Mrdeville
Full Fledged Farker
Pellet vs Charcoal smoker. Which do you have? Which one do you feel is better and why? Thanks!
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Pellet Vs. Charcoal Smoker
- Thread starter Mrdeville
- Start date
DownHomeQue
is Blowin Smoke!
None.. STICKBURNER :biggrin1:
Michael Cowley
Knows what a fatty is.
I have owned charcoal, gas, pellet, and stick! I prefer pellet for a couple reasons.
1. ease of use set it and forget
2. No tending fires
3. No waiting for charcoal to heat up or logs to start fire
4. Runs on a PID algorithm so you don't have runaway fires and you don't have to worry about you falling asleep and fire goes out.
5. It doesn't make food taste like creosote. You get a kiss of smoke and it tastes great! You taste the smoke but the meat shines through.
1. ease of use set it and forget
2. No tending fires
3. No waiting for charcoal to heat up or logs to start fire
4. Runs on a PID algorithm so you don't have runaway fires and you don't have to worry about you falling asleep and fire goes out.
5. It doesn't make food taste like creosote. You get a kiss of smoke and it tastes great! You taste the smoke but the meat shines through.
cpw
Babbling Farker
Out of curiosity, how much do you spend a year on pellets? That's really the only thing that potentially turns me off to a pellet smoker.
tduffy
is Blowin Smoke!
I use a traeger pellet smoker and love it. I get more time to spend concentrating on the meat instead of worrying about maintaining a fire and temps.
hamiltont
is Blowin Smoke!
You can buy pellets pretty cheap if you shop around. I've seen them for as little as $14 per 40lb. bag delivered if you buy 50 bags on a skid. Otherwise watch for sales.
As far as charcoal vs. pellet cookers go. I use both and enjoy both. I prefer the flavor of charcoal and I enjoy the convenience of the pellet cooker. Just depends on my mood for that day's cook... Cheers!!!
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Peter B
Knows what a fatty is.
I have a pellet smoker and a stick burner. I used to have a WSM but I got rid of it.
In my opinion, the stick burner makes the best food but there is obvious effort involved in tending the fire.
When I am feeling lazy or just don't have time to tend a fire, the pellet grill does a real good job of smoking without creosote. I don't think the bark or the flavor of the smoke comes out as nice as the stickburner though but it is pretty close.
I got rid of the WSM because it had a tendency to leave a creosote flavor. I deep cleaned it every time I used it and used all natural lump to minimize smoke from binder material in most briquettes but there was always a slight hint of creosote in my food. It didn't bother most but it bothered me. I think it was due to the limited air flow in the WSM. Long cooks using a smoldering charcoal basket with limited air flow is going to create some level of bitter smoke.
I can't say I don't like charcoal because on a different cooker it may be great but my preference, for now at least, is to cook with sticks first, wood pellets second, and lastly charcoal.
In my opinion, the stick burner makes the best food but there is obvious effort involved in tending the fire.
When I am feeling lazy or just don't have time to tend a fire, the pellet grill does a real good job of smoking without creosote. I don't think the bark or the flavor of the smoke comes out as nice as the stickburner though but it is pretty close.
I got rid of the WSM because it had a tendency to leave a creosote flavor. I deep cleaned it every time I used it and used all natural lump to minimize smoke from binder material in most briquettes but there was always a slight hint of creosote in my food. It didn't bother most but it bothered me. I think it was due to the limited air flow in the WSM. Long cooks using a smoldering charcoal basket with limited air flow is going to create some level of bitter smoke.
I can't say I don't like charcoal because on a different cooker it may be great but my preference, for now at least, is to cook with sticks first, wood pellets second, and lastly charcoal.
Michael Cowley
Knows what a fatty is.
Yea I agree with all statements here. It depends on what your looking for. All cookers have their uses. Some take more work than others. Pellets are cheap and if you get a good pellet unit you burn absolutely no pellets. I get 2tons of pellets for like 300 bucks delivered
jasonjax
Babbling Farker
I've cooked on everything minus a big stick burner, and I am a total pellet convert. I got rid of my gas grill, my WSM, and my Bubba Keg in favor of my FEC-100 and FPG-500.
Pellet consumption varies a ton by model and type of cook so hard to make a generalization there, but I can unequivocally say I spend less time overall messing with fuel whether that be adding to the cooker, dumping ash, and even buying.
Pellet consumption varies a ton by model and type of cook so hard to make a generalization there, but I can unequivocally say I spend less time overall messing with fuel whether that be adding to the cooker, dumping ash, and even buying.
Richard_
is Blowin Smoke!
I have , Pellet , UDS and a stick burner , Pellet gets the most use , set it and forget it is a nice feature , especially on over night cooks
cpw
Babbling Farker
That's good to know. I have a backwoods at home so I stock up on kingsford when it goes on sale.
I like the idea of a pellet smoker for comps though, mainly because we use a Lang right now and feeding the fire all night isn't really my idea of fun.
NickTheGreat
is One Chatty Farker
Damn. I'm starting to get interested in the pellet cookers . . .
shirknwrk
is one Smokin' Farker
Lump charcoal for my Big Green Egg (What else?). Enjoy fire building and tending is almost unnecessary... almost... No creosote taste as long as you let fresh lump burn 30 min before putting the food in. If I wanted to concentrate 100° on food prep. (like at a comp. or commercial cooking), I might have a different attitude. One more thing... Most pellet smokers struggle to reach grilling temperatures ... of course, that's no problem if you have a dedicated grill. Gotta admit, though, there are times I'd like to just throw a switch...
J
jmoney7269
Guest
are you on pelletheads, s/n eric rowley?
J
jmoney7269
Guest
personally, i have 3 pits for 3 different uses
UDS imo puts the best cooked over coals flavor on meats.
BBQ vault can hold the most meat and is a fuel miser when cooked dry
Traeger 075 with pid homebrew auber controller, its by far the easiest and gets the most use at home. i grilled some burgers direct flame last night, gonna grill some dry brined ribeyes tonight. literally at home i only use my pellet cooker unless i wanna play with some charchal.
UDS imo puts the best cooked over coals flavor on meats.
BBQ vault can hold the most meat and is a fuel miser when cooked dry
Traeger 075 with pid homebrew auber controller, its by far the easiest and gets the most use at home. i grilled some burgers direct flame last night, gonna grill some dry brined ribeyes tonight. literally at home i only use my pellet cooker unless i wanna play with some charchal.
Woody1911a1
Full Fledged Farker
love my GMG pellet pooper 
spend less on pellets than i used to on charcoal .
spend less on pellets than i used to on charcoal .
M
Mark Warren
Guest
Trick question because a pellet smoker can not grill steaks so are you just using it as a smoker or do you need it to also be a grill? (whatever you buy that is).
dwfisk
Quintessential Chatty Farker
^ Yep WOOD!
