Anyone got any advice about pellet smokers? Been thinking about getting one.
Pellet smokers any good?
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A friend of mine has one and loves it. He was borrowing a Traeger but ended up buying a Green Mountain on a Father's Day sale. I am not really into smoked food personally, but the ribs come out awesome. Some things aren't as good smoked compared to sous vide, like a tri tip for example.
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
Originally Posted By: LotI
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Sounds defective, if you got it cheap I would have given them a chance to fix it, but at least you were made whole.
Originally Posted By: LotI
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
A dude I watch on youtube, The Wolfe Pit is sponsored by Grilla and he actually asked his audience if it was OK to accept the sponsorship. I'd roll with them because of that, but check out his channel because made a few vids with it and he's not a paid shill by any means.
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Sounds defective, if you got it cheap I would have given them a chance to fix it, but at least you were made whole.
Originally Posted By: LotI
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
A dude I watch on youtube, The Wolfe Pit is sponsored by Grilla and he actually asked his audience if it was OK to accept the sponsorship. I'd roll with them because of that, but check out his channel because made a few vids with it and he's not a paid shill by any means.
An older guy i work with is from Texas and says without a doubt they are the best. He recommended one from Walmart.. and is so into it he is going to buy another one for his stay just because he says its so well worth it.
Originally Posted By: LotI
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
If you are willing to spend $1K, I think you are better off with a Kamado style smoker such as the Kamado Joe. I have owned my KJ for several months and the construction of the unit is much better than similarly priced pellet smokers.
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
If you are willing to spend $1K, I think you are better off with a Kamado style smoker such as the Kamado Joe. I have owned my KJ for several months and the construction of the unit is much better than similarly priced pellet smokers.
We have a Green Mountain grill and like it for the few things we use it for, mainly baby back ribs. Easy to use, and we operate via the app. Also bought/installed the blanket and seems to save on pellet usage. No issues with it.
For other needs, we have Weber grills, Masterbuilt smoker etc.
For other needs, we have Weber grills, Masterbuilt smoker etc.
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: LotI
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
If you are willing to spend $1K, I think you are better off with a Kamado style smoker such as the Kamado Joe. I have owned my KJ for several months and the construction of the unit is much better than similarly priced pellet smokers.
I was leaning that way but I like the idea of a temperature-controlled wood-fired oven, hence the pellet grill.
I already have a Weber kettle, Weber Smoky Mountain, Solaire IR gas grill and an electric grill.
Originally Posted By: LotI
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
If you are willing to spend $1K, I think you are better off with a Kamado style smoker such as the Kamado Joe. I have owned my KJ for several months and the construction of the unit is much better than similarly priced pellet smokers.
I was leaning that way but I like the idea of a temperature-controlled wood-fired oven, hence the pellet grill.
I already have a Weber kettle, Weber Smoky Mountain, Solaire IR gas grill and an electric grill.
Originally Posted By: LotI
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: LotI
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
If you are willing to spend $1K, I think you are better off with a Kamado style smoker such as the Kamado Joe. I have owned my KJ for several months and the construction of the unit is much better than similarly priced pellet smokers.
I was leaning that way but I like the idea of a temperature-controlled wood-fired oven, hence the pellet grill.
I already have a Weber kettle, Weber Smoky Mountain, Solaire IR gas grill and an electric grill.
A Kamado Joe can work as a pizza oven, but if you already have a Smokey Mountain, I guess it is a lot of money to spend for a similar device.
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: LotI
I love the concept but had a bad experience with a Louisiana Grills 800Elite. I had a [censored] of a time getting the temperature low and slow. They publish 3 different startup procedures and none worked well. I used a calibrated temperature probe and the last smoke finally put me over the edge. I was smoking a whole chicken with a set temp of 225F. Temps hovered around 280. I set the temp controller to 180F and the temperature never dropped below 240F after an hour. This even included me opening the lid to vent some heat.
Thankfully I bought it at Costco and rolled it back into the store and got a full refund. I bought it for $699 which was well below market price anywhere else.
I would recommend staying away from anything made by Dansons. On paper it was promising with a stainless double-wall lid, temp range of 180-600F and looked good.
I'm currently thinking I will go with a Rec-Tec or a Grilla Grills. My goal is to stay under $1k. I still have my Weber Smoky Mountain if I need to smoke.
If you are willing to spend $1K, I think you are better off with a Kamado style smoker such as the Kamado Joe. I have owned my KJ for several months and the construction of the unit is much better than similarly priced pellet smokers.
I was leaning that way but I like the idea of a temperature-controlled wood-fired oven, hence the pellet grill.
I already have a Weber kettle, Weber Smoky Mountain, Solaire IR gas grill and an electric grill.
A Kamado Joe can work as a pizza oven, but if you already have a Smokey Mountain, I guess it is a lot of money to spend for a similar device.
I'm also a Green Mountain Grill owner. A couple of my friends from church had Traeger grills, and really liked them, except for the controller. The Traeger controller is only adjustable in about 25° increments, and sometimes runs a little hot at the all important 225° setting. The Green Mountain Grill controller adjusts in 5° increments, and it will go higher in temperature also.
We've really enjoyed it, and have tried a lot of different things that we had never had before. I've done ribs, Boston butts, brisket, tri-tip, roasts, Thanksgiving turkey, salmon, prime rib, made great beef jerky, and many other things. They have all turned out great. Now, prime rib at a restaurant just doesn't measure up.
One weakness is direct heat cooking on pellet grills. They just aren't that good at it. Some brands have tried a few different gimmicks to do better, but none of them really do well at it. I would recommend keeping a gas grill or charcoal grill for cooking burgers and steaks.
If you do get one, keep in mind that not all wood pellet brands are equal. Buying quality pellets makes a lot of difference. Traeger pellets are OK, but nothing special. The best I've found so far is Lumber jack. They are well worth the effort of finding a local source.
http://bbqlumberjack.com/our-pellets/
We've really enjoyed it, and have tried a lot of different things that we had never had before. I've done ribs, Boston butts, brisket, tri-tip, roasts, Thanksgiving turkey, salmon, prime rib, made great beef jerky, and many other things. They have all turned out great. Now, prime rib at a restaurant just doesn't measure up.
One weakness is direct heat cooking on pellet grills. They just aren't that good at it. Some brands have tried a few different gimmicks to do better, but none of them really do well at it. I would recommend keeping a gas grill or charcoal grill for cooking burgers and steaks.
If you do get one, keep in mind that not all wood pellet brands are equal. Buying quality pellets makes a lot of difference. Traeger pellets are OK, but nothing special. The best I've found so far is Lumber jack. They are well worth the effort of finding a local source.
http://bbqlumberjack.com/our-pellets/
I have a Traeger and love it. I won't ever go back to using my Masterbuilt.
If you are serious about smoking...
Y O D E R
I did the Traeger thing to start and learn but after it basically rusting out in 3 years and 2 controllers I bought a Yoder YS-640 and haven't had a single problem. Built like a tank (weighs like 350 lbs) and produces incredible results. I've done a lot of brisket on it, some were 20 lbs and it cooks them evenly. You can also get an inexpensive grill kit and do wood fired direct grilling at temps up to 600F. We use the kit very often and love the wood fired taste on burgers and other things we used to do with a gas grill. I cut my steaks pretty thick (business card turned up) and get great results. You need a serious unit though if you want to smoke AND grill properly.
If you aren't sure how much your going to do or if you are only go to do the occasional smoke, a Traeger is a good unit for the money...I think I just used it too much for what it was meant for. They were also very good about warranty on the controllers as well.
https://www.yodersmokers.com/ys640-pellet-grill.html
Y O D E R
I did the Traeger thing to start and learn but after it basically rusting out in 3 years and 2 controllers I bought a Yoder YS-640 and haven't had a single problem. Built like a tank (weighs like 350 lbs) and produces incredible results. I've done a lot of brisket on it, some were 20 lbs and it cooks them evenly. You can also get an inexpensive grill kit and do wood fired direct grilling at temps up to 600F. We use the kit very often and love the wood fired taste on burgers and other things we used to do with a gas grill. I cut my steaks pretty thick (business card turned up) and get great results. You need a serious unit though if you want to smoke AND grill properly.
If you aren't sure how much your going to do or if you are only go to do the occasional smoke, a Traeger is a good unit for the money...I think I just used it too much for what it was meant for. They were also very good about warranty on the controllers as well.
https://www.yodersmokers.com/ys640-pellet-grill.html
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I have had a Traeger I bought from Costco 2 years ago and love this thing. It's like a brand new hobby and I can make ribs, salmon, pork butts, chickens, fish...you name it and it turns out good. I have done beef brisket too and I'll tell you what, Traeger has it down. All you have to do for great ribs is google Traeger 3-2-1 ribs and they will turn out beautifull. Traegers are great and I even use mine in the wintertime.
Sounds like what a vacuum salesman told me once. He said "we'll give you the vacuum for nothing as long as you buy bags forever!"
Yes! About the same as a Craftsman garage vacuum with their $22.00 filters that do not last very long.
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