- Nov 9, 2013
- 3
- 10
About a year ago I had 2 grills: a classic Weber kettle and a Weber propane. Our deck is small so wife wanted me to consolidate down to one grill, and I wanted as much versatility as possible. So I got a CC Woodwind 24, and the sidekick attachment with the grill box. Even got the griddle and pizza oven attachments for it as well. I also really liked the idea of the "slide n grill" feature which promised to allow me to grill on the WW similar to any other gas grill. After a year of using it, I like a lot of things about it but there are several reasons this setup isn't working for me (in order of importance):
I know there will always be compromises but I'm looking for something that is competent for smoking, basic grilling (burgers, steaks, etc), and is convenient and easy enough for my wife to use. I see youtube reviews of pork butts with thick nice bark so it seems the smoke generation is good on this thing? Sorry for long post but would like to hear any opinions, thanks.
- Smoke amount/flavor is very disappointing. I knew this about pellet grills but the WW goes in "cycles" with pellet injection to make smoke and it seems to make 20-30 second puffs of smoke every 5ish mins, which is not nearly enough to impart the proper flavor on things. This is with the smoke setting on 8 or 9 or 10 on the controller, and at low temps like 200F. I have to use smoke tubes which take up space on the grill and cause hot spots and contradict the convenience of a pellet grill in the first place. BTW I use Lumberjack pellets so I dont think thats the issue.
- The slide-n-grill feature is useless, because the drip pan tray thing is about 2 inches under the grate, and any grease that drops immediately bursts into flames. Cooking anything with fat content more than chicken breasts is not feasible using slide-n-grill. Tried burgers, sausages, even hotdogs and it didnt end up well, even at moderate temps like 350-400. So, I've resigned to smoking things on the WW then trying to get a sear and/or grill marks on the sidekick.
- Covering the drip pan with foil is almost required to keep it from crudding up and becoming impossible to clean, however that also covers the air holes which means all heat comes around the sides so temps around the edges of the grill are MUCH higher than the middle. Very hard to keep things consistent inside, especially with chicken wings or something like that.
- The propane grill box attachment is OK but the drip tray is too close to the grate on this as well, so grease fires are a big issue compared to my old Weber gas grill. Plus it is a bit small.
- Wifi module is glitchy. Keeps asking me to pair on bluetooth over and over. A bit annoying but overall it works OK.
I know there will always be compromises but I'm looking for something that is competent for smoking, basic grilling (burgers, steaks, etc), and is convenient and easy enough for my wife to use. I see youtube reviews of pork butts with thick nice bark so it seems the smoke generation is good on this thing? Sorry for long post but would like to hear any opinions, thanks.