First thing...look for the "multi quote" button next to the quote button. Allows you to respond with quotes in one message. Just hit that + for each one, then then hit "quote" for the very last one and it will form up a message with all the quotes in it. :thumb:
I know the dimension and I actually drove the a dealer to see it in person.
Sometimes the "real" cooking space is not the same. I've read some pellet smoker you can't put meat on the very edge because those area are much hotter due to outside of the diffuser.
I'm not interested in using rib rack though.
This is the HUGE advantage of the PG500/1000 design: there is NO heat under the drip pan, (it's not a diffuser, because there's nothing to diffuse) like every other cooker on the market. That is why the indirect side is so good. You can cook right to the edge with no problem. You can cook at 600° indirect with no problem. The firepot is
only under zone 1, and there is a wall between zone 1 and zone 4. Essentially you have a sear zone (zone 1) ready to go all the time, and the best indirect zone (zone 4) on the market. I throw steaks on zone 1, bacon wrapped asparagus in zone 2 a little bit early and everything gets done at the same time. Once you understand how to use it, the multi zone cooking is genius.
Also keep in mind that with the grill set to 500°, zone 1 will hit 800°. First cook (steaks) I set the grill to 600° and (over)cooked some 3/4" steaks in 4 minutes total time. I was later told that 600° usually ends up at close to 1000° in zone 1. There was a lot of red metal down there. :shock:
Not sure why you don't want to use the rib rack? It would solve all your problems. 7 racks would fit no problem in zone 4.
Does it fit 3 racks on zone 4 without rib rack?
Do you use both zone 3 and 4 for ribs? I wonder if you have to swap them one in a while due to temperature differences.
I could put 3 racks of babybacks in zone 4. I have not done STL, but I think you would
not fit 3 of them in there. Yep, you can use zone 3 for ribs, they'll just get done faster, and then you can throw them in the warming drawer for holding. I'd likely be buying full spares, trimming off the tips, cooking those in zone 3 while I had the others on a rack in zone 4, and the whole mess would probably finish all at the same time.
Where the temp sensor is located, I've been seeing zone 4 about 10% under the set temp, and zone 3 is about 10% over. Haven't checked zone 2 yet.
I use the warming drawer WAY more than I thought I would. Cooking chicken thighs/legs/quarters you'll always end up with ones that cook faster than the others...I just throw 'em in the drawer. The temps down there are ~50% less than the grill setpoint, and they hang out quite nicely down there. That way I can finish the cook all at the same time, rather than pulling a few pieces here and there...drop 'em in the drawer and keep on truckin'.
