Well, pulled the trigger on the Camp Chef

[markh024]

Great discussion on the lid gasket. I have the LUX with a sear box on order. Looking forward for some reverse sear filet mignon. I went with the larger smoker due to occasional family and grandkids coming over for dinner here and there.

I also have on order a roll of FireBlack for the lid. After reading the above posts may give it a run around the block first to see how it does before slapping on the FireBlack. This will be my first pellet smoker and looking forward to new flavors from the grill. Where I grill and smoke is somewhat protected as long as the wind is not out of the North. So I may not need to install the gasket on the lid. If I get temp swings caused by wind or excess leakage from the lid will throw a strip of gasket on the lid.

If you put the FireBlack on, it is really a PITA to get it off, so be certain you want to do it moving forward. I was unhappy with one of my strips I put down and it took 3x as long to take it off cleanly to redo it. I would suggest you smoke without it first and if you are not happy with the leakage or wind devastating your temps inside, then try the FireBlack. My patio where I smoke faces the S/SW so I have wind almost all the time. It certainly has helped me maintain better temps and what I feel a better smoke profile to my foods. Good luck!

 

[zerowin]

Congrats to the new camp chef owners! I put fireblack on my lid and haven't regretted it at all. After a lot of reading about it and a short talk with customer service, the only way I could think that the door would help with airflow is if it actually created a draft from front to back, since the burn chamber is aided by a fan. I opted to seal mine as the lid gap at the top is larger than the sides and front, which should still allow air in to do the same thing. In my opinion, and for what it's worth, it helps the smoke roll in there and hold a bit longer instead of leaking from the sides and bottom of the lid. And if air was really flowing in through those gaps not much smoke would be leaking out. It makes a more considerable difference if you're adding extra smoke flavor from a tube.

Doing a few cooks first before you decide is a good idea regardless. Some lids might have been bent to form better than others and may be fine right out of the box. I've seen lots of complaints about shipping conditions after arrival too. I've had mine for a year now, and still feel like a kid at Christmas cooking on it almost every weekend. Let the pellet hunt begin!

I recommend a tube for additional smoke flavor, especially with lighter profile pellets, and have also found beer can chicken and rib racks on the cheap on amazon, which helps make more use of your grate space.

 

[Blue Kettle]

Whoo hoo! I just joined the club as well. Smokepro XT. Hope this works.

 

[papagrizz]

Whoo hoo! I just joined the club as well. Smokepro XT. Hope this works.

Welcome to the dark side.:D

 

[old sarge]

Just remember that nothing will burn without oxygen. Just a thought before you folks start adding gaskets (and choking off air flow) in places where the engineers or designers did not think they were necessary.

 

[philh]

+1 old sarge

 

[Blue Kettle]

Wonder how much the gaskets even impact the takeup (so to speak) of smoke to the meat? Just conceptually it seems like the smoke would rise up from the firepot, some of it would hit the meat and stick, the rest would continue to rise toward the lid/top and eventually out the vents and gaps near the door. If the door gap is sealed it seems it would just be trapped near the lid/top of the grill and wouldn't necessarily fall back down to the meat. Or am I missing something here? It's hot and heat rises, right? Or is the concept that it "fills" up eventually and the smoke is pushed back down toward the meat?

 

[old sarge]

The smoke will flow up towards the flue where ever that is located. It is called drafting. Firepot low on the left, flue high on the right, smoke will flow over and around the meat on it's way to the flue. There may be some minor leakage around the lid but since they typically overlap the base of the smoker, it is minor. Just be aware that many folks say the smokiness of the meat is good but mild compared to stick burners and electrics. I don't know anything about that.

 

[zerowin]

The top of the lid has a larger gap than the sides or bottom, and the bottom of the lid is level with the cooking grate. Before I sealed mine smoke would leak heavily from the bottom of the lid and sides. After sealing the air intake from the top travels down the under side of the lid, across the bottom and up the towards the flue. Like I said though, there is a fan to feed the burn pot, which is centered in my grill. I burn pellets in a basket in my wood stove and the draft works the same way, which is evident by smoke rolling at the top of the basket. That's what I want in my grill also but with a much larger empty area in the cook chamber. My stove basket filled full only leaves around an inch and a half all the way around and under the basket.

When cold smoking, I don't want to loose smoke at the grate level, just the top.

By all means though do a few cooks before you decide. My lid may have been less than top notch for their quality standards. If you want to test a gasket without the hassle of getting fireblack off, just look at some of the cheaper stuff on amazon. I saw several that many complained about it not sticking well after just a few cooks. They were mostly inexpensive so use that to your advantage.

 

[old sarge]

Doing a few smokes first is good advice.
I've only seen a few pellet grills/smokers where I live and I never noticed a serious gap around the lid. But as I think back to when I got my electrics, as tight as the compression fit doors were to the box frame, I did get leakage along the top of the door and right at the top corners. Never really bothered me as that meant the smoke was engulfing the meat on its way to the top. It eventually sealed up on its own with the compounds in the smoke. That effect may not work with pellet systems so some casketing might be necessary.

 

[kurt boutin]

After a couple smokes with the Camp Chef, I'm not likely to add a gasket. I'm really liking how it's performing right now. It's allowing me to concentrate on the food rather than the process as much.

 

[markh024]

Beef tenderloin on the CC STX tonight. It was deeeeelish. Seared it on my gas grill to finish. Was a little more done than i prefer but little ones dont dig red/pink meat,....yet.

 

[old sarge]

After a couple smokes with the Camp Chef, I'm not likely to add a gasket. I'm really liking how it's performing right now. It's allowing me to concentrate on the food rather than the process as much.

Never overthink the smoker. They generally do just fine as designed. Well, most do anyway. Enjoy!

 

[zerowin]

Beef tenderloin on the CC STX tonight. It was deeeeelish. Seared it on my gas grill to finish. Was a little more done than i prefer but little ones dont dig red/pink meat,....yet.
View attachment 356091

Nice looking tenderloin!

 

[WesBigs]

Just ordered my new Woodwind with the sear box. I was hot on the Traeger until I came on here and started doing more research. The sear box is what did it for me!
Anybody know how long they typically take to ship? Im in MN.

 

[wahoowad]

They got mine to me in a week. (Virginia)

 

[Rings Я Us]

How many pellet grill owners but an AMNPS or tube to increase smoke flavor I wonder?
I hear many people say the food doesn't taste as smokey as they like.
Hope you enjoy yours and its trouble free.

 

[wahoowad]

My Woodwind is producing smoke, so am curious what a device burning yet more pellets will add?

 

[Rings Я Us]

My Woodwind is producing smoke, so am curious what a device burning yet more pellets will add?

It's just that the pellets burning may produce less smokey flavor than pellets that smolder. They are burning hot and give less smoke but good heat.

 

[IBVASmoker]

The LUX with sear box and 36" front shelf arrived. Started assembly and was missing four bolts and locknut for the shelf brackets. I drilled the shelf mounting bracket holes with the supplied template and had no problems. I installed temporary bolts until Camp Chef provides the correct ones so I could fire it up for a test run.

So today finally had some time to run the LUX through the 30 minute 300 degree run. At about 24 minutes into the 30 minute run I stopped by the grill to see how it was doing and noticed the temp was swinging from 284 to 305. Not sure if this type of temp swing is normal or not? I sent a request into Camp Chef to see what they had to say about the temp swings and replacement of the 4 bolts and locknuts.

There is a fairly wide gap around the lower sides of the lid of about 3/16" and will be grilling some steaks later on for the first run. I'll be watching to see if I need to add gaskets or not. Other then the unexpected temperature swing, everything worked great. I did notice a fair amount of ash on the bottom after cool down from the break in run. Some ash had blown up around the grate and I guess that's to be expected with wood as the heat source. Very happy with the LUX grill and sear box. And happy I went with the larger LUX model for the additional space.