September 18
Making Sense of the Options
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We offer an extensive list of options (upgrades) for expanding the usefulness of our smokers and grills. This guide will help you decide which ones are a good investment for you and customize your Meadow Creek with confidence.
Chicken Cooker Options
Flat Grate. A flat grate is a single-panel grate that replaces the rotating sandwich grate. The “sandwich” grate that comes with every chicken cooker has a set distance between the two panels, and some foods are either too thin or too thick to put in the sandwich grate. Besides, when you’re cooking items, such as steaks or burgers, you will probably want the fire closer to the food, so you will raise the charcoal pan and set it on the charcoal pan brackets (custom upgrade on some of the units). With the pan raised, you can no longer flip the standard sandwich grate.
This is where the flat grate comes in. On the BBQ26S and BBQ42 you can get by without a flat grate when you hook the top part of the sandwich grate onto the open lid. But even then, the flat grate is a little handier and you’re able to close the lid when you’re cooking to control your fire in case of flare-ups and capture some smoke.
Standard Grate Hooked Onto Lid
Flat Grate Over Raised Charcoal Pan
Griddle. Turn your barbecue into an all-day event! Add this heavy steel griddle to any chicken cooker and you’re ready to fry eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, and hash browns. Or have fun with burgers, fries, and anything else you can imagine frying!
Thermometer. You can add a calibratable thermometer to a chicken cooker lid to monitor the temperature in the grill. Consider this option if you prefer cooking by a thermometer instead of by the amount of fuel. This upgrade is only useful if your chicken cooker has a lid.
BBQ42 Options
Insulated. Insulation in the BBQ42 adds a sealed double wall to the firebox. (The lid won’t be insulated.) With insulation, you should be able to cook three rounds of chicken with one load of charcoal, instead of one round. This means serious charcoal savings if you use it to cook multiple batches in one setting.
Meadow Creek uses a quality high heat paint, but these pits endure a lot of intense heat. Insulation eliminates the problem of paint peeling from heat on the outside of the firebox, so it will take less repainting and maintenance.
Charcoal Pullout. The pullout is a drawer in the bottom of the pit. You can pull it out to add more charcoal or clean out the ashes. If you’ll be grilling all day long, this option will be very useful. With a charcoal pullout and a flat grate, the BBQ42 could even smoke pork butts!
Solid Tires. Swap out the pneumatic tires on your BBQ42 for a set of solid tires to eliminate the possibility of a flat.
BBQ26S Options
Hitch-N-Grill Bracket. This bracket is a cool gadget for mounting a BBQ26S to the hitch of your truck or SUV. Please note that it doesn’t work well on a mini-van loaded for vacation or any vehicle with a low hitch.
Trailers Only
Slideout Grates. The slideout grates upgrade puts the grate on a track that slides over the side of the trailer for convenient loading and unloading. Standard grates normally have to be loaded elsewhere and carried to and from their cooking position by two people walking on either side of the trailer. This is hard to do if your trailer has a roof (because of the supporting frame), or when you’re parked really close to a building or cooking alone. (Old style expanded metal grate shown.)
Additional Pits. Need more cooking space? We can add as many pits to your trailer as you want.
Lids. Without lids, it takes a lot of flipping when your fire gets frisky. The lids make fire control a breeze and virtually eliminate the stress when you’re aiming for perfect results. In some places, you may also be required to cook with the meat covered. Lids solve that problem too. The lids upgrade on the trailer pits includes a double partition between the pits to make room for the lids.
Miscellaneous Options
Stainless Steel Lid. The stainless steel lid turns the chicken cooker into a nice work table (when it’s not hot, of course) if you have it on a trailer with other equipment. This upgrade also adds the perfect accent to a stand-alone insulated BBQ42.
Taller Lid. Think you might want more clearance above your flat grate sometimes? Consider a taller lid. A taller lid increases clearance by 4” in the BBQ26S and 5” in the BBQ42.
This article is an excerpt from the Meadow Creek Buyer Guide.
Pig Roaster Options
Meadow Creek pig roasters are super versatile with a straightforward “personality.” They offer fewer upgrade options than the Meadow Creek smokers, yet they can smoke or grill anything you can throw on them.
The charcoal pullout (for charcoal-fired models) is the most popular of all the pig roaster options. Next are doors in lid, second tier grate, vinyl cover, and grill pan. We’ll cover these first.
Charcoal Pullout
Doors in Lid
Charcoal Pullout. The pullout is a drawer in the bottom of the cooker that slides out of the end. It’s perfect for adding more charcoal during the cook without opening the lid and removing the grate and drip pan. Plus it helps protect the bottom of your pig roaster from excessive heat. (For charcoal-fired models only.)
Doors in Lid. These little doors on the front side of the lid let you see and reach inside the cooker without opening the lid and losing so much heat. (Not available on the PR36.)
Second Tier Grate. The second tier grate sits on top of the main grate and nearly doubles your cooking surface for smaller items such as ribs, briskets, and pork butts. It’s a great investment if you’re going to cook a lot of foods beside whole pigs.
Second Tier Grate
Charcoal Grill Pan. Sometimes you might want to cook with direct heat. This grill pan turns the pig roaster into a hungry charcoal grill for cranking through hundreds of burgers, hot dogs, steaks, or whatever your heart desires.
Grill Pan
Charcoal Pan Insert for Gas Models
Chip Tray
Charcoal Pan Insert. There is a charcoal pan for both charcoal and gas models.
If you pass on the charcoal pullout, consider the insert to make clean up easier. This pan sits in the bottom of the roaster and holds the ashes. To access the pan, you will remove the cooking grate and the drip pan. When you’re done cooking, simply lift it out the top. It also adds another layer of steel under the fire, increasing the life of your pig roaster.
The charcoal pan for gas models straddles the burner and lets you fire the cooker with charcoal. There is a series of holes along the top for cooking with charcoal and gas at the same time. For example, you could start the cook with charcoal/wood to give your meat some smoke flavor; then, once it starts dropping in temperature, turn on the gas for the rest of the cooking period.
This article is an excerpt from the Meadow Creek Buyer Guide.
Rib Rack. Want to cook a pile of ribs? This rack holds ribs on edge so you can cook more at one time.
Solid Tires. Upgrade the pneumatic tires on your pig roaster (non-trailer models only) to a set of solid tires to eliminate the possibility of a flat.
Rib Rack
Chip Tray. The tray is 1’ x 2’ and sits on top of the burner (gas models only). It lets you add wood chips to generate light smoke in the roaster. Also consider the charcoal pan insert with holes above the burner (explained above) for more smoke in your gas pig roaster.
Propane Gas Tank. We offer a 43-pound tank without OPD and 30 or 40 pound tanks with OPD. They ship empty. You’ll need a tank if you choose a gas model, but you may choose to get one locally.
Tank Smoker Options
Meadow Creek’s tank smokers come with standard features that you’d have to pay extra for on many other brands, such as sliding stainless steel grates. You can deck them out even further with a long list of upgrades, including insulated firebox, stainless steel work shelves, and a sweet trim package.
Mounted Chicken Cooker. You can add a chicken cooker (BBQ26S or BBQ42) to the front of any TS trailer. This is a popular upgrade because it lets you grill things like chicken or sausage while you cook low and slow.
Trim Package. The trim package adds a touch of class with aluminum wheels and fenders and a stainless steel smokestack. Sharp!
Mounted Chicken Cooker on TS120
Trim Package
Stainless Steel Shelves. This upgrade replaces the standard expanded metal shelves with solid stainless steel. They keep juices from dripping down into hard to reach areas and are easy to clean. Besides, they look amazing!
Jerky Racks. This rack slides into the glide where the regular grate goes and is made of evenly-spaced rods to hold jerky strips.
Stainless Steel Shelf
Jerky Rack
Extra Grate in Smoker. Adds a third glide (permanent) and grate in the cooking chamber. Would be great for cooking thin items that don’t need much vertical space. You can easily remove the middle grate for projects where you need more space.
Extra Grate in Smoker
Extra Shelves in Warmer. The warming box comes standard with three stainless steel racks. These extra racks give you more shelf space.
This article is an excerpt from the Meadow Creek Buyer Guide.
Live Smoke in Warmer. The warming box and firebox are separated with a solid piece of metal. Live smoke puts an adjustable vent from the firebox to the warming box and a stack on top of the warming box, so you can cook meat with smoke in the warming box. Without it, you can still cook beans on the very bottom or keep your cooked meat warm.
Stack on box
Vent to control airflow from the firebox
Insulated Firebox. If you’ll be using your smoker a lot, you can pay off the insulation in a short time by charcoal savings alone. The amount of charcoal you save varies, but normally it will take 40–50% less charcoal.
The smoker temperature will be more consistent in cold weather, which means more fun cooking and cranking out awesome barbecue year-round!
Even though Meadow Creek uses high-heat paint, the paint has a hard time holding up where the heat is intense. With an insulated firebox, the firebox paint will last much longer because the outside will not get as hot. You will have less maintenance to do.
Insulated Firebox
Insulated Firebox Door
Charcoal Grill Pan. The grill pan slides into the glide for the bottom cooking grate and holds charcoal for cooking things like juicy burgers with direct heat. A great choice if you want a smoker that can grill too.
Charcoal Slideout Basket. This steel basket slides in a track in the firebox. It holds the coals away from the firebox walls, which helps extend the life of your firebox and the paint outside the firebox.
Rib Rack. This rack holds ribs on edge so you can cook more at a time.
Stainless Steel Lid for Woodbox. Makes a great table top. Available with or without hinges.
Charcoal Grill Pan
Charcoal Slideout Basket
Rib Rack on Standard Grate
Exceptions and Additions
Trim package is not available on the TS70P and TS120P; however, you can add a stainless steel smokestack on these models.
Vinyl cover on the TS500 is custom; price is not listed on our website.
You can swap the pneumatic tires on the TS70P with a set of solid tires to eliminate the possibility of a flat.
Custom Options
There are even more ways you can customize your smoker with “custom” options, upgrades with prices available upon request. These include an aluminum toolbox, mounted spare tire, or stainless steel warming box. Beyond that, you can quote a trailer with a custom floor plan with a fold-down roof and any configuration of grills and smokers you want.
SQ36 Smoker Options
Charcoal Grill Pan. The grill pan works like the grill pan for the tank smokers, but hangs under the main grate instead of sliding in the glide of the bottom grate.
Second Tier Grate. The second tier grate sits on top of the main grate and almost doubles your cooking surface. A highly recommended upgrade.
Insulated Firebox. See “Insulated Firebox” in the tank smoker section.
Solid Tires. Upgrade the pneumatic tires to a set of solid tires to eliminate the possibility of a flat.
Rib Rack. See “Rib Rack” in the tank smokers section.
Charcoal Slideout Basket. See “Charcoal Slideout Basket” in the tank smokers section.
Second Tier Grate
Box Smoker Options
Extra Grates. The BX50 comes standard with 4 grates 6” apart. You can add 3 extra grates, which will reduce the space between the grates to 3”. The BX25 comes with 3 grates approximately 4.5” apart. You can add 2 extra grates, which reduces the space to approximately 2.25”. Full briskets and pork butts will not fit with all the grates in use, but it gives you more cooking area for things like ribs.
Stainless Steel Interior. This replaces the painted interior with stainless steel for easier maintenance.
Rib Rack. See “Rib Rack” in the tank smokers section.
Custom Color. Standard color is black. You can upgrade to John Deere green, fire engine red, or blue.
Trailer Options
Fire Extinguisher Mount. A mount with a strap for securing a fire extinguisher to a chicken cooker trailer.
Replacement Wheel and Mount. It’s always a good idea to have a spare wheel on hand. You can even add a mount to your chicken cooker trailer.
Vinyl Cover. These covers are Amish-made in Lancaster County from tough vinyl material. If you will be storing your cooker outside or even in a covered area, a vinyl cover will help to keep it clean and dry. Otherwise, it will rust sooner and take more maintenance.
This article is an excerpt from the Meadow Creek Buyer Guide.
Tags
bbq smokers, chicken cookers, pig roasters, tank smokers