New LG Champion Smoker with cold smoke offset

[Bimmernerd]

Hi everyone,

OK - I took a chance, and snapped up a Louisiana Grill 900 series grill with offset smoker from our local Costco. I was surprised to see a Louisiana Grill at Costco, I thought they were married to Traeger. However, when I spoke to the lady up front who did the “item verification” at the register she informed me Costco was no longer going to carry Traeger and were switching to Louisiana Pellet grills.

Regardless, hopefully not a too good to be true deal, but what little I could find on the internet and here seemed mostly positive. The unit required a great deal of assembly, but seems well designed, and is made of pretty heavy duty materials. The fact it came with the offset, and cover for only $800 seems like a bargain compared to similar models in other brands.

I just finished assembling the unit, but it’s monsooning outside so won’t be able to try it out until tomorrow. While I was there I picked up a couple packages of baby back ribs, I’ll throw them on the new unit tomorrow and let you know how it turns out. Anyone have any experience with this particular model of Louisiana Grills? LG900C1 -

 

[SonnyE]

Looks great!
Nice score!

I'm afraid I'd be in the kitchen under the vent hood, or out in the garage with that beauty fired up. :confused:
Don't forget your break in run.:rolleyes:

I read a lot of good things about Louisiana Grills.
You, um, did get pellets, right? :oops::(:mad:;):)

Looking forward to your Que review. Have fun!

 

[old sarge]

Yup! Wipe it down and burn it in/season it before you load it up with meat. Gotta get rid of manufacturing nasties first. And CONGRATULATIONS on the new smoker!

 

[gmc2003]

Congratulations on the new pooper. Enjoy it and post up the smokes.

Chris

 

[SmokinAl]

Congrats!
That's a nice looking rig!
Al

 

[ross77]

Sounds like a good price and I think that front self is also an option accessory. Costco always seems to throw in extra stuff. I think that model is unique to Costco as I've never seen the 900 with the offset.

Our local Costco has the 800 Elite.

 

[kruizer]

You sure got a lot of extras for your 800 bucks. Looks good. Happy smoking.

 

[Bimmernerd]

Rain subsided, but has been misting off and on, rearranged my wife’s gazebo (much to her dismay) so I could get the new smoker up & running. Burned it in per the directions - and yes, I did remember the pellets - lol. Threw some ribs on with some apple wood smoked salt and some fresh ground pepper, spraying every 45 minuets or so with apple juice. They’ve been on for about 90 minutes so far. My initial impressions are this, it’s quiet, I thought being bigger than my Camp Chef PG24 it would be louder, it’s not, my PG24 sounds like a 747 in comparison. Takes longer to get up to temp, but so far holds the temperature better, no wild fluctiuations - I think they have an algorithm built in to show the average, but that’s ok. The controller is much more sophisticated than the one on my Camp Chef. I can check the set temp, as well as the actual temp, meat temp, etc. It does burn through pellets faster than my Camp Chef, but it’s also a much bigger grill so not unexpected. I’ll continue to post pics and updates as the cook continues.

 

[old sarge]

It appears you are off to a fine start.

 

[Sodaking27]

Looks great so far. Can’t wait to see the finished results.

 

[Bimmernerd]

Ribs were seriously amazing! Sauced and wrapped them after 3hrs at 225. Cooked them wrapped at 325 for 90 minutes, unwrapped them, slathered them, and cooked them at 225 for an additional 30min. Seriously may have been the best ribs I’ve had, definitely in the top 5. Had company for dinner and was told my ribs would make any bbq joint jealous. The attached pic is the finished product just before I removed them from the grill.

Regarding the Louisiana smoker; temp was easily controlled but the grill ran a bit warm, with the chamber averaging about 15 degrees hotter than the set temp. Not anything I’m unhappy about, just an observation - had to adjust the set temp down a few degrees and all was well. As mentioned above, the grill takes a while to heat up but maintains temperature well, and more importantly recovers quickly, even after prolonged lid openings - ie when wrapping the ribs in foil. It does burn through pellets though, best estimate at this point is about 2lbs an hr at 215/225. The hopper extension is going to be a must have for briskets and butts.

I love the heavy porcelain coated cast iron grates, and the fact they are about the same size as a large baking sheet so can fit in the dishwasher. The internal temperature probe is superbly placed in the back middle horizontally and vertically which gives me more confidence the internal temp (chamber) readings are pretty accurate (as opposed to others who mount thiers above the igniter and pot). The lid with built in temperature gauge is heavy, and stoutly reinforced. The wheels are heavy duty rubber, and roll easily. There is no damper control on the barrel, which I thought odd, but doesn’t seem to be an issue.


Food had great smoke flavor, nice smoke ring, and temps across the cooking surface seemed very even.

Only the first run, but I’m super happy with this machine so far. If it proves reliable I’ll call it a winner!

I’ll post more after a couple more trials, and once I have an opportunity to do some jerky or salmon in the offset.

Happy smoking!

 

[ross77]

Good to hear and the ribs look great. The hopper extension will probably be a necessity for long cooks. I don't know why LG uses such small hoppers.

What's the story on that offset box? Is it just a cold smoking box?

 

[Bimmernerd]

Sorry, I typed all of this out the day after you posted it. And apparently forgot to hit the post button.

Anyway, the offset is cold or hot according to the directions. It has a couple of damper options to keep it more or less smoky and either cool or warm - whatever you want. I started a thread about the smoker under the equipment section. I will be posting more about it after I’ve used it a couple times with hopefully my successes, or my not so successful trials. I’m excited to do jerky or salmon in there, but also some cheeses.

 

[ross77]

I saw this at my local Costco today. It’s a nice price for what you get. Seems like a solid smoker.

 

[Bimmernerd]

So far I'm very happy with it, the ONLY issue I've had with it so far, is it doesn't like Traeger pellets, the last couple of bags I got of their mixed pellets from Costco are really long in comparison to what I used to get and they got jammed in the feeder opening twice on me. I switched to Bear Mountain pellets, and haven't had an issue since. Regarding my post above, the offset is only good for cold smoking as the temperature differential between the top of the offset and the bottom rack in the offset is almost 100˚ when attempting to smoke at 225˚ - it works great when cold smoking. I did cheese on it last Sunday - and it was flawless.

 

[ross77]

The Gourmet Blend? I wasn’t impressed with them. Very little smoke flavor and overpriced.

I’m a big fan of Lumberjack.

 

[DougCA]

So far I'm very happy with it, the ONLY issue I've had with it so far, is it doesn't like Traeger pellets, the last couple of bags I got of their mixed pellets from Costco are really long in comparison to what I used to get and they got jammed in the feeder opening twice on me. I switched to Bear Mountain pellets, and haven't had an issue since. Regarding my post above, the offset is only good for cold smoking as the temperature differential between the top of the offset and the bottom rack in the offset is almost 100˚ when attempting to smoke at 225˚ - it works great when cold smoking. I did cheese on it last Sunday - and it was flawless.

Warning: I'm new to this.

Tell me more about the cheese. What kind did you smoke? How long? Would you smoke cheese when you are also smoking meat or would you fire up the LG just for smoking cheese?

I have a Traeger Elite 34 still sitting in the box I picked up at the Costco roadshow last weekend. I knew Traeger was there and planned to buy one, but I found the LG 900ci in the back of Costco and am contemplating returning the Traeger for the LG as the price is the same. The LG has more features, but I'm new to pellet smoking and indecisive due to lack of knowledge. I went back today and looked at the LG. It seems solid and well made, but the convex drip shield looks messy compared to Traeger's flat tray that can be covered in foil.

I do love smoked cheese though, that's for sure!

 

[gmc2003]

Warning: I'm new to this.

Tell me more about the cheese. What kind did you smoke? How long? Would you smoke cheese when you are also smoking meat or would you fire up the LG just for smoking cheese?

I do love smoked cheese though, that's for sure!

No, I don't think you want to smoke cheese at the same time as meat. Cheese has to be cold smoked. Meaning under 90*(under 70 is better) so it doesn't melt. You can smoke any type of cheese you want. Most people here use the some type of amazn product(either the tube or maze). There are two forums on this site dedicated to cheese. If you want to get into it then read through some of the posts and ask questions. Lots of us smoke cheese, and are willing to help.

Chris

 

[ross77]

Take the Traeger back. That model is overpriced for what you get IMO.

 

[DougCA]

So far I'm very happy with it, the ONLY issue I've had with it so far, is it doesn't like Traeger pellets, the last couple of bags I got of their mixed pellets from Costco are really long in comparison to what I used to get and they got jammed in the feeder opening twice on me. I switched to Bear Mountain pellets, and haven't had an issue since. Regarding my post above, the offset is only good for cold smoking as the temperature differential between the top of the offset and the bottom rack in the offset is almost 100˚ when attempting to smoke at 225˚ - it works great when cold smoking. I did cheese on it last Sunday - and it was flawless.

No, I don't think you want to smoke cheese at the same time as meat. Cheese has to be cold smoked. Meaning under 90*(under 70 is better) so it doesn't melt. You can smoke any type of cheese you want. Most people here use the some type of amazn product(either the tube or maze). There are two forums on this site dedicated to cheese. If you want to get into it then read through some of the posts and ask questions. Lots of us smoke cheese, and are willing to help.

Good point about the temps. I'll hit up those forums, thanks!

Chris

Take the Traeger back. That model is overpriced for what you get IMO.

Yeah, I've slowly come to that conclusion.