The Pitmaster Club Decision Tree for Choosing a New Smoker & Grill

[jfmorris]

That was a lot of work!

Seriously - good job! That said.... where do you start? Strong Smoke Flavor or Set & Forget?

Maybe you need to have a "start" and then also include "grill", "smoke" and "both" as part of the tree?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Only "issue" I see is the "need to sear" bit regarding pellets. The Weber Smokefire and I think the RecTec Bullseye are capable out of the box, MAK can on some proteins without any addons (and notably other than the 2 mentioned above is one of the few that gives the same experience for the entire grate surface), and most can to some degree with searing grates or cast iron griddles or pans (ignoring the various models with some form of the slide and grill open firepot feature which IMO is a worthless gimmick unless you are cooking for 1 person).

Then again the pellet market is the fastest evolving of the grill options out there, and I suspect there will be multiple knock offs of the Smokefire in the near future and possibly other design breakthroughs that improve the searing experience... also some people have a different definition of sear (some think it just means grill marks)

[WillTravelForFood]

maybe it's not "need to sear" but "ability to do other things too".

Are there things you *can't* do on a pellet? Are there things ONLY a pellet can do?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Unfortunately you can't really pin down much with the pellet market. Some have charcoal inserts for searing, some have a gas burner or griddle on the side, one has an induction burner, most can smoke low (there's a few that aren't good at that), some have trouble getting over 300 reliably, etc... There's also lots of automation coming for gas and charcoal grills/smokers so the whole set it and forget ease of pellet grills is no longer truly unique.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

what I'm getting at I guess is the market isn't stagnant enough to say with conviction that X Y or Z is only possible or better with a pellet grill. As an example you can say today that most pellet grills can't get over 500F and next year they all suddenly will

[MBMorgan]

Gents ... I really think you should reconsider going all the way to naming specific brands/models here. I suggest that if you're intent on building this decision matrix, you stick to helping someone decide what type of cooker might be best, then stand back and let Max Good and company take over the acquisition and constant updating of brand- and model-specific options and details.

In addition to the point I made above, I'd like to request that people stop referring to "Set & Forget" like it's a good thing. While you can certainly "Set" certain cooker types with greater accuracy and precision than other types, you'd better never "Forget" ... unless you're hoping to get to know some of CaptainMike 's old contemporaries better than you ever hoped.

[MBMorgan]

ItsAllGoneToTheDogs - I wasn't aiming at you, amigo ... or anything you've said on the subject.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

MBMorgan I know, but I did refer to PGs as S&F so just wanted to make sure with your correct point that I clarified myself as well

[WillTravelForFood]

Sort of why we went with a more generic "level of effort" vs '"set it"

Maybe a decision point could be "smart/wifi" that could point to a ton of options

[fzxdoc]

Maybe add the Weber Summit to your non-budget friendly kamado box, because it's a non-ceramic (less heavy) option, therefore different from the others listed.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Maybe he needs to add "heavy" and "light" in the kamado decision tree....

[WillTravelForFood]

Speaking from a generic cooker viewpoint -- what would be the base models you'd suggest need to be included?

• Kettle
• Pellet
• Offset
• Kamado
• Gas
• Barrel
• uh.... electric smoker?
• uh.... ronco showtime rotisserie?

[WillTravelForFood]

or maybe, should the starting point be: what type of food do you plan to cook 80% of the time?

[Draznnl]

What one cooks starting out and after a couple of years of experience is often quite different. Hard to buy a cooker based on what you’re cooking now.

[glitchy]

I’m also in the camp that thinks it would be better not to list specific grills, but just categories and let all the work that’s been done by the AR team on the free side help people choose a specific model unless they ask for advice on a specific type. Personal biases come through quickly with specific suggestions, the Akron having its own box being one of them .

I also don’t think that gas grills and pellet grills should be so intertwined. They’re both high on ease of use, but a gas grill is really only good at grilling. Pellet grills are good at smoking and baking and only a few grill at all worth a damn.

If you let the free side direct specifics, I don’t even think you’d need the sub $1000, over $1000 splits as that data is already there.

[STEbbq]

I can try two different versions with models and without as I see the point regarding bias and leveraging AR’s work. WillTravelForFood version might also help as a additional tree. I didn’t really expect a lot of pushback on the listing of brands as that is all we do when someone asks in a thread. Maybe we need a poll eventually or some language on the decision tree to recommend AR reviews specifically.

[STEbbq]

Alan Brice I think opinions on smoke tubes differ so trying to stay away from more grey areas and draw “bright line” distinctions.

[glitchy]

Alan Brice Use what you got comes into play a lot and many of us do it, especially when trying something out. However, I’d never recommend to someone looking primarily for a smoker to buy a gas grill and smoke tubes. It’s inefficient and produces lesser results than a dedicated smoker. If they had a gasser already and wanted to smoke 1 pork butt a year, would be the right answer for that situation. However, not what I think the overall thread is about.

[jfmorris]

The more I think of it, the more need there is really for TWO decisions trees.

What you have is really a "Smoker/Indirect Cooking" decision tree. You need an entirely separate one for "Grill/Direct Cooking". Starting at "grilling" may end up putting you at with some of the same cookers but include gas grills and flat top (griddle) cookers as well. But you will sure never be smoking on a flat top. Or grilling bone-in chicken or non-flat food on a flat top.

So I think the flow really has to have as it a number of questions about what you want to cook, and that will steer things in a big way.

Just a thought...

[CandySueQ]

Maybe a tree to determine what cooker to pass on to someone else. I'm in that place right now...

[STEbbq]

I agree this works for people that are willing to own multiple cookers but I feel the vast majority of regular folks are looking a single cooker. Should we assume everyone wants 2 smokers or everyone is basically looking for a single smoker to grill or smoke with little overlap?

[jfmorris]

STEbbq the vast majority of people don't want more than one "grill" in their backyard. The next tier of folks don't want more than two - one grill, one smoker. I did talk to a surgeon who did several surgeries for Yvonne in 2020 and 2021 and he was the one who got me looking at griddles. He used a kamado and a Blackstone, and is probably a typical backyard/weekend cook. But griddles are really another class of cooker than regular grills in my mind.

[WillTravelForFood]

Small update based on feedback.

More suggestions appreciated.

[STEbbq]

Thanks for all of the feedback thus far. Version 2 is probably going to have to wait for the weekend and I will have more time to look at yours too WillTravelForFood then.

[WillTravelForFood]

We're just scribbling. Scribble, refine, scribble, refine. It's a process.

Eventually, someone here with graphical experience can take the "final" versions and make a nifty nice-looking infographic that could be shared on social media/posted on a corkboard/emailed to inquisitive neighbors

[STEbbq]

Agreed! WillTravelForFood

[WillTravelForFood]

D'oh (or should we say, "DOUGH"?)

Forgot about adding a dedicated "pizza oven" to the list.

[WillTravelForFood]

Added! Will be on the next shared version

[Johnny Booth]

Weber kettle and PK do it all. charcoal and/or wood chunks, smoke low and slow, grill hot and fast, sear, two zone, rotisserie. There are companies making a pellet feeder for kettles. Even seen mods for LP gas. Using temp controls and fans they can be set and forget. About the only thing they cannot do is be an offset. How do they get mapped?

Having said that, I have one of each. Kettle, PK, Gasser, Offset. 🤔🤣

[STEbbq]

We are not going that far down the rabbit hole. Broad strokes for the buyer initially and if he/she wants more detail and is interested in those mods, that’s what the discussion boards are here to do.

[Huskee]

That's a nice effort! I'd argue that a Weber/SnS does mighty fine in winter cooks though. It's nearly all I use of my available choices for winter.

[STEbbq]

I could do highly efficient fuel consumption over the Webers/SNS so maybe I will see how that looks in another version.

[Huskee]

STEbbq Allow me to clarify in case my wording is unclear. I'm not suggesting anything about editing Winter or kamados. I'm simply offering my feedback that a kettle/SnS is a great winter machine, I would not classify it under "No" for winter. All I'm trying to say. But it's your list.

[STEbbq]

Ah, understood!