The Official Pellet Grill Smoker thread.

Camille Eonich said:
Awesome! It's a Stampede. I got the bundle so getting 250# of pellets too. :p It will be here tomorrow. Trying to decide what my first cook will be.

Sounds like smoke setting would be great for smoking stuff like fish and maybe cheese. :clap2: I'm so excited I can barely stand it. The last new outdoor cooker that I got was the egg but that's been probably 12 or 13 years ago.
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Congrats and welcome to the wonderful world of pellet cooking!! Man, first new grill in 12-13 years?!?! Not sure how you got the mod’s to accept you into this sick group of addicts... lol.
 
Question for the Mak 2* owners here - mine is the "older style" without the Flame Zone insert. Above my fire pot is a metal "bridge" that sets into the cook chamber north/south, then on top of that is another metal deflector that spans the entire cook chamber, which is what the grease drips down into the bucket. Left side is the high side, right side is the low side...similar to a Traeger grill. The left/high half of it has a bunch of holes in it - I normally have this piece fully covered in foil when using it as a smoker. However, I thought about trying to reverse sear a cowboy ribeye and thought that if I removed the metal "bridge" deflector directly over the firepot and then had no foil on the drain piece, the fire pot would probably flame up a bit more like a traditional grill on the left side that is perforated with holes. I tried finding a stock photo but all I could find was the Flame Zone insert.

Make sense? Will this work like I think it might? I'll try to go take a pic later.
 
sudsandswine said:
Question for the Mak 2* owners here - mine is the "older style" without the Flame Zone insert. Above my fire pot is a metal "bridge" that sets into the cook chamber north/south, then on top of that is another metal deflector that spans the entire cook chamber, which is what the grease drips down into the bucket. Left side is the high side, right side is the low side...similar to a Traeger grill. The left/high half of it has a bunch of holes in it - I normally have this piece fully covered in foil when using it as a smoker. However, I thought about trying to reverse sear a cowboy ribeye and thought that if I removed the metal "bridge" deflector directly over the firepot and then had no foil on the drain piece, the fire pot would probably flame up a bit more like a traditional grill on the left side that is perforated with holes. I tried finding a stock photo but all I could find was the Flame Zone insert.

Make sense? Will this work like I think it might? I'll try to go take a pic later.
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Makes perfect sense. Sounds like you are missing the stainless cover that goes over the Flame Zone section. I’d ask MAK for one if it were me. As far as removing the lower internal flame diverter... I would HIGHLY discourage it. I have spoken with MAK about trying this... and they gave fair warning that it could cause warping of the drip pan. Sounds like a good idea... but that diverter not only protects the drip pan from the intense direct heat, but it also does a very good job or evening the heat out. In my opinion, if you want more sear, then place a piece of cast iron over the perforated section of the drip pan :)
 
OK...the drip pan IS slightly warped but not enough to cause fitment issues, so I'm guessing the previous owner may have tried that at some point. Good to know :thumb: I'm unsure what piece I might be missing - there's the one that fits into the notches on the north/south ends of the cook chamber directly over the firebox. Then there's another piece that just sets in the cook chamber north/south direction and I wasnt really sure what the purpose was...maybe that's what you're referring to.

The piece in the 2nd pic is towards the bottom of the cook chamber in the 1st pic, right hand side. I have no idea if that's where it's "supposed" to go, that's just where I found it. :icon_smile_tongue:
 

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That 2nd pic is the Flame Zone cover that I was referring too. It goes over the holes and is used instead of the foil you have been using.
 
Ahh...OK. So I guess this is what I have this older version of.
 

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sudsandswine said:
Ahh...OK. So I guess what I'm thinking of that I dont have is the updated version of that.
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That is correct… that is what you do not have. If you ever find yourself in a position where you want to get more use out of your MAK by using it not only as a smoker but a fantastic every day grill… then I would highly encourage the Funnel Flame Zone set up!
 
I used to cook on grill grates directly over the fire pot with no drip pan or heat deflector. Never had an issue with it in the 3 years I owned my traeger. Grease did drip directly into the fire pot but I never had any ill effects.
 
electron_si said:
I used to cook on grill grates directly over the fire pot with no drip pan or heat deflector. Never had an issue with it in the 3 years I owned my traeger. Grease did drip directly into the fire pot but I never had any ill effects.
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That is essentially the Yoder design for searing if you don’t get the 2 piece diffuser
 
Yeah, if you direct grill with the Yoder, you will get grease drippings in the ashes. When I first got it, I didn't like it, and wouldn't use the direct grill feature. Then I realized it grilled too good to care. They are meant to get dirty.
 
Beef short ribs on the Copperhead. Salt and pepper rub. 300 F for 4.5 hours. 3 hours rest in cooler. I got caught with sudden heavy thunderstorm for about 45 minutes towards the end of the cook. I stood with the umbrella until the rain stopped so the water wouldn't get in the pellets. It worked.

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Ribs turned out great. Pulled all four bones out cleanly.
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Used scissors to cut two thin slices.
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^^^that's dedication right there!

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Fantastic cook! Do you not think that your PB would survive a rain storm? Most pellet cookers do fine.
 
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Joshw said:
Yeah, if you direct grill with the Yoder, you will get grease drippings in the ashes. When I first got it, I didn't like it, and wouldn't use the direct grill feature. Then I realized it grilled too good to care. They are meant to get dirty.
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The Yoder gets a little nasty to clean too when the grease mixes with the ash but it does sear pretty damn well so it’s worth it to me also
 
electron_si said:
The Yoder gets a little nasty to clean too when the grease mixes with the ash but it does sear pretty damn well so it’s worth it to me also
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I’ve never cleaned a Yoder but I can’t imagine it being that bad. Grease mixed with ash it actually a pretty easy “slurry” to scrape up and toss. Take a pic and post it next time your Yoder is “gunked up”... I am curious to see how messy it gets.
 
rwalters said:
I’ve never cleaned a Yoder but I can’t imagine it being that bad. Grease mixed with ash it actually a pretty easy “slurry” to scrape up and toss. Take a pic and post it next time your Yoder is “gunked up”... I am curious to see how messy it gets.
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I use a small shop vac to clean out the inside. If I haven’t been running with the fire pot cover out it’s really simple cleanup and not too messy. Once I cook without the fire pot cover grease mixes in with the pellet ash it gets sticky and lines the hose and nozzle of the vacuum. Not a huge deal but I wear gloves and still get a little greasy. Usually those greasy cooks are burgers and sometimes ribeyes. If it’s chicken or flank steak it doesn’t seem to be as much of an issue.

I stay away from using a scraper only to clean the inside because the fire pot and exterior walls are all sealed with flexible sealant. In the past I’ve accidentally peeled a little bit of it off while scraping so I went away from that method.

This is not a ding on Yoder in any way. I clean my smoker more often than most because I want it to last and delay rusting as long as I can. I did not clean my traeger nearly as much
 
rwalters said:
Fantastic cook! Do you not think that your PB would survive a rain storm? Most pellet cookers do fine.
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It rained crazy hard. I took that pic after the rain pretty much stopped. But I got completely soaked. I've read too many horror stories about PB pellet smokers jamming up after being exposed to rain. I didn't want to take a chance as I really like this pellet smoker.

Short ribs turned out really juicy and soft almost like meat jello so it was worth getting rained on.
 
ulc said:
It rained crazy hard. I took that pic after the rain pretty much stopped. But I got completely soaked. I've read too many horror stories about PB pellet smokers jamming up after being exposed to rain. I didn't want to take a chance as I really like this pellet smoker.

Short ribs turned out really juicy and soft almost like meat jello so it was worth getting rained on.
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How much do you charge for umbrella service? I really want to smoke a butt this weekend because they are so cheap at Kroger right now, but with the forecast here I am just going to pass to avoid dodging the rain drops for that long of a cook.
 
Cooked up some creekstone ribeye, strip, and a Publix fillet...this was all that’s left (side note, the creekstone master choice sale of strips and rib eyes are quite good...thinner steaks, but very tasty). Fillet left, strip middle and ribeye right

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