My new Char-Griller Smokin' Pro w/SFB

[bayouchilehead]

I bought a Char-Griller Smokin' Pro w/SFB at Stine Lumber (local to Louisiana and Mississippi) for $199.99. Assembly was quite easy and I added a couple of mods. Here are some pics.

Assembled
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/darthperil/Cookin/CharGriller/2010-03-27124839.jpg

Before Seasoning
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/darthperil/Cookin/CharGriller/2010-03-27124857.jpg

Almost there
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/darthperil/Cookin/CharGriller/2010-03-27184246.jpg

Charcoal Basket
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/darthperil/Cookin/CharGriller/2010-03-28123513.jpg

Dryer vent mod and Seasoning
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/darthperil/Cookin/CharGriller/2010-03-28123552.jpg

While viewing posts about replacing the stock temperature gauge in the lid, I decided to test for myself. So I put my digital meat probe in a block of wood and placed it on the middle of the grate in the smoking chamber. The lid temp gauge was reading about 162 and the digital probe read 196 and continued to above 200 while the lid gauge stayed around 165. Here are the pics.

Lid Gauge
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t137/darthperil/Cookin/CharGriller/Temponlidgauge.jpg

Digital Probe
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/...CharGriller/Digitalreadingongrateinmiddle.jpg

I also had a problem with the Pecan wood chunks burning in a pan on top of coals, but I plan to get a fire brick to put between the coals and the pan to moderate the temp of the pan.

Any suggestions (besides buying another type of smoker)

are welcome!!

 

[warthog]

Good luck with your new toy. Never realized when I purchased mine how it would get deep into the smoking bug.

 

[graybeard]

hello bayou and welcome! With your SFB smoker you do not need to use a pan fer yer wood chips like you wood an ECB etc.. Glad to see that you use a digital therm instead of the POS that came with it. You now know how far they are off!!!!
Good Smokin,

beard

 

[fire it up]

Congrats on the new smoker!
Picking up mine from someone in Delaware next week.

 

[cromag]

did you use spray oil to season and did you add any wood doing the season process. I seasoned last sun and mine doesn't look any where near yours. I also didn't hit 300 either mine hovered around 250 for a couple hours

 

[bayouchilehead]

Hey cromag,

I did spray with Pam Olive Oil and I used some pecan chunks I had. One of the problems I had with the wood is I had it in a pan and directly on the coals and they kept catching on fire after about 15 min. I plan to fix that with a fire brick on the coals and the pan with wood on top of that. I did mine in 2 days and many, many beers.

 

[forktender]

I have a chance at a used Char-Griller Smokin' Pro . at a really good price.
I have never seen one of the Char-Griller Smokin' Pro in person my question is , are they a heavy gauge cooker or one of the lighter thin units ?
Thank you for the info. to help me with my decision.
Dan

 

[hdsmoke]

No, lighter weight material. But, not a bad buy for the $$. Have one myself that i am having a lot of fun with and turning out some good food inthe process.

 

[forktender]

Right on thank you !

 

[bayouchilehead]

It's not as heavy as a horizon by no means, but it isn't a kmart blue light special either. I am very pleased so far, it is a well built unit.

 

[forktender]

Worth $80 like new shape.

 

[caveman]

I can't believe I missed this thread. Check out my qviews. All the food I am smoking is coming off of the very same model.

 

[olewarthog]

If is it like new, the $80 is a steal. I paid just under $200 for mine new & am very pleased. You will find lots of threads on here with mods. My best advice is not to get overwhelmed & go overboard mod'ing it right off the bat. There are a couple of mods that you should do however.

1. a charcoal basket for the SFB. Lowes sells a shaker basket by Charbroil that fits in the SFB & works really well. You can also make one out of a 2'x2' piece of expanded metal that you can also find a Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

2. The stock thermometer in the hood of the main chamber is very inaccurate. Either get a couple of good quality dial therms & mount them on either side of the handle to measure cooking temp at grate level or get some remote digital probe type therms. You can stick the probe thru a small potato or drill a hole thru a block of wood & sit it on the cooking grate.

3. You need to lower the stack opening to cooking grate level. This keeps the smoke & heat from rising to the top to exit & helps balance temps across the cooking area. Most people use 3" flexible dryer vent hose (also found a Lowes, HD, etc) to work around the top warmer grate.

You will lots of ideas on baffles, tuning plates, etc. Try flipping over the charcoal tray in the main chamber & hanging from the highest settings, then do a couple of burns/cooks & get a feel for how your unit will perform. Then you can tweak the performance with more mods if necessary.

 

[smoquey]

Just got a new smokin-pro. To season it, do I need to light a fire in the cooking chamber or will the fire in the fire box be sufficient to season the whole unit?? Also what should my target temp be for the seasoning?? Thanks all

 

[mballi3011]

Congrats on the new smoker.

 

[olewarthog]

When I seasoned mine I had lit charcoal in both the main chamber & the SFB. You want to get the temp up to 300-350 & hold it there for no less than 1 hour. You'll use a lot less fuel by putting some fire in the main chamber.

This will do nothing to help you learn how your smoker performs, but it will save you time & effort seasoning.