I'm considering buying a pellet smoker. Need some advice. 1. What is the clean up like - how often; how hard? 2. What is the difference between a $400 dollar, a $700 dollar, and a $1,000 pellet smoker? Other then size? 3. Anyone out there own a Louisiana Grills pellet? What do you think of it. Please advise. Thanks much!
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I owned a Rec Tec pellet grill and it's a breeze to clean. I used a shop vac to clean up the ashes. As for questions 2 & 3 I cannot answer. -
Clean up is easy. Mainly a vacuum out of the ash every few cooks (the number will vary based on the length and temp of the cook).
Besides size, you are paying for build quality and the quality/accuracy of the controller. Inexpensive controllers tend to have wide temp swings and/or require a lot of your intervention during the cook to maintain your desired temperature. The more sophisticated controllers (PID controllers) constantly monitor and manage the fire to keep the temperature as consistent as possible, with many maintaining a much more even temperature than your home oven.
I have the Rec Tec, which is at the high end of your range, but for your money you're getting excellent build quality and temp control and plenty of cooking area. There are many more choices, but having looked at most of them, I am glad I got the Rec Tec.
But they all turn out great food. Even my first pellet grill (a Traeger) turned out great food, but I had to constantly monitor the temp and adjust things to keep it constant.
I am sure you have checked out the reviews on the main AR site. If not, it will be instructive.
One thing I will tell you: The GMG and Louisiana pellet grills are sold in my area in stores, mainly in hardware stores. Many will say they are a better choice because you have a local dealer for support. Unless you have a real, dedicated BBQ shop to buy from (and they tend to carry higher end units, not these), the local support thing doesn't hunt. The employees at these stores know less about the grill than you do, trust me.Comment
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I have an older Traeger that has given me very little trouble over the years. I had to replace the mother board once because of a lightning storm, but that's not their fault (no pun intended)
Easy to use and clean up is simple. I have turned out some pretty darn good food out of itComment
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I have a brand new Louisiana Grills CS 570, which is a warranty replacement of my 2015 CS 570 that kept catching on fire in all the wrong places. So far so good with the new model, which is significantly upgraded from the 2015. Maybe it was just the 2015 model, but the previous one took a good deal of cleaning to keep it running. The burner assembly was particularly touchy. Pellet grills have lots of moving parts that can fail, and when they do it can be spectacular!Comment
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I have a Green Mountain Grill and couldn't be happier with it. Turns out excellent food. Clean up is not a big deal at all, few minutes with a vacuum and good to go. I don't find it any more difficult that cleaning my gasser. While not truly set and forget you can leave alone for long periods of time.Comment
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I've owned Louisiana Grills. Can't say anything bad about the cookers. There are no bad choices, it really comes down to who do you want to trade with and how much do you want to spend.Comment
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I have a GMG Daniel Boone, and the first 2 cooks were great. After getting the temps dialed in across the cook surface, I was able to smoke brisket, pork butt, and bacon wrapped chicken breasts and it was all very good. The cleanup was very simple. Simply use a shop vacuum and clear out the ashes thoroughly. After the third clean out, I started another batch of bacon wrapped chicken. This cooks took about 2.5 hours at 225F. The picture shows a sooty black coating on them, look at the paper towel where I wiped my fingers and look at the chicken that should be white or maybe gently browned. They are black or gray respectively.
I contacted GMG and they helped me to verify the grill was set up correctly, correct software etc. I had everything correct so it was my thought that the dirty smoke came from wood that was not burning properly, perhaps smoldering. I took out the drip tray, and heat deflector to clean out again and found that there were chunks of ash stuck to the side of the burn pot. From reading on several forums, I deduced it was most likely from the sawdust that winds up at the bottom of the bags of pellets you buy. Other users report that the sawdust will smolder and cause soot. I had already dumped the bag into the hopper before I learned this, so there was indeed quite a bit of sawdust that got burned. I did a thorough cleanout, wiped down the interior surfaces of the cooking area with damp paper towels to get the sooty film off, removed all of the pellets from the hopper and burn tube, and replaced them with pellets sold by GMG. I sifted them with miner's mesh so there was no sawdust. I was now ready to cook a pork butt with confidence! Here are the results in the next picture.
As you can see, terrible sooting problem. This cook was two 8 pound butts I cooked together at 225F for 19 hours. Both were like this. I contacted GMG again with the bad news. They sent me a tube of high temp silicone and had me seal up some areas. I will be doing a test cook this coming weekend so more to follow.
FACTS: I am NOT trying to make an indictment of GMG, I have heard more very good reports of people being very happy with them than those who were not.
I bought this pellet smoker in August.
I have cooked on it 5 times, 3 good, then 2 not good.
I had to "seal" seams at their recommendation and I can only hope it works.
I have $700.00 into this so far, not counting the cost of pellets.
I have heard nothing but good reports from GMG customer service, although they failed to call me back for over a week twice out of 4 calls.
OPINION: I wish I would have gotten a PBC now that I have done more research. If I bought a new car that developed a leak, and they sent me silicone to seal it, I would probably lose my mind. (I thought of this when I was laying on my back removing nuts and bolts to get everything apart to seal it properly). Shop carefully!!! ...and good luck!Comment
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This is a shameless endorsement for Rec Tec. I believe someone else noted that all of the pellet grills have moving parts which might fail from time to time. The igniter rod on my 680 has faltered a couple of times recently, so I called Rec Tec around 5:15 EST today. It is almost unbelievable that a shipping notification has already been received. There just isn't better customer service available anywhere!
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I have the Yoder YS640. Went with it over the Rec Tec due to second cooking shelf, heft of build and wanting something I felt would last 10 years. From my research, you can produce good food on pellet grills at all cost levels. The more you pay, the more likely your controller will have less fluctuation, you get heavier metal and more features, and (hopefully) customer service will be better if you have a problem. All should clean about the same.
So to me, it came down to cost (Delivered):
GMG - $800
Rec Tec - $1200
Yoder YS640 - $1700
Mak 1 Star - $2200
You get a better construction and quality as you go up the ladder.Comment
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I agree with the clean-up! Very easy maintenance. I have a GMG and a Traeger. GMG has nice features, but doesnt seem as reliable with maintaining temps like the Traeger. I love both machines, although I have been looking very hard at the Louisiana Grill. Would love to try it. Either way, they are perfect for easy cooking. Sorry to hear about AZRedneck that sucks!Comment
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CandySueQ They were not burned up at all. Pulled at IT of 197 probe tender and juicy. They were very good but covered with soot. Both times I have cooked butts on the pellet smoker I've hit double stalls that lasted quite a while.Comment
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Cleanup is a doddle. I've cleaned my father's Traeger for him more than once.
Pull the grate, like one needs to on any grill. Clean with your fave method...
Pull the drip tray: that may or may not be a mess depending on what was cooked and/or whether or not it was covered... Clean as needed.
Almost done...
Grab the shop vac and remove what little ash there is. That's one of the beauties of pellet cookers; the pellets seem to have VERY little filler, so they burn quite clean. Unlike MY smoker that can use up a bag of charcoal and seemingly produce four bags of ash. ;-) LOL
Can't help with your other questions because his is the ONLY pellet cooker I've actually seen up close.Comment
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Jim. I have used a WSM and a COS. Cleanup of a pellet is much easier than other smokers. Operation is pretty hands free; especially on overnight cooks. I love my Yoder pellet. But it does have a different flavor profile from logs or charcoal. You get a smoke flavor but more subtle than other type of cookers. I have never had anyone complain of lack of smoke flavor; they are usually focusing on the overall flavor of the meat.
I highly recommend you find someone with a pellet smoker or a place that is giving a demo using a pellet smoker and see if you like the difference. If you do, there is no reason you should not buy a pellet smoker and love it. If you don't like the lack of a strong smoke flavor, then you probably would not be happy with a pellet even with all its other advantages.
The bottom line is that you must like the taste of the food coming off your smoker. That desired taste varies from person to person. Once you know your goal, there are many different ways (type of smoker and fuel) to get there.Comment
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Agreed 100%. I own a Memphis Pro and love the thing EXCEPT what I consider a lack of smoke. It does produce a little but not to my level of like. Anyone have any recommendations on how to produce a little more? I do use a smoke tube but suspect there is too much drat for it to do a lot of good. -
Try a small metal tray (like for using smoke chips. Add 2-3 pieces of charcoal and then a wood chunk. I have had the best luck starting my smokier at about 190 the first few hours then bumping up to 225.(beef and pork) Poultry gets plenty of smoke, even at 325-350, when supplemented with a tube.
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I don't own one but the Camp Chef pellet grills have a "trap door" to dump the burn pot ash out the bottom which to me would be way better than the shop vac route I have to use on my GMG Davey Crockett. Camp Chef also added a pellet disposal door and chute so changing pellets from cook to cook would be easy as well.Comment
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