Maybe you guys can help me out with a decision that has been tearing me apart lately…
I have a Chargriller charcoal grill / smoker (the side box style) that has served me well over the years, but I’m afraid it has finally succumbed to the elements. I grilled a lot of food, and smoked a lot of meats on this thing, and am now ready to upgrade to something with a bit more automated control so I don’t have to babysit my BBQ all day long.
I’ve narrowed my selection down to a couple options: A charcoal grill with a gravity feed hopper that claims to have temperature control via forced air fans & augers (like wood pellet grills), and I’ve found a wood pellet grill that seems to check all the feature boxes as well. Both have fancy wi-fi capabilities that I’m not sure I’ll really use, but we’ll see (I probably will).
Now, I have no experience with wood pellet grills, and plenty of experience with charcoal. I’m not worried about not being able to sear a steak, because both models I’m looking at are capable of such things. Propane and electric aren’t my style for this particular appliance.
So, whatcha think?
Charcoal is what I use… I have a gas gill for the quick cooking of burgers and such (I will not cook burgers in the house). Maybe wood pellets would become more abundant in the future…? I don’t mind tending my Weber kettle…I need to find a different thermometer for monitoring the grill temp…
Sneezles61
I didn’t used to mind tending to the smoker, but adding coals every hour or two for 8 hours gets a little old after a while.
I cook a big brisket in mine and have to recharge after 4 hours…but that’s easy enough in the chimney briquette starter gizmo… But then I’m a left handed scandahoovian too! 
Sneezles61
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Yep, the chimney starters are definitely a handy tool!
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Not familiar with the automated charcoal but does it work manually as well say if you wanted to add your own wood like apple wood?
Yes, something about layering the wood with the charcoal in the hopper, and you can also add it to the ash pan.
- they don’t recommend cooking with wood only
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Meat absorbs smoke from 100-120*… So cooking isn’t what your doing… Either adding smoke flavor or dehydrating at that temp…
Sneezles61
I’ll put apple wood around the perimeter of my charcoal and push it in as it burns adding additional charcoal and a new perimeter of apple wood and keep the process going. I have tons of apple wood from my orchard and wild apple trees around here. Post a link to that charcoal grill
I voted charcoal because it’s readily available. Everything closed but the gas station? your covered. At the grocery store and the store that sells wood pellets is across town? You’re covered. I also feel it’s more predictable as wood burns much hotter. I admit though that I have no experience with pellets.
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I’ve been using a traeger for 4 years now and still use charcoal from time to time mostly for the nostalgic factor or when I dont want to wait around. Really love the pellet grills though for briskets when I can wake up at 4 am to get it going and go back to sleep without worrying for a few more hours. They have cold smoke options you can add on to these as well.
Cold smoke… Brews? .
Sneezles61
I’ll bet you have an automatic coffee maker as well
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Surprised by the results so far. I’ve smoked on everything except propane and recently bought the Timberline 850 from Traeger. I’m going through pellets like crazy but I’m loving the flavor and consistency they’ve given me. I did a brisket as my first smoke on the Traeger and it was hands down the best piece of meat I’ve ever done. The fuel mileage was crazy as I used nearly 30lbs of pellets over the 17 hour smoke but the brisket was on sale for $3.99/lb so that made up for it. I will say that I haven’t had to touch the smoker for anything but to wrap the meat during a smoke as opposed to other units that kept me up all night for 1 reason or another.
As far as buying pellets, Amazon has all of the Traeger flavors for about $20 per bag (20lb) and Prime shipping. Home Depot also carries 4 or 5 different flavors for same price or “contractor pack” of 4 bags for about $15 each. I’ve been doing the Home Depot deal lately.
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Haha actually, I do pour over
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Maybe I’ll post links to the models I’m looking at. I was hesitant to do that because one of them is half the price of the other, and didn’t want that to skew the results 
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A buddy got the Weber SmokeFire recently and he loves it. It’s also pellet. Check out the Rec Tec grills, they look pretty bad ass.
I’ve narrowed it down to the Broil King Regal 400 and the Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560.
The Regal 400 is $1199, and made in North America. The Masterbuilt is $499, and made in China. I suspect the build quality and warranty (5 yrs on box; 2 yrs on other parts vs. 1 yr for Masterbuilt) to be the driving factor for the cost of the Regal 400. The Regal also has a larger primary cooking surface (500 sq. in vs 430 sq in), which is pretty important to me.
My wallet says go for the Masterbuilt, but I have interest free financing on either option, so I think I’m leaning towards the Regal…but I haven’t fully decided yet. I tend to take a long time making decisions on major purchases like this. I think I spent 3-4 weeks researching TVs before I purchased our last one. 
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OK… Just looked at as much as I could find… The broil king shows it has 14 gauge Sheetmetal… Nice! I couldn’t find the masterbuilt Sheetmetal thickness… That is going to be the bases of what I’d be buying from…
Broil King only uses pellets… Masterbuilt uses charcoal… Charcoal has been my fav for many years… I have not ever tried pellets, so that is only my issue…
All that connected gizmo stuff is not something I’d like… Unless you could just monitor the heat in the cooking chamber…
The cast cooking grates they both have is a big plus…
Broil King has the rotisserie included… Another bonus…
I’m certain if I bought one… And had problems I’d be kicking me self that I didn’t buy the other… Aren’t we kinda like that?
Didn’t help much, eh?
Sneezles61
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The BKR looks to be built a little more solid and if you plan on using it a lot, I’d go with it. It looks and has feature very similar to mine. The Masterbuilt, I’m sure, is a nice piece as well but I doubt it will outlast the BKR. I like having both sets of wheels like the MB but I question the gravity fed system using lump charcoal. You may not use lump but that’s what I always used on my charcoal smoker. Both units are very nice and if price point isn’t a huge issue, the BKR would be my pick. I do a ton of research when I make most purchases as well and I think, either way, you will be happy and on your way to some fine BBQ.
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