Green Mountain Grills Daniel Boone Wood Pellet Grill

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This week’s review is on the Daniel Boone from Green Mountain Grills.

The Daniel Boone is a wood pellet grill with a long-lasting powder coated finish and a primary cooking area of 432 sq. inches.

It has a nice peaked lid with 13.5 inches of headroom, which is great for when you’re cooking whole chickens, turkey or for when using a rib rack.

The Daniel Boone is Made in China and the overall dimensions of the grill are (H x W x D) 51″ x 56″ x 24″ and the grill weighs 154 pounds.

Below is pictures of everything that was included in the shipping box. It took me less than an hour to put the grill together.

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The Daniel Boone comes with a meat probe that reports the internal temperature of the meat being cooked to the digital control read-out on the grill.

I was also sent the optional remote control which works up to 100 feet away through walls and windows etc.

The remote allows you to adjust the temperature setting of the grill right from the remote and displays the temperature of the grill and the temperature of the meat you’re cooking as well.

This remote also displays “FUEL” on the screen when the low pellet alarm goes off and has a chirp sound to notify you.

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I was also sent the optional form-fitted grill cover which is great to help protect the grill from the elements.

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Below are pictures of the front and back of the Daniel Boone once I had it fully assembled.

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The Daniel Boone has nice sturdy hard rubber tires and also locking front casters. This made it very easy for me to move from inside the garage to out front of the house to cook.

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The Daniel Boone has a digital control and a temperature range of 150°F to 500°F (with 5 degree increments).

It also has a Sense-Mate thermal sensor that automatically kicks the grill into “Turbo” mode when it’s cold outside and will help the cooker get up to operating temperature much faster.

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I like that the Daniel Boone has a pre-drilled hole to run the meat probe through. This can be seen in the picture below.

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The Daniel Boone has a side mounted 16-pound capacity pellet hopper and a positive pressure fan which keeps sparks out of the auger to keep from having a hopper fire.

This grill also has a low pellet alarm which goes off when pellets get low in the hopper.

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Now let’s take a look inside the grill.

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Below is a picture inside the Daniel Boone showing the firepot.

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The firepot has vertical grooves cut evenly on its sides so that the air “whirlwinds” around the fire and gives it a much more complete combustion due to increased air circulation. This “cyclone” effect means much more efficient pellet usage.

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Below is a picture showing the heat shield in place.

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The Daniel Boone also comes with two wind shields. I chose not to use them for my review since they’re optional when using this grill.

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Below is a picture of the grease tray installed.

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Again the Daniel Boone has 432 sq. inches of primary cooking area and comes with stainless steel cooking grates.

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For my first cook on the Daniel Boone I decided on smoking a 6 1/2 pound pork butt rubbed with Killer Hogs The BBQ Rub.

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I then went outside and made sure the pellet hopper was topped off with Green Mountain Hardwood Premium Fruitwood Blend Cooking Pellets.

After that I plugged in the cord from the grill into the outside outlet and turned on the Daniel Boone.

Once the grill is turned on the controller goes through three cycles. You can see what the three cycles are in the picture below.

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After around 6 1/2 minutes the three cycles were finished and I set the grill to 250°F.

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Once the grill was up to 250°F I ran the meat probe through the hole in the side of the grill and placed the pork butt inside with the meat probe inside of it.

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Below is a picture of the remote while I was using it well inside the house during my overnight cook.

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Here’s a picture of the pork butt 3/4 the way through the cook. The Daniel Boone held very steady right at around 250°F for the full cook.

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After around 10 1/2 hours the pork butt reached an internal temperature of 198°F and was ready to come off the grill to rest for around an hour.

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Once I got the pork butt off the grill to rest, I put the Daniel Boone into “Fan Only” mode. This is good to do when you’re finished cooking because it burns up most of the pellets left in the firepot. It also blows the ash out of the firepot as well and serves as an extended safety feature.

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After letting the pork butt rest in a cooler for about an hour, it was time to pull it for our family cookout. The pulled pork was very delicious and my family and I really loved it!

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For my second cook on the Daniel Boone I decided on grilling some pork chops. I followed the same start-up steps as the first cook and once the grill had reached 450°F I placed on the pork chops.

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Once the pork chops were done I removed them from the grill and brought them into the house for my family and I to eat. The pork chops were very moist and juicy and perfectly cooked. My family and I really enjoyed them!

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For my final cook on the Daniel Boone I decided on smoking a whole 5 pound chicken.  Again I followed the same start-up steps and once the grill was up to 250°F I placed on the chicken and also put the meat probe into the thigh of the chicken.

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Once the chicken thigh had reached an internal temperature of 170°F it was time to remove from the grill and bring inside the house to eat.

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The chicken was very moist and juicy and had a wonderful flavor. I’m guessing my family also enjoyed it since it was gone within a couple minutes. 🙂

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Final Thoughts

I have always been a big fan of pellet grills and the Daniel Boone met all my expectations. I was very impressed with the great quality build of this grill and love some of the standard features like the low pellet alarm and the included meat probe.

Everything I cooked on this pellet grill turned out delicious and I loved how easy this grill was to use. This grill also had excellent temperature control which is always a plus in my book!

In my opinion, the optional remote is a must buy with this grill. Who doesn’t like to be able to fully control your grill from inside the house, especially during the hot summer months we have here in the South.

This grill was easy to clean with a shop-vac and produced very little ash during my cooks.

If you’re in the market for a pellet grill, then I recommend looking into the Daniel Boone.

A list of local Green Mountain Grill dealers can be found at this link here.

For more information on the Green Mountain Grills please visit their FacebookTwitter and YouTube pages as well as their Website.

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Make sure to check back soon for another BBQ Tools & Tech Review!

Thanks!
Jay Prince
@Prince_of_Q

BBQ Tools & Tech Reviewer @ BBQSauceReviews.com

Comments

  1. Excellent review and write up. I like the detail you covered and of course the great pics. Someone just asked me about Trager’s yesterday at work because he had seen one at the wing contest this weekend and I told him to check out Yoder’s too. I’ll have to text him and tell him about GMG too, totally forgot about them when he asked.

    • Thanks Chris! I really appreciate it! It was a fun review to do and I really enjoyed using the Daniel Boone. Definitely tell him to check out the GMG’s. They’re a great quality product!

      I’ve also heard great things about the Yoder’s as well, but haven’t had the chance to cook on one as of yet. If he has any questions about the Daniel Boone, feel free to have him contact me and I’ll do my best to answer any questions he may have. Also let him know to check out the forum Pelletheads.com, some really great info on there. Thanks again Chris!

      ~Jay

  2. We were recently given the Daniel Boone as a gift from my Daddy. He also gave one to my sister & her husband. I cook on it literally 5 or more nights a week! We have done brisket, chicken, salmon, fajitas, even pizza! It’s all turned out amazing & extremely easy to use. We have it on our back patio & it’s nice that it’s very contained with little extremely hot surface area exposed, as we have 4 kids ranging in age from 14 months to 14 years! I’m still tracking down our remote, as it was overlooked in our shipment. We haven’t had any issue without it yet. Mind you, it’s only May, and as stated above, it may become an issue come July-August here in Texas when sitting in the pool will become a must! My husband was very impressed with the high quality of the cover & the sturdy construction. We absolutely love it & are looking at ordering the smaller one that has legs that fold up over the top as handles that you can carry like a cooler! My Daddy has 2. 1 is on his patio countertop, and the other on his boat. Very handy little grills. The grills are very efficient on pellet usage, especially at low temps. We are very pleased! One of the best gifts we have ever received!

  3. I have a DB and love it although I have a question when mine hit’s set piont it sounds like it is breathing (huffing and puffing) is that normal? I also noticed you used some type of screen when you cooked the boston butt, what was that?

    • Yes. The “huffing and puffing” is normal. It’s the fan system. As for the screen, I’m not sure. I don’t have one.

    • Yep, Andy that’s normal just like Becca mentioned above. As for the mat, it’s a product called Frogmats. Here’s a link to their website: http://frogmats.com It’s a great product and it keeps the meat you’re cooking from sticking to the grates and also great for smaller meat like bacon.

      ~Jay Prince

  4. Esteban Peña. says

    This is one of the best reviews I’ve read on this pellet grill. It’s very detailed and the pictures are awesome! Thank you, now i know what to buy!

    Esteban

  5. howdy. good review. how long did it take to get up to 450 degrees?

    imo gmg and traeger are the best to compare…yoder, mak and some of the other made in the usa models are in the next price point up. big issue with the traeger (had one for 10 years) imo is trying to do anything above 350 degrees. tough to get up that high and even tougher to maintain once you put the meat on. considering a gmg but want to know how it performs above 375 or so. thanks.

    • Pat, my GMG has no problem getting up to & maintaining 375-450 range. We’ve done pizza, chicken, flash cooked steaks, etc..at that temp range & it’s find. It will use a little more pellets, but nothing drastic. After the initial warm up, it takes about 10 mins to get up to 450.

  6. i have owned a Jim Bowie GMG grill for about half a year. we cook on it 4 nights a week. i switched from a custom wood/charcoal grill my uncle built for me. what a difference. really WOW !!!!!! is what i get from this machine now. i live in Florida and we do a contest called Pigs Fest once a year. did the Back Yard non professional side this year. scored a 7th and a 10th on pork butt and ribs. that was out of 150 plus participants in each class. we had alot of intrest and hard looks at the GMG. after the contest we can sell leftovers to the public. all of ours was gone in a hour. that was better than last years results. very pleased with GMG and our results.

  7. Forrest Milder says

    Thanks so much for the very detailed reviews! I especially like your descriptions of cooking a few things, and the photos are outstanding. I’m sure it takes a fair amount of effort to produce such a professional result, and it shows!

    Thanks again for these wonderfully useful reviews and keep up the great work!

  8. Awesome review! The pork butt looks amazing! Did you do anything to it while it was on the smoker? Spray it or add sauce to kee it from drying out?
    Thank you!

  9. Hello:
    I am an owner of the same grill as reviewed here. My experience with it is best described as “love and hate”.
    I got this grill about two and a half years ago. Few months in I had a malfunctioning controller. The customer service had it replaced really quickly. Then few more months the auger broke (when cooking for party of 20 for christmas dinner). Again was promptly replaced through warranty. Every since the unit seems to be working but I honestly say, I cannot truly rely on it.
    I find this grill works best at lower section of the temperature range. Pulled port at 250F seem to be working great. However trying to do a high temp cook at 500F is another story. First it never reaches 500F it is always 50F short. Second every now and then the unit “chokes” and this both figuratively and literally: the temperature starts falling, the smoke turns smelly, the meat is covered in black sooth and can be thrown out. Guess what meat you try do cook at 500F? Steak, yes 80.00$ worth of meat is not salvageable, again this is when trying to cook for a party of 10 or so. The picture of the chicken here on this site is great. I never was able to get mine that way, always seem like is covered in black oily substance. I have to get rid of the skin to make the chicken eatable.
    On low side 150F is also a problem as the unit is running about 20F-50F hotter. This is also a problem if you are trying to smoke fresh ham or sausage which at 200F starts boiling. So low temp cannot be trusted either.
    I have tried all tricks listed on their site, clean it, move the chimney cap, make sure the grill is not shut down without the fan mode etc. There really is no remedy. I was thinking of calling the support again but I am really not sure how to explain this as this is behaviour is very inconsistent. I ended up purchasing a side has grill that use as a backup when the GM is having a bad day. It also helps with my initial cooks of steaks (I’ll sear i on gas grill and transfer over to 300F cook on GM for few more minutes to get wood flavor) .
    So “love/hate” seems to be a very fitting description of this thing. I don’t think I would buy it again. I am stuck with this thing until it really dies one day and I don’t have to feel bad about getting a true smoker unit.

    • Dave Diller says

      Thanks Tomasz for giving some details about your GMG DB issues. I’ve debated with myself back and forth on buying this model, or the Camp Chef PG 24 MG. After reading what reviews I can get hold of, it seems when GMG lowered their prices and started with the WiFi option, it just wasn’t happening. Trying to put too many bells and whistles Sometimes backfires. Changing the augers to run on 12volts from the standard 120volts seems to have made a loud grinding soot monster out of this model. Too bad as it looks terrific, but I’m not buying something for its looks. It’s gotta work when you need it.

  10. Bruce Bjorkman says

    I’ve been a passionate pellet-head since 1991, starting out with a Traeger. I eventually went to work for Traeger until 2009, when they shifted all of their production to China. In November 2009, I got introduced to MAK Grills, and fell head over heels. It was able to get to temperatures the Traeger only dreamed of. The controller had so many cool features, and kept the grill temp @ +/- 10 degrees of the setpoint temp. Since 2009, its been the only pellet grill on my back patio.
    The thing that sets MAK a part from the other pellet grill brands is their level of innovation. They are the ones who are bringing new ideas to the pellet grill world. The others just copy MAK.
    And there’s something to be said about a company dedicated to keeping American’s working and supporting USA-based businesses.
    The MAK I bought in 2010 has been improved again and again, like using ceramic igniters instead of the failure-prone cartridge heater igniters. Their direct grilling feature (FlameZone) was the first in the pellet industry, and is still the standard today.
    Yes, they are pricey. But quality only hurts once. Just remember this, at night, when your pellet grill is sleeping….it’s dreaming of becoming a MAK!

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