Heat Baffle Question

[Dadof3Illinois]

For you pellet grill owners, specifically Camp Chef, do you cover the heat baffle with foil for easy clean up or leave it naked?
I cover mine, but was thinking would this have any effect on the amount of smoke the food gets?
With the woodwind I’ve never really seen much smoke most of the time even when I set it on smoke level 10 at 200F.
Also for those of you that use smoke tubes, I’ve been using pellets but haven’t seen a big change in the amount of smoke the meat gets. Would chips work better?
I really like this Woodwind 46” cooker but like a lot of pellet grill owners I would love just a little more if the smoke flavor.

[willxfmr]

On my DLX24, I keep the diffuser/ drip try covered with foil for easy cleanup. I also use it as a guide for when to pull everything apart and hit it with the shop vac. Time to chance the foil? Time to clean out the bottom.

I had the same problem you describe when loading the smoke tube with pellets. What I have found to work very well is to put a half piece of charcoal in the bottom of the tube, and then fill the tube the rest of the wat with wood chips. Once you have it set up, light the charcoal with a plumbers torch, set the whole thing in your smoker vertically, with the charcoal on the bottom, and let it go. The charcoal will give the chips a good start. and help prevent bridging of the chips in the tube. It is still a good idea to check on the tube twenty minutes or so after you get started, just to make sure all is well.

What I really like about going the woodchip route is that you can control heat and smoke separately. With the tube you can run a higher pit temp, that would normally provide little to no smoke flavor, due to the pellets burning too efficiently, and still get the smoke profile you want.

[glitchy]

I always foiled my drip tray in my Woodwind. What pellets do you use? Have you tried CookinPellets, Lumberjack or Kingsford 100% Hickory? Most of the single species pellets on the market are 70-80% oak or alder.

[glitchy]

If you run on low or high smoke ‘temps’ you don’t see smoke coming from grill quite often? If you’re used to smoking on a PBC and kettles, I don’t think you’ll match that on a pellet grill without smoke tubes or other hacks and still probably come up different.

[Dadof3Illinois]

glitchy not much smoke at all. I’ve owned a GMG and it gave out more smoke than my new camp chef. Don’t get me wrong…I knew going into this purchase it wouldn’t give much smoke…I’m just making sure I am doing what I can to get more. I love this grill/cooker….do you have a woodwind?

[glitchy]

Dadof3Illinois I did have a Woodwind 24 for a while and liked it, but I liked the SmokeFire better (until Weber messed up firmware), so I sold the Woodwind. I was always able to detect smoke on food from the Woodwind, never heavy though. Seems like as much or more smoke leaked out the lid as came out the stack on it. Sometimes leaky helps as it burns more pellets to cover heat loss, though if too leaky it hurts as it burns a lot more pellets and a hotter fire with less smoke to keep temps.

[bbqLuv]

Yes, but remember not to block air/smoke flow. Wrap it tight.

[SmokinAZ]

Yes, I always wrap mine with foil. Makes cleanup a lot easier. I too would like a heavier smoke profile than I get using additional pellets in the tube burner. I think next cook I'm going to try using wood chips instead. Good idea!