ProQ Excel Elite 20 Review

  • I Have now had my ProQ for 4 weeks now and have become familiar with how it cooks, and in my opinion its a low and slow machine, holds 225 250 all day almost set and forget, The first couple of cooks I had the water pan full and found it was heavy on fuel, I have since been cooking with just a foiled pan and found fuel usage much better, and as from today I will run washed sand in the pan, which should help with keeping temps stable, not sure how much more stable I need but that's how I will roll for a while, I have a few problems with leaking stakers, but nothing a bit of time and cooking residue wont fix, I ordered mine with an extra stacker and a rotisserie, In hindsight Unless you are cooking for an army no need for the extra stacker I may never need it, lets see? The rotisserie is a must have and gets used a lot

    I use the minion style with Red gum lump in my basket, I have an empty can with both sides cut out and tip in lit heat beads works a treat, going by my first of 5 bags of Red gum charcoal, over half the bag has very small pieces in it ,and to be honest I prefer the bag of gidgee lump I have, I feel it burns longer and has much better sized lumps in it. My opinion on the red gum might change if I start getting some better size chunks.

    so to summarize and in my opinion. Apart from a weber kettle this would be a great way to start your BBQ hobby in low and slow, its easy to run and it cooks great food, Put your food in before you go to bed and it will still be steady temp 225-- 250 when you wake up, hope you buy one soon
    Mick

    ProQ Excel Elite2o<---> Weber Kettle<---> AKORN KAMADO<--->  WEBER GO ANYWHERE

    Edited once, last by steinyboys (November 22, 2015 at 2:21 PM).

  • Excellent to read about. I've just acquired one of these, (I think) but not sure what model mine is. About 50cm across the top.
    Busy trying to read all I can about them. Haven't even had a chance to fire mine up yet. Got some meat earlier today to try it out, but it's already 2pm and still stuff to do, so test runs/playing may have to wait until next weekend. A whole new style of toy for me to play with.
    Any more feedback you provide I'll be sure to read and absorb.

    GMG DB, small Weber kettle. That's it. It's all I have left now. ;(

  • Good review Mick!

    Yes, the stacker is really only needed if you need to cook mountains of food, I find the extra distance from the fire can be good also on those occasions when you are hanging something long from the rail in the lid.

    Cheers
    Chris

  • I have the Frontier, and one my favorite ways to cook chicken now, is to brine one, Capt Cooks method, then cook the chook in the top stacker, with no water pan. Fire the Q up regular style, one chimney minion method. The chooks far enough away from the fire to not burn, and the juices dip onto the coals, giving that charcoal chicken effect.

    It generally runs at about 350 - 380 doing this, and the chook cooks in 60 - 75 mins generally.

  • They are a fine BBQ m8 love mine, I do a similar thing but I have rotisserie spinning my chook, and as you said you can get it far enough away not to flair up, and smoke up all the juicy goodness

    ProQ Excel Elite2o<---> Weber Kettle<---> AKORN KAMADO<--->  WEBER GO ANYWHERE

  • Had mine now for close to 12months as you said the roti kit is a must nothing better than sitting round with a coldie watching meat spin round! I've got the extra stacker as well (was a bit peeved when I got it home opened it up and it was just an excel stacker not an elite found out later they don't do the extra stacker in the elite apparently!) I've probably cooked with it in "beast mode" as I call it with all 3 stackers in play 3 or 4 times now brisket on one ribs on another and pork butt and wings on the other is usually how it runs with a few hot links thrown amongst it somewhere as well one thing I have found when cooking on all 3 levels is the amount of extra fuel I use I put this down to the extra height of the Pro Q and getting the heat up to the top, over a twelve hour cook it probably uses roughly a bit over 10kg of gidgee lump in "beast mode" haha.

    Cheers
    Steaksy

    Pro Q Excel Elite 20 with extra stacker and roti kit, Hibachi Dragon, Maverick ET-735

  • Have also ordered the BBQ Guru Party Q with Pro Q adapter plate for my Elite20 so this should really turn it into a set and forget smoker then, as much fun as it is sitting up thru the night sipping whisky smoking cigars and tending fires I also enjoy a bit of sleep every now and again haha apparently I'm not getting any younger so the Mrs keeps reminding me.

    Cheers
    Steaksy

    Pro Q Excel Elite 20 with extra stacker and roti kit, Hibachi Dragon, Maverick ET-735

  • LOL m8 I have a Q master Lite its been in my draw for a month now, I find only when charcoal is getting low I need to tend to my ProQ, other than that it happily sits at 250 no water in pan, so I was thinking why drill holes for the adapter if your not going to use the Q master Lite, maybe when winter comes it will get some use, but for now I lite the charcoal give it 20 min to stabilize then walk away for 7 hours no need to peek, then add some more charcoal and sail to the finish :D8)

    ProQ Excel Elite2o<---> Weber Kettle<---> AKORN KAMADO<--->  WEBER GO ANYWHERE

  • I brought my frontier elite last weekend and had my first go at smoking ever and it was a breeze. Proq sat at 250f for a couple of hours on some chicken legs and sausages. Result was amazing. Trying the tequila chilli and lime recipe on some wings today from proq's website and onto a brisket next weekend. One of the best purchases I have made in a long time.

    Sent from my GT-I9506 using Tapatalk

  • so I was thinking why drill holes for the adapter if your not going to use the Q master Lite

    To the best of my knowledge you don't need to drill any holes in the ProQ to install the BBQ Guru Party Q I believe the adapter screws in thru any of the daisy wheel at the bottom and you use heat seal tape to block off the other two holes in the daisy wheel, but I'll know more on Monday when it gets delivered.

    Cheers
    Steaksy

    Pro Q Excel Elite 20 with extra stacker and roti kit, Hibachi Dragon, Maverick ET-735

  • Something like this I imagine

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    Steaksy


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Pro Q Excel Elite 20 with extra stacker and roti kit, Hibachi Dragon, Maverick ET-735

  • Something like this I imagine

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Steaksy your pic is just a broken box symbol. I see that a lot on this forum. Is it just me or can others see the pic here?

    Sent from my GT-I9195T using Tapatalk

    Weber Q3200, Weber Original Premium Kettle

  • It's a link to a YouTube clip I can see it on my iPhone mate using Tapatalk not sure about via the web though.

    Just edited it and reposted the link via the website hopefully that works. It the issue is posting links via Tapatalk perhaps.

    Steaksy


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Pro Q Excel Elite 20 with extra stacker and roti kit, Hibachi Dragon, Maverick ET-735


  • today 41C in Melbourne might wait lol

    total fire ban today

    Big Green Egg - Asmoke Pellet Grill - Weber Kettle - Maximus Pizza Oven - Dragon Hibachi - Ziggy Portable - baby kamado - Grillz 2 burner - Cobb BBQ - Converted Gas Bottle Spit - Charbroil Grill2go - Anova sous vide - Digi Q controller - plus Tip Top Temp - Smokeware cap - Grill Grates

  • Cheers steaksy can see the clip in your original post, and the one I quoted obviously doesn't work. I'll test that one on a browser when I get a chance.

    Actually can't view whatever gumb posted either duh. Maybe it is my stupid phone

    Sent from my GT-I9195T using Tapatalk

    Weber Q3200, Weber Original Premium Kettle

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