Lousiana Grills promises a radical overhaul of their original line with premium cooking and technological enhancements with the Black Label series.
Over the past two months, I’ve been putting the LG 1000 Black Label with WiFi through its paces, seeing how well it works as a grill and smoker.
Continue reading to find out whether the Black Label is the next step in pellet grilling progression or simply another barbecue in an increasingly crowded industry.
Louisiana Grills provided me with this grill for free in exchange for an honest assessment. My views and opinions are all my own.
Contents
- Louisiana Grills Black Label overview and first impressions
- Unboxing and setup
- Build quality
- Cooking on the Louisiana Grills Black Label
- Storage and prep areas
- Ease of cleaning
- Hopper capacity and pellet change out
- App performance and connectivity
- Technology and innovations
- Temperature variance and accuracy
- Other grills to consider
- Final verdict
- FAQs
- Are Louisiana Grills and Pit Boss the same?
- Who is Louisiana Grills made by?
- Which end of a pellet grill is the hottest?
- Can you use any pellets in a Louisiana grill?
- What is comparable to a Pit Boss?
- Are Louisiana Grills made in China?
- Who make the best grill?
- Who bought Traeger Grills?
- What is a good pellet brand?
Louisiana Grills Black Label overview and first impressions
If you are unfamiliar with the Louisiana Grills brand, it is part of the Dansons group, which also owns Pit Boss and Country Smokers.
Louisiana Grills are more upscale than Pit Boss, with superior build quality and correspondingly higher costs.
The Black Label series is available in three sizes (800, 1000, and 1200), as well as a vertical smoker option.
All of my testing was done on the middle 1000 size. Aside from the amount of space available, there are no variations between the models, however it is reasonable to presume that the bigger grills will burn somewhat more pellets each hour to maintain the same temperature.
All steel and electrical components are covered by a 5-year guarantee on Black Label grills. When it comes to pellet grill warranties, Louisiana has one of the longest. It’s great to see a firm stand behind their goods!
What I like:
- Great grill grates The porcelain-coated grill grates are thick and strong, producing excellent grill marks with no sticking.
- Food preparation area It is uncommon for businesses to offer a front shelf as standard equipment.
- Capability to burn Grill temperatures may easily surpass 600°F, and I measured over 1100°F while using the direct flame setting.
- Warranty Peace of mind is provided with a 5-year guarantee, which is longer than most other manufacturers.
What I don’t like:
- Incorrect display During testing, I discovered that the temperature shown on the grill did not always correspond to the actual temperature I was monitoring.
- Consumption of pellets Although this is not uncommon for a grill of this size, a bigger hopper would have been appreciated.
- There is no way to clear out the fire pot. Each time you clean this grill, you must remove all of the racks and use a shopvac.
- The absence of a smokestack The grill had vent holes on the rear rather than a chimney, which enabled wind to pass through and produce temperature changes.
- App functioning is average. The program covers the fundamentals well, but it lacks any novel features.
The Louisiana Black Label grill proved to be a reliable performer for both grilling and smoking.
I wouldn’t call it a daring overhaul. The grill does the essentials well, but it lacks a few good quality of life features, and the app experience is mediocre at best.
That being said, anybody searching for a long-lasting grill will be satisfied with this choice. The high temperature and high-quality grill grates make this an excellent choice for anybody who likes to grill and smoke.
Unboxing and setup
The grill came in a huge cardboard box with styrofoam, cardboard, and plastic wrapping around almost every element. Anyone would be impressed with the packaging done by Louisiana barbecues for their barbecues.
There was no evidence of metal to metal contact anywhere. I couldn’t detect any loose parts that were moving about within the main box or the grill fire box.
It took around 45 minutes to put everything together. The majority of this grill comes pre-assembled, so you just need to attach items like wheels and bottom storage racks. This was easy as pie.
There were no surprises or difficulties with the directions or the assembly. Although it was not essential, I did use a cordless drill to insert screws on occasion.
Build quality
This grill’s overall build quality is excellent. All of the pieces look to be strong and well-made. The black stainless steel handles are an excellent addition!
During the unpacking, I did find a few of minor flaws. The black coating on the foldable front shelf has a nick in it. I suspect this nick happened at the production site rather than during shipping because of how it was packed.
The porcelain on the top rack has a minor flaw. It’s likely that QA saw this and found it acceptable. I’m not certain. But it is my responsibility to properly examine everything and report back to you on what I find. That’s what I see!
After moving this grill about and utilizing it, the major theme I get from it is that it is strong. It’s hefty. The steel pieces are rather thick.
The grill is equipped with four heavy-duty lockable casters. This was quite useful in getting the barbecue into and out of my garage.
Nothing about this grill makes me nervous about components ripping up any time soon.
Cooking on the Louisiana Grills Black Label
The Black Label grills from Louisiana are exactly what you would expect from a pellet grill these days. It is quite simple to use. Fill with pellets, turn on, set your temperature, and go!
You may also modify the desired temperature at any moment using the display panel or the app. Start-up and shutdown are highly predictable and usually self-contained.
Overall grilling performance
When it comes to grilling, the Black Label is unquestionably the best. Without employing the direct flame mode, the grill can reach temperatures of up to 600°F. Direct flame mode may generate temperatures of up to 1100F (albeit over a smaller area).
This grill’s searing ability is among the greatest I’ve seen. Combine it with some excellent grates, and you’ve got yourself a terrific grilling machine!
A rare thing for pellet grll.
I also consider that the grill’s real temperature is higher than the specified setting. However, I have seen this in a number of pellet grills. It’s wise to be aware of this while shopping for a pellet grill.
Throughout the tests, the grill grates shone brightly.
They’re made of porcelain-coated cast iron and feel heavy and strong. Food came out readily from them. They are simple to clean and provide excellent grill marks.
char directly off the grill.all of the meal was steamedThese are among the greatest grates I’ve tried, delivering a terrific grilling and smoking experience while being simple to clean! A wire brush dipped in water was used to clean.
Overall smoking performance
While the Black Label grill may not blow the competitors away, it is an excellent smoker.
It has a very tight overall minute-to-minute temperature stability with a very limited range of variance. In my testing of various pellet grills, this seems to be the exception rather than the norm. Louisiana deserves praise for its effective fire control!
The large temperature fluctuations between the left, centre, and right sides of the grill are a minor drawback. If you’ve read my previous pellet grill reviews, you’ll know that this isn’t the only grill that exhibits this behavior, but it’ll be wonderful if manufacturers can find a method to balance the zones out.
I’d also want to point out that more smoke escapes from the lid’s edges than from the barrel’s vent holes.
The installation of a seal around the interior of the grill may have improved this. A good seal on the lid, I feel, would also assist the smoke remain longer and circulate more effectively within the grill. This may also reduce total pellet consumption.
Wind seems to blow through the vent openings at the rear of the grill, interfering with temperature stability. This, I think, would be avoided if the grill used a chimney instead of vent holes.
Storage and prep areas
The meal preparation area was fantastic! The fold-down front shelf is priceless and is often included as a pricey addition with other barbecues (cough Traeger cough).
I honestly feel that businesses are beginning to see that this is a feature that should be mandatory. I’m glad to see that Louisiana has stepped up to provide this with the grill rather than as an add-on.
Storage isn’t as excellent. Grills with a closed cart design appeal to me. You do receive a shelf to keep a few belongings off the ground, but it does not keep them out of the elements.
Ease of cleaning
This is an area where I’ve recently seen corporations unveil new technologies. When it comes to cleaning, the Black Label falls somewhere in the center. There’s nothing new here. Cleaning out the fire pot still necessitates the use of a shop vac. As a result of the pellet consumption of this grill, you must keep an eye on it since it rapidly fills up with ash.
The other components of cleaning are comparable. Vacuum the ash out of the fire barrel and clean up the drip cup on a regular basis. Wipe the exterior down from time to time.
Hopper capacity and pellet change out
At 18 pounds, the hopper capacity is enough. However, because to the high pellet consumption of this grill, it does not seem to be that large while in use. I realized that I had to keep a check on it more often since it consumed pellets quicker when grilling and smoking.
The pellet chute is neither fantastic nor bad for swapping out pellets. It’s simply… mediocre. It does function, however it takes some personal effort to pull the pellets out owing to where it is positioned on the pellet hopper.
Furthermore, because to the small drop gat mechanism it employs, I often found pellets caught on the bottom side of it throughout the changing process, making it hard to shut until all pellets were swept from the area.
Again, it’s not a bad concept, but I’ve seen better from other grills.
App performance and connectivity
I am pleased to report that I have no connection issues with this app. The downside is that the app’s features are just adequate.
Sure, it looks good, and it’s convenient to be able to adjust the grill temperature from the app. The app allows you to monitor the two grill-integrated plug-in meat probes and even set an alert to notify you when your target meal temperature has been attained.
One thing I found surprising is that the app does not inform you what temperature you really set the target meat probe at. It merely shows the current temperature of the food probe. There is no way to know what temperature you set the alarm at except to hope you recall.
I appreciate how the app will give you an alert to your phone when the grill achieves the required temperature and an alarm when the food probe reaches the desired temperature.
So there are some advantages here, but I believe they could improve the app to indicate the intended set temperature for the food sensors as well.
Google Play Store version 5. 5 on the Apple App Store and an even lower 1.9 on Google PlayThe Louisiana Grills app presently has a rating of 2.6 stars.
Technology and innovations
The Black Label series grills are a little lacking in terms of originality. The dedicated probe storage compartment in the hopper was the only meaningful novelty I saw. I’m nice to see them thinking about user conveniences, but I didn’t find this really helpful since I remove the idiot guard from the hopper of every grill that I test and use.
To me, the idiot guard is a major impediment to clearing all of the pellets out of the hopper, whether for changing flavors or purging the auger of pellets to avoid auger clog when the grill will not be used for a week or more. (I’ve had pellets swell and clog an auger before, and it’s NOT FUN TO FIX).
I also commend them for including a prime button on their control panel. Although I feel that this option should be STANDARD on all grills, I was pleased to see that Louisiana made it available to their consumers.
Temperature variance and accuracy
The meat probe quality on the Black Label seems to be standard. I have no reason to suppose they won’t survive long, but they’re also not very noteworthy.
They seem to read correctly, though. When placed into the same meat at the same spots, they matched up to within a few degrees with my Thermoworks temp probes. That tells me I can rely on their readings. This is not true for all pellet grills. There are some that I test that are off by considerably.
I did a number of my typical experiments to see how much temperature variation and pellet consumption you may anticipate.
Temperature setting accuracy/consistency test
| Grill Display Temp | Actual Temp |
|---|---|
| 225°F | 231°F (in middle of the grill) |
| 450°F | 476°F (in middle of grill) |
After a lot of grilling, I discovered that the temperature on the monitor was basically off. It is sluggish to react to actual temperature changes in the grill, thus I never found it useful.
However, at low temperatures, regardless of what the display said, the grill tended to be extremely precise with the specified goal temperature. I also discovered that it remained stable throughout time, shifting by no more than 7 degrees from its baseline temperature.
Yes, at higher temperatures, the display seems to be more off, but I’ve experienced this with MOST pellet grills.
Zone temperature variance test
| Grill Setting | Left | Middle | Right |
|---|---|---|---|
| 225°F | 232°F | 248°F | 248°F |
| 450°F | 482°F | 476°F | 508°F |
The right side of the grill is always hotter than the remainder of the grill. I believe this is because of the form and construction of the diffuser plate, as well as where the hot air flows out around it.
Searing temperature test
In direct flame mode, I reached 1097F. It’s scorching!
Pellet consumption test
At 225°F, the average consumption rate is 1.6 lb per hour.
At 450°F, the average consumption rate is 4.5 lb per hour.
Yes, this grill consumes a lot of pellets. However, it is a huge grill. Keep this in mind while choosing on the size of your barbecue. There is a catch!
Other grills to consider
This grill size competes directly with the Weber Smokefire EX6 that I reviewed before.
Both grills have a big cooking surface and a somewhat higher pellet consumption rate. I really preferred the Black Label grates over the Weber grates, while the Weber grates are not awful by any means.
Weber would undoubtedly benefit from technological advancements. They offer various novel features embedded into the app, such as a low pellet sensor, a smoke increase mode, and cook recipe options. Having said that, unless you buy extra components, the Smokefire lacks a food prep space.
Both of these grills maintain a consistent temperature. Though both offer searing capabilities, the Black Label series takes the lead with a direct searing mode capable of up to 1100F. I believe it is safe to say that these two are tough competitors!
Final verdict
The Louisiana Black Label grill proved to be a reliable performer for both grilling and smoking. Anyone searching for a sturdy barbecue that will endure for years will be delighted with this purchase.
Its lack of novel features, on the other hand, would not impress the tech-savvy population. If feeding and entertaining a big number of people is your goal, this grill’s huge cooking surface and high-quality grates will come in handy.
