Pellet Smoker With Offset Pellet Burn Pot

[zx11ninja]

Greetings everyone.


My apologies if this question has been previously asked. However, I scoured the Internet, and I could not find the answer.

In a YouTube video, there were some gentlemen comparing the wrapped versus unwrapped methods of smoking ribs. The pellet smoker that they were using had an offset pellet burn pot, meaning that the pellet burn pot was located in an offset box (like a regular wood smoker), and the generated heat would come up from the box and into the main cook chamber, just like a regular wood smoker.

For the life of me, I can not remember which manufacturer makes this. I do know that it exists, as I saw it in the video, which I can no longer find.

Does anyone know of any pellet smoker manufacturers that make a smoker with an offset pellet burn pot?


Thanks in advance.
-Z

[Max Good]

Pit Boss and Louisiana make them. We're finishing tests on a Pit Boss model now.

[Tjl52]

Following this thread and have a question for you, Max. I'm not in the right place to ask, but maybe you could give me a quick answer or direct me where to go. I'm considering an upright pellet smoker, like a Pit Boss 77550 or a Grilla. I couldn't find any reviews here on them. Avoid them? Or where should I post so as to not steal this thread? Posted in 2 areas with no replies so far. Thanks for your patience with an off topic poster!

[Max Good]

@tji52 We hope to have our review of the Pit Boss published soon. Ass of now, we have a favorable impression. Vertical pellet smokers have been popping up more and more in recent years. Camp Chef has one too. If you like the design of a vertical cabinet smoker, a good quality pellet fueled model like those we've mentioned should work well.

Looks like we're starting a dialogue here, so why not keep it going?

[zx11ninja]

Hi Max.


Thanks for your response.

I went to "louisiana-grills.com" and looked at all of their models. However, they all seem to have the burn pot inside and to the left of the main cooking chamber. In the grill that I saw on YouTube.com, the hopper and burn pot were in a box outside and to the left of the main cooking chamber, and the hot air convected from it and into the main cook chamber in the same way as the firebox of regular wood smoker does.

Did I miss something, or, do I have the wrong URL?


Thanks in advance.
-Z

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[jfmorris]

Are you sure you are not confusing the hopper on the left side with a firebox? The only pellet smokers I find that have "offset" burn pots are Yoder, Pit Boss and Louisiana Grills. In each of those 3 cases, the burn pot is at the left end of the smoker, versus centered, and is next to the pellet hopper and control panel.

Now, what you MIGHT have seen is this. Folks make kits to convert actual offset smokers into pellet smokers, with an insert that goes into the firebox of an existing offset. Here is an example of what I am talking about:

https://smokedaddyinc.com/product-ca...er-assemblies/

You could mount one of those onto the firebox and convert an offset into a pellet smoker.

I am pretty sure that CandySueQ - resident competition BBQ queen - runs an offset that is converted to pellets.

[zx11ninja]

Hi J.


Perhaps you're right. I saw the video in summer of last year, and perhaps I thought what was a left-sided external burn pot was actually in the main cook chamber but at the left side.

I currently have a Pit-Boss 1100 Pro Series. However, what I'm finding is that the temperature at grate level is all over the place, as the controller actually measures temperate at the middle height of the main cook chamber. With the burn pot in the center of the cook chamber, the temperature rises greatly when the auger puts pellets into the burn pot. For example, if I set my smoke temperature to 275, my external thermometer at grill grate height can sometimes read as high as 550F or higher. From all of the research I've done at amazingribs.com and other sites, it's grill grate temperature that matters. If the controller somehow had its temperature probe at grate level, I think the smoker would behave much better.


Hopefully, someday, someone will make a pellet smoker with an external left-sided burn pot so that it mimics an offset wood smoker.


Thanks all for your assistance.


Take care.
-Z

[Max Good]

Thinking the one you saw may have been Camp Chef which has a pellet hopper attached to the left side but firepot in the smokebox. It may also have been a vertical cabinet smoker that was modified with a SmokeDaddy pellet system as jfmorris suggests. Some pellet smokers have additional side smoke boxes attached that are fed heat and smoke from the main cooking chamber, such as Louisiana's large Champion model.