Hi All. First post, but have been lurking. I have been smoking meat for a few years now and decided to try pellet smoking. I didn't want to spend a ton so I bought a Camp Chef DLX to see if I was going to like pellet smoking or not.
When I put the grill together one of the wheeled legs was too short. Only three legs touch the ground. I sent them an email and am waiting a response. So I did the initial burn in and tried a cook, spare ribs, yesterday.
I had 30-40 degree temp swings. I know to expect some swing being a wood fire, but I thought that was excessive. It ended up taking 8 hours for one rack of spare ribs at 225 for about 4 hours and the remainder at 275 and foiled.
Smoke leaked out of the lid and grease drain horribly. More smoke coming from those two than out of the chimney. Was not expecting that.
At some point I had a flameout and there was no error noted on the controller, which it is supposed to do. I do not know how long it was out, but I emptied the ash cup and it was overflowing with unburned pellets so it must have been a while. I tried to check on it every hour or so.
I pulled to ribs and they looked great. Bit into them and they tasted ok except for I had not even a hint of smoke flavor and I was using mesquite.
The cooker did turn out a good looking rack, but not sure I can justify keeping it if I can't taste the smoke. Could have been the cheap camp chef pellets or could have been most of the smoke was wasted through the lid and grease drain. I don't know, but it wasn't a great first experience with pellets.
Being I read for a while about flavor profiles from pellet smokers I wasn't expecting a stick burner profile, but I was expecting some. I am hoping I just got a bad one as I do like some camp chef products. Anyone else had a similar experience with this grill? I have searched quite a bit on the net and most people are satisfied with theirs.
When I put the grill together one of the wheeled legs was too short. Only three legs touch the ground. I sent them an email and am waiting a response. So I did the initial burn in and tried a cook, spare ribs, yesterday.
I had 30-40 degree temp swings. I know to expect some swing being a wood fire, but I thought that was excessive. It ended up taking 8 hours for one rack of spare ribs at 225 for about 4 hours and the remainder at 275 and foiled.
Smoke leaked out of the lid and grease drain horribly. More smoke coming from those two than out of the chimney. Was not expecting that.
At some point I had a flameout and there was no error noted on the controller, which it is supposed to do. I do not know how long it was out, but I emptied the ash cup and it was overflowing with unburned pellets so it must have been a while. I tried to check on it every hour or so.
I pulled to ribs and they looked great. Bit into them and they tasted ok except for I had not even a hint of smoke flavor and I was using mesquite.
The cooker did turn out a good looking rack, but not sure I can justify keeping it if I can't taste the smoke. Could have been the cheap camp chef pellets or could have been most of the smoke was wasted through the lid and grease drain. I don't know, but it wasn't a great first experience with pellets.
Being I read for a while about flavor profiles from pellet smokers I wasn't expecting a stick burner profile, but I was expecting some. I am hoping I just got a bad one as I do like some camp chef products. Anyone else had a similar experience with this grill? I have searched quite a bit on the net and most people are satisfied with theirs.