Today we're taking a deep dive into the Spider Grills Huntsman, now available in both original and GIANT. Is it a kettle or is it a kamado? Is this a grill with an identity crisis, or has Spider Grills given us the best of both worlds?
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Kettle Grill, Kamado Grill, or both?
Is The Huntsman a Kettle Grill?
Does it use charcoal as fuel? Yes.
Is it spherical in shape? Yes.
Does it have a rounded lid that reflects the heat back down onto the food? Yes.
Does it have top and bottom vents to control airflow? Yes.
The Huntsman is in fact a kettle grill. However, that's like saying that the Taj Mahal is a building. It is by definition; but it's so much more.
Main Similarities between The Huntsman and kettle grills:
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Is the Huntsman a Kamado Grill?
Most people think of ceramic egg-shaped grills when they think of a kamado. However, we learned in our last kamado roundup that Kamado style grills are not limited to only ceramic. The Blaze Aluminum and the Everdure 4K both broke the ceramic mold and yet are both considered kamados. So is The Huntsman a kamado grill? Well, that's a little complicated. Let's look at some of the characteristics of kamado style grills to decide.
Heat Retention
Because of their (often ceramic) super thick walls, kamado grills are known for their superb heat retention. They can take a little longer to heat up, but once they do, they are excellent at maintaining heat.
Fuel Efficiency
Because of their advanced insulation, kamado style grills can run longer on less charcoal. Also, once a cook is complete you have the capability of closing down all the vents to extinguish the fire and preserve any remaining fuel to be used again in the next cook.
Durability
Kamado grills typically come with a higher price tag, but they're built with heavy duty materials that will stand the test of time. With proper maintenance, occasional replacement of the gasket, and protection from a strong gust of wind knocking it off your patio, kamado grills will last a lifetime.
While The Huntsman maintains heat and is significantly more efficient than a kettle, it was not quite as efficient as a kamado. As far as durability is concerned, I have no doubt the grill itself will last forever; it's got 5mm Carbon Steel walls. However my favorite feature of The Huntsman is most likely the very "weakness" that will retire this grill sooner than a kamado.
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Charcoal Grilling With Technology
If there's one thing that really differentiates this grill from both a kettle and a kamado, it's the digital controller that comes in the box.
Sure, you can add a fan controller to a kamado, but it's almost always a third party controller fan, and I have problems eliminating extra air getting in while using many of them.
You can also use a controller fan in a kettle grill, but most of them require drilling into the kettle, and I don't know about you, but I don't like making new holes in my grills.
The Huntsman uses the Venom temperature controller and it fits tight to the bottom of the grill.
The Venom Controller
The Venom Controller was originally designed to be an add-on product to accompany a 22" Weber® Kettle Grill. It offers PID temperature control and a built-in fan to manage your charcoal fire and temperatures.
With The Huntsman, the Venom Controller is built right into the grill from the get go. I love that there's an oven grade gasket that surrounds everywhere that comes in contact with the Spider Huntsman to keep it well-sealed.
The range of the temperature controller is 150°-700° and it includes 2 wired meat probes to monitor internal temperatures of your food while it's on the grill.
We cooked with this grill in the below freezing temperatures of January and February in Indiana, and let me just say that digitally controlled grills are my favorite grills to test during the winter months.
We cooked low and slow by setting up an indirect two zone fire and made some Pork Protocol pork belly burnt ends. The pork went straight on the grill grate opposite where we built the fire, and we set the grill temperature to 275°... from inside the house.
The Huntsman grill did all the heavy lifting during that cook while I stayed nice and warm inside. I didn't have to make any manual adjustments and the Venom controller kept the temperature steady the entire time.
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The Spider Grills App
I found the app really user friendly and I was a big fan of the pause feature that I could engage whenever I opened the grill to work with my food. That kept the fan from kicking up my fire thinking the grill was losing heat. The pause feature was easy to engage and very effective.
Direct vs. Indirect Cooking
Low and slow smoking is something that the Huntsman can do out of the box as long as you set it up for indirect cooking. However, Spider Grills has recently launched their Next Level Lower Cooking Surface Kit that adds a second level with 2 half moon ceramic deflector plate system.
Direct high heat searing is a no-brainer with this grill. The distance from the cooking grates to the coals is minimal compared to a kamado.
Things we love about The Huntsman kettle kamado grill
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Things we don't love about The Huntsman Kettle Kamado
Spider Grills Huntsman Review
If you're in the market for either a kettle grill or a kamado grill, I would give The Huntsman a serious look. It's more than a kettle, and can run with many of the kamados we've tested here at The Barbecue Lab.
Its innovative design bridges the gap between traditional kettle grills and high-end kamados, offering excellent heat retention and fuel efficiency. If you're looking for a new grill that can handle a wide range of outdoor cooking styles while also being heavy duty and easy to manage, the Huntsman is definitely worth considering.
The ease of use paired with all the benefits of cooking with charcoal make this grill a versatile option for backyard cooks who want ease and flexibility without sacrificing performance or flavor.
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Introducing: The Giant Huntsman
The Spider Grills Huntsman won our best kettle grill roundup last year, and some consumers had thoughts about whether the original design was too small. Spider Grills just released the Giant Huntsman... a 26 inch version that supposedly everyone has been asking for...but is it too big? Just the right size? What's different from the regular Huntsman, and what's the same?
They both have the Venom Control Board to set and maintain cooking temperatures from 250°-700°F. They both have app-connected temperature control using Bluetooth and wifi.
They're both made with 5mm thick carbon steel and have heavy-duty stainless steel cooking grates. Both grills have the same 7.5-inch distance between the charcoal and cooking grates, as well as a front access charcoal door to add charcoal without lifting the lid.
Ash cleanup is handled on both with a removable ash pan that locks into place. They both come with one Venom-compatible meat probe, an ash tool, and a hardware assembly kit. Neither model has side shelves out of the box, but they are available as an extra accessory.
Here's what's new or different:
Original Huntsman
Giant Huntsman
Benefits of Larger diameter
There are obviously benefits and drawbacks to the Giant Huntsman having a larger capacity.
For me, it makes 2 zone cooking easier. I'm only using half the grate for food, and half the grate for charcoal. It's the way I like to cook chicken wings, brats, chicken drumsticks and more. The giant simply allows for more food on the half grate without charcoal underneath. It feels like overkill though, when you're just cooking for 1 or 2 people.
In those cases, we just lit a smaller pile of charcoal in the zone we actually needed. Most days, it's just Melissa and I here at The Lab, and most of the cooking we do on the channel ends up being lunch for the two of us or dinner to bring home for our family of 4.
To test out a two zone reverse-sear we really took one for the team and cooked up a couple of ribeyes one day. I lit about a half a chimney of charcoal and set the temperature to 250°.
Using the included temperature probe, we let it ride on the indirect side until the app notified me the steaks had reached 115°. I pulled the steaks off to rest, added the left grate, and kicked the grill up to 600. After a few minutes, the Huntsman was hot enough, and I was able to get an incredible sear directly over the lit coals.
Next-Level Cooking System
If cooking two-zone isn't your thing and you'd rather use a deflector, both models allow full-grate indirect cooking using the Next Level cooking system you can get as an add-on. We smoked a full packer brisket and a bone-in pork butt using both deflectors for an entire indirect top grate. My goal was to try and knock these out during a work day, so I set the Giant to 275 to move things along. Here's how things looked after 5 hours in the smoke before we wrapped each one.
They turned out pretty well for the first time using it, but I did end up with the bottom of each getting pretty crusty because of what I'm assuming is a close proximity to the deflector stones and me running at 275. If I was cooking at home with more time, I would have gone with 200 or 225, but I learned something on this cook for future tests.
Overnight Cook
Trying to finish a pork butt during the workday isn't something I usually try to pull off, and instead I like to cook my pork butts overnight, so I gave it a go on the Giant Huntsman.
I drove to The Lab around 9:30pm and fired up the Huntsman for a 12-hour cook at 195°. I filled the bottom of the grill with charcoal briquettes and set half of a deflector on the right side so I could cook indirectly. I lit the charcoal with the Grill Gun in just 1 spot so the grill could control the flame and how much charcoal was lit, and the grill came up to temperature in about 20 minutes. I set the pork in place, closed the lid, and made sure to hit the activation button so I could control the grill remotely from home overnight.
The next morning, temps were holding strong until right around the 11-hour mark when the charcoal started to fade. We arrived at work, refreshed the charcoal, and set the grill to 250 to finish our dinner for the family.
Pro Tip: if you cook overnight and have a slow cooker, once it's hit your desired temperature, just drop the pork into the cooker and hit warm and it'll hold until dinner. I think 11 hours is darn near incredible for an overnight cook with charcoal, and the smoke flavor was much more prevalent than what I'm used to on a pellet grill.
Which Huntsman Grill Is Right For Me?
The one question that I think I can answer that would be the most helpful for you as you decide which grill to put in your backyard is this. Is the Giant too big or the Regular too small for what I need I'm a firm believer that getting the size right when you buy a grill is one of the determining factors in you loving or hating your grill in years to come, so let's figure it out.
Testing the Giant, I needed to cook only 4 burgers, so I filled 1/4 of the grill with charcoal and just lit that section for burgers. I didn't need the whole grate for 4 burgers, really just half of a half, and you can make a smaller fire and grill without using an entire bag of charcoal.
You can also use a smaller pile of charcoal in the middle of the grill like I did for two NY strip. It's the same amount of charcoal I'd use in the original Huntsman, but just piled together for a smaller sear zone.
Of course, there's the added benefit of being able to go big when you're entertaining. For comparison, the Kamado Joe Big Joe has 450 square inches, and the Giant Huntsman has 508. The original Huntsman has 363 square inches, and a Big Green Egg has 262. In both cases, these grills give you more space than a kamado and they cost less.
During the bratwurst cook, I had 14 brats on half of the grate, and I estimate that I had room for another 3 for 17 brats per half grate. That's 34 brats on the Giant Huntsman at a time. If you're smoking low and slow, the Giant will get you 2 briskets or 4 pork butts without breaking a sweat, and it's 1 brisket or 2 pork butts on the original without cramming everything together and killing all airflow.
If you're cooking for a family of 4 and will occasionally entertain another family, the Huntsman is going to be the right size for you. If you're cooking for a large family or like to entertain groups of 12 or more frequently, you'll appreciate the extra space of the Giant Huntsman.
I have a lot of grills to choose from here at The Barbecue Lab, and when it comes to charcoal grills, I reach for the Huntsman first. Now I love that the Giant Huntsman expands on an already great charcoal grill.
