New Chargriller Gravity Fed Grill

[RCAlan]

Just an update… While bbqing last night, I shook the charcoal grate to help free up the ash to fall into the ash bin basket. Little did I know that a few very small pieces of hot charcoal made their way past the fan flap and into the fan housing. Not Good… I quickly realized the damage that could’ve been done to the ash bin fan. Luckily, there was no damage… This time... I thought about ordering the LSS Mods 980 Duct Extension for $90.00. Naw, but maybe in the future though. I went to the garage and got some metal wire mesh screen and cut it to size and attached it behind the fan flap. Took all of 10 mins.

Ash bin fan flap and debris damaging the fan problem solved.
__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[tntragan]

Well after a considerable amount of research and mental back and forth, I pulled the trigger on a new char-griller gravity 980. Picked it up yesterday and stayed up till 10 assembling it. I did the initial burn in tonight and let it cool down and I'm currently on my second seasoning. Hoping to have it ready for tomorrow to do a double smoked ham. Super excited to see what she can do.

 

[RCAlan]

Well after a considerable amount of research and mental back and forth, I pulled the trigger on a new char-griller gravity 980. Picked it up yesterday and stayed up till 10 assembling it. I did the initial burn in tonight and let it cool down and I'm currently on my second seasoning. Hoping to have it ready for tomorrow to do a double smoked ham. Super excited to see what she can do.

Congratulations!! Do you have a plan on how you’re going to approach your first bbq? What wood type, charcoal type and brand are you going to use? FYI. A little hardwood goes along way… Don’t over fill the ash bin basket or the charcoal hopper with to much hardwood. Over filling the charcoal hopper with to much hardwood will cause it to smolder more, resulting in having dirty smoke, especially at low and slow temps. Put a few hardwood chunks in the ash bin basket and place them on the opposite side, away from the ash bin fan flap. If you place your wood chunks to close too the ash bin fan flap and once there is ignition of the hardwood chunks, the flames can damage the fan flap. If you’re going to place some hardwood chunks in the charcoal hopper, make sure the first load of charcoal and hardwood placed in the charcoal hopper has complete ignition and there’s no billowing white smoke present. I use a chimney starter to light my charcoal and I place a couple of hardwood chunks in it as well to avoid this. I wait until the charcoal and hardwood chunks are producing tbs smoke, then I dump it into the charcoal hopper. I fill 2 chimney starter loads into the charcoal hopper and top off rest with unlit charcoal and a couple more hardwood chunks mixed in. If you’re going to start your CG 980 as recommended by the owners manual, wait 20 or so minutes, once your set temp is reached and or until you see light white smoke to tbs/thin blue smoke coming out of the exhaust opening. A “little”light white smoke is ok, but smoldering, thick white smoke is never ok. .02. Take notes, Good luck and post back how everything turns out.

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

 

[tntragan]

Thanks RC for all the great info. Just going to do the first smoke with kingsford briquettes and planning to add a few chunks of mesquite to the hopper. I'm a little fearful of putting the wood in the pan with the stories of people burning up their flap. A competition guy on you tube said he likes to wait an hour for everything stabilize before he adds the meat so that is what I'm going to try. I decided to do one more round of seasoning my grates this morning before my first cook. I'll post some pics of my ham after she's lookin good. Providing she looks good. Haha.

 

[tntragan]

Has anyone here tested the accuracy of the meat probes that comes with the grill? I'm planning to use the factory probe and also an independent probe that has been reliable for me in the past for my first smoke. Also has anyone come up with a clever way to get a rack over the top of your food so I can place my fat trimming over the top of my ham? That's one of the things I didn't like about the barrel style smoker was the vertical clearance.

 

[RCAlan]

Has anyone here tested the accuracy of the meat probes that comes with the grill? I'm planning to use the factory probe and also an independent probe that has been reliable for me in the past for my first smoke. Also has anyone come up with a clever way to get a rack over the top of your food so I can place my fat trimming over the top of my ham? That's one of the things I didn't like about the barrel style smoker was the vertical clearance.

Yes, if you’re firing up the charcoal as recommended in the owners manual and depending on the charcoal type being used. Wait 20 or so minutes if you’re using lump charcoal or about an hour if you’re using charcoal briquettes.
If you’re going to use a chimney starter and you follow the steps that I mentioned in post # 83, then your wait time is much less. Do the steps you feel most comfortable with.
As for the top rack/shelf question, LSS Mods has a top rack extension mod available for the CG 980 on their website for about $100.00 that’s worth checking out. To give my CG 980 some much needed upper level cooking space, I use a Traeger Smoke Shelf that I had from my pellet grill. I removed/cut off the lower shelf and just use the top shelf. The top shelf is almost the length and width of the cooking chamber. Specs FEATURES

• Adds 360 sq. in. of smoking surface to your grill
• 30.25" L x 7.5" H x 11.5" D

Cost all of $50.00. .02..

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

 

[RCAlan]

FYI. For some valuable info and tips that you won’t find anywhere else about the CG 980, read postings #57 through #83. There’s great help and support from the members here as well. Good luck.

__________________

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

 

[tntragan]

Well here is what I came up with for this smoke. Haha. Very jury rigged but I'm hoping it works. Doesn't fit perfectly but it's going to have to do. I'm not a fan of the lower height of the barrel smoker coming from a vertical smoker. It's going to take some adjusting of my thinking.

 

[MJB05615]

Looks doable. Necessity is the Mother of Invention, right?

 

[tntragan]

Cook turned out good. I got a little carried away with the smoke so next time I will not add so much wood. The smoker itself worked perfectly. Did everything as expected with ease. I just need to get the timing and amount of smoke dialed in and I'll be smokin like a pro.

 

[MJB05615]

Looks delicious. Everything worked correctly. Nice work.

 

[912smoker]

Yes sir that's a fine-looking ham! Great job

Keith

 

[tntragan]

Thanks Keith and MJB.

FYI: Just did a temperature check on my meat probe that came with the char-griller. First I tested my reliable remote thermometer that I've been using for years and it was dead on with the boiling water test. I then took the water out to my grill and measured the meat probe side by side with the proven thermometer and it was within 1-2 degrees. I was really happy with that. Couldn't check the internal cooking chamber thermometer as it is attached to the wall. Not sure if all their units are consistent, but mine seems to be a good one.

 

[RCAlan]

My latest mod for my CG 980… After kinda going back and forth about getting the air duct extension from LSS Mods, I just decided to put a metal wire mesh screen to cover the entire opening of the ash bin air duct. I also trimmed about a 1/2 inch off the base of the rubber fan flap. The fan flap is still able to move freely and function as designed and now there’s 2 metal wire mesh screens to protect the fan flap from open flames and to also prevent any charcoal or embers from entering and damaging the ash bin fan.

Hopefully this will prevent/solve any ash bin fan and fan flap damage in the future. .02
__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[912smoker]

Looks like a nice mod RC and hopefully will prevent problems! Sounds like that's the main failure on the 980.

Keith

 

[RCAlan]

Looks like a nice mod RC and hopefully will prevent problems! Sounds like that's the main failure on the 980.

Keith

I hope so… I think I probably did a million mods it seems on my pellet grill.. lol. The main two were the SD smoke generator and the smoke basket. For the CG 980, it’s been mainly preventive maintenance modifications. The ash bin fan flap issue though, is something Char-Griller should seriously take into account and address sooner rather then later. .02.. Summer bbqing season is just around the corner. Overall though, I’m very happy with the CG 980. I was mainly using it as a smoker, but now I feel more comfortable using its grilling and searing capabilities. This fix/mod should solve the fan flap burning/issue and prevent charcoals/embers from damaging the ash bin fan. A $10.00 mod that took all of 10-15 mins to complete.

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

 

[tntragan]

Did some burgers on the cg 980 last night. Wife said it was the best burgers I've ever done. I used royal oak lump charcoal and they were quite tasty. Seemed like the lump had a really clean burn and gave some extra flavor. I didn't add any wood. I had that sucker turned all the way up to 700 and there were parts that were glowing red. Scared me a little Even with the extreme heat it is still not doing a great job on the searing. Just not the same as direct heat I guess. Still, I love the grill. I was a little concerned about burning that flap up with that high heat but it survived. It's a little curled up on one corner. What temps are you guys cooking at when searing burgers and steaks on your gravity feeds?

 

[chemisti]

My review and experience with the Char Griller 980.

Me:
DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with any company, no YouTube channel, and get nothing from links in this review. I include them to help others find equipment and mods that work for me!
Gas grill guy of 25 years. Bought Camp Chef Woodwind pellet grill 7 years ago - first foray into "smoking" and currently don't own a gas grill. Still own the Camp Chef and have had no problems with it. Also own a Charbroil Kammander kamado style grill (about 4 years - discontinued for unknown reasons - too bad because it is IMHO a great grill). I have also used a Masterbuilt Propane cabinet smoker (cheap, poorly designed with poor results, now in a landfill), and a Charbroil Big Easy (owned prior to purchase of pellet grill approx 10 years ago). Over the 7 years, I estimate 8 - 9 smoked turkeys, 80 chickens, 150 batches of wings, 7 briskets, 4 beef ribs, 80 pork ribs, 3 pork butts, and maybe 400 steaks, burgers, brats, and dogs (number of cooks, not qty of meat) using all three of my smokers. I make my own rubs and use purchased rubs. Dedicated YouTube grilling/smoking follower and have tried many things that I have seen online - awesome because I don't come from a "smoking" family and have had to learn on the fly.
That being said - I have no experience (yet) with drum smokers, stick-burners, professional cabinet smokers, "Old Smokeys", and a host of other ways to smoke/grill/barbeque. I am no expert. I do, however, use my stuff very frequently and have tried to become a true student of the craft. My newest addition is on its way - a PIT BOSS 4-BURNER ULTIMATE LIFT-OFF GRIDDLE
My wife and I live on our patio and cook more outside than in!

Experience with 980:
Owned the 980 since February.
I have a battery power mod which is an "ease of use" addition (lasts multiple cooks, something like 30 - 40 hrs estimated between charges):
I have also installed the LSS Duct Extension:
https://www.lss-mods.com/product_details.phtml/980_duct_extension
I also replaced the flapper as a preventative action - homemade from an Amazon silicone sheet. Old flapper was in decent condition. This was added to prevent potential problems.
I have also added (Tom Horsman style) thermometers to the lid.

My overall impressions: My favorite grill to smoke on. Best combination of ease-of-use, capacity, and taste that I have used or know about (for the money). I have used wood mixed with charcoal and chunks in the ash pan. I typically use B&B lump or briquettes, but have tried the cheap Walmart and Kroger briquettes with success. I have cooked anywhere from 225 - 650. I run foil on the heat deflector with the slits cut and use plastic and metal putty knives to clean the inside. I find cleaning to be similar to my pellet grill - maybe slightly easier. Any problems with the equipment (other than the app) have been user induced.
I like the heat distribution and find it to be pretty good. I use hot-spots to my advantage when I can and typically cook on the left 2/3 of the grill. Thicker things or things I want to cook faster in hot spots.
I prefer chunks in the ash pan because it allows me to change woods quickly and easily. I always position them against the left side of the ash pan in an effort to avoid fan/flapper issues, sometimes fist-sized chunks. So far, absolutely no issues.
I would estimate that it is 90% as set-it-and-forget it as my pellet grill. I have done an overnight brisket (when app was working with alarms set AND a backup wireless thermometer was also in use.) But, I feel for the slight degradation of easy-use, IMHO you get far superior flavor, bark, etc.
I have reverse-seared Ribeye steaks multiple times and the grill did well. However, I have now decided that I am pretty much going to use this grill to run in the 225 - 400 degree range with perhaps an occasional high-temp burn-off. My logic: I find that I can grill burgers, brats, steaks, and chops just as easy on my kamado or something like a Weber Kettle - maybe slightly easier. Even though the 980 is well-built, I would like to preserve it's useful life for smoking/roasting and use a cheaper and easier to replace option for grilling. Just my opinion, and I'm sure that there are others who feel differently. (I have the advantage of a very large patio with the freedom to have multiple outside cookers. Might feel differently if I was cramped for space.)
Pros:
Easy to use
Overall build quality
Capacity
Flavor and bark

Cons:
App - enjoyed it while it worked. Already documented everywhere that wireless doesn't help much unless you stay on your own WIFI network (unlike many other cooker apps with internet data storage and "access from anywhere" functionality). Seems like they felt that "Everybody has an app. We need an app" without true commitment to its quality. My app currently is not working at all. Noticed that Android update was pushed out after introduction of the Auto Kamado and suspect that the controller hardware is identical to the 980 with different firmware, the inclusion of the new model broke my app. Reported to Char Griller.
Temp Accuracy - My unit seems to run cooler than the controller indicates. Not a big deal to me as I easily adjust and run the cooker at the "real" temp I want. I have unscientifically messed with different fuels and vent settings to no avail.
Upper rack: Really think that they could've done a better job on both the design and functionality.

Long-term Questions:
a. Will they improve the app and make it a pro rather than a con?
b. Durability - so far my only real concern is the fire box. Sometimes hard to put the "fire snuffer" into its slot. Feel like it is a better design than the masterbuilt and as long as one can eventually buy a replacement firebox/chute, I am OK with it. I just hope it lasts.
c. Please make the upper rack useful!

These are my overall thoughts. I would purchase again without hesitation. If Char Griller does a V2, I hope they address the cons.

JEFF W in McKinney, TX

 

[RCAlan]

Just received the new CG 980 app update…. Wow…. What a mess. Hey, maybe it’s just me and my smoker, I don’t know. While the smokers temps seem to be running more stable at the moment… The temp probs are 10* degrees different from what’s on the smokers controller and what’s showing up on the app. Also, the timer is completely non functional now. Set the timer, push confirm and nothing. It automatically goes back to 00-00. Never had that problem before with the old app. Lastly…. Before, I could connect to both WiFi and Bluetooth at the same time with the previous app. Now, It’ll only connect to one or the other, but not both at the same time. If I’m not within 5 feet of the smoker, the WiFi or Bluetooth will disconnect on its own. Also, the new app update does not save/store your WiFi password, so you’ll have to re-enter it every time you open the app and every time there is a disconnection during a bbq/cook. Smh.. I had to reconnect at least 10 times during my first bbq with the new update. Previously, I could go next door and still had WiFi and Bluetooth connection…. Now, if I’m more then 5 feet of the smoker, all connections are lost. I like this smoker a lot, but the new app update and firmware are garbage. I wonder if it’s an IPhone issue. Smh. It’s frustrating to fight with a bug infested app that has no range of operation and the contents of the app doesn’t work…. and a smoker that still likes to run at temps 50*-100* over its set point. These are things that tech support/app designers should have gotten right before releasing this flawed update. I’m being nice. Still monitoring the CG 980’s temps. “Update”.. After 2 hours of stable temps, the CG 980 started reverting back to its old ways, with the temps steadily rising. My last 4 bbq’s with the previous app and smoker have been a fight to keep the smokers temps within 100* degrees of the set temp and the problem continues. The 980 is less then a year old. I thought I knew this smoker. CharGriller really needs to do a thorough controller firmware update and completely redo the app update ASAP... As you can tell, I’m very frustrated. CharGriller, don’t just push an update out the door before Memorial Day and then take the weekend off. smh. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it and don’t release a fix that causes more problems and headaches then before. 02. I wish there was a way to reinstall the previous app, but you can’t…. If the app doesn’t work, then the smoker is a headache and a pain to use. Luckily, I still have the Pellet Pro Austin XL in the arsenal.. Wow and I almost sold it too. Glad I didn’t…

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

 

[G8trwood]

Man oh man. I still haven’t pulled the cord and purchased as their enough tales of the crypt out there to bring me pause. My old pellet is at least reliable. I wish they were all A little bit bigger and came with better controls. Needing to swap to a fireboard or Auber (reading other forums) to make it functional is a bit ridiculous.