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[lyork]

Been looking, reading, web surfing, etc trying to get my arms around a good pellet grill. I’m looking to do open flame grilling and lots of smoking. I thought I had it narrowed down to the Yoder or Blazin grill, but the more I look...the more I like the Firecraft Q-450

It has a pellet drop into the fire box which I prefer from a safety/hopper fire standpoint. It’s all stainless, and now that it’s made in China..it’s 304 stainless (which is a plus). The searing station/open flame set up has a small, medium, and large flame setting. So combined with the grill grates it should do a great job grilling. It’s a PID control, and I like the hopper clean out and grease bucket underneath the unit instead of on the end in case of rain while smoking.

Any thoughts?? I’m not sure on the if igniter if it’s ceramic or not.

[mrtune]

Just wondering if you have considered the Fast Eddy PG-500 or 1000 by Cookshack?  I am saying this because it has a direct flame cooking section with no need for grill grates. And as far as smoking it does a fantastic job.   Just a thought.

[Trooper]

I'm not certain that the unit is made in China. (?)
Aye?

[Trooper]

OK I did some searching. Initially the units were USA made and it looks like now they're being made over on the other side of the Pacific.
Which is OK with me. I have two American made units (MAK & Memphis) but a lot of other things around this household came here from the Orient.
(Including the LapTop that I am writing this on)

[bucky919]

Ive had a Q450 for over a year, with no complaints. Love the stainless. Flexibility is great, 180 to 500 and plus the FL1,2,3 for Searing. Being from ND the PID controller is nice in the cold weather, no problems with using it well below 0. I kept my gasser around for awhile but never used it, just gave it away, I like the flexibly.

(Everyone needs to keep calling and emailing them about a second self)

[Mikro]

I own a Q450 going on a year now, been very happy with it. My son in law now owns one as well.  I have the grill grates as well,a very rarely use them though. The regular grates work fine for me.   The only complaint I have are the legs need a lower support frame and shelf as they are little wobbly on rough surfaces when trying to roll it around.
mk

[verapx]

I would suggest calling Firecraft. I just got the upgraded heat deflector for mine. I had one of the early ones without that. While talking to them, was told they would have a second grate and front and side shelf coming around January of 2018. I will be getting the grate for mine. Mine does a great job and my only negative has been the lack of a second grate which apparently they are about to fix.

[bucky919]

I own a Q450 going on a year now, been very happy with it. My son in law now owns one as well.  I have the grill grates as well,a very rarely use them though. The regular grates work fine for me.   The only complaint I have are the legs need a lower support frame and shelf as they are little wobbly on rough surfaces when trying to roll it around.
mk

I upgraded the wheel on mine, helped out alot. On amazon I bought the following : 4" Gray Rubber Wheels & 7/16" Grip Ring Stems. Search for that and you will come up with some different ones.

I would suggest calling Firecraft. I just got the upgraded heat deflector for mine. I had one of the early ones without that. While talking to them, was told they would have a second grate and front and side shelf coming around January of 2018. I will be getting the grate for mine. Mine does a great job and my only negative has been the lack of a second grate which apparently they are about to fix.

Hopefully that holds true. When I first started asking it was Q1 of 2017 

[MN-Smoker]

I bought a Q-450 around labor day.  I was able to catch a sale price.
It's been very solid and no complaints.

I already had grill grates so I have tried using them, but I still have a gas grill and use that for searing or high heat stuff.

Biggest advantage of the Q-450 over many competing models is not only the way the pellets drop into the firebox, but also that the unit has a very short auger.  I would believe it would be very difficult to have any jams with this unit.

[Mikro]

I bought a Q-450 around labor day.  I was able to catch a sale price.
It's been very solid and no complaints.

I already had grill grates so I have tried using them, but I still have a gas grill and use that for searing or high heat stuff.

Biggest advantage of the Q-450 over many competing models is not only the way the pellets drop into the firebox, but also that the unit has a very short auger.  I would believe it would be very difficult to have any jams with this unit.

were you able to get it in FL Mode? that info to set it is only in the  Sear grate manual.
MK
If not mistaken it is hold the up Temp button and the actual grill temp button together for 3 to 5 seconds and the you will see some silly message on the LED. I will have to look that up it may be the power button and the grill actual button.

[lyork]

Just wondering if you have considered the Fast Eddy PG-500 or 1000 by Cookshack?  I am saying this because it has a direct flame cooking section with no need for grill grates. And as far as smoking it does a fantastic job.   Just a thought.

Yes I have considered the Fast Eddy...it just seems that the smoking section is too small for me. I would like to do a brisket and two butts, or up to 5-6 slabs of ribs.

[LowSlowJoe]

I've owned a Q450 ( returned it, not satisfied with heat distribution) and I currently own a Fast Eddy PG500...   There is much more room in a PG500 than in a Q450.

I could easily do a brisket and two butts in my PG500, I could likely do a brisket and 5 butts if I really wanted to.   

Not sure how your doing up to 6 slabs of ribs in a Q450, maybe with a rib rack... but you could do more in a PG500 if you used rib racks , or some other means of fully utilizing the vertical space in the PG500.

[lyork]

I've owned a Q450 ( returned it, not satisfied with heat distribution) and I currently own a Fast Eddy PG500...   There is much more room in a PG500 than in a Q450.

I could easily do a brisket and two butts in my PG500, I could likely do a brisket and 5 butts if I really wanted to.   

Not sure how your doing up to 6 slabs of ribs in a Q450, maybe with a rib rack... but you could do more in a PG500 if you used rib racks , or some other means of fully utilizing the vertical space in the PG500.

Yes, would have to use rib racks on both of these. So, there is more room in the PG500? I honestly thought you lost half of the space to the “open” section for flame grilling. I didn’t think there was a flame diffuser there

[Bentley]

I am not an owner but I did Performance test the 500 and I never got the..."it's just not big enough" mentality. 

Now, zone one is grilling, it is that simple, even set on 170°, it is going to be 400°, so it is out for anything but grilling...

But zone 2, 3 and 4, to me they are usable, specially if your cooking is under 250°. Larry disagreed with me regarding zone 2, he agreed about 3 and 4...but everyone cooks differently! So I set the controller on 185°, zone 2 is going to be about 235°, zone 3 is gonna be about 205° and zone 4 is gonna be about 190°.  Not huge differences.  Is it really that hard to move meat around every 3 hours?  Are you gonna be cooking 6-7 racks for 12 hours?  Are you gonna be cooking 35lbs of meat at one time every week?

So, there is more room in the PG500? I honestly thought you lost half of the space to the “open” section for flame grilling. I didn’t think there was a flame diffuser there

[LowSlowJoe]

I am not an owner but I did Performance test the 500 and I never got the..."it's just not big enough" mentality. 

Now, zone one is grilling, it is that simple, even set on 170°, it is going to be 400°, so it is out for anything but grilling...

But zone 2, 3 and 4, to me they are usable, specially if your cooking is under 250°. Larry disagreed with me regarding zone 2, he agreed about 3 and 4...but everyone cooks differently! So I set the controller on 185°, zone 2 is going to be about 235°, zone 3 is gonna be about 205° and zone 4 is gonna be about 190°.  Not huge differences.  Is it really that hard to move meat around every 3 hours?  Are you gonna be cooking 6-7 racks for 12 hours?  Are you gonna be cooking 35lbs of meat at one time every week?

So, there is more room in the PG500? I honestly thought you lost half of the space to the “open” section for flame grilling. I didn’t think there was a flame diffuser there

   Years ago, before I had any real plans to upgrade beyond my Traeger Jr, and a Traeger Texas I had bought used,  I regularly followed pelletheads, and I was always a little mystified by the PG500, it just seemed small based on dimensions.  But after owning one I have come to understand a bit better with regard to it's size...    The only clue I had , before I bought mine was something Fast Eddy himself said.  That basically being , you can't really just go by the grate size alone when comparing the size of a PG500 to other grills, the reason for this is, because with the PG500  you can use every single inch of it's indirect cooking area, without any hot spots, etc...   

    Traditional pellet grills and those like the Q450 get a lot hotter around the front and back edges, this is where the heat from under the drip tray gets blown up around that gap between the front and back walls and the edges of the drip tray.  In terms of really even heat, you looks probably close to 3" of space on the front and back sides of the cooking grate. I mean, technically you can cook food in those areas near the front and back, but it's a lot hotter and a lot different sort of heat than you will get near the center of the cooking space.   Q450's cooking grate is 19x24"   if you subtract 3" in the front, 3" in the back you end up with a effective cooking are that is roughly 13x24 ( 312 square inches ).    Fast Edddy's area, 18x18" totals 324 square inches, which is ... well let's just say the two have very similar amounts of ussable space on their primary cooking surface3s when you really take into account the way heat flow works in the two grills.

      Q450 still doesn't have a upper shelf, I really can't figure out why they haven't managed to get that option yet, by most accounts the upper shelf bracket mounting locations are already in the grill's design... but the reality is it doesn't currently have a upper shelf...  PG500 does.   I have cooked a 19 pound brisket on the upper shelf of my PG500, in some ways, the upper shelf is my preferred location to cook a brisket on the PG500, but I can also cook at least one 19 pound brisket on the bottom area too.   I haven't done it yet, but I'd be willing to bet I could cook 5 large pork butts on the 18x18" cooking area and two on the upper shelf...   I could cook the biggest turkey anyone could ever find on a PG500, there's a very large amount of space between the main 18x18" grate and the area above it.( I forget the exact dimensions...   

     The one thing I wish my PG500 had is multiple shelf cooking system option.   I enjoy making things like beef jerky and , while I have made like 12 pounds of jerky at once in my PG500, I know there's more room that could be exploited if there was a nice rack system that could fully utilize it's vertical space.  I figure you could fit probably 4 racks that were 14x18" above the 18x18" cooking grate, if there were nice rack holding brackets available.   I have used my own methods to make use of the vertical space, but I know that a well designed rack system would turn the PG500 into one outstanding smoking machine...  I should design my own and make it happen , but I just never found the time to do it, and there's probably no way to actually make a profit trying to sell them myself to other PG500 owners... but still, if there was such a system available... well , I'd be the first one in line to buy it.

   But anyway... it's very easy to underestimate the amount of space inside the PG500... until I actually saw one and used one, it wasn't very obvious to me just how much space there really is.