The Official Pellet Grill Smoker thread.

[BKING!]

Originally Posted by ice_mf_mike

Another question. So i only have one of the half grates to use for the top(i bought a seering grate and use the original half on top. Im not sure i can fit the brisket on that rack. If i want to use a water pan, can i use it on the top rack?



Also, do you find you need one on the mak? I generally have never used a water pan but this being the first time on the mak, not sure if its recommended or not.



I will likely be smoking at 250. Should i have any issues getting adequate smoke at that temp on the bottom grate? I feel like i read 245 is the best temp for smoke on the mak somewhere.


Thanks.

Don’t do 250 deg. Smoke-245 deg is 60% fan speed. 250-295 deg is 80% fan speed. 300+ deg is 100% fan speed. The slower the fan speed the more smoke you get. Water isn’t necessary on the Mak.

[sudsandswine]

Probably beating a dead horse here but I have a buddy with a small Traeger (junior?) that wants to upgrade to something bigger...he has liked the Traeger well enough to want to upgrade to something bigger and mentioned getting another Traeger. Wondering what recommendations y'all would make for something in the $1000 or less range, but nicer than a Traeger would be. GMG, Rec-Tec, Grilla???

I love my Mak but was not pleased with the couple Traegers I tried...no experience with anything between a Traeger and Mak.

[ice_mf_mike]

Originally Posted by BKING!

Don’t do 250 deg. Smoke-245 deg is 60% fan speed. 250-295 deg is 80% fan speed. 300+ deg is 100% fan speed. The slower the fan speed the more smoke you get. Water isn’t necessary on the Mak.

Thank you. this was exactly the information i needed. 245 it is. what is the fan speed at 225? is there a chart of something. I am curious. I feel like there needs to be a wiki with this info.

[BKING!]

Originally Posted by ice_mf_mike

Thank you. this was exactly the information i needed. 245 it is. what is the fan speed at 225? is there a chart of something. I am curious. I feel like there needs to be a wiki with this info.

Smoke to 245 deg is 60%. Generally the lower the temp the more smoke you get.

[BKING!]

Originally Posted by sudsandswine

Probably beating a dead horse here but I have a buddy with a small Traeger (junior?) that wants to upgrade to something bigger...he has liked the Traeger well enough to want to upgrade to something bigger and mentioned getting another Traeger. Wondering what recommendations y'all would make for something in the $1000 or less range, but nicer than a Traeger would be. GMG, Rec-Tec, Grilla???

I love my Mak but was not pleased with the couple Traegers I tried...no experience with anything between a Traeger and Mak.

Slightly more expensive would be the pellet pro cabineT smoker. It’s got a ton of capacity.

[rwalters]

Originally Posted by ice_mf_mike

Thank you. this was exactly the information i needed. 245 it is. what is the fan speed at 225? is there a chart of something. I am curious. I feel like there needs to be a wiki with this info.

Yep, MAK uses a variable speed fan. As mentioned >=245° and the fan will not exceed 60% of its max rpms. >=295° and its maxes at 80% and =<300° and it’s allowed to hit 100%. The difference between 225 and 245° from my experience is there but it’s not really huge. Heck, I get lots of smoke up to 325° and sometimes even higher. But any temp at 245° or lower and you’ll be seeing some really good smoke production!

[rwalters]

Pellet grills in my opinion do not need a water pan. If you want to add moisture, starting at the 2.5-3 hour mark, start spritzing every hour for a few hours. Not necessary, but it does keep things pretty moist while the meat is taking on smoke. Smoke loves clinging to moist meat :)

[mike243]

Originally Posted by rwalters

Pellet grills in my opinion do not need a water pan. If you want to add moisture, starting at the 2.5-3 hour mark, start spritzing every hour for a few hours. Not necessary, but it does keep things pretty moist while the meat is taking on smoke. Smoke loves clinging to moist meat :)

Start spritzing the first hour and continue for as long as you can remember to hit it,only takes a few seconds and I use water or apple juice, vinegar doesn't appeal to me for a spritz ymmv

[mike243]

I also leave the membrane on the back of ribs to help hole in moisture, it wont run out the bottoms and will pool the moisture on top, I also rarely wrap ribs

[BrandonBBQ]

Bought a Grilla Grills Silverbac Alpha last week I'm waiting on. Hopefully it gets here soon! I can't wait to try out a pellet grill after reading this.

[ice_mf_mike]

Got this brisket going. So far so good.

Question though. I’m seeing a grease drip on the front left of the cooker(under where the ballet boss interface is). First time I’ve seen this. I cleaned the cooker yesterday. The only different thing is i moved the smoker so it’s possible it’s not completely even, though it looks it. Even still the grease shield should be diverting it to the grease pan on the right and i checked that it is collecting lots of grease there. Any ideas?

Pic: https://imgur.com/a/hq6eFeu

[rwalters]

Originally Posted by ice_mf_mike

Got this brisket going. So far so good.

Question though. I’m seeing a grease drip on the front left of the cooker(under where the ballet boss interface is). First time I’ve seen this. I cleaned the cooker yesterday. The only different thing is i moved the smoker so it’s possible it’s not completely even, though it looks it. Even still the grease shield should be diverting it to the grease pan on the right and i checked that it is collecting lots of grease there. Any ideas?

Pic: https://imgur.com/a/hq6eFeu

Something is definitely not right as you should not have grease dripping from the cooker. As you mentioned, it should be running down the drip pan, into the grease chute and directly into the grease pan. Without more pictures, I am not sure what’s going on... but somewhere along the “grease path” it is obviously being allowed to make it into the belly of the cooker.

-Is the drip pan installed correctly?
-Is the removable panel on the grease chute installed correctly?
-Is the MAK sitting on an incline that could possibly be causing grease to run in directions it should not?

Need more pics... ;)

Let’s take a closer look after this cook and see if we cannot figure out what’s going on [emoji106]

[ice_mf_mike]

Originally Posted by rwalters

Something is definitely not right as you should not have grease dripping from the cooker. As you mentioned, it should be running down the drip pan, into the grease chute and directly into the grease pan. Without more pictures, I am not sure what’s going on... but somewhere along the “grease path” it is obviously being allowed to make it into the belly of the cooker.

-Is the drip pan installed correctly?
-Is the removable panel on the grease chute installed correctly?
-Is the MAK sitting on an incline that could possibly be causing grease to run in directions it should not?

Need more pics... ;)

Let’s take a closer look after this cook and see if we cannot figure out what’s going on [emoji106]

I believe the pan and panel are installed correctly. And i am getting lots of grease in the grease collector so most of it seems to be getting there. But something is definitely off. I suspect it’s on a slight incline. It looks level but it isn’t on the most even ground.

For now i have a bucket collecting the drips. I guess i would rather it be coming out of the cooker then collecting and building up in the cooker floor as i do not want a grease fire(should i be concerned about this?).

I probably have about 8 more hours to go. Will try to take a few pics when i wrap.

While we wait some pics thus far. https://imgur.com/a/zoJigUa

[rwalters]

Originally Posted by ice_mf_mike

I believe the pan and panel are installed correctly. And i am getting lots of grease in the grease collector so most of it seems to be getting there. But something is definitely off. I suspect it’s on a slight incline. It looks level but it isn’t on the most even ground.



For now i have a bucket collecting the drips. I guess i would rather it be coming out of the cooker then collecting and building up in the cooker floor as i do not want a grease fire(should i be concerned about this?).



I probably have about 8 more hours to go. Will try to take a few pics when i wrap.

You should not have problems (grease fire) on a low n slow even if there is grease somehow making its way into the belly of the cooker. I have had it happen before, but after investigating, there was an obvious and correctable reason each time. It’s only happened a few times in the last 4+ years. MAK has made a few improvements over the past several years and especially with the 2019 models as far as grease management. Just keep cooking and let’s take a closer look when your MAK is cool and your belly is full of brisket :)

[SlowmotionQue]

Originally Posted by ice_mf_mike

Got this brisket going. So far so good.

Question though. I’m seeing a grease drip on the front left of the cooker(under where the ballet boss interface is). First time I’ve seen this. I cleaned the cooker yesterday. The only different thing is i moved the smoker so it’s possible it’s not completely even, though it looks it. Even still the grease shield should be diverting it to the grease pan on the right and i checked that it is collecting lots of grease there. Any ideas?

Pic: https://imgur.com/a/hq6eFeu

Only thing I can think of is it's not level, and grease is flowing back and leaking from an area which was not intended to be water tight.

Or the drip pan might not be installed properly and some grease is flowing backwards.

But I don't believe that grease should be running in that direction, so I'm thinking that it's one of those two.