Pellet Grill – Help !!!!

As far as the amount of pellets the hopper holds – How much pellets are you going through each use? Is the hopper size that big of a issue on the long cook items? I believe most the models I’ve looked at hold between 17-25 Lbs of pellets with some holding up to 40. I do see a lot of the models offer a hopper extension. The 2 pellet grills I’ve seen in operation went thru very little pellets it seemed like. Then again the items cooked only took a little over 1 Hr.

Whats the maximum temp you’re able to get with a pellet smoker?

I just bought the Rec Tec 700 and it’s amazing.
-6 yr warranty
-all stainless steel
-no temp swings
-40lb pellet hopper

My neighbor has a Pit boss and is very happy with it after a year. Alot of pellet manufacturers, the paint will peel off or the grates are cheap. Go big or go home with the Rec Tec.

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I just bought the Rec Tec 700 and it’s amazing.
-6 yr warranty
-all stainless steel
-no temp swings
-40lb pellet hopper

My neighbor has a Pit boss and is very happy with it after a year. Alot of pellet manufacturers, the paint will peel off or the grates are cheap. Go big or go home with the Rec Tec.

I have the weber smokefire and after some initial glitches I think they got the software and firmware bugs worked out–I love it although Yoder was almost purchased instead.

Everyone has their thing and not knocking any cooker cause there are a lot of good ones…my smokefire can easily get to 600+….no need to remove grates or anything. the ability to get that high of heat is not super common.

koldfront kraig wrote:

Whats the maximum temp you’re able to get with a pellet smoker?

Most I’ve looked at are around 450-500. I did see a few that claim 650 is possible – Those are some high end models

I have a Traeger timberline 850. Love it. Cook on it multiple times per week.

Price is steep, likely other pellet grills would likely do the same job. Gasket on it is nice for winter cooks and WiFi connection allows me to monitor at work. Nice for long cooks.

The smoke fire from Weber looks great. Seems like they improved issues with traeger – cleaning up the ash – does the ash keeper really work?

Also the grease falling to bottom appears to be better setup than my traeger which typically stays on drip tray as the tray on mine is virtually flat.

Get a pellet smoker – you won’t regret. Assume main brands are all the same and Weber smokefire at 1000 or so is priced right.

Check the the reviews of the new Weber on YouTube before you buy one of them. Sounds like lots of problems

Pat McSharry wrote:

I was all set to buy a Rec Tec and then I discovered the Masterbuilt Gravity Series. You can set the temperature and walk away like a pellet grill, but it still uses real wood and lump charcoal. I’ve been really happy with it. Plus you can crank it up to 700 degrees and sear a steak!

After researching smokers for a few years, Ive decided on a Masterbuilt Gravity series. I like the idea of using charcoal and real wood chunks.

Max temp of 700 degrees would be nice for searing steaks and grilling Neapolitan style pizzas.

Those masterbuilt gravity series look pretty sweet to me.

As with any grilling thread I do need to throw in a plug for a simple Weber Kettle combined with a Slow N Sear insert..
Roughly 200 for the combo…pretty fool proof, nothing to break or not work right and I can go as low as I need or get it screaming hot.

But this is a pellet grill thread–bottom line IMO, lots of quality cookers out there to choose from!!

Sounds like you have your mind made up but have you considered just getting a weber grill? I use mine for smoking, grilling, use it like an oven, you can buy rotisserie attachments. They are very versatile and the cost is $99. Buy yourself a bag of wood chunks and you are good to go.

Everyone says smoking on them takes too much babysitting but truth be told its not bad. I have a digital thermometer that tells me internal temp of the pit and it has a wireless remote so I can get a reading while watching TV on the sofa. I maybe have to adjust the vents once an hour sometimes not even that.

Anyway I just thought I would throw that out there. I did do research a few years back and was also considering a pellet grill but opted for a weber and am very happy i did. Had I gotten a pellet i would have gotten a rec tec

picture of a frozen pizza I decided to throw on the grill last night. Turned out great and the smokey flavor was a nice touch

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crappie55369 wrote:

Sounds like you have your mind made up but have you considered just getting a weber grill? I use mine for smoking, grilling, use it like an oven, you can buy rotisserie attachments. They are very versatile and the cost is $99. Buy yourself a bag of wood chunks and you are good to go.

Everyone says smoking on them takes too much babysitting but truth be told its not bad. I have a digital thermometer that tells me internal temp of the pit and it has a wireless remote so I can get a reading while watching TV on the sofa. I maybe have to adjust the vents once an hour sometimes not even that.

Anyway I just thought I would throw that out there. I did do research a few years back and was also considering a pellet grill but opted for a weber and am very happy i did. Had I gotten a pellet i would have gotten a rec tec

Very happy with my Weber as well! Just got a wireless thermometer for monitoring pit temp and meat temp, and that system is the bee’s knees. Incredibly happy with the versatility of a Weber. Can’t see myself spending any cash on a pellet grill any time soon as I can do anything on it that can be done on a pellet grill, and if anything, gives me a good excuse to stand around a grill and drink a beer to “monitor things”.

That being said, if you are dead set on a pellet grill, my uncle has a Rec Tec and that is one well built piece of kit! Of all the guys I know who have Pit Bosses, it seems like about 30% have had issues one way or another.

Haha-Crappie we were both thinking the same thing evidently!!

waldo9190 wrote:

if anything, gives me a good excuse to stand around a grill and drink a beer to “monitor things”.

exactly! smoking on the weber… aka sitting in the driveway drinking beer beside the weber is one of my favorite ways to relax

Go Spuds wrote:

Haha-Crappie we were both thinking the same thing evidently!!

Yes Sir! Love my weber

Nice thing is with a pellet grill vs. charcoal is you can be up to temp and cooking in 10 mins or less and have it put away and cooled down 10 mins after cooking

Crappie, Waldo, and Go Spuds

Excellent thoughts on the Weber. I use to have one and thought about going back that route. I’m kind of a set it and forget it kind of Guy. From watching others the last few weekend using a pellet Grill, They just seem much simpler that the Webber. I like the idea of being able to start cooking almost right away and not needing to wait for the charcoal to heat up. I also think it would be much less tending on long slow cook / smokes. I do have to say you can’t beat the flavor of the food from a weber.

Another piece of the puzzle is cost of operation between a pellet grill and old school Weber charcoal. I haven’t done the math, but my perception at least is that it costs me roughly 1/2 to cook an equivalent meal on the Traeger vs the Weber. A bag of pellets goes a long ways. Like I said earlier, we have both and they both have their place. But, I do enjoy the convenience of the pellets and the flavor added to most any food by the smoke is outstanding.

I buy charcoal by the pallet when its on sale. I havent really given much thought to the compare the 2. When i was a noob charcoal user I would always let a batch of coals burn all the way to ash–now i simply snuff them out and use again. That has extended their use a long way.

Ive tried a few different types/brands of pellets-so far I can say I dont particularirly care for the pit boss brand but the others seem pretty similar.

Crappie has a point about the Weber. You sure can smoke on them and they have come out with a ton of accessories the last few years. The Vortex for chicken wings and the Slow N’ Sear. Only problem for me is room I tend to do larger quantaties when I smoke. Doing 8 pork butts of 4 or 5 briskets is not uncommon for me.

Go Spuds wrote:

I buy charcoal by the pallet when its on sale. I havent really given much thought to the compare the 2. When i was a noob charcoal user I would always let a batch of coals burn all the way to ash–now i simply snuff them out and use again. That has extended their use a long way.

Ive tried a few different types/brands of pellets-so far I can say I dont particularirly care for the pit boss brand but the others seem pretty similar.

What is it that you don’t care for about the pit Boss? Have you used any recently? Most of the reviews I’m getting on the Pit Boss have been rather favorable. Like most thing if you go online and look at Google reviews they are all over the place. 10 reviews will say they are the Best Ever and then there are 10 that say they are the worst ever.

Joe Jarl wrote:

Another piece of the puzzle is cost of operation between a pellet grill and old school Weber charcoal. I haven’t done the math, but my perception at least is that it costs me roughly 1/2 to cook an equivalent meal on the Traeger vs the Weber. A bag of pellets goes a long ways. Like I said earlier, we have both and they both have their place. But, I do enjoy the convenience of the pellets and the flavor added to most any food by the smoke is outstanding.

Just doing some quick math, not to dispute anybody by any means, but mostly out of curiosity here is what I came up with for cost to do an 11 hr. smoke.

1) Pit Boss states 2lbs./hour burn rate for “low and slow” cooking, which gives us a utilization of 22 lbs. total. For ease of math, rounding down to utilizing a 20 lb. bag of pellets for the whole cook. Based on what the average cost on Home Depot’s website is for a 20lb. bag of pellets, lets say $19 total for the cook. If this cost is way off what you guys are buying for pellets, by all means let me know. Without having purchased pellets before, I’m just basing off a quick google search.

2) This past weekend at the lake I smoked a couple pork butts on my Weber for 11 hours (why I chose the time frame as I could easily remember my charcoal utilization) I believe I used somewhere around 1/3 to 1/2 a bag of charcoal, lets say 1/2. At $10 per bag (can be had for even cheaper when bought in bulk), that gives us roughly $5 worth of fuel. Adding in about 1/3 of a bag of wood chunks at $9 per bag, we’re looking at $8-$10 total for the length of the cook.

Now the one caveat to all this is if you’re talking grilling up some burgers, brats, etc. quickly, then I THINK the pellet grill will be the winner in terms of cost. Again, if anyone thinks anything different then by all means say so. This was just a quick little 5-minute exercise purely out of curiosity.

waldo9190 wrote:

2) This past weekend at the lake I smoked a couple pork butts on my Weber for 11 hours (why I chose the time frame as I could easily remember my charcoal utilization)

Just curious:
How even of a heat were you able to maintain across that 11 Hours on the weber?
How much tending of the charcoal and wood chips were needed?

I have never used a weber or other charcoal grill for a long slow cook or smoking and have no idea of the process.

koldfront kraig wrote:

Whats the maximum temp you’re able to get with a pellet smoker?

About 450 on the GM Daniel Boone.

I still use the charcoal grill to put a sear on fatty steaks like ribeye or NY strips. They just don’t turn out well on a pellet grill. I need that charred sear. I’ll burn brats on the charcoal grill rather than the pellet too.

Once I got the grill settled down right away in the morning, I think the lowest temp my grill hit was 220-ish, and the highest was probably 250. On those longer cooks I like to place a bed of unlit coals on one side, and then place maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of a chimney of lit coals on top of that, which slowly will light the unlit coals underneath. Directly underneath the meat I’ll place a tin pan with water, which seems to help keep temp spikes less drastic.

Obviously the temp would drop when I would thrown on a handful of new coals every 4 hours or so, but would be back up to temp within a few minutes. I think I used 4 fist sized chunks of apple. Having the remote temp monitor was a BIG help.

waldo9190 wrote:

Once I got the grill settled down right away in the morning, I think the lowest temp my grill hit was 220-ish, and the highest was probably 250. On those longer cooks I like to place a bed of unlit coals on one side, and then place maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of a chimney of lit coals on top of that, which slowly will light the unlit coals underneath. Directly underneath the meat I’ll place a tin pan with water, which seems to help keep temp spikes less drastic.

Obviously the temp would drop when I would thrown on a handful of new coals every 4 hours or so, but would be back up to temp within a few minutes. I think I used 4 fist sized chunks of apple. Having the remote temp monitor was a BIG help.

Yup this is about spot on what i do as well. Only difference is i have a slow n sear which has a water container in between your coals and the meat which helps to regulate temperatures but the water in a pan underneath does the trick too. I will use a weber starter cube in one corner of the coals and just let it slowly work its way from one side to the other. Id say about a chimney worth of coals will last 6-9 hours without having to add much at all. If your food isn’t done simply open the lid and add a few more briquettes.

They do make electronic devices that will regulate your vents for you and that is supposed to help with temperature control. Ive never felt the need for one and i enjoy the process anyhow. Ive smoked meats in temps of -20 outside all the way to 90F outside. The weber holds the temps well. Normal fluctuation for me is between 225-275. Its rare that it will go out of that range. If it does simply take off the lid and the temp will go down quickly. then put it back on and adjust your vents to help.

Only real issues i ever run into with smoking on the weber is dealing with wind. Wind is your enemy as it will stoke up the coals and increase the heat. There are methods you can use to minimize that though. If you want to know more fishthumper let me know. Its one of my passions.

For the pellet grill owners, how often do you clean it out?

my old treager i would vacuum the firebox out about every 20-30 hours of cook time and my green mountain i belive i can go a little longer because it has a little bigger firebox on it

Doug M wrote:

For the pellet grill owners, how often do you clean it out?

My rule of thumb is to clean the grill with every 20lb bag of pellets, or occasionally if I feel the tinfoil is getting soiled enough to possibly affect the taste of the food.

If you get the grease tray out to re-foil it, all that’s left is the heat shield inside the grill. Set that aside and use a shop vac to clean ash out the fire box. Cleaning and re-foiling takes about 5 minutes.

Again this is a Green Mountain Daniel Boone.