting from smoke mode to cook mode.  What "P" setting did you use?  Any help would be appreciated.  Can't wait to start smoking!!!