Thanksgiving Safety with Spider Grills

We want the only thing smoking to be your dinner!

Dust off your carving knives and basters, it’s turkey time! Whether you’re gearing up for a whole smoked turkey on the Spider-22, bringing the sides with some smoked mac and cheese on the Venom, or doing something wholly your own, we want to make sure you remember how to grill safely. We’d hate for anyone to have to miss a football game.

General Grilling Safety

1. In another life, we here at Spider Grills may have tried FRYING a turkey on the Spider-22. All we can say from that hypothetical experience is that we don’t recommend you try that, and if you do, do so at your own risk. If you want to fry a turkey, google “turkey frying safety” and research carefully so you don’t become a statistic.

2. Always put your Spider-22 or Venom and kettle on a non-flammable surface and away from flammable materials. Hot ash or sparks can occasionally escape the kettle, especially at high heat.

3. Always cook in a well-ventilated area. Carbon Monoxide is real, people.

4. Don’t leave your Spider-22 or Venom completely unattended for long periods of time. We’ve built them to be safe, but we always recommend keeping a close eye on things, just in case.

5. Grills get hot. Keep kids and pets away from grills while operating and while cooling down.

6. You’ve got a brain for a reason, use common sense!

7. We recommend if you’re planning to use your Spider-22 or Venom on the big day, give them a good clean-up and test run this week. That way, if you discover any issues (a probe has gone bad, my hopper gasket is worn out, my power cord isn’t working, there’s a family of mice living in my hopper, etc.) you can contact us and we can get you fixed up before Thanksgiving.

Spider-22 Grilling Safety

1. Hey, I see you wondering if this could be used to fry a turkey. It can. Should you do it, we don’t recommend it.

2. Clean out your firebox completely before each cook. This means removing the ash cup, clearing any ash stuck in the firebox, and making sure the fire nozzle (the bit that sticks up into the kettle) is clear as well. Failure to clean this out properly can lead to a backburn into the hopper and a bad day for your turkey.

3. Limit high-temperature cooking (400-500°F) to 3 hours at a time. If you need to cook at high temps longer than this, shut down the unit and clean out the firebox (carefully, it’s gonna be hot) every 3 hours.

4. Don’t ever leave the hopper lid open for longer than it takes to quickly refill the hopper. The hopper lid should stay tightly sealed. If you notice smoke escaping the hopper lid, shut down the unit and contact us here at Spider Grills.

5. If your hopper ever runs completely out of pellets and the temperature starts falling, it’s best to shut the unit down, clean out the firebox, and restart from scratch. The sudden intro of fresh pellets will cause a smoky mess otherwise.

Venom Grilling Safety

1. Hey, maybe don’t use the Venom to fry a turkey either, just saying.

2. Do your best to keep hot coals from falling into the ash bucket of your Venom. Too many excess coals in the ash bucket can lead to warping or even damage your control board. If you notice hot coals smoldering in the bucket, carefully remove the ash bucket and place the coals somewhere safe to cool down.

3. Speaking of hot coals, NEVER put hot coals into a trash can or dumpster. Always double-check check coals and ash are cool and completely snuffed out before disposing of them. Just trust us on this one.

   

Happy Thanksgiving from Spider Grills

We hope you and yours have a day full of thankful hearts and bellies full of good BBQ. From all of us at Spider Grills, Happy Thanksgiving!