Pellet Smoker/Grill..thoughts ?

I look at the pitbosses at walmart at least once a week hoping for a clearance but it never happens.


May just bite the bullet and buy the classic for my birthday next month.

Oh geez, lots of pages of comments on this scattered around.....

I think it boils down to trading smoke for cooking convenience. When I do a long cook, I fill the hopper, set a dial and go back to sleep, shopping, playing, whatever. I get really well cooked meat, bark is good, meat is tender, etc, when I'm done as mine holds a temp really well. What I don't get is the heavier taste of smoke imparted by cooking on a stick burner.

At the end of the day, it doesn't bother me much since I do not like Q with a heavy smoke taste. But sometimes I long for just a bit more.... But then again I don't want to babysit a fire, I need to get a tube and see if it improves it just a touch

What's the budget? There's a couple in the $600 range that have PID controllers. Pellets have finally become accepted. I'd stay away from some lower end models that might require you to replace the controller just to work properly.

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pjtexas1 said:

What's the budget? There's a couple in the $600 range that have PID controllers. Pellets have finally become accepted. I'd stay away from some lower end models that might require you to replace the controller just to work properly.

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This. Get one with a good controller. The controller is the difference between a good pellet smoker that you love and one that causes constant frustration. Probably the cheapest pid controller on the market is the pellet pro. I prefer pid controllers but they aren’t 100% necessary.

highergr0und said:

Oh geez, lots of pages of comments on this scattered around.....

I think it boils down to trading smoke for cooking convenience. When I do a long cook, I fill the hopper, set a dial and go back to sleep, shopping, playing, whatever. I get really well cooked meat, bark is good, meat is tender, etc, when I'm done as mine holds a temp really well. What I don't get is the heavier taste of smoke imparted by cooking on a stick burner.

At the end of the day, it doesn't bother me much since I do not like Q with a heavy smoke taste. But sometimes I long for just a bit more.... But then again I don't want to babysit a fire, I need to get a tube and see if it improves it just a touch

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I had a comment in one of my threads addressing this.

I find stick burners to produce a light smoke. I cook with mostly clean exhaust. I'd say a stick burner tastes closer to pellets than charcoal and chunks. I do believe alot of folks oversmoke their bbq and dont even know any better, ignorance is bliss. heck the oldest form of Q in America, whole hog, was traditionally cooked over wood embers not smoking wood.

I'll say it one more time. Bbq is not smoking

+1 to PID controllers not being necessary. My Cookshack doesn't use PID and it holds temperature better than my GMG controllers.

smoke ninja said:

I had a comment in one of my threads addressing this.

I find stick burners to produce a light smoke. I cook with mostly clean exhaust. I'd say a stick burner tastes closer to pellets than charcoal and chunks. I do believe alot of folks oversmoke their bbq and dont even know any better, ignorance is bliss. heck the oldest form of Q in America, whole hog, was traditionally cooked over wood embers not smoking wood.

I'll say it one more time. Bbq is not smoking

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Well said.

BadkissonTT said:

I'm thining about springing for the Pit Boss Austin XL.


But....i'm also could easily consider a Camp Chef Smoke Pro SE

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I have had the Camp Chef Smoke Pro SE for a year. The only thing I had to replace was the temperature gauge on the hood, and Camp Chef sent me one under warranty. It doesn't have a PID controller, or a digital readout. It does not have a food probe.

I have a Maverick 732, and I use it to help me watch things. I have done ribs, chicken and brisket. It has cooked them all very well. Especially the St. Louis Ribs.

I have found that pellets do make a difference. I now use Mes quite blend B&B on brisket for a heavier smoke flavor, and I use the Apple blend B&B for Pork and Chicken.

I also use the high smoke setting for an hour or so, when I first put the meat on the pit. I then raise the temp to my desired cooking temperature.

Smoking Cajun said:

I have had the Camp Chef Smoke Pro SE for a year. The only thing I had to replace was the temperature gauge on the hood, and Camp Chef sent me one under warranty. It doesn't have a PID controller, or a digital readout. It does not have a food probe.

I have a Maverick 732, and I use it to help me watch things. I have done ribs, chicken and brisket. It has cooked them all very well. Especially the St. Louis Ribs.

I have found that pellets do make a difference. I now use Mes quite blend B&B on brisket for a heavier smoke flavor, and I use the Apple blend B&B for Pork and Chicken.

I also use the high smoke setting for an hour or so, when I first put the meat on the pit. I then raise the temp to my desired cooking temperature.

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Sounds like you’ve got things nicely figured out! Any pics of recent cooks and/or your Camp Chef. We always love pics... lol.

smoke ninja said:

I find stick burners to produce a light smoke

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I have found the same thing. I run ol' Cindy here on a diet of 100% pecan wood. No charcoal, just straight wood:



Running it clean, I get a light smoke profile. The most noticeable difference is that it tastes more "woody". You know that smell you get when you cut wood with a table saw or similar? It's not a burnt, smoky smell, but a clean woody smell...that's what I get from a stick burner that I don't really get from a pellet grill. However, it's so light and fleeting that if it's not there, you likely wouldn't miss it.

I've also found that different grills from the same manufacturer will put down different amounts of smoke. My little DC will put down a solid smoke, but the big JB is very very light on smoke. My PG1000 runs rings around all of them. Solid smoke profile with no creosote undertones. It is also a non-PID controller. Biggest con is temperature overshoot when the system is disturbed. I'm contemplating an Arduino replacement for the GMG controller that is non-PID just to see how that would work. I could also build in a PID loop just for fun. My big problem with GMG controllers is that they don't control for Integral windup very well, and I've seen situations where the temperature will just continue to slowly climb and climb and climb over several hours. PID programming is not easy. I do not think that many (if any) manufacturers have devoted the proper resources (i.e. a process control engineer) to tune the PID loop. It's not enough just to mash "Autotune" and walk away.