Torn between two grills… need advice.

I looked at the Char-griller site and I have a question. What is the difference between the Smokin' Pro and the Super Pro othr than the firebox? Is there one?

The only difference I saw was the firebox. They're marketing the Super Pro as a grill and the Smokin' Pro as a smoker. But it's the same main chamber on both. I thought it humorous that they are now marketing the firebox as a smaller patio grill too!

What I saw was that although everything could be added as accessories, the advantage of the Super Pro over the Smokin Pro was the shelves. For me as a Lowes Shopper they had the fire box as an add on but not the shelves. So I went with the Super and added the box and got everything at one shot.

If you by from them a Smokin' Pro is cheaper than a Super Pro with firebox

Congratulation to all new Char-Griller owners!
This is how I seasoned mine:
You will need a good pair of BBQ gloves. I bought a pair of Eastman outdoor gloves from Amazon.com for $14.95. You will also need a medium bottle of vegetable oil (the cheapest you can get).
Whether you have the side firebox or not, you will have to cure the main chamber separately. As you already know, the main chamber doubles as a grill and it will allow you to cure it separately.
This process took me about half a day. I started with 2 chimneys full of Kingsford charcoal. Brushed the charcoal tray with oil (inside and out). Poured the coals on the charcoal tray in the main chamber and kept the temp under 300 degrees for about 2 hours. At this stage, I was only trying to melt the gunk that the factory coated the inside of the grill with. Once the stuff started to melt, I put on the BBQ gloves and removed the charcoal tray. I love this feature on this grill. You can take out the charcoal tray (the heat source) and work on the main body without having to wait until the charcoal is out and the grill totally cooled down. Place the charcoal tray in safe place away from traffic and anything that could catch on fire. Next, whip down the inside of the main chamber with old towels. Make sure you get the entire gunk off. Once the inside is clean, brush the entire cavity with oil. Replace the charcoal tray and bring the grill back up to temp. At this point, you may have to add more charcoal. This is also a good time to add the wood for seasoning. I didn’t soak the wood, because I wanted it to give out as much smoke as possible in the least amount of time. I used Mesquite wood. You’d want to use the strongest smoke flavor you can get. Remember your only seasoning the chamber and not food at this time. So don’t hesitate to use the strongest stuff and plenty of it.
I repeated the above process 3 to 4 times, removing the charcoal tray, brushing the grill interior with oil, and whipping off any access. By mid-day, the interior of the grill turned to nice mahogany color, and had a nice and thick coat of oil. As you know the interior of the grill is not painted and once you remove the gunk, you will end up with raw metal, which could rust easily. By following this process you’re not only seasoning the grill, but you’re also preserving it. The inside of my grill is now as dark as the outside, and it looks as if it’s been painted with the same paint. The food dripping just rolls off of it and the cleaning is a snap.



For the cast Iron grates, I used my gas grill. I heated the gas grill as high as it went, placed the grates on it and let the factory gunk melt off. Once they were almost clean, I scrubbed them with a BBQ wire brush, and then brushed them with oil several times. I repeated the process until they turned almost black in color. You could do this on the grill itself, but I wanted to have the freedom of working on the main body without having to worry about the grates.
As for the side firebox, all you have to do is cover the interior with oil during the first 3-4 uses, and it’ll take care of itself. I also poured some oil on a towel and whipped the exterior with it (both the grill and the side firebox). This keeps the paint from drying out, and makes it easer to clean after each use. You will have oil the out side of the side firebox after each use (once it’s cooled), because high temp will affect the pain in the future.
For easy clean up, I usually line up the inside of the main chamber and the charcoal tray with extra heavy-duty foil (see the pictures).



One thing I found that keeps the temp constant during smoking; is leaving the charcoal tray in the main chamber and placing two medium size foil pans half way full of warm water on top of it. I’m sure you’ll experiment with it and figure out what works best for you. But this method decreases the opening between the two chambers and distributes the heat more evenly. Also the water helps to keep the food moist and stabilizes the temp. When I do this, I don’t have to adjust the opening of the vents as much and the smoker requires much less attending to. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Good Luck and Happy grilling.

After following the discusion on which unit to get I am wondering what part needs to be made out of 1/4 inch steel? If its just the bottom that needs be then could you not just add a plate to the bottom?

I have my own welding and fabrication business so I find this rather easy for me but I am sure you can get a plate made up locally if this method works?

A word of caution on future BBQ's, Steel prices have gone up by 50% and more depending on the material since the fall of 2003 and that could have a big impact on the price of the heavy duty BBQ's that use a lot of steel. If China continues to draw all the scrap steel from the global markets prices could continue to be stong for a long time.

bcarl,
You don’t have to get a bottom plate made; they sell them at the link below for $8.00. I think the reference was to the entire body of the smoker and not just the bottom. Thicker metals tend to hold the heat very well. But I don’t think this smoker/grill needs any help. It was 90 degrees here yesterday in Atlanta, and I had the smoker setting in the shade (no fire inside of it), and the gauge was registering 175 degrees for most of the day.
http://www.hawgeyesbbq.com/BBQ-Accessories.html

Bcarl isn't joking about the steel issue. It isn't going away either but fortunately I haven't seen a huge jump in grill prices yet. But the good news is it looks like the worst has past.
I know alot about this, I've been spending alot of time in D.C. at meetings with people I had to go through security to see.
Just be thankful you're not a bridge builder.

The Weber is very versatille. The charcoal grill is great for cooking burgers and steak and also for smoking. I can make awesome pulled pork on the charcoal with an 8lb piece of meat. All you have to do is monitor the temperature. I am a big fan of the Weber one touch silver.

Greetings and welcome to the board Fired! Another Weber fan

bbcue-z,
In Atlanta I would imagine your smoker would be able to hold a good temp with out much fire w/o a thick steel body. I live in Colorado and since I use my smoker year round I need a thick metal body to hold the temp. I have had such a hard time finding good hardwoods to use and maintaining my temp in snowy & cold conditions. I have even had to put a fan next to my firebox vent to heat up the fire to get the chamber to cooking temp.

Smokyblues,
I’ve always lived in warm spots and I have no experience with snow and cold weather. However, I still think the Char-Griller is a good multi purpose unit. Its metal is thicker than most grills, so if someone were to use it as grill only, I’d imagine it would do well in any weather. Most charcoal grills (not all), including famous brand names don’t use heavy gauge of metal. And they don’t need to, because the fire is right inside the grill and too close to the food. You may want to try putting the fire inside the main chamber and use the indirect method to smoke during the winter months. The cold climate may keep the temp down and produce low and slow effect.
Good Luck.

The steel problem is very real. Most of our manufactuers of steel products are having a very hard time delivering products. MTD and Toro are way behind in our deliveries and most of the other outdoor eqipiment makers are also slow in delivery.

Smokyblue-CJs are nice I've owned 2 of them, but my TJ is a much better Jeep.

bbcue-z,
I don't think I'm alone when it comes to keeping my smoking chamber ash free. I have a 20" diameter horizontal smoker thats about 50" long with an offset smoker box all 1/4" steel. I have never used the cooking chamber as a grill only for bbq'n. I have used the firebox as a grill and since its 2' I have a good amount of space. For grilling I generally use my Weber kettle and since it is direct grilling I have no problems with the heat. The smoker is where I run into a problem maintaining a good temp in the winter when its cold. The fan outside the firebox really fuels the fire and heats it up nice and once its going good it usually keeps the temp thanks to the thick steel.

I wanted to add an update to the seasoning process. It looks as if the newer Chargrillers (the ones with the cotter pin on the lid) have an extra heavy coating of the evil "gunk". I noticed many new owners are having trouble getting it off using Z's seasoning technique. I caught onto a small post where someone mentioned the difference in the ambient temps due to their geographic location and it got me thinking. Perhaps the coating prefers a bit of the low and slow treatment. So I experimented.

I set my new chargriller up last night and while I was taking my time putting the base together with a cigar and a beer, I placed the main chamber halves face down in the sun. After about 40 minutes or so, they had gotten pretty warm and the "gunk" had become quite soft and gooey. I wiped down half of the grill with quite a bit of success.

Once the grill was set up, I followed Z's advice and found that once the grill hit a sustained 250-300 the gunk became much more stubborn. I was able to get about 50% of what was left, but the rest would not budge. I had to resort to heavy wiping and heavy smoking to cook and cover up the rest of it.

It looks like a bit of low temperature solar heating may be the trick.