Pellet Smokers & Smoke - Low vs High Temps

I had a pretty good conversation with one of the guys at MAK grills. He had told me that when set to the smoke setting (180) that the computer does its best to get the most smoke (Burn) out of each pellet. I usually leave the grill set to smoke for the first hour and then goto my desired temp which is usually 235. I will say that the MAK lays down the smoke, especially with Hickory. Always a good smoke ring and plenty of good smoke flavor. The MAK also holds temps incredibly well. I have monitored my cooks and the thing holds the temp on the nose. My camp chef is all over the place. 50 degree spikes up and down. Food quality is night and day compared to the MAK. I have overcooked BBQ so many times due to those up and down temps. I mean I learned to set it better for those spikes and monitored it a little better. I am going to change the computer on it soon. There are a couple of after market computer changes and there are graphs that show the before and after and it is impressive.
 
Well this is what the smoke ring looks like on my Grilla Silverbac @ 250 all the way through...

These are several hours old and have just been sitting out so a little dry but still the smoke ring is pretty prominent.
 

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Sam, I have a pitboss that is several years old. When I grill, I have a hard time telling that there is any smoke flavor. I always run small food on the SMOKE setting or 200 to 225 if I want more smoke flavor. Big cuts I definitely use the lower setting up to 225, often for the entire length of cooking. I ran a brisket around 275 for a cook, and I did not notice smoke flavor at all
 
I think ambient temperature comes into play too. There may be some more science happening on the smoke settings of some of the controllers but in general, the higher temps have a really hot concentrated fire where the lower ones have more smoldering. In the summer where the first 130 degrees are free, it can be hard to keep a fire burning at 180-200. In the winter when it's 10 degrees, the fire required to hold 180-200 is very different (how different depends on metal thickness, double walls etc.). My rectec has no problem dealing with cold weather in terms of holding temp but I do think I can get better smoke flavor in the summer than winter
 
Dweverett said:
I think ambient temperature comes into play too. There may be some more science happening on the smoke settings of some of the controllers but in general, the higher temps have a really hot concentrated fire where the lower ones have more smoldering. In the summer where the first 130 degrees are free, it can be hard to keep a fire burning at 180-200. In the winter when it's 10 degrees, the fire required to hold 180-200 is very different (how different depends on metal thickness, double walls etc.). My rectec has no problem dealing with cold weather in terms of holding temp but I do think I can get better smoke flavor in the summer than winter
Click to expand...

That smoke ring in my above picture was from today. It was about 35 degrees out.
 
Dweverett said:
I think ambient temperature comes into play too. There may be some more science happening on the smoke settings of some of the controllers but in general, the higher temps have a really hot concentrated fire where the lower ones have more smoldering. In the summer where the first 130 degrees are free, it can be hard to keep a fire burning at 180-200. In the winter when it's 10 degrees, the fire required to hold 180-200 is very different (how different depends on metal thickness, double walls etc.). My rectec has no problem dealing with cold weather in terms of holding temp but I do think I can get better smoke flavor in the summer than winter
Click to expand...

So in theory an insulated cooker that can really hold the heat should be able to produce more smoke. For instance an insulated pg 1000 or Memphis grill wouldn’t have to burn a hot efficient fire at all to maintain 225 deg.
I know one of the benefits of the flame zone on my Mak is more smoke due to the fact I can maintain 225 deg more easily with a less efficient fire.
 
My non PID produces more smoke flavor than my PID ( that’s just my smokers ) , could be a totally different experience than others. My opinion would be that you can manipulate the amount of smoke flavor by using different techniques. I went from a stick burner to an FEC100 in comps years ago and was unhappy with the results at first but after time I learned what needed to be done to get the flavor I was looking for. It can be done / this forum can help you think outside “the box”
 
SimcoBBQ said:
My non PID produces more smoke flavor than my PID ( that’s just my smokers ) , could be a totally different experience than others. My opinion would be that you can manipulate the amount of smoke flavor by using different techniques. I went from a stick burner to an FEC100 in comps years ago and was unhappy with the results at first but after time I learned what needed to be done to get the flavor I was looking for. It can be done / this forum can help you think outside “the box”
Click to expand...

Is that a trick you’re willing to share?
 
I smoked a pork butt for a party on New Years on the DB. The folks I served have eaten pulled pork off of every cooker I have/had from a UDS to the Weber Summit. Most at the party wanted to know what I did different because it was the best pulled pork they had eaten.

There was no smokiness vs non smokiness discussion, they agreed it was the best pulled pork.

I think we get a little caught up in the minutia of tit vs tat on this board and lose sight of cooking killer food for folks to not only enjoy, but remember.
 
MeatyOakerSmoker said:
That smoke ring in my above picture was from today. It was about 35 degrees out.
Click to expand...

No criticism at all of of your cook and it looks great! I've found though that my rectec always puts a heavy smoke ring on the cooks, certainly more than I ever see with charcoal. Doesn't equate to smoke flavor though -- can definitely get more using the Weber
 
BKING! said:
So in theory an insulated cooker that can really hold the heat should be able to produce more smoke. For instance an insulated pg 1000 or Memphis grill wouldn’t have to burn a hot efficient fire at all to maintain 225 deg.
I know one of the benefits of the flame zone on my Mak is more smoke due to the fact I can maintain 225 deg more easily with a less efficient fire.
Click to expand...

Even with a blanket, the fan is sucking in much colder air in the winter, and that air needs to be heated up.

I am not saying that a blanket does not help, I am sure it does. But the air that is used for combustion has to be heated up, and this may make a difference.
 
BKING! said:
So in theory an insulated cooker that can really hold the heat should be able to produce more smoke. For instance an insulated pg 1000 or Memphis grill wouldn’t have to burn a hot efficient fire at all to maintain 225 deg.
I know one of the benefits of the flame zone on my Mak is more smoke due to the fact I can maintain 225 deg more easily with a less efficient fire.
Click to expand...

That would be my expectation -- though I've never had a way to test it. Probably could to a point just by using an insulated blanket but haven't paid enough attention to see if it worked.

That said, if anyone here wants to send me an FEC or something else insulated I'd be more than willing to try a more structured comparison vs my rectec...:grin:
 
MeatyOakerSmoker said:
Is that a trick you’re willing to share?
Click to expand...

Sure! To achieve a heavier smoke flavor put you meat on cold (straight from the refrigerator) before you fire your pit up. Also use a pellet that will give you the results you’re looking for. Hickory pellets ( not cut or mixed ) tend to give me the strongest flavor of any other pellets that I’ve used , not saying that other woods don’t give good results but the Hickory presence seams to be the more dominant than others
 
BKING! said:
So in theory an insulated cooker that can really hold the heat should be able to produce more smoke. For instance an insulated pg 1000 or Memphis grill wouldn’t have to burn a hot efficient fire at all to maintain 225 deg.
I know one of the benefits of the flame zone on my Mak is more smoke due to the fact I can maintain 225 deg more easily with a less efficient fire.
Click to expand...

I would think that a non-insulated cooker would produce more smoke , going off the stick burner theory of moving more air and smoke over the meat.
 
SimcoBBQ said:
I would think that a non-insulated cooker would produce more smoke , going off the stick burner theory of moving more air and smoke over the meat.
Click to expand...

I tend to think of a pellet grill as a stick burner that burns really itty bitty logs that have been kiln dried to the edge of their existence. I've read a number of posts here about kiln dried wood burning too efficiently and people preferring something with a little more moisture in their stick burners. Pellets have a moisture content less than half of kiln dried so burn incredibly efficiently.

Because it burns so well you need to prevent it from really getting going so that there is smoldering and some smoke. I would argue that's a function of how big the fire is more than the actual temperature of the grill. Maybe a better way of saying it is that I'll get the most smoke at the minimum feed rate for the pellets. On a really cold day I suspect that it has to run faster than that to hold the minimum temperature.

Some of the controllers also cycle the fan at low set temps to starve the fire of oxygen to generate some more smoke. I have one of the older Rectec 680s that doesn't have that smoke setting so I'm not sure how exactly it works or how much impact it has.
 
4ever3 said:
I smoked a pork butt for a party on New Years on the DB. The folks I served have eaten pulled pork off of every cooker I have/had from a UDS to the Weber Summit. Most at the party wanted to know what I did different because it was the best pulled pork they had eaten.

There was no smokiness vs non smokiness discussion, they agreed it was the best pulled pork.

I think we get a little caught up in the minutia of tit vs tat on this board and lose sight of cooking killer food for folks to not only enjoy, but remember.
Click to expand...

Is this a once-off though? So many variables come into play on a single cook. I'm pretty sure we care about the minor things around here because we want our food to be so amazing every time that it's not bbq roulette.

I can tell you I have put out some amazing stuff off all of my other 4 smokers. I can mostly consistently put out the good stuff on my Lang when I have the time and patience to ensure I have a good clean fire. I might change my mind over time but the Lang has a milder smoke than everything but the pellet but a more complex and clean flavor. As of now, it is my favorite cooker. I've also found that cleaning my smokers is a must if I want the best possible product especially in a UDS. I find that the cleaning process is easiest in the Silverbac, which is a big plus and leads to me being more religious about the process. I suspect that's true of most pellet smokers.

And now back to our scheduled to our no smokiness vs non smokiness discussion :becky:
 
Could have been a one off Meaty, but the DB cooks ribs better than any other cooker I’ve had too. I’m not convinced that the “not smokey enough” statement doesn’t come from cooks defending the cookers they have against a PG.
 
4ever3 said:
Could have been a one off Meaty, but the DB cooks ribs better than any other cooker I’ve had too. I’m not convinced that the “not smokey enough” statement doesn’t come from cooks defending the cookers they have against a PG.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind, I'm not in the smokier is better camp. I don't think most of the brethren are. I certainly thought it was a good thing but as you learn and you palate evolves I prefer a lighter smoke of the stickburners because of the complexity of the flavor not extra smoke. I just got my PG so we'll see if that changes over time. Certainly 1) not hating on the ease of use of this thing, and 2) I don't much care how you chose to cook so much as the product it produces.
 
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