Guns International

Bought a z-grill. Any owners?

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  • para_bellum

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    Z-grills used to be the OEM manufacturer for Traeger, now they sell under their own label. Right now they have a BOGO promotion:
    (indeed they often run a similar deal)
    https://zgrills.com/

    A neighbor agreed to buy the 'free' one from me, just $414 out of pocket for each of us! Arriving this afternoon.

    Anyone own one? It's my first pellet grill/smoker. Hoping to make ribs, pizza, chicken, turkey, maybe a smaller brisket.
    Guns International
     

    TxStetson

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    I have never used a Z grill, but I do own the large Pit Boss pellet grill. I used to make fun of the pellet grill guys until I got one. I have a huge stick burner smoker, a Weber charcoal grill, and a Weber gas grill that have not been touched since I got the Pit Boss. It takes a little time to get used to, but now I’ve got the hang of it, and not sure I could do without it.
     

    EZ-E

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    Pellet smokers are great. They are better at retaining temperature than most smokers, you should love it once you get the learning curve figured out.
     

    F350-6

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    So school me on these things. You just fill a hopper with pellets and the computer controls the feed and temperature? I browsed the website a second and that's what I gathered. Kind of sounds like the simplicity of propane with the benefits of charcoal and smoke.

    What lights the pellets if it's all electric? How long does it take to get up to temp? Do they have stainless steel cooking grates, or just the housing?
     

    sucker76

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    Ok I'm getting slightly interested in one of these too. Several friends have either a trager or pit boss. I haven't heard about the z grill yet. Are they all electric to burn or do some have a lighting mechanism and self sustain the fire after the initial start?
     

    TxStetson

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    They have an electric igniter to start the fire. I turn mine on and its lit with within a minute, and up to temp in about 5 minutes. Mine has cast iron cooking grates. Today it cooked a 13 lb brisket, 3 racks of ribs, 4 packages of bratwurst, 3 pounds of German sausage, and 19 ears of corn.
     

    para_bellum

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    Got it assembled! After that it took another two hours for the recommended burn-in cycles. Now that it's full of pellets operation seems very easy:
    1) Start with 'smoke' setting to light it
    2) When you see smoke, dial to desired temperature (has digital thermostat)
    3) When done, dial to 'off' and it will burn off residual pellets

    This thing is a complete Traeger clone in terms of design based on YT videos I saw.

    Neighbor who bought the 2nd grill made burgers and hot dogs on it yesterday, worked well for that as well (just run it at max temp.) Will try pizza today then move on to ribs next.
     

    para_bellum

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    Doesn't work for pizza, max temp was about 450F. Pizza likely needs something like 800. Will stick to meats.

    The controller is the same as many Traegers. To access the p-setting (ie. auger timeout during 'smoke'), you must drill a small hole in the face plate. Take off the plate and look behind it to find the correct location.
     

    TxStetson

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    What is the P setting? What are the grill grates made of steel, stainless steel, cast iron, oe porcelain ocer steel?
    For mine, the P setting is the balance between smoke and heat when you have it set on Smoke. The higher the number, the more smoke you get, but the slower it cooks. The lower the number the faster it cooks, but you get less smoke. Mine is adjustable from 1 to 7 and I have it on 4, which is plenty of smoke flavor and cooks at about 185°.
     

    gshayd

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    Pellet grills are great I have a Traeger that I have modified since I first bought it. The temps with the digital thermostat could get wonky. They have gotten better. After my Trager digital controller bit, the dust I purchased a PID Controller from Smoke Daddy keeps the temp at a + or - 5 degrees. Plus I have a Fireboard Temp system that sends the temps using my wireless system to the cloud so I can check the temps on my iPhone if I have to make a store run or I go shopping. I don't usually keep Alexa turned on. I have an app that lets me wake up and Alexa what the temps are. I put a temp probe in the meat, another temp probe at grill level to check the temp. I can also put temp probes on other parts of the cooking surface to check the heat zones. My preferred woods is a 50/50 pecan and oak mix. I will sometimes mix oak and hickory to mellow the hickory out. You want what I call a thin bluish smoke not billowing clouds of smoke.

    The pellet grill has what I call a hot rod which is wired to the electricity. The electricity heats this up till it glows red and ignites the wood pellets. It will eventually go out on you and will need to be replaced. This is usually done by setting the digital temp control to a setting that activates it once the pellets are lit you set it to the desired temp. The pit has an auger that feeds pellets to the fire and a fan that blows air down the tube.
    The results for me are good.
    pork loin done 5-29.JPG

    Pork butts 0055.JPG

    brisket finished 4th July.JPG


    Brisket Sliced 4th of July 2017.JPG


    moms ribs 2.JPG


    https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/pellet-pro-exclusive-pid-controller-pellet-grill-upgrade/
    https://www.fireboard.com/
     

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    Sam Colt

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    Wait until the fire climbs the auger into the pellet hopper. Good times.
    Never run your pellet grill under cover of a porch or patio. Never run your pellet grill unattended.
    Trust me.
     

    toddnjoyce

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    Beginning to plan the outdoor kitchen. Will be replacing a portable LP grill and Weber with built-ins or building an enclosure to roll the portables in to.

    Biggest decision is whether or no to do pellet smoker and a NG grill/sear stations/ burners or just do something like a primo/BGE + NG seat station and burners.

    Have me some thinking to do.
     

    para_bellum

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    Wait until the fire climbs the auger into the pellet hopper. Good times.
    Never run your pellet grill under cover of a porch or patio. Never run your pellet grill unattended.
    Trust me.

    Did you have a grill fire? Our patio is pretty high, seems if I wheel the smoker toward the middle it would be "safe" even if I had some kind of disaster.
     

    Sam Colt

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    Did you have a grill fire? Our patio is pretty high, seems if I wheel the smoker toward the middle it would be "safe" even if I had some kind of disaster.
    I have, and from a casual search it appears not to be an isolated occurrance. Caught it early and was able to wheel it out and extinguish it. Not comfortable with unattended operation any longer while it is close to the house.
    Cooks well, though. :-)
     

    Sam Colt

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    Does the fire climb the auger in other brands of pellet grills?
    It's rare but not limited to one brand. I think the issue is that these are so hands-off simple that people have a tendency to walk away. That's never a good idea when fire is involved.
     
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