Is a pellet grill really worth it? Smokey enough?

[jerrybell]

I own a pellet cooker because it gives me what I want; smoked foods and minimum hassle to get there. I don't want to learn and do fire management to get smoked foods. I don't want to cut, split, or even buy wood chunks to get smoked foods. I think when I get bbq from a restaurant it usually tastes smokier than the bbq I make. I don't see that as good or bad, just different.

I have a gas grill that I use to cook steaks, burgers, chicken, dogs. For those quick cooking foods, the gasser is less hassle than wheeling out the pellet cooker, filling the hopper, finding the @%^# extension cord, and cleaning after the cook.

Try to find a bbq restaurant that cooks with pellets and decide of you like the level of smoke. Some places that sell pellet cookers are often doing demo cooks on the weekend. See if you can catch one of those and give the food a try. Once you decide if you like the taste you can decide what cooking method makes you happy and go from there.

[KBaldwin]

I love my pellet grill, I have a Camp Chef DLX that I've had for a couple years now. It has been really nice to cook on as long as you are aware of its limitations IE no really good searing capability without the sear box attached. I think its been plenty smoky for my taste and my families. Best of luck deciding however I have never regretted the purchase for one minute.

[Fire Art]

Since January I’ve bought a pellet grill a Weber Kettle grill and built a UDS next door neighbor just gave me six burner gas grill I luv them all but if I could only have one grill I’d take the pellet pooper and then a close 2nd my kettle grill

[realdocBBQ]

I'm doing a big BBQ next week - come on up and try my ribs and pulled pork and you can decide if it's enough smoke for you.

[Oakgrovebacon]

Welcome to the pit from Southern Illinois

[Dr ROK]

I recently purchased a Yoder 640 pellet grill and love it. You mentioned you wanted one for convenience and I do agree they do have benefits in that area, but there are also some other factors you may want to consider. You will need to vacuum out the pit every so often. On my Yoder, it calls for cleaning out the fire pot before every cook. I have the diffuser plate with the door in it, so it is very simple to do. (Also allows you to sear directly over the fire pot, so definitely recommend you get this option if you decide to move forward and look at a Yoder.). You also have to scrape the diffuser plate on a regular basis or wrap it in foil and change the foil on a regular basis. You also need to watch the pellets and check for tunneling every so often. This is where the pellets "jam" and don't fall into the auger, resulting in your fire going out due to lack of pellets.

Regarding the "amount of smoke" issue, it's more a matter of the type of smoke you like. A very subjective topic. Using a smoke tube adds acrid or dirty smoke. It's smoke produced by pellets slowly smoldering and not efficiently burning. One of the trademarks of the Yoder pellet grill is that it only generates clean "thin blue" smoke. For the most part I find this claim to be true. Other than the initial start up, the only thing you see coming out of the smoke stack is thin blue smoke. I have a smoke tube, but I don't use it, I don't want to add dirty smoke to the food I'm cooking. I've done burgers, brats, briskets, pork butts, beans, and steaks on my Yoder, and love the flavor. Using the GrillGrate searing option with the two piece diffuser puts a great sear on steaks. I made some T-Bones last night and put the GrillGrates directly over the fire pot and they registered 900 F before I slapped the steaks on them. Had to turn them about every 15 seconds or they'd start to burn. Definitely recommend the GrillGrate searing option regardless of what pellet grill you go with. Most pellet grills are designed to be smokers, not searing machines.

Another thing you may want to consider is the size of grill you want. I also have a RecTec mini. It is way more efficient on pellet consumption than my Yoder. My Yoder is much larger and built with much thicker steel, so it takes more pellets to come up to temp and stay that way. For small jobs I use my rectec. Anything else goes on the Yoder. I got rid of my 5 burner gasser, but I do have a small Blackstone Griddle/Grill combo, but I haven't needed to use the grill portion of it.

Oh yea, Welcome to the Pit!!!1

[Sweaty Paul]

What he said. 😃

[shush]

I've a RecTec RT-680. If you click on my name and look at my posts, you will see that I started out confused and doubtful (a bit sad even), but after some advice and a bit of trickery, I get all the smoke I want. Like Dr ROK above states, it is about your preference. The 'amount' can always be altered. Enjoy and Good BBQ-ing to you what ever you choose.

[cscheib]

I have CampChef DLX which is seemingly the same as the Woodwind... just no sear box. I love it!

I owned a Traeger Junior before I bought the DLX, which was good enough to convince me I liked pellet, but I wasn't really happy with its temperature control. The DLX performs exactly as expected, it's be a great device so far.

The CampChef stuff is at a good price/feature/performance point, and I'd whole heartedly recommend it. If you have the money, there are certainly some great buy-up options out there, but the CampChef works plenty fine for me.

[CES]

Thanks, I just don't see many reasons to buy up except maybe a grill with wifi. All I really want is a true to temp, easy to clean pellet smoker that smokes the same as the more expensive models.

[vandy]

I have 3 pellet grills, a Kamado Joe, a Weber kettle and a Lang stick burner and my pellet grills and the Weber see the most action. The pellets just because they are so darn easy to use and the kettle for just about the same reason for steaks and burgers with a good grill flavor. For a brisket or a pork butt or a turkey the KJ or the Lang will get the call.

[CES]

Maybe somehow incorporating a water pan will be a future improvement in pellet machines. As I understand, moisture also helps smoke stick to a piece of meat.

[Sweaty Paul]

Interestingly, I’ve never had a problem with the meat retaining moisture in either of my pellet grills. With my Yoder they specifically recommend not using a water pan. I have a smoke tube if I want a hint of smoke flavor while cooking at higher temps.

Good luck

[CowboyScott]

I get great smoke ring and flavor without a water pan and have not experienced anything drying out with my Rec Tec 680. I do spritz it with water every so often.

[rwalters]

Hi everybody! I'm looking to replace my gas grill (used strictly for convenience) and and am looking at the Camp Chef Woodwind pellet grill as a tasty possibility. I like the automation, ease of cleanup (I think, though never owned a pellet machine), low maintenance and the sear station. However, with pellet grills in general, lots of people complain that they're not getting the quantity of smoke they like and end up using smoke tubes and other gadgets inside. Heck, if I have to do that, I can easily accomplish that inside a gas grill! I'm coming off of a Cookshack electric smoker which can put out tons of good smoke, but in heeding Meathead's advice that a smoker with combustion leads to superior smoked flavor, I may bite. I've got one shot at this so I want to be right. (I also hear good things about the MAK Grill 1 Star.) Any advice from you uber-experienced people would be ever so appreciated! Thank you!!!!!

Looking back at old posts. Did you ever come to a decision? Just curious

[treesmacker]

I have a Rec Tec Trailblazer with which I use all exclusively for smoking and grilling. Before that, I had a small Weber Smoky Mountain, Weber Q series gas, and a Little Chief electric smoker; I gave all of those to my son and have not missed them. I usually only cook for my wife and I, and occasionally another couple. I'm very happy with the bark and smoke I get. Also, it gets very hot and I use grill grates for a nice sear. I would just say that for smoking fish, I did like the Little Chief better. The ease of use and convenience is incredible. For me, plenty of smoke. Here are a few pics...

[EdF]

The Q looks great!

[Spinaker]

That is some great looking food, brother!

[BBQ Bill Wyko]

The Rec Tec cycles the fan off & on to let the pellets smolder, that way you get more smoke flavor. I've been cooking on Rec Tecs for 7 years now, never a single disappointment. I now own 6 of them.

[Spinaker]

Hahaha, sorry, 6 Rec Tecs is absurd. (In a good way, of course. LOL.

[BBQ Bill Wyko]

I have a 680, 700, mini, 2 matadors and a couple bullseye's . Whoops, I have 7.

[BBQ Bill Wyko]

Thing is, I've had my 680 for 7 years, thing still works as well as it did on day one and it's nowhere near the end of its life. I'd bet I can easily get another 10 years out of it.