Gonna Pick this up tomorrow


 
We have some Ninjas at our houses and I don't have anything bad to say about either of them. We actually have two of the CREAMI ice cream maker. A delicious healthy alternative to ice cream that you can do a lot with and a blender. My wife actually like the blender better than my Vitamix 750 professional.
 
Yeah, Ninja is one of those companies like OXO. They see specific "needs" then craft an item to that. May not be the highest quality thing $$$ can buy and they all come from China (sorry to the h8ter(s) here). But they typically get things done quite well.
 
Josh Dekubber said:
We have some Ninjas at our houses and I don't have anything bad to say about either of them. We actually have two of the CREAMI ice cream maker. A delicious healthy alternative to ice cream that you can do a lot with and a blender. My wife actually like the blender better than my Vitamix 750 professional.
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We bought our Intelli-Sense in January 2018 and it still serves us very well. Purchased several other Ninja products since that time.
 
My brother in-law wants to get a smoker and wants a Green Mountain like his brothers. I want to get him one but seems like none of the mainstream pellet grills are built very well. At least it seems that way. I understand that some of them have excellent customer service but I'd prefer a better built product than relying on customer service for replacement parts. Anyways maybe this Ninja would be a good start for him. Also maybe I try it out before I give it to him. Seems interesting and eventually I want to experiment with charcoal and pellet grills. I'll never replace my gassers but I'd like to try some different stuff.
 
There are also 2 models in the larger size OG900 and OG951
The Ninja Woodfire ProConnect XL and the Ninja Woodfire Pro Connect Premium XL are both Wi-Fi connected grills that allow you to monitor and control your cook from your phone. The Premium XL also features smoke control and air frying versatility. Reviews say both grills are easy to clean and have good temperature regulation.
I have the OG951 but I'm hard pressed to say if I'd have actually chosen one over the other except for wanting the larger sized one
 
BFletcher said:
This comes in handy:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0C9NLNPS8/?tag=tvwb-20
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So I ordered this and it came yesterday. I'm gonna do one of those nice large beef back ribs I buy over at Costco. So I am gonna put that rack to the test. Looks too like the disposable drip pan liners are the same as Weber uses on Q and Genesis. Though I have not measured yet. But I have a huge box full of them :D I use them on the Q, & Big Z as well
 
LMichaels said:
So I ordered this and it came yesterday. I'm gonna do one of those nice large beef back ribs I buy over at Costco. So I am gonna put that rack to the test. Looks too like the disposable drip pan liners are the same as Weber uses on Q and Genesis. Though I have not measured yet. But I have a huge box full of them :D I use them on the Q, & Big Z as well
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Yes, I use the same drip pans on the Ninja and Q. Enjoy your beef rib smoke!
 
So, I've noticed, a couple "oddities". If I set it up to "smoker" and have a temp set. I.E. 250, and I use a meat probe. So, last night I set it for 200, smoker, I used one of the built in temp probes plus my Chef IQ. Well, unit warms up, the internal probe tells me temp is rock steady at 200, but Ninja meat probe is climbing faster than a fighter jet off the deck. Yet the Chef IQ is reading MUCH cooler i.e. last night I had the Ninja probe in and it just shot up to 140 while Chef IQ was showing like 70. And Chef IQ ambient sensor was way over 200. Up to like 275. So, I dialed the Ninja back a bit to 170. And the Chef IQ was holding pretty stable at 250, and was beginning to indicate meat temps getting to 140. Meanwhile Ninja probe temp hung at 140. Then Chef IQ ambient began dropping. Eventually (30-45 minutes) Chef IQ ambient and ninja readout agreed. So, I set Ninja back up to 240. And Chef IQ dutifully followed and was right in lock step with what I dialed in on the Ninja.
So, it seems Ninja has to get a fairly high temp, then dial itself back. And once it does it is rock steady and accurate.
Just another thing I have to get used to. But, otherwise it did a nice job. I did over salt my rib :( but it had good smoke on it, and was quite good. Except a little "tougher" than if I'd cooked it on a pit. I think that initial high heat may have toughened it some.
More experimentations is needed :D
 
You already know this but when comparing two probes in that way we need to also be mindful of possible variances in the refresh rate between probes. Unfortunately, we may not always have access to the specs that show refresh rates.
 
Well I am learning this thing a little better. Currently have a piece of pork belly on it for this evenings supper. Currently been running on "Smoker" setting. Ambient on my Chef IQ has been hovering between 235-245 and temp control is set to 225. Oddly if temp control is set down to 200 it'll run 175-190/195. So it seems once you ask it to maintain over 200, it likes to run 10-20 deg hotter. It's fine though as belly is fairly forgiving. I am not using the Ninja built in probe(s) as I just like the Chef IQ a bit better. Though, to my understanding if you set a target temp on the Ninja probes it will shut down if you ask it to cook to temp. But, yet another function I've not figured out yet
 
Here are a couple history graphs from my Chef IQ. One is from last night on the little Woodfire, the other is from a cook on Big Z Note the ambient temp lines. Where Big Z stayed pretty close with minor variations (one little drop toward the end is when I did open it and rotate the beef), compared to how the Woodfire regulated the temp.
I believe it's because unlike a PID controlled wood burner, which can actually vary the "burn" to control the heat i.e. adding more or less fuel to control, the Woodfire does not use "combustion" but electric. And it's a very simple "all on or all off" affair, hoping to average close to the target. BTW the sudden drop was because I noted the temps were "getting away a little" so I dialed the control back from 225 to 200.
Screenshot_20241230_061726_CHEF iQ.jpgScreenshot_20241230_061802_CHEF iQ.jpg
 
LMichaels said:
Here are a couple history graphs from my Chef IQ. One is from last night on the little Woodfire, the other is from a cook on Big Z Note the ambient temp lines. Where Big Z stayed pretty close with minor variations (one little drop toward the end is when I did open it and rotate the beef), compared to how the Woodfire regulated the temp.
I believe it's because unlike a PID controlled wood burner, which can actually vary the "burn" to control the heat i.e. adding more or less fuel to control, the Woodfire does not use "combustion" but electric. And it's a very simple "all on or all off" affair, hoping to average close to the target. BTW the sudden drop was because I noted the temps were "getting away a little" so I dialed the control back from 225 to 200.
View attachment 105966View attachment 105967
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Makes sense as most thermostatically controlled electric and gas devices (ovens, heaters) use the same principle I would think. They only have on / off. The only exceptions would be devices with variable speed fans, augers, etc.
 
So Larry, how is the build quality of your Ninja-think it will hold up? We have the processor which I use for smoothies etc and it's been great for 3-4 years. Only criticism I heard of the Woodfire when it first came out was smoke not as much as a big pellet grill, but what do you expect? Seems like a great concept, and I'm starting to like smaller and simpler (Q1200 and Recteq bullseye).Jon has had the original model 700 for awhile and was always complimentary of its quality.
 
Honestly build quality seems really good. Almost seems way "over bult". If you look at things like the hinges on the lid, how heavy the aluminum castings are, the thing seriously seems built like a tank. As for smoke output, I find it pretty amazing at the quantity of smoke and the length of time one little container generates really good smoke. Night I did the wings I let it go and it seemed to be putting out very well for 90 minutes, I did some pork belly in it and it generated smoke for a very long time on one fill.
Honestly as a whole Ninja products have really surprised me with how well made and thought out they are and seem to fill these little "niches" no one else thinks of like our fold up air fryer/toaster oven.
I also looked at the smaller original Woodfire and found the same well made quality and additionally the outdoor Ninja woodfire oven seems equally a little "tank" of a build.
I know the weight of this little grill is surprisingly out of proportion to it's size. You look at it and think "yeah 15-20lbs max" and it's more like 40lbs.
So, IDK I think they're on to something with their products
 
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