Please talk me out of getting a pellet grill.

[Donw]

You are going to buy it so lets talk about handling your pellets in a swamp. Get 5 gallon buckets and lids from your local HD or Lowes, enough for all your pellets and one extra. Go to HD and get their 5 gallon bucket top vacuum. Pour pellets into hopper, cook, use vacuum to suck unused pellets back into the storage bucket. When needing to clean firebox put vacuum on spare bucket and suck out ashes.

And, if your are cooking regularly you can just leave the pellets in the hopper. I now clear the hopper only if I’m not going to cook for a month or there is a hurricane warning. (I lived surrounded by large saltwater bays on three sides, and a saltwater marsh on the fourth.)

[glitchy]

The gamma seal lids for 5 gallon buckets are great.

[smokenoob]

You should not buy the Pellet Smoker.


















You should buy the Pellet Smoker AND the gas grill!!!!
My Camp Chef DLX Pro lives out doors in a swamp, keep it covered (with the nice factory cover) and use it often, you will be fine.

[smokenoob]

plus, the Camp Chef has a pull knob to empty hopper and ash pot, also just push a button to empty auger if needed

[tstalafuse]

I would, but I am too busy talking myself into one to replace my aging/dying gasser for all the reasons you mention.

For grilling purposes, I am down to the Grilla OG or the Recteq Bulls-eye as I have a Kamado style charcoal for smaller cooks, WSM XL = 26in kettle with a SmokeEZ insert for volume cooks, and a Horizon offset stick burner for when I have the time and want to relax by tending the fire.

I like the Grilla for the double wall construction and the Recteq for the higher sear temp & price. I have minor concerns about power as we lose power 7-8 times a year for varying lengths of time. My major concern is wildfire danger, and when the powers that be ban all out door cooking using charcoal or wood (they include pellet grills as wood burning-don't get me started on their logic) for big chunks of the summer.

[Rob Johnston]

Just buy it!

[glitchy]

Michael_in_TX
There might be two minor cons, but they don't bother me. 1) there is no pellet dump so you scoop out your unused pellets, and 2) there is no 'trap door' or trick to emptying the ash pot. Neither are biggies, unless you are ultra lazy.

If you really do live in a swamp or crazy humid area, you might find minor inconvenience #1 to be more valuable than you think. If you know you are not going to use the pellet grill for more than a week or two it would be a good idea to drain the hopper and burn out the remaining pellets in the auger in humid climates. Yes you could scoop them out or get a bucket head vac to suck them out. Other factors to consider in this are where will the pellet grill be stored? Inside a garage or shed? Outside exposed? Most auger jams are from pellets drawing moisture and swelling in the auger tube and hopper after periods of non use or exposure to rain that somehow makes it into the grill.

#2 is also a huge convenience. Buildup in the fire pot is one of the biggest things that can cause temperature issues and take the grill longer to light and get to temp as the fans blow air through hole in the fire pot. You can easily vac the pot out or flick ash out of it with a small scraper, but you have to pull the grates, drip pan, and heat shield in most grills to get to the fire pot. A drop system or external fire pot removal means far less frequent thorough cleanings. I tear my MAK open after every long cook or 2-3 short cooks to empty the fire pot. Since I’m messing with the guts already, I clean all the ash out of the chamber every time I do this. I do miss the clean out system on the Camp Chefs.

As far as this making you ultra lazy, I think it depends on how much you’ll really use the grill and how worried you are about the humidity. I have probably used all my pellet dumps a dozen times total, so I don’t value the feature anywhere near as much as I’m suggesting you possibly could with that concern.

[klflowers]

Plus, actually I think you meant to disagree with Clark, since I hadn't posted yet. Unless you really are like my wife. I open my mouth and she disagrees before I can get any words out.

[glitchy]

Clark I’m just saying if you think you might want to drain your hopper regularly, it could be a valuable feature. Personally, it’s always at the bottom of my list as I rarely go a week without using my pellet grill and it sits under a covered patio. As far as cleaning, a CampChef can burn through 60-80 pounds of pellets before needing ‘torn apart’ for cleaning. Just highlighting it as a consideration if other features are similar for someone trying to pick between a couple pellet grills.

[glitchy]

klflowers I can’t even use the drinking excuse for that one, don’t know what I was looking at and saw your name. I always disagree with Clark, so that changes everything.

[tdimond]

I've been having the same internal debate, just because work and virtual learning obligations are seriously cutting into my outdoor cooking time, and I'm looking for a solution with less monitoring.

The gravity fed charcoal cookers are also a possibility if Masterbuilt has gotten their quality issues straightened out.

[Mr. Bones]

Iirc, klflowers has a Chimp... mayhaps he can elaborate on its properties...

Not totally awake yet, so: If I'm way wrong, chalk it up to breakfast whiskey, lol!

[klflowers]

Elaborate is probably too strong a word, Bones. Drone on and on is more like it. Even without a shot in my coffee.

[RickyBobby]

You’re serving breakfast whiskey and I didn’t get an invite?! 😜

[Mr. Bones]

RickyBobby Open Invite, Brother; jus show up at Chow Time...

[rickgregory]

You came here to get talked OUT of buying something? Ah reverse psych... "Honey, I looked for reasons not to and..."

[Redwng]

I have a Rec Tec 680 for almost 7 years and we really like it, easy to turn on/off, make sure it has pellets and you are good to go. We live in central FL and have no problems with pellets stored outside. Like anything there is a little maintenance, shop vac the burn pot, the inside of the cooker too and scrape the ss grates and I am done.

I add a Traeger pan liner to my drip tray with a disposable cookie right below whatever I am cooking (see pic), this setup makes cleanup very easy.

Sometimes I will start my temps at 190 to get a little more smoke for an hour or so before turning up the temp. My wife has learned to use it too, her meatloaf, salmon, mac and cheese, baked beans and pulled pork all come out great. I will position the butt above some smoked sausage for about 90 minutes so we have an appetizer waiting for the pulled pork.

I have the Rec Tec 680, a Weber gasser and Weber Performer to accommodate whatever weather or mood I am in that day.

Now get something on order!

[JimLinebarger]

I have a 1/2 sheet tray with foil sitting on the drip tray's foil to catch all off the drippings. I never have to change the grease catcher.

[MBMorgan]

First, let me confess to being a VERY happy Grilla OG owner. I'll also confess to living (and storing pellets) in an extremely low humidity climate.

That said, I still consider a pellet dump ... or some other quick and easy way to extract pellets ... to be an important feature.

In my case, I've only dumped pellets a couple of times ... both of which involved a burn-back issue with my first OG (NOTE: that problem was resolved quickly to my complete satisfaction by the fine folks at Grilla Grills). I dumped the contents of the hopper into an empty metal can because I needed to rapidly remove a possible fuel source for pellets that were smoldering in the auger.

The Chimp doesn't seem to have a built-in pellet dump function ... but if you're willing to drop 25 or 30 bucks on a clean 5 gallon bucket and one of those "bucket head" shop vacs that you can get at Home Depot, problem solved by being able to just suck those pellets right out of the hopper. So if pellet-dumping is the only reason you're still holding back ... I'd say put your mind at ease and go for it!

[Mr. Bones]

I jus cook out, when I wants to cook out; ain't startin no wildfiires... Mucho More chance of a cigarertte bein flicked out th window of Th Blue Belle causin a fire event, vs my cookers...

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Clark My first food job was in Monument (about 25ish years ago), I moved from dishes to Mexican and finally to the grill all in one summer! it appears the restaurant no longer exists though Pretty sure it was called "The Mug"

[Clark]

ItsAllGoneToTheDogs Yes, The Mug was torn down around 2001 or so when they re-built the I-25 exit in Monument. It wasn't doing too well, and had gotten pretty shabby physically but still had good steaks. The bar was always busy!

[klflowers]

I love my Chimp. I can get a couple of racks of ribs on the main grate and lots of chicken parts on it. I use it more than my kettle/SNS or WSM because it is pretty convenient. Plug it in, turn it on, set the temp, walk away. I have used the supplied meat probe along side my XR50; the grill temps from the grill thermometer were within 5 degrees of the grate probe, and the meat probe was spot on with the XR50 meat probes. I just got it in November so I haven't had to deal with the humidity yet, but I left it uncovered through several days of rain by mistake and the pellets stayed bone dry. It is small, so cleaning it is a snap - remove the grate, the drip shield and the deflector and shop vac it out. I don't switch pellets at all really - I run B&B competition blend pretty much all the time. My palate isn't developed enough to taste the difference, especially on a pellet grill, so I don't really need a pellet dump. Here is my post about unpacking it:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/pellet-cookers/grilla-grills/951693-unpacked-the-chimp

To date, I haven't done a really long cook on it. I plan on trying out a butt on it one day soon, but I'll probably always use my WSM for butts and brisket. I have done wings, turkey, ribs, pork chops and a whole spatchcocked chicken on it, as well as corn, asparagus, and some mixed veggies on it. The burn pot is pretty small, so I don't think searing is really possible, but I did do a couple steaks on it and then I used a charcoal chimney to sear them. I seared the pork chops on the kettle.

All in all, I think it is a great product. The Grilla people are great to deal with. The collapsible legs have a spring loaded button that locks them in place; when I was assembling it the button on one of the legs popped out. I called, and a few days later a replacement leg was at my door.

One thing I have noticed, but I haven't paid real close attention to, is the temp swings run between 20 and 40 degrees, sometimes even up to 50 degrees on the high side when I have it set at 225. Since the longest cook I have done is ribs, I haven't really addressed it yet. Also, it doesn't run steady in PID mode - it still swings some. I suspect that is because it is so small. Again, I haven't taken the time to talk to Grilla about it yet.

I bought it to replace a Traeger Scout that I carried on the RV. The Chimp is "portable", but it is pretty heavy, and I haven't tried to load it in the basement compartments of the RV yet. I think it may be a little too big. But I am very happy with it - the other day I was able to run upstairs (I am working out of the basement these days), turn it on and do some pork belly burnt ends. It would have been a hassle to try and do that on my charcoal grills without taking too much time away from the desk.

[MBMorgan]

tdimond - True in the original non-PID "Pro" controller mode. The new PID "Alpha" mode is intended to smooth swings (almost) completely out. Which is great for bread bakers and the OCD among us .

[BruceB]

Another hearty endorsement of the Grilla products from me! I got the Original Silverbac with the non-PID controller, and it's been fine so far. Easily holds 225 which is about as low as I would be smoking something in it. I transitioned from a PBC, so I'm used to cooking at higher temps.
Grilla did offer their new wifi Alpha-Connect controller as an upgrade option for current owners, at a very reasonable price. Beside the wifi connectivity, the "Pause" function is a nice feature also.

[klflowers]

tdimond, it is designed to swing in non-PID mode, but around 25-30 degrees. I see 40-50 sometimes on the upside when running at 225; never on the downside though. It only drops to 200 when it swings. No big deal, just mentioning it for the OCD among us like MBMorgan mentioned. I really like the grill - it is sturdy, stainless steel innards and cover. It satisfies part of my MCS itch.

[Michael_in_TX]

Wow, did not expect to wake up and have over 30 responses! Thank you all.....yall are great. It will take me a bit to distill all of this.

I'm also a huge Malcom Reed fan and while his kettle, BGE, drum, and stick burners get most of the airtime over the past decade, his Traeger features quite often and it is interesting to see what cooks he chooses to use that grill for and under what circumstances.

My other hobby is astronomy and it is interesting to see how my acquisition of cookers mirrors my acquisitions of telescopes. When you're first starting out, you try to get a telescope that is an all-around scope....something that while may not be perfect for everything, does a very good job at a wide variety of things. Kinda like a Weber Kettle.

Then as one's experience grows and interests are clarified, you branch out into more specialized telescopes. (Some scopes are optimized for galaxies, for example, while others are better suited for planets. There is even a type of telescope with which you can only view one object: the sun.) I suppose the same is true for cookers.

Another reason for the allure of a pellet grill, especially one with a robust wireless system is that every few weeks I am on call and I can't smoke on those weekends as I might have to drive to the university. A pellet grill would give me a little more freedom there. I would have the peace of mind of seeing exactly what it is doing. It seems that some of the pellet grills also have "off-scale" protection; that is, if it gets too hot or the temperature drops below a threshold it will automatically initiate a shutdown procedure. Furthermore, if my wife is at home and something seems to be going seriously wrong, she could shut it down easily and immediately.

[tstalafuse]

Michael_in_TX So a telescope is also something my wife is trying to talk me into (not that it will take much effort). Any recommendations for a first one that I won't immediately want to upgrade in a week or two? I have given more than a passing look at a Celestron NexStar SE8 that I would hope would keep me from wanting an upgrade.

[glitchy]

WiFi is handy for that on call thing, but much of the same can also be accomplished with a Fireboard except for the automatic shut down...but you have to check carefully on that, I don’t know how many have it. It used to be just a few, but something others have been recently adding. Several of the WiFi controllers also have program features not on their non-WiFi counter parts like raising temp after an hour or dropping to hold temps when food is done.

[Jerod Broussard]

Not pointed at anyone, just an observation from 20+ years of internet. "Tis so nice when long posts are arranged in PARAGRAPHS."

[bbqLuv]

Pellet grill, They are fantastic. They do require electrical power. I went from charcoal to gas, to a pellet grill. Have not looked back.
Happy Pellet Grilling to you and Long Live BBQ

[rwalters]

Coming from someone that had a backyard full of cookers (of all types), and now has nothing but a couple of pellet cookers... yeah, I think u you oughta seriously consider the investment

[Richard Chrz]

What ever you do, do not get one. Lol. I mean really, don’t buy into the idea you should enjoy more then 2 types of cooking. 😜