Are pellet grills really faster and more convenient for smoking?

Hoss said:
No idea.Some give good results,others,not so much.I bought into the ceramic fad.I am not following this one.offset for me.If you do not have time to use your smoker,use your oven.
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I couldn't disagree more. Just because it's not the same output as an offset, doesn't mean it isn't a desirable output.

I have a brother in law that is 20 years my senior. He has never liked pulled pork. At the mention of it, he wouldn't even show up to a meal. His wife now asks me regularly to smoke a chunk o' pork for them. I don't pretend that my results are the same as an offset, but I also know that the pellet profile is what we are after more frequently which means I get to use it more often.
 
rwalters said:
Having owned and cooked lots of food on kettles and a PBC myself... and now being a pellethead convert, I can say without hesitation that IMO pellet cooking is easier and more convenient in several ways. Let me explain...

1) I can walk out and flip a switch, set an exact temp and walk back inside.

2) The cooker will come up to that set temp and park it there with little fluctuation for the entire duration of the cook with no user interaction as the controller compensates for all weather conditions.

3) The smoke profile is the same every single time. Recipes/results are easily repeatable.

4) When cooks are based on a set meal time, you can easily turn temps down or crank them up to speed things up slow them down. I can do it from my phone in fact.

5) The clean up after a cook takes a few mins and I am ready for the next adventure.

These are the things that jump out to me with pellet cookers.

Now the PBC. It’s an amazingly brain dead easy to use cooker... lots to love about it. And it puts out great results as you state. Is it as easy and convenient as a pellet cooker? Not IMHO. Why?

1) You’re manually lighting a fire.

2) You’re having to watch your time as to make sure the charcoal is dumped in not to soon and not to late.

3) There were numerous times with my PBC where weather affected it. More often than not when this happened it would start running to cool. I had to watch for that and crack the lid on occasion to bring temp back up.

4) On a few occasions, I had ribs drop from the hooks. Yes they were hooked according to directions, but it still happened a few times. I had to watch for this.

5) I could never time meals as precisely when cooking on my PBC like I can on my pellet cooker.

Bottomline, the PBC and pellet cookers are both fantastic options. They each have their strengths/weaknesses. Both are very different from each other. But for ease of use and consistency, I do not think you will beat a pellet cooker.

Just my 2 cents :)
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chingador said:
I have never used a pit barrel cooker, but 20 minutes from beginning to temp locked in and meat on sounds awful optimistic. Before I get my Rec Tec my smoking was done on my UDS or Primo Kamado. For both, here was my process, took around an hour from beginning to meat on. Some times more if the smoke wasn't clean enough.

1. take out the racks to access charcoal basket. For the UDS, remove basket.
2. Fill basket with charcoal. UDS, put basket back in the bottom of cooker.
3. light charcoal, open up all vents all the way.
4. put racks back in, close up pit.
5. don't go too far away. Gotta monitor pit temp
6. Once temps get to around 150, start gradually shutting down vents to halfway
7. Once temps get just shy of 200 degrees, shut down vents even more
8. Once temps get to desired cooking temp, shut down to final settings
9. Wait for smoke to clean up to TBS (the big variable)
10. Put meat on

None of this is really that big of a deal. Once this is done. Things are quite easy. The only variation is if I was using my Pitmaster IQ, which I would introduce around step 6.

For comparison, here is my process for the pellet grill

1. Check pellet level
2. Add pellets if needed
3. Press power button, turn knob to adjust temp
4. put meat on

Up to temp if cooking low and slow in about 20-30 minutes, but generally meat is on in around 15 min.

You tell me. Which is quicker and more convenient?

Don't get me wrong. I love my Kamado and my UDS has moved to my place in the country where it will be used quite a bit when I am out there. But I am very busy on weekends. I love to be able to flip a switch, throw on some Q then go about my busy day to come back with food almost done. Wife is generally home if needed so cook isnt 100% unattended.

But the biggest advantage to the pellet grill is the consistency. You get the same clean combustion time after time. My combustion in the primo or UDS would vary depending on charcoal, wood, user input and weather etc. Not a huge variation, but enough of one.
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Both of the above are great selling points for pellet grill smokers. However, for me, I was an early adopter of pellets in the early 2000's with Traegers. No use in bashing/rehashing my experiences other than to say those experiences make me reluctant to go wade off into those waters again.


ATTST: Advances in technology lead me to believe my reluctance may mean I'm missing out on a good thing. Robb's MAK posts (and others MAK owners as well) make me want to pull the trigger on the Two Star. I nearly did last spring when MAK was offering the great deal he arranged for the Brethren. My wife was the deciding factor in the final decision. But every time I see a MAK post, I regret it. Push button, set it and forget it, minimal cleanup, great customer service, is getting more and more appealing. I just need somebody to invite me to taste the food that comes off the MAK and if the food looks as good as the pictures, I might try pellets one more time.


Good luck in you decision.


Thanks,


Robert
 
Curt.P said:
If I came home and my gasser was gone, I wouldn't care.
If I came home and my charcoal grill was gone, I'd be slightly miffed.
If I came home and my pellet grill was gone, I'd be out for blood.
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While I don’t have a gasses and haven’t in years I agree 100% with Curt.

I actually see no reason for anyone to buy a gasser anymore, a pellet can do all a gasser can do and more while imparting smoke.
 
No, I don't think pellet grill/smokers are necessarily faster. In addition to my pellet I have a UDS, SWM, Weber Genesis gasser and a 26" Weber Kettle. When I didn't have the pellet I mainly used the gasser for grilling during the winter months. It was convienent when I would get home from work and it's cold and getting dark, I could light it and grill. Not necessarily the best quality, but I think I grilled good food on the gasser. Now I use my pellet for these situations and I believe it produces a better tasting food than the gasser. Now for convience, I finf myself using the pellet for smoking meats in the winter because it is easier to start and takes less tending than the UDS or WSM. When I want to cook for other people, a charity cookoff, etc, I will alwayds use either the UDS, WSM or my kettle. I think they produce a higher quality product. Now my poor gasser only gets used to light my chimney of charcoal on the side burner.
 
Bob C Cue said:
PS, the cleanup of the PBC is not time consuming and I understand that you have to vacuum out the fire pot on pellet grills occasionally and there can be issues with tunneling and jam ups.
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Outdoor pellet ovens certainly aren't faster since you are smoking at the same temperature. They may get to temp marginally faster.

For me, the biggest advantage is having the capacity of a stick burner with the set it and forget temperature control.

I really like my BGE and Primo XL, but they just don't have enough capacity to cook several meats at the same time.

Regarding reliability, I have owned a Yoder, 480, 1500 and now a 640, all bought used and never had any probe, igniter, or other issues. Before every cook, I brush away the soot and ash from the burn pot and let it rip. I will do a deep clean once a month where I vacuum out the entire inside and scrape the soot. The maintenance isn't really any more or less than any other smoker.

Chris
 
Hi Al Just about what every one had said about the pellet grills.Mostly set & forget,very convenient with my Rec Teq 590 Wifi. Big but is the lack of smoke flavor:doh: I've tried a 12' smoke tube with no luck:eusa_clap

DanB
 
I’ve had a few pellet cookers and I’d have to agree they are more convenient for sure and have their place in the cooking arsenal for sure. The ability to push a button and go about your business can’t be replicated on other cookers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Cook on a MAK, Gateway 30gal drum and Weber Performer. Probably 80% of my cooks are on the kettle be it grilling, smoking or cooking indirect with a Slow n Sear, I find it just as easy and convenient to use as the PG or Drum.

If one day I needed to start over, I'd go out and buy a Weber 26", Xl SnS and be done with it. To each his/her own, get what makes you happy and motivates you to cook.
 
SCRedneckBBQ said:
While for grilling my Pit boss doesn't heat up as fast as a gas grill, the ability to reverse sear steaks or pork chops outweighs the time difference for me
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I'll put that on my list if I ever decide to take the plunge. I could see it happening someday in the future.
 
Moose said:
rJ9fVig.jpg
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I like what you are doing with your stashe these days.
 
Hawklaw said:
My personal take:
Most of the folks on this forum and those like us that smoke meat regularly probably have their start up process down to an efficient fine art and can get coals or splits up to temp with little effort or time. For these folks the convenience of pellet start up may seem pretty negligible. I have pointed out to my FIL many times that I can have my weber kettle up to temp within minutes of the amount of time he gives his gasser to preheat. What is the real savings?

All that said, have to recognize that there are a lot more folks out there who don't have these processes down to the efficient art that we do. A lot of folks don't do it often enough or just never really cared to learn. A button push seems mighty attractive if you fall into this area. And that is certainly not to suggest that all pellet users are a bunch of noobs who cant strike a match - obviously that isn't remotely true as demonstrated by the users here. But I do think the start up ease and speed are pretty marginal for veteran fire starters.
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Great post. I am someone that really loves gadgets and the latest tech, so when I started looking for a cooker to supplement by Weber kettle to smoke meat I almost pulled the trigger on a pellet grill. The high price caused me to think twice and I decided on the PBC.

But as I said above, someday I may actually pull the trigger.
 
Curt.P said:
If I came home and my gasser was gone, I wouldn't care.
If I came home and my charcoal grill was gone, I'd be slightly miffed.
If I came home and my pellet grill was gone, I'd be out for blood.

I used to find excuses not to grill. Now I find excuses to fire up the pellet. Wife is making chicken pot pie tonight and it's going on the pellet grill.
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May I recommend one of these:
 

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Whodat985 said:
With my pellet grill I can wake up grab my phone turn my grill to 180. Get ready for work put my brisket etc on leave for work an in 6 hours are so raise my grill up to 225/250. An when my alarm on my app tells me the brisket etc has reached its proper temp I can shut my grill off from work are where ever. This is the advantage I get from my pellet grill.

Now don’t get me wrong I have an off set smoker an kamado an a Bradley smoker an use these for certain cooks.
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Convenience is certainly the key word with pellet grills. Speed? Not so much! Thanks!
 
Gimmethecash said:
My stick burner is up to temp and putting the smoky love on some protein in 15-20 minutes. I still need to go outside & put another stick on it every 30-40 minutes though, so not so great on the convenience side of things. OTOH, I’m a pyro and I enjoy playing with fire, so it works out.

I’ve found a new life for my electric smoker as an outdoor oven/BBQ finisher. A couple/few hours of wood smoke and then into the Cookshack for as long as it takes to finish with no tending. Best of both worlds and the electric finishing doesn’t dry the meat out as much, as there’s very little airflow. For big cuts like butts or brisket that might finish at a bad time, it will even use its own temp probe to hold at 140* once the IT reaches a set temperature.
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Wish I had the patio room to house your arsenal! But even if I did my wife would think I had lost my mind. Although somehow she can't get by with fewer that 60 pairs of shoes!
 
ttkt57 said:
If I came home and my gasser was gone, I'd drive over to the high school nearby and tell the principal that one of his kids is playing pranks.

If I came home and my pellet grill was gone, I'd drive over to the high school and tell the football coach that his team needs to return my Outlaw!
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What are we teaching kids these day?
 
rwalters said:
Having owned and cooked lots of food on kettles and a PBC myself... and now being a pellethead convert, I can say without hesitation that IMO pellet cooking is easier and more convenient in several ways. Let me explain...

1) I can walk out and flip a switch, set an exact temp and walk back inside.

2) The cooker will come up to that set temp and park it there with little fluctuation for the entire duration of the cook with no user interaction as the controller compensates for all weather conditions.

3) The smoke profile is the same every single time. Recipes/results are easily repeatable.

4) When cooks are based on a set meal time, you can easily turn temps down or crank them up to speed things up slow them down. I can do it from my phone in fact.

5) The clean up after a cook takes a few mins and I am ready for the next adventure.

These are the things that jump out to me with pellet cookers.

Now the PBC. It’s an amazingly brain dead easy to use cooker... lots to love about it. And it puts out great results as you state. Is it as easy and convenient as a pellet cooker? Not IMHO. Why?

1) You’re manually lighting a fire.

2) You’re having to watch your time as to make sure the charcoal is dumped in not to soon and not to late.

3) There were numerous times with my PBC where weather affected it. More often than not when this happened it would start running to cool. I had to watch for that and crack the lid on occasion to bring temp back up.

4) On a few occasions, I had ribs drop from the hooks. Yes they were hooked according to directions, but it still happened a few times. I had to watch for this.

5) I could never time meals as precisely when cooking on my PBC like I can on my pellet cooker.

Bottomline, the PBC and pellet cookers are both fantastic options. They each have their strengths/weaknesses. Both are very different from each other. But for ease of use and consistency, I do not think you will beat a pellet cooker.

Just my 2 cents :)
Click to expand...

I can see the benefits but I don't think I would ever get rid of the PBC if I opt to add a pellet grill.
 
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