Primo Grill Review

My quest for a ceramic grill started about 6 months ago. I wanted a grill that was very versatile,
used hardwood lump charcoal as its fuel source and would last a long time. These requirements
narrowed the field to two choices; The Big Green Egg and Primo. While both are great grills I
decided on the Primo Oval XL and I am glad I did.
 
When my Primo arrived on a freight truck it was very well packaged in a wooden crate. After a
careful inspection to make sure the ceramic was still in one piece, it was time to get the grill to
its new home. This is definitely not a one man job as the grill weighs 192 lbs. The nice thing
about this grill is that it requires very little assembly. The band assembly is factory installed
which is a big plus. The band assembly on the Big Green Egg is not, you must assemble this
yourself; and it isn‘t the easiest job, I have assembled many. The only item I needed to put
together was the cradle the grill sits in. That took about 15 minutes.

There are some other reasons I decided to go with the Primo Oval XL over The Big Green Egg.
First, I prefer the oval shape to the round. I do lots of ribs and the oval shape allows me to do
more racks of ribs lying flat on the grate than the round shape would. The Primo also offers a
wide range of accessories that allow you more flexibility when cooking. It has a cast iron firebox
divider that allows you to cook over direct heat and indirect heat at the same time by only having
charcoal in one half of the grill. It also helps conserve charcoal for smaller cooks. The main
cooking area uses two cooking grates. These grates have legs on them and when in the standard
position the cooking grate is flush with the lip of the ceramic shell. You can also flip the grates
over allowing you to get the food closer to the heat. Another great accessory is the extender
racks. These extend the already large cooking area of 400 sq. inches to up to 680 sq. inches.
Also, if you take one main grate and flip it over so the feet are up and add the extender grates
you can give yourself 4 different cooking levels. The accessories I use the most are the ceramic
heat reflector plates. These are placed over the charcoal and allow you to cook totally over
indirect heat. These are great for low and slow cooks. You can also install only one to allow you
to cook over direct heat on one half of the grill and indirect on the other.

I have only owned the Primo for about 5 months but in that time it has got quite a workout. As
with most ceramic grills the range of cooking is unmatched. You can easily hold temps as low as
200 degrees or well over 750 degrees. The temperature is regulated by the vents on the top and
bottom of the grill. With a little practice I was surprised how easy it was to dial in and maintain a
certain temperature. I have done cooks as long as 15 hours and the temperature didn’t move
more than 5-10 degrees.
I have also found that the ceramic is a great insulator and helps keep your food moist. Regardless
of the outside temperatures the Primo maintains and recovers heat loss very well. Colder
temperatures just don’t have any effect. This also helps conserve fuel. On my last low and slow
cook I filled the firebox with Wicked Good Lump Charcoal and held 225 for 15 hours. When I
was done less than half of the charcoal was gone. Now, this also has to do with the quality of
charcoal you use, and I haven’t found anything that comes close to the Wicked Good brand, but
that is for another review.

There are only a couple negatives I have found using this grill. First, the weight. This thing is a
beast and I have already hauled it to one competition and have three more on the calendar this
year. However, this grill isn’t meant to be a portable grill, I have just chose to make it one so I
can’t really call this a negative. Second, the felt gasket that lines the top and bottom edges of the
grill. The first time I did a pizza I had the grill close to 700 degrees and a portion of the gasket
melted off. I rarely cook this hot and the gasket is easily replaced but if you plan on doing a lot
of high heat cooks this could be a problem. You can find some high heat gasket replacements,
not sold by Primo, on the web. The only other item that I think could be improved is the cradle.
It doesn’t seem to support the grill as well as it could. I only purchased this because I am
planning on building a custom table for the grill and I needed something until then.

 
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with the Primo and would easily recommend it to anyone. The
customer service is great and the grill is backed by a great warranty. If you are in the market for
a ceramic grill I highly recommend the Primo Oval XL.

Bryan E.
 
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Primo Grill Review | Yardandpool.com