Camp Chef PG24 Review

If you are new to barbecuing or experienced but would like to start on a different approach with an advanced BBQ grill, then you might want to read this Camp Chef PG24 review. Camp Chef PG24 pellet grill and smoker BBQ has been designed purposely to take grilling and smoking to a higher level than what most of us practice in our backyards.

This grilling and smoking unit has been created with an amateur as well as an expert chef in mind since the manufacturer has included lots of inbuilt features to ease the grilling process. Its in-built thermometer can help you eliminate guesswork from your cooking as the sensors maintain a stable temperature for cooking inside the chamber.

Accessories

When you buy the Camp Chef PG24, you get a recipe book with instructions to prepare delicious BBQs. So, if you’ve never barbecued before, no need to worry as this handy recipe will get you through your first barbecue successfully.

Key Features

This Camp Chef PG24 smoker comes with plenty of features to help make your grilling and smoking process much easier and hassle-free. Here are some of the top features of the unit.

1. Automatic Pellet Auger and Electronic Auto Start Ignition

Grilling and smoking is always fun when you don’t have to worry about putting fuel in every minute or light them up repeatedly. Camp Chef in their PG24 added the functions of automatic pellet auger what intelligently channels the wood pellets into the fire pot. The Auto Start Ignition is another convenient feature that sets fire to the pellets repeatedly when necessary. The whole process is directed by the temperature control unit. When more heat is required, the auger channels more wood pellets into the fire pot and the auto-ignition system keeps lighting them up.

2. Digital Control System and Dual LED Temperature Readout

This model has this effective digital temperature controlling unit that allows you to control the heat. With this, you can set the optimum temperature for the kind of meat you want to smoke. Once you set the temperature, forget about it, because the smoker will automatically burn fuels for attaining the determined temperature inside the cooking chamber. On the other hand, the Dual LED temperature readout will help you monitor the temperature accurately. If you want perfect smoking, this is highly effective similar to the Smart Smoke Technology that some Camp Chef smokers come with.

3. Large Capacity Pellet Hopper

The size of the pellet hopper is crucial when planning to buy a top-quality pellet smoker. You don’t want to refill your pellet hopper multiple times during a single smoking session. This smoker offers you the advantage of large pellet storing space in its big hopper. You can load it up once and stop worrying about filling it again even for a long time cooking session.

4. Durable Meat Probe

This one works for the food quality enhancement. The smoker comes with this nicely built meat probe that you will use for checking the inside temperature of the meat. All you need to do is stick it inside the meat and put the other end of it inside an input socket. Your digital LED output monitor will show the temperature inside the meat. This is fairly accurate in terms of measuring heat.

5. Box Lid Thermometer

Great grilling and smoking always depends on proper temperature control and controlling temperature requires an accurate reading of inside temperature of the cooking chamber. When the meat probe will measure the temperature inside the meat, the box lid thermometer will show the temperature outside the meat, in other words, the cooking chamber temperature. The sensor of the thermometer is pretty accurate – a great convenience.

6. Easy Cleanout

Let’s move on to the cleaning part. Cleaning is a nightmarish term for many as smoking and grilling generates grease and fat that are hard to clean. This smoker offers an excellent option for easy cleanout. The smart cleaning is ensured by a thoughtful interior design that allows the inside grease and fat to drain outside into a bucket. You can easily change or clean the bucket when needed.

7. Removable Ash Cup

Another cleaning convenience is the removable ash cup feature of this smoker. The pellet ash inside the firebox can be discharged into this ash cup by pulling out a knob. Once the ash is in the cup, clean it and put the cup in place.

8. Camp Chef Accessories Box

This smoker unit comes with an accessories box that comes in handy during the smoking process. You need a place to store all the smoking gears together so that you do not look for them everywhere when you need them. The box is nicely built with enough space for keeping all the gears you need.

9. Portability

For any great smoker, portability adds to ease of use. Most people would prefer different cooking places, including the outdoor cooking experience. This smoker sports two durable castors with added firmness. These are very good in terms of longevity.

10. Other Convenient Features

The chimney of this smoker is placed at the back of it, which does its job pretty well. It has a nice top that protects it from water drip and the rough weather. On the other hand, the warming rack is solidly built for heavy duty and easy cleaning. The smoker also comes with a recipe book for the amateurs though even some experts find this book useful.

11. A Perfect Smoker that Makes Smoking Fun!

This is a fantastic smoker when it comes to the vital points of a smoking grill i.e. ease to assemble, build quality, intuitive operation, total cooking control, food quality and ease of cleaning up. It covers all the points efficiently. You can easily assemble the smoker at home. Assembly made easier with the assembly video available at manufacturer’s site

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Cleaning and Maintenance

Anyone who’s tried cleaning a pellet grill before understands just how difficult it is to get all the ash out after use. This unit gives you easier access to the burn pot. It also features a trap door that allows you to clean the unit without having to dig through the ashes and grease. Cleaning the unit is generally much easier as compared to the typical charcoal grills.

Pros

Home chefs that have used the Camp Chef PG24 will concur with the advantages listed on this Camp Chef PG24 review. Here are the pros that are enjoyed by many users.

Easier assembly – What most barbecuing amateurs love about the unit is its ease of assembly, made possible with a video tutorial available at the manufacturer’s site. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about if you’ve never barbecued before since the unit comes with a recipe book to help you prepare some of the most delicious BBQs with the unit.

Surety when cooking – The unit’s in-built LED digital temperature control system gives you the confidence required when smoking or grilling, hence removing the guesswork out of your cooking process. The LED readouts shows you the temperature inside the chamber so you can easily adjust the temperature as required.  Additionally, the unit has sensors which maintain heat inside the cooking chamber so you don’t have to worry about the conditions outside the unit when cooking.

Offers high temperatures – Many units in the market are capable of smoking your meat, but they have difficulty reaching a high temperature enough for grilling and searing it. Camp Chef can easily reach 500 degrees so you can easily grill your meat whenever you need to.

Easily monitor the cooking – It’s quite difficult to judge how the food is cooking when it’s inside the grill. Opening the chamber will also release the heat and smoke hence your meat can dry out. This unit solves all these problems with the inclusion of a temperature probe in the cooking chamber. You simply have to stick it into your meat and get the exact reading of food’s temperature.

No fuel worries – Camp Chef PG24 with a pellet hopper capacity of 20 pounds so users won’t have to worry about running out of fuel while still cooking. What makes the pellets more convenient for use is that they are dispensed automatically throughout the entire cooking process. The hopper dispenses a pellet into the fire whenever the thermostat detects a temperature drop from what you had set initially.

Large cooking area – The unit gives you a cooking space of 560 cubic inches with the smoke stack at the back, which gives you the right side of the unit for use. Other smokers usually have their smoke stack to the right so when smoking your food, you can’t use the space.

Power outage bypass – This feature is nifty enabling the bypass of the relight feature when power suddenly goes out. Even though that might not happen so often, but should it happen, the hot rods are saved from wear and tear. This feature is rarely noticed by many, but it’s an indication that the manufacturer did their research when designing the unit.

Easy cleanup and maintenance – It’s a fact that most home chefs that love barbequing at home get annoyed with the frequent cleaning required by grill BBQs. Well, this unit eliminates that! The unit features a handy warming rack plus an ash catcher that makes the cleaning and maintenance of the unit much easier.

Read our review of top 10 Pellet Smokers

Cons

The unit offers so many advantageous features but also has its cons.

High power usage – Power consumption by the unit is relatively high since it has an electric auto start ignition system. Therefore, high power is required to start the unit.

Quite heavy – The unit is quite heavy, measuring 128 pounds. But the inclusion of the rolls makes its mobility better. The weight of the unit, however, can deter you from taking it to a friend’s party.

Ease of Use

At first, this Camp Chef unit seems a little complex to use but when you get over it the first time, it becomes quite easy. For starters, there is an assembly video tutorial on the manufacturer’s site as well as an instruction manual for easier assembly. Otherwise, anyone that has used a BBQ before wouldn’t have any form of difficulty with the unit.

Warranty Details

The manufacturer’s warranty covers all the components of the stoves, ovens, fire pits and smokers as long as they are free from workmanship defects for a period of one year from the purchase date. The warranty, however, excludes the finish. Should you encounter a problem with the unit, you have a period of 90 days to return it.

Value for Money

If you are looking forward to convenient grilling or smoking at a higher level than what’s practiced by typical home chefs, then the unit gives you value for money. Accurate temperature control, food temperature probe, electric auto-start ignition and ease of use are some of the great features of the unit, most of which are absent in other BBQs in the market. So many features and advantages of Camp Chef PG24 pellet grill and smoker BBQ are worth the $599.99 price – at least that’s what we think after carefully evaluating other Camp Chef products.

Replacement Parts Availability

You cannot guarantee 100% effectiveness of an equipment, especially one with electronic systems; hence some repairs and replacements will be needed after a period of use. All the replacement parts of the unit can be found at the manufacturer’s site, Amazon and the local dealers.

My Verdict

Camp Chef PG24 comes at a reasonable price with plenty of features that make grilling and smoking much easier, especially for the barbecuing amateurs who often make some common mistakes. The unit was the first attempt by the company on a pellet unit, yet they really did an in-depth research before building it. The unit comes with plenty of niftier features that make the cooking, barbecuing, grilling and smoking process quite easy and fun. I can recommend it to anyone no matter if he is starting off with barbecuing or is already an expert since it comes with features which suit everyone according to their barbecuing expertise level.

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Frequently Asked Questions

I’ve addressed some of the most commonly asked questions by the buyers of the Camp Chef PG24 pellet grill and smoker BBQ in this review.

Q: The pellet bag weighs 20lbs costing $20. How long does it last and how many lbs. are required for a common meat cut?
A: It definitely depends on the cooking temperature but for a normal smoking, the pellet bag can last a considerate amount of time. Briskets would take longer to smoke hence would require up to one whole bag. 4lbs would be needed for a rib, 6 to 8 hours for briskets depending on the thickness.

Q: What’s the accuracy of the thermometer on the smoker?
A: The thermometer works accurately with the smoker, within 10 to 15 degrees. But that will depend on where you are getting the reading from.

Q: Why does the grill get a lot of dust from the pellets?
A: The dust is as a result of using certain pellets and has nothing to with the unit. If you use the recommended Camp Chef pellets and keep them dry, the dust problem won’t be there.

Q:  Is it possible to use the unit for baking?
A: Definitely yes. The unit holds the temperature really good making it suitable for baking depending on your temperature needs.