Louisiana Grills 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker Review
Wood pellet grills continue to grow in popularity. Yet they have a knack for taking up a lot of horizontal space on a deck or patio. To answer this Louisiana Grills offers their 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker. It marries the “Set It and Forget It” convenience of a wood pellet grill, with the small footprint, high capacity of a vertical smoker cabinet.
As they do throughout their line, Louisiana Grills infuses quality materials and components at every level with the 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker. It has a heavy-duty steel cabinet body with a high-quality layer of black powder coat. The grates are made from porcelain-coated steel, which helps with clean up.
The massive hopper can hold up to 55 pounds of wood pellets. The internal workings and electric igniter system run off a standard 3-prong 110 Volt outlet, and it operated via an easy to use digital control center. It also includes dual meat thermometer probes.
The casters built into the feet roll surprisingly easy for the overall weight of the smoker. This gives you the ability to wheel it into a garage or shed to keep it safely sheltered when not in use.
Construction & Ease of Assembly
Louisiana Grills recognizes that the world of smoker cabinets and wood pellet grills is a little bit of a crowded space. For a specific unit to stand out from the herd, it needs really needs to marry some level of innovation with the kind of quality that makes it a true value.
You see this front and center with the Louisiana Grills 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker. The heavy-gauge steel body with a black powder coat helps with heat consistency and gives it a professional look. The porcelain coating on the grates reduces stuck on grime, making for easy cleanup.
There are a few small knocks on this vertical smoker cabinet. The drippings pans are a little tricky to pull out when they are full. The large capacity wood pellet hopper also doesn’t have any sort of dump-out feature. If there’s humid weather in the upcoming forecast, you will need to remove excess wood pellets to keep the lignin binder in them from breaking down.
There isn’t a whole lot of assembly required with the Louisiana Grills 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker. The instruction manual is also very easy to read, making assembly a breeze, for what could have been a complicated appliance.
Grilling Performance
This wood pellet fired vertical smoker cabinet comes with precise digital controls and a dual meat probe thermometer system. Combined with the massive 55-pound wood pellet hopper, the Louisiana Grills 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker can smoke just about anything you want.
There is enough room and wood pellet capacity to easily accommodate three if not four pork shoulders. There isn’t perhaps enough room to accommodate a fully intact rack of pork spareribs. Still, you could easily cut them in half to stagger them on one of the five porcelain-coated racks.
If there’s something missing with this smoker it’s the lack of sausage hangers in the ceiling. If you wanted to smoke ring or linked sausage you will need to use butcher twine to tie them to the bottom of the uppermost rack.
Don’t underestimate the digital control center and the dual meat probes. Not only does it allow you to carefully dial in the internal temperature, but it also lets you understand the relationship between the meat and the surrounding heat.
Grilling Areas
The Louisiana Grills 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker has a staggering 1061 total square inches divided amongst five removable racks. This includes the 330 square inches of the upper chamber.
Special Features
The fact that this vertical smoker cabinet comes with a wood pellet hopper is an interesting twist that you rarely see from the competition. The massive 55-pound capacity of the hopper is also impressive. It would be quite a challenge to make one single thing that used up a full hopper.
Just bear in mind that just like a wood pellet grill, this smoker needs to draw electricity from a 3-prong grounded outlet.
The dual meat probes working in tandem with the digital control center is also a nice touch. Though some competitors in this price class offer a similar unit with WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity, which lets you monitor the state of the smoker while you’re away from it. It would have been a real bonus had Louisiana Grills included a similar feature with this unit.
Ease to Clean
The porcelain coating on the grates speeds the cleanup process, making any scrape downs a breeze. If you do end up with some stubborn caramelized marinade or smoke residue that won’t easily scrape off, you can gently soak the grates in warm soapy water. The porcelain coating will prevent direct contact with the water to prevent rusting.
The grease/drippings pans are a little tricky to pull out when full. Just remember to take your time. You might want to put down a matt under the face to catch any accidental drips when you pull it out.
Warranty
Louisiana Grills backs their 65700-LGV7PC1 Vertical Smoker with their standard 5-year warranty. This is about on par for this price range.
Conclusion
The Louisiana Grills 65700-LGV7PC1 marries the high volume of a vertical smoker with the overall convenience of a wood pellet grill. The digital control panel and dual meat probes keeps you in command of the smoking session, while also cutting out some of the guesswork that comes with running a traditional smoker.
The lack of sausage hooks, the tricky drippings tray, and the inability to easily empty the wood pellet hopper, are minor drawbacks. Still, those are the sort of things you can learn to live with, in contrast to the value offered by high-quality construction.
