Smoke Daddy heat diffuser

[ModernRec]

What up guys

So im really thinking about adding this to my 590. Questions are, who actually has one and what are there true thoughts?

What temp do you set the grill at to get the chunks to light verse on top on the diffuser?

What are you able to dial the grill back to without them going out or messing with temps if that is an issue.

Do you kick yourself for not getting this sooner? lol

Thx guys!

 

[ryk1]

Never thought of getting one. I’ve had my Bull for about a month and so far, I’ve had plenty of smoke. I would be interested to see if you do get one to see if it makes a difference. Keep us posted.

 

[ModernRec]

Never thought of getting one. I’ve had my Bull for about a month and so far, I’ve had plenty of smoke. I would be interested to see if you do get one to see if it makes a difference. Keep us posted.

I know it will as i put wood chunks on the top of the diffuser already, but clearly the SDHD is made specifically for that, i remember a few folks little while back talking about them. We'll see

 

[Greg Jones]

I don’t have a lot of experience yet with my SDHD, but so far I’m not impressed. I have found that at low temps where I want a lot of smoke flavor, the wood doesn’t get hot enough to burn enough to do much. I’ve found the same to be true when putting chunks on top of the factory diffuser, so perhaps I have unrealistic expectations. At higher cooking temps, the wood does burn but then it makes it hard to control temps, which the Smoke Daddy folks advise that you may need to crack the lid on your grill.

The thing is built like a tank, heavy and I can’t imagine it would, unlike the recteq factory diffuser, ever warp. My bigger disappointment in the construction is the steel used in the SDHD. I thought it was supposed to be stainless steel, but I saw later their site doesn’t say that it is stainless. I noticed that mine started to rust after two cooks. I sent these pictures to the SD folks with an explanation of what I’m seeing along with a picture of my stock diffuser with perhaps over 150 cooks now, and their response was a little disappointing. "There will be some rusting but it looks like there was some moisture in your grill."

That’s all they had to say about the situation, no suggestions about how to prevent it, nothing other than I must have had water in my grill. That, BTW, has never happened. Also interesting is that in my email I mentioned "I know that stainless steel doesn’t mean rust proof, but this looks excessive for only being used 2 times in the span of a week.", but they didn’t respond back that it wasn’t stainless steel.

For now I‘m still going to play with it a little longer, but not on my cooks that have to be perfect. For those, I’m sticking with a smoke tube. Also as a FYI for Bull owners, the SDHD will straddle the rear auger on the Bull, but since the diffuser is turned 90* it doesn’t sit as well as what the stock diffuser does. I’ve seen at least one other user here use heat bricks to raise it slightly and overcome that problem, but I haven’t tried it yet.

 

[Dougfresh]

My experience with SDHD has been nearly identical to GJ’s. It solved the warping issue of the stock deflector but that’s about the only benefit thus far.

 

[ModernRec]

I don’t have a lot of experience yet with my SDHD, but so far I’m not impressed. I have found that at low temps where I want a lot of smoke flavor, the wood doesn’t get hot enough to burn enough to do much. I’ve found the same to be true when putting chunks on top of the factory diffuser, so perhaps I have unrealistic expectations. At higher cooking temps, the wood does burn but then it makes it hard to control temps, which the Smoke Daddy folks advise that you may need to crack the lid on your grill.

The thing is built like a tank, heavy and I can’t imagine it would, unlike the recteq factory diffuser, ever warp. My bigger disappointment in the construction is the steel used in the SDHD. I thought it was supposed to be stainless steel, but I saw later their site doesn’t say that it is stainless. I noticed that mine started to rust after two cooks. I sent these pictures to the SD folks with an explanation of what I’m seeing along with a picture of my stock diffuser with perhaps over 150 cooks now, and their response was a little disappointing. "There will be some rusting but it looks like there was some moisture in your grill."

That’s all they had to say about the situation, no suggestions about how to prevent it, nothing other than I must have had water in my grill. That, BTW, has never happened. Also interesting is that in my email I mentioned "I know that stainless steel doesn’t mean rust proof, but this looks excessive for only being used 2 times in the span of a week.", but they didn’t respond back that it wasn’t stainless steel.

For now I‘m still going to play with it a little longer, but not on my cooks that have to be perfect. For those, I’m sticking with a smoke tube. Also as a FYI for Bull owners, the SDHD will straddle the rear auger on the Bull, but since the diffuser is turned 90* it doesn’t sit as well as what the stock diffuser does. I’ve seen at least one other user here use heat bricks to raise it slightly and overcome that problem, but I haven’t tried it yet.

Good to know about there response, sad also. Goes to show the two different levels of customer support also. So do the chunks go out after getting them to ignite or do you just start off at a low temp that doesn't light them?

I ask, because I'll get mine to ignite after running the grill at about 275 for a few mins, then turn the grill down to about 225 and haven't had an issue, only issue is I can only get a few on top of the diffuser which is why I was curious about this.

Thanks, great input!

 

[Greg Jones]

So do the chunks go out after getting them to ignite or do you just start off at a low temp that doesn't light them?

Good question, and I should have offered more detail on that point. I knew that SD recommended cranking the temp up to high/350* until the chunks start to smoke, then back it off to the desired temp. Initially I was unwilling to do that, because it is a level of fussiness that defeats the reason I bought a pellet grill when I already had a BGE for the past 16 years. So in that respect I can’t fault the diffuser when I was unwilling to follow their recommendation.

I did say that I don’t have a lot of experience with this unit yet, which means I am willing to play with it more to see if I can find a sweet point where I can get reliable smoke without a lot of extra attention on my part. I hope it exceeds my expectations, but I’m not holding my breath!

 

[ModernRec]

Good question, and I should have offered more detail on that point. I knew that SD recommended cranking the temp up to high/350* until the chunks start to smoke, then back it off to the desired temp. Initially I was unwilling to do that, because it is a level of fussiness that defeats the reason I bought a pellet grill when I already had a BGE for the past 16 years. So in that respect I can’t fault the diffuser when I was unwilling to follow their recommendation.

I did say that I don’t have a lot of experience with this unit yet, which means I am willing to play with it more to see if I can find a sweet point where I can get reliable smoke without a lot of extra attention on my part. I hope it exceeds my expectations, but I’m not holding my breath!

Haha, we can all be impatient lol. When i add chunks on my diffuser i start the grill at start up to 275, in a few minutes its clear they light and start to smolder and i turn the grill to 225 for low and slow cook's. Never had an issue and it's obvious when they start to light also. This is what i planned on doing if added to the arsenal, keep us posted if you dont mind though!