Sorry, this is going to be long one..
My observation after my first cook on the CG 980. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I did a quicker cook then usual. I did 1 Rack of Spare Ribs, 1 Baby back rack and a Tri tip. The Baby back and the Spare ribs put a Big Happy Smile on my face and so did the Tri tip!! The Smoke in this grill was everywhere in a good way. I put wood chunks in the Charcoal Hopper and the ash bin. Just trying to figure this grill out. This grill gives you the option to add wood to the ash bin, but if you add to much wood to the ash bin and once the wood in the ash bin ignites, it’s going to burn and give off a good dose of TWS which is really what you don’t want. On my next cook, I’ll use less wood in the ash bin and focus it more in the charcoal hopper. I started my grill against what Char-Griller recommends. I used a
chimney starter and added charcoal briquettes and 4 hickory hardwood chunks. I wanted the Charcoal and the wood chunks to have complete ignition and be producing TBS and not TWS to season the proteins being bbq’d at the start. I think I’ll continue to start the CG 980 that way in the future as well. FYI. On a side note and I took a lot of them. lol As for using water pans…. Unless your grills temp is all over the place, a water pan is not necessary. A water pan can actually impede your grill from coming up to its actually set temp. One of the nice things about this grill compared to my pellet grill, is that I can raise the temp up, to speed things along and never have to worry about the lack of smoke. My Pellet Pro Austin XL produced good smoke when I used the smoke basket and SD Smoke Generator as well , it just requires a lot more work compared to the CG 980. Also, even though my pellet grill has a PID Controller, it doesn’t have WiFi or Bluetooth, which required it to be watched and monitored a lot more. ie… More work. The CG 980’s is not perfect, but the App does work and it’s range with both the WiFi and Bluetooth connected is about the radius of my house. So, even though I can’t go to work and turn my grill on and monitor it miles away from my home , at least it’s convenient enough to work around the house or while chatting with the neighbors next door. Now comparing the CG 980 GF to my Pellet Pro Austin XL as for smoke production… When using both a Smoke Basket and the SD Smoke Generator, the Austin XL can put out some good quality hardwood smoke, but ideally at super low grill temps because of the auger fan and by its general design. This CG 980 GF can put out some serious charcoal and hardwood smoke from 200* degrees on up to over 350* degrees. With a few more cooks under my belt, hopefully I’ll have the wood chunk ratio figured out to my liking. Overall though, I really like this grill. It’s great for low and slow smoking, it’s temp control compared to my pellet grill is much better and being able to make adjustments via the app, makes bbqing that much more simpler. The one thing I like more from my pellet grill is its Open flame for grilling and searing more so then just being able to set my CG 980 to 700* degrees. I’ll be using both smokers, but my first line of defense is now my CG 980 GF. This thing is worth more then the asking price and I’m happy that I purchased it. Any Pellet Grill buyers on the fence, should definitely give the CG 980 a good long look… Especially if true Hardwood and Charcoal smoke is important to you. Just my honest opinion.
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Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
