The Official Pellet Grill Smoker thread.

drunkenmeatfist said:

That's the rub. I could dip my toes in the water with a Pit Boss or something similar. I think for me the high end of a pellet grill purchase would be the small Pellet Pro that I have seen on here. None of my friends own a pellet cooker so I am on my own.

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Pellet pro makes an awesome pellet grill and their accessories address many of the concerns with the pellet grills like lack of grilling capability and smoke production. It’s a safe bet.

While I think pellet pro is a step above pitboss I do think pitbosses are a good value. The ones I’ve seen at Lowe’s use pretty thick gauge metal and I know many who like theirs. They also come with a fantastic warranty but from what I hear the customer service isn’t the best.

BKING! said:

Any of you guys grill with the lid open on your pellet cooker? I realize the temp sensor would constantly read the grill temp as being below set point but that would just mean a hotter fire. I was considering trying this for a reverse sear tomorrow to brown the crust at the end but slow the cooking of the meat during the sear.
Obviously this would only work if you have a pellet cooker that can produce direct radiant heat

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The pit boss grills direct by exposing the flame pot. It does a decent job but it's a small zone, 2-3 steaks max. Grill grates would probably expand the number. I sear lid open on it, at 400 it only takes a few minutes. I've played around with lower sear temps and lid closed and raised direct on the upper rack (wings turned out great).

Of course the boss doesn't have a pid, it works on a pause delay. I've been wondering if it feeds more pellets when its below set temp or if it just runs based on the on/off cycle it's set to?

drunkenmeatfist said:

I read this thread with a heavy heart. I wish I could get a MAK, but I am too poor. I'm really too poor for a Walmart Pit Boss, but I will find a way someday.

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Fellow poor guy here and this threads resident pit boss advocate

You can find great deals on pit boss at Wally's. The classic gets clearanced to $200 and the Austin xl $300 use brickseek.com to check. Most clearance units have been moved but you may get lucky, the best time to check is between Oct-dec. The barrel style units are more hybrid cookers the verticals function as pure indirect smokers.


Dont be afraid to look at used pellet cookers either. I know alot of folks shy away from used electronics but most replacement parts are cheap, even controllers can be had for under $100. Really the only "wearing" parts are the controller, hot rod and auger motor and replacing them is relatively easy.

drunkenmeatfist said:

I found a good deal on a Vision kamado a couple years ago so that is my cooker. I've been keeping my eyes open for a good deal on a pellet grill, but I haven't found one yet.

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Gotcha! Sure wish you could find somewhere to try pellet cooked food. I used to be a huge fan of kamados. Had 4 Kamado Joes at one time... ridiculous, I know. They have all been sold, and personally I do not miss them one bit. I know it’s subjective and personal, but I along with those I cook for, much prefer pellet cooked food vs kamado cooked food. Funny thing is I don’t think it’s a pellet vs charcoal thing. Reason I say that is because we LOVE the food that comes from my kettle as well. I think it’s more an airflow thing. The kamados are just to efficient in my opinion. More often than not, to my taste buds and the taste buds of my family, the kamado cooked food had a putrid camp fire taste. “Camp fire” taste may sound good, but because of the decreased airflow, I think the smoke hung out a bit to long on the food before passing through. On the kettle, there is much better airflow which gives a cleaner and more pleasant charcoal fired taste. Then there’s the pellet grill... and in my opinion, about the cleanest and most pleasant wood fired taste there is...

Of course this is just my opinion, and there are definitely guys that’ll disagree with me. To each their own

smoke ninja said:

Most clearance units have been moved but you may get lucky, the best time to check is between Oct-dec. The barrel style units are more hybrid cookers the verticals function as pure indirect smokers.

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I've been checking for a while and haven't been lucky enough to catch any deals yet. I'm not really concerned with the "grilling" function of a pellet grill since I will still have my kamado, just want the smoking function to work properly. I already have an amazn tube if more smoke is desired. So out of all of the cheaper options is Pit Boss considered a top contender?

So the Mak didn’t too good of a job with the lid open even on manual mode. It became clear that Mak must have the lid closed for it to draft properly . Oh well. The rib roast was excellent though! It had the perfect amount of smoke and the flavor was perfect!. Oak pellets are slowly becoming my favorite all around pellet.

I do believe I might get a cookshack or Memphis along with my Mak eventually to get better grilling/searing performance. I’m grilling a lot more than smoking now days.

Funny thing is I used to smoke 4 out 5 cooks on my Kamado but hated the smoke flavor. Now I got a Mak and love the smoke flavor. However as much as I love pellet smoked food I do love pellet grilled food even more. It’s intoxicatingly good lol.

BKING! said:

I do believe I might get a cookshack or Memphis along with my Mak eventually to get better grilling/searing performance. I’m grilling a lot more than smoking now days.



Funny thing is I used to smoke 4 out 5 cooks on my Kamado but hated the smoke flavor. Now I got a Mak and love the smoke flavor. However as much as I love pellet smoked food I do love pellet grilled food even more. It’s intoxicatingly good lol.

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This might be blasphemy, but what about getting a portable infrared grill for the searing? Solaire has a decent one for about $500 I think...smoke on the Mak and then sear for a minute or two on the infrared? They can be up to temp in under 5 minutes I believe....Lot less room and money then another full size cooker....??




Memphis Elite





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gtsum said:

This might be blasphemy, but what about getting a portable infrared grill for the searing? Solaire has a decent one for about $500 I think...smoke on the Mak and then sear for a minute or two on the infrared? They can be up to temp in under 5 minutes I believe....Lot less room and money then another full size cooker....??




Memphis Elite





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I’m not sure... just thinking out loud. The flame zone does an excellent job grilling and getting plenty of char for literally everything but steak. If I just used my grill grates like you guys keep telling me to do I wouldn’t have an issue with steak lol. I guess getting those stupid things out every once in a while for steak cooks wouldn’t be so bad.

gtsum said:

This might be blasphemy, but what about getting a portable infrared grill for the searing? Solaire has a decent one for about $500 I think...smoke on the Mak and then sear for a minute or two on the infrared? They can be up to temp in under 5 minutes I believe....Lot less room and money then another full size cooker....??




Memphis Elite





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I 110% agree with this! If not an infrared... then a Weber kettle. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 26.75 kettle for grilling. With lump charcoal I have it ready to go in no time and the cleanup after the cook is sooo easy on the kettles as everything just burns up as it hits the fire (I do 95% of my kettle ‘grilling’ cooks on GrillGrates directly over the fire for the entire duration of the cook). I do very little two zone grilling because of the GG’s. It’s all about semi-direct w/ the flavor bombs dripping/hitting the fire the entire time. The ‘grilled’ flavor is hard to beat

I cooked some prime strips last night reverse sear til 120 and then grill grates for the sear. That was first error...should of pulled at 110...I actually didn’t care for it this time as the char wasn’t enough...I’m actually preferring doing the steak searing without the grill grates I think.....but they do make other things a lot easier (chops, fish, boneless chicken breasts, burgers, etc). Maybe I just like different results at different times?


Memphis Elite





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gtsum said:

I cooked some prime strips last night reverse sear til 120 and then grill grates for the sear. That was first error...should of pulled at 110...I actually didn’t care for it this time as the char wasn’t enough...I’m actually preferring doing the steak searing without the grill grates I think.....but they do make other things a lot easier (chops, fish, boneless chicken breasts, burgers, etc). Maybe I just like different results at different times?


Memphis Elite





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I prefer to not use grill grates because I get better all over browning without them. I also get better char. That little bit of flame hitting the food does wonders for flavor for me. I could probably use the flat top portion of the grill grates to get that same all over browning

I'm loving the Pit Boss Copperhead pellet smoker!! I've had it 5 days and cooked on it 3 times already.
Thursday I cooked a chicken and it came out juicy and tender as any I've ever had.




Yesterday was nasty, windy and cold but the smoker held up and it was nice not having to load wood and tend a fire. This was more of a test cook to see how it works on the smoke setting before I try sausage and it didn't disappoint.

I made tasso and smoked it for 6 hours. It's packed up and ready to use, I'll use some today in a gumbo for the Saints game.

I made a brine and let it sit for 2 days then seasoned it heavy and into the smoke bath.





The result is a spicy cured ham that's used more like a seasoning than a meat. It's great in beans, jambalaya, gumbo and greens. It doesn't take much to give a dish a seasoned smokey flavor.

Radrob said:

I'm loving the Pit Boss Copperhead pellet smoker!! I've had it 5 days and cooked on it 3 times already.

Thursday I cooked a chicken and it came out juicy and tender as any I've ever had.

Yesterday was nasty, windy and cold but the smoker held up and it was nice not having to load wood and tend a fire. This was more of a test cook to see how it works on the smoke setting before I try sausage and it didn't disappoint.



I made tasso and smoked it for 6 hours. It's packed up and ready to use, I'll use some today in a gumbo for the Saints game.



I made a brine and let it sit for 2 days then seasoned it heavy and into the smoke bath.

The result is a spicy cured ham that's used more like a seasoning than a meat. It's great in beans, jambalaya, gumbo and greens. It doesn't take much to give a dish a seasoned smokey flavor.

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Love it!!!! Sounds like another pellet head in the making

Man that does look good! How is the humidity inside that cooker?

I used the water pan 3/4 full and didn't notice it being too humid, there was still some left when I finished.

drunkenmeatfist said:

I've been checking for a while and haven't been lucky enough to catch any deals yet. I'm not really concerned with the "grilling" function of a pellet grill since I will still have my kamado, just want the smoking function to work properly. I already have an amazn tube if more smoke is desired. So out of all of the cheaper options is Pit Boss considered a top contender?

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As far as I know they are the cheapest, especially when clearanced. I'm not sure I'd be happy with the classic at $500. Discounted to $200 and it's a sweet spot. It reminds me of the Akorn. Perfect entry level cooker. I think there are some really good (and better) mid level pellet cookers in the $500+ range. It all depends on budget and capacity needs. For me $500 was too high

smoke ninja said:

As far as I know they are the cheapest, especially when clearanced. I'm not sure I'd be happy with the classic at $500. Discounted to $200 and it's a sweet spot. It reminds me of the Akorn. Perfect entry level cooker. I think there are some really good (and better) mid level pellet cookers in the $500+ range. It all depends on budget and capacity needs. For me $500 was too high

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I saw a full sized display model Akorn at Walmart yesterday marked down to $75. I almost grabbed it until I realized I wouldn't really have much use for it. I probably need to stay away from this thread. I'm already going down a rabbit hole looking into that Pit Boss Copperhead.

drunkenmeatfist said:

I saw a full sized display model Akorn at Walmart yesterday marked down to $75. I almost grabbed it until I realized I wouldn't really have much use for it. I probably need to stay away from this thread. I'm already going down a rabbit hole looking into that Pit Boss Copperhead.

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Price per sq inch of cooking area the copperhead can’t be beat. I think you need it. Just go ahead and get it.

SmokyDick said:

Hoping to hear more on the pitboss tailgater and how you cored it for $180

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I had to put my Wally World chuck ribs in the freezer because the entire family came down with the stomach flu. I can mark another KFC location off my list...

The Tailgater was already marked down too $200 from $297 and mine was an open box item. I guess they opened it and didn’t like the size? Seems perfect for just a lonely brisket.

drunkenmeatfist said:

I saw a full sized display model Akorn at Walmart yesterday marked down to $75. I almost grabbed it until I realized I wouldn't really have much use for it. I probably need to stay away from this thread. I'm already going down a rabbit hole looking into that Pit Boss Copperhead.

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It’s to late... the seed has already been planted. Yes, you can run... but no, you cannot hide. So here’s early warm welcome to the wonderful world of pellet cooking... lol.

drunkenmeatfist said:

I saw a full sized display model Akorn at Walmart yesterday marked down to $75. I almost grabbed it until I realized I wouldn't really have much use for it. I probably need to stay away from this thread. I'm already going down a rabbit hole looking into that Pit Boss Copperhead.

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The copperhead was the one i was waiting on to go on clearance. I got impatient and bought the Pellet Pro. There's 2 about 30 minutes from me but I'm trying to resist. I still have the clearance Akorn Jr that is still in the box...

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