Looking at possibly getting a Pellet Smokers

There are many choices and it is very wise to do your homework in researching the items, but don't ignore the reviews that are posted on-line as well.

If you take time to read the reviews as well, you may save yourself some regrets....

I've got a green mountain Jim Bowie which is right at your limit. It isn't a Yoder, but it doesn't cost what a Yoder does. I looked at a Rec Tec, and it may be a hair better, but I don't think it is much. I like having enough room for a full size second shelf.

Dabaras said:

I've got a green mountain Jim Bowie which is right at your limit. It isn't a Yoder, but it doesn't cost what a Yoder does. I looked at a Rec Tec, and it may be a hair better, but I don't think it is much. I like having enough room for a full size second shelf.

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I see a lot of Green Mountain pellet poopers on the Florida BBQ contest circuit.

I'm surprised that no one ever mentions Mak pellet grills. Years ago I was looking into getting a pellet pooper and at that time the Mak 2 Star General was at the top of the mountain. This was before Yoder got into the pellet business though. Anyway, I never ended up going the pellet route for various reasons, but I wish you luck with your future purchase. Heck, one day I might even change my mind and jump into pellet infested waters myself.

Cabin Fever said:

I'm surprised that no one ever mentions Mak pellet grills. Years ago I was looking into getting a pellet pooper and at that time the Mak 2 Star General was at the top of the mountain. This was before Yoder got into the pellet business though. Anyway, I never ended up going the pellet route for various reasons, but I wish you luck with your future purchase. Heck, one day I might even change my mind and jump into pellet infested waters myself.

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Mak makes a great pit but they are not in the op's budget range.

rec tec my man. it took me a year to figured the one I wanted. im a research freak. but I went with a rec tec due to the 6 year warranty and superb customer service. (no im not contracted by rec tec to make these bold statements, haha).

Since everyone hit the Rec-Tec and Green Mountain, I'll throw out the Blazn Grillworks version.
They have some nice mods to a pellet grill. You can remove the burn pot for easy cleaning and the temperature probe is protected. The grill is made in Beatrice, NE and is very well built. Check them out.
I'm leaning toward the Blazn right now, but Yoder is surely creeping up on me. I can't get past the extra price right now........as I keep saving my money....

I love my Treager Texas. same size as the Yoder 640 but about $300 cheaper. Yoder does make one hell of a smoker though.

I cooked my first two years of comps on two GMG's. No regrets. For the price they are great smokers.

For size reference, a 24"x24" square is plenty of room for:
4 butts, or
2 briskets, or
4 racks of baby backs, or
3 racks of St. Louis spares, or
2 racks of untrimmed spares

If you go with something 20" or less deep, you'll need to turn some meats like briskets and racks of ribs sideways to fit, so keep that in mind. I have a 22" WSM, and anything will fit at least in the center of the rack, but the biggest briskets have to be squished between the handles on both sides. My next smoker will be at least a 24" depth rack so anything I want will fit.

I'm probably going with 24"x60", but that's because I tend to smoke a *bunch* of meat at once for parties, like a brisket, a couple butts, racks of ribs, whole chickens, sausage, appetizers, etc. all on at the same time.

I do not own a pellet smoker, but I was considering getting one for a while. During my research I was drawn toward the Rec Tec for the warranty, customer service and the look. Realizing that was out of my price range, I ran across the Pit Barrel Cooker review on Amazingribs.com. After much additional research I bought the PBC and got it a couple of weeks ago.

You mention you were disappointed with your ribs in the PBC when you wrapped with brown sugar. Have you tried cooking them naked? I have cooked both baby backs and St. Louis style and they have been the best ribs I have every made. And the chicken is beyond words. Have you had some good results with the PBC? Just wondering as a call to Noah could help you through any issues you may be having. Good luck in your pellet grill search.

Pellet Cooker

Hello Hoosier,

As an owner of a couple of different pellet grills and a long time user of this method of cooking and baking, I feel qualified to answer why I selected my new Green Mountain Daniel Boone pellet grill over the competition. As a user, I wanted features to suit my style of cooking. I am sure some of my wants and needs may be different than others and I would suggest that they would select a cooker to their style of cooking and needs.

Headspace or height of the cooking chamber...

Along with the standard features of the taller headspace in the cooker that gives you room for beer butt chickens and turkeys, you also have room for raised grid baking which works well in most cookers, additional space for rib racks, and room for a rotisserie setup.

The cooker has a full 13-1/2 of headspace which did allow me to fabricate an inexpensive 2 piece second raised cooking grid which doubled the cooking space inside the cooker. I have a total of 864 sq. in. of cooking space with this additional grid.





I can use the full raised 2nd grid or just one side as you see in the pictures. Really adds flexibility to my grill.

Rotisserie Setup

I love rotisserie setups and put them on most of my backyard cookers. The large headspace in the Green Mountain makes adapting this feature to this cooker a fairly easy modification.





These are two whole chickens and two turkey breasts but I do have enough room to do two whole turkeys at a time.




These are slab potatoes and hot chicken wings in another rotisserie setup that does require quite a bit of head space.

High Heat Grilling Insert

I was able to add a high heat grilling insert to this fine grill which was important to me as I like steaks cooked at the tip of a wood or charcoal flame at high temps.





Then, with the addition of Grill Grates, I have one fine high temp grilling setup.





Steaks and burgers sure look good coming off the cooker with this modification.

Raised Grid Baking

The increased headroom in this cooker allows me at add my ceramic plate setter and my hearth stone for my baking. This raised hearth works great with equal temperatures and great air-flow all around the hearth which makes for great baking.





Standard pizzas along with most breads come out great with this simple setup.



With this very high temp baking setup, I can obtain baking temps of above 700 degrees which works great for Pizza Margherita and other high temp bakes.





Our breads and pizza are wonderful coming off of this cooker.

Temperature Range of this Grill

We do quite a bit of cold smoking and the lower range of 150 degrees works well with items like jerky, sausage, fish, and other products. Most pellet cookers will not go this low so that is a feature we like.



Jerky comes out great on the cooker.

Controller

What is not to like about a controller with an integrated meat probe, a remote option if you want it, has a turbo mode for colder Winter climates, and in most temperature ranges will operate with less than 10 degree temperature swings with your cooking.

Other great Features

Will operate on my less expensive modified sine wave inverter in no power situations.

Fairly inexpensive thermal jacket for cold weather cooking.

Local dealers and a company with a wonderful track record of solving any problems that might occur with the use of the cooker.

A few times during the cooking season, the company will offer up deals that can save you as much $100 dollars off the purchase price. Many dealers will also sweeten a deal on the cooker as well.

“Bang for the Buck”

For my needs, and after comparing several cookers in this price range, I felt that the price paid along with all the great features and the easy adaptability to some of the modifications I wanted just gave me more bang for the buck.

Love my Rec Tec. It comes in right at your price range at $995 (plus a couple hundred to ship). And just 5 minutes ago I called their customer service line because the mechanism on one of the locking wheels broke, and they are sending me a new wheel out today. That's service I appreciate.

I have not tried grilling at higher heat, as I have a different grill for that. In my view, the pellet cookers are more smoker than grill, but some have said that they get good results from their pellet cookers at high heat (I think the Yoder owners that have the grill grates have good results).

Old Dave said:

I love rotisserie setups and put them on most of my backyard cookers. The large headspace in the Green Mountain makes adapting this feature to this cooker a fairly easy modification.

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Dave, so do you just drill holes in each side of your cooker to add the rotisserie? How do you pre-load your rotisserie spit and put it on the cooker, and how do you take it off after the cook is finished? (I've only done one rotisserie cook, and my cooker had slots that you could drop the spit down into.)

Sorry about the hijack...

Good thread going here. I vote for the Yoder 480. You said that you wanted something that was not made of flimsy steel. That is certainly not the case here. We use 2 of them each month in our ATBBQ cooking classes(along with 2 640's) and those 2 workhorses do everything we ask them to do and more. So while the 640 is the larger more versatile one, the 480 is a real champ too.