Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => Dansons/Country Smokers...Louisana Grills...Pit Boss => Topic started by: Chris__M on May 28, 2021, 08:42:46 AM
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First things first - nothing here is the fault of Dansons. My beef is with the UK supplier, who (for the moment) will remain nameless.
I spent an interesting morning with a friend, going over the Founders Series Legacy 1200 supplied to me a few weeks back.
This grill has already been a saga. I ordered a Premier 1200, and was given a 2 week lead time for a pre-assembled grill.
3 different delivery promises blown off, they finally opened my grill to assemble (which they had twice told me had been assembled) to find it damaged. As I had said that if they delayed again, I'd have my money back, they then agreed to supply me with a Legacy 1200 instead.
So a very good deal, in the end; and I was prepared to let bygones be bygones. Except...
When it arrived, on a pallet, I found two bolts on the pallet tray. I wrote with pictures, and got no reply.
After a successful cook by my kitchen door, I decided to move the grill to where it is going to live - an easy route, paved all the way. Suddenly it started to topple and I found myself holding it upright. Managing to lean it against some garden furniture, I discovered that a wheel had "disappeared" and another bolt had dropped out.
Asking for help/advice got me nowhere, except a suggestion that I get a friend to help me tip the grill and replace the bolts - having paid them $210 for assembly.
Anyway, that was a week and a half ago, and my friend managed to come over today. What we found was:
- Two bolts had dropped out of the missing wheel, allowing it to rotate under the grill. One of the other wheels was also missing a bolt.
- Most (but not all) of the bolts had the locking washer in the wrong place, with a flat washer between the locking washer and the bolt head.
- Two of the bolts had no locking washer at all.
- Over half the bolts were hand-loose.
- Where the wheel had rotated, it had put stress on the wheel mount in the bottom shelf, bending it and breaking a weld
My friend patiently removed every bolt and put them in correctly. The grill is now stable, but the damaged bottom shelf is still a concern - I have asked for a replacement shelf, which I don't think is unreasonable.
How's your day going?
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On the brighter side, the same friend also took away my old Traeger, which he is is going work on for his on BBQ area.
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I wish I had a friend like that as I have several grills in need of replacing the hot rod or tweaking an auger that seems to be bent or not aligned properly and is making a noise and sometimes doesn't push pellets through. Not to mention one of the five grills has an auger jam. I may be selling that to someone as is for them to fix and get out of my garage.
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One of my reasons for teaching my friends about pellet grills is so I can then call on them with help for mine. :D
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One of my reasons for teaching my friends about pellet grills is so I can then call on them with help for mine. :D
Too clever!
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After a miserable May, we are having an excellent bank holiday weekend here (UK traditionally has a holiday Monday on the first and last of May).
Yesterday, a 5m angled kettle lead arrived from Amazon, to replace the lead that came with my grill which was (a) so short, it wasn't even the length of the grill (b) had a fitted UK plug adapter over either a US or EU plug (not sure), which worked fine except it was too large to plug into my outdoor sockets (the kind with a weatherproof enclosure and cover). Fitting the new lead was easy (one retaining screw in a cable clip) and I'm now set.
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You may notice I haven't got the side shelf fitted - this is a matter of space, as with the shelf it will get in the way of the cupboard I keep my BBQ accessories in (just out of shot, to the left). I tried it with and without the shelf, and decided I liked it without. But it is early days, and I may change my mind.
The inside of my shack (to the right) is temporary. I had decided, for various reasons, not to put the new grill in there, as it would be a tight fight, would mean I wouldn't have access to the hopped chute, and the front would still stick out anyway. Instead, I have ordered an outdoors workbench, which is about 4 inches shorter than the space. On that will go my little Davy Crockett grill, my ProQ Cold smoker (not pictured) and assorted other things. Underneath will be sheltered storage for my pellets, which I keep in lidded buckets.
To celebrate getting this together, I'd unearthed a turkey crown from Christmas, and a rolled beef brisket (yes, I know rolled is not ideal, but it needs to be cooked), both from the depths of my freezer. Unfortunately, even after 24 hours, they are still not properly defrosted, so I will give them a go tomorrow. However, I did try the open flame on a couple of steaks and a burger, to great success.
Looks like I'm going to have some fun.
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I may even find that the Davy Crockett can go into storage, depending on how economic the Louisiana grill works out at. It was previously in use a lot because it had better temperature control than my old Traeger Lil Tex, and for some of my gatherings I needed both grills to feed everybody. The Louisiana is more than capable of feeding the numbers I host for (12-20 people), and if I am happy with pellet usage when cooking for less than that (1-4 people), I might just put the DC away until I need it to take on holiday with me.
However, I have to say the Louisiana app is far inferior to the GMG one. Danson's advertising speaks of "recipes", but I don't think that means what they think it means. You can only have one recipe set up at a time, and you don't seem to be able to set them up from the app. Compare with the GMG, where I had 20+ different recipes storable on my phone, which would transfer to the grill at a touch of a button.
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It appears to be a nice area for outdoor cooking. Thanks for sharing.
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I will be curious ho the pellet consumption plays out. The Country Smokers I owned and Performance Tested seem to burn more then the average. But that was 10-12 years ago. It does appear to give you a lot of cooking area, I have never seen a Legacy 1200.
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The purchase of this grill has been long and fraught, but, in the end, I've come out ahead.
I originally ordered the Premier 1200, but because of the problems, I ended up with the Legacy 1200, for no more money.
Lots of additional features, but the bit that most interests me is that it is a double walled grill. So while I expected the larger grill would use more pellets than my old Traeger (and definitely the Davy Crockett), I now don't know quite what to expect. Time will tell.
So if I find it significantly more expensive to run, I'll leave my Davy Crockett out for when cooking just for myself. If pellet usage works out reasonable, I'd just as well pack the DC away and use the space there for other stuff. Aside from things like my cold smoker, I have one of these in storage, that would be great to have out there for sides and stuff.
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Just to give you an idea of the vastness of this thing, here is a picture of a reasonable sized turkey crown.
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I wouldn't normally run a grill so empty - I usually try to cook different things for different meals at the same time. For example, at these temperatures, I'd add a trio of pork shoulders, to be turned into pulled pork and frozen. But while I am getting used to the grill, I want to be focused on just one thing.
Turkey crown has been mopped with a mixture of melted butter, maple syrup and paprika.
And here it is after the cook.
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Rolled brisket joint tomorrow, as it is still a bit icy. It would probably be fine at roasting temperatures, but I want to cook it low and slow.
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That looks very good.
I've started brisket and pork shoulders frozen and they cooked fine.
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I've started brisket and pork shoulders frozen and they cooked fine.
Do put rub on them when they are frozen ?
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I've started brisket and pork shoulders frozen and they cooked fine.
Do put rub on them when they are frozen ?
No.
For the pork, after it was pulled, I mixed a rub in with it.
For the brisket, I threw it on after it thawed on the grill. Sprinkle, flip, sprinkle, flip.
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I've started brisket and pork shoulders frozen and they cooked fine.
Do put rub on them when they are frozen ?
No.
For the pork, after it was pulled, I mixed a rub in with it.
For the brisket, I threw it on after it thawed on the grill. Sprinkle, flip, sprinkle, flip.
Gotcha. tnx
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That looks very good.
I've started brisket and pork shoulders frozen and they cooked fine.
If it was a proper brisket - i.e. a solid bit of meat - I wouldn't have been concerned.
But this is a large (6lb) rolled brisket. Which means that "outside bits" (which might have been contaminated during handling) are in the icy centre of the joint. Unlikely there would be a problem, but safety first.
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The rolled brisket worked out very good. Turns out, I could have flattened it - it was mainly one bit of meat wrapped around a meaty chunk - but I was not to know that.
Moist, easy to carve, and very tender. It went on at 8:50am, wrapped at 1:20pm (165°F), and was off the grill at 7pm (195°F). Then rested for an hour.
I've carved a whole lot up for tonight and later in the week, but I also have the turkey crown to get through, and I have a proper brisket coming in a couple of week's time. :D So some of this brisket is going to get cubed up, vacuum-packed with gravy, and frozen for future casseroles. That is if I don't eat it all first.
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Looks terrific. Nicely done!!!
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You've got some nice color on that turkey and the brisket. What wood are you using?
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I was using up the last of my Lil Devils, which seem not to have a current supplier in the UK, and CookinPellets Perfect Mix.
Turkey was coated with a butter/maple syrup, which looked fantastic, but was largely wasted, due to my dislike of turkey skin. Next time I'll remove the skin and apply it directly to the meat.
Brisket was prepared just with salt and pepper - I didn't bother with a rub, as it had a net on it. Despite that, it tasted fantastic, and the smoke took well.
For my next cooks in a week or so time, I have more of the Perfect Mix, but I also have Cherry, Mesquite and Chestnut. That last one is a new one on me, and I'd be interested to try it.
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Yeah, I never heard of chestnut pellets either. I like the color that cherry pellets put on meat. I am not a fan of Mesquite. It seemed bitter to my taste buds.
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I usually mix Mesquite in with other pellets - no more than 25%. Having said that I have had good success with it on British-style sausages.
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I want to keep cooking and experimenting, but a man can only eat so much meat.
My friends, seeing my pictures on FB, keep joking they are headed over, but they know I need to play with this first, before cooking for people.
So, the first of two trays to go into the freezer. Once the meat is frozen, I'll bag it up.
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