The Official Pellet Grill Smoker thread.

[BKING!]

I sort of know what you mean about charcoal having a dirty bonfire smell when in use.

However I've found this to be particularly true with Kingsford and other briquettes, and less the case with well lit lump charcoal such as Royal Oak, and going a little heavier on the wood chunks in my WSMs, and having the wood chunks well burned down to almost coals.

That has given me the best smoke flavor for my personal taste, not that I don't enjoy the light smoke flavor from my Rec Tec too.

On a side note, some people find the smoke from out of smoke tubes filled with pellets, to be less desirable, however I have not.

It's fine to my personal tastes, even though smoke coming from smoldering pellets in a smoke tube tends to be a bit more thick and white than thin and blue, I find that even this white smoke coming from off of pellets in a smoke tube, is not as strong and bad tasting as white smoke coming from off of charcoal briquettes.

The first time I saw it, I’m thinking; “oh man, this is going to taste awful”.

But I’ve found that white smoke from out of my smoke tube with pellets, isn’t necessarily the ominous sign that white smoke coming from out of a charcoal grill is.

I wonder if the airflow in the pellet smoker is the reason it isn’t as bad? It does draft out quickly. Additionally humidity plays a role. The only way to test this would be to use a smoker tube in an electric smoker vs a pellet smoker. And yes smoke flavor preference is totally a personal thing. I also agree on making sure the wood chunks are mostly burned down. I like mine to be charred black before putting the meat on.

 

[BKING!]

Did some jerk wings on the Mak and fired up the Weber kettle just because lol.
Since we were on the topic of charcoal smoking I took a picture of what I like to see on my Weber kettle before putting the food on. I also wanted to take a pic of my fire. I put about 4-5 small chunks in and they’re mostly charred on the outside but still producing smoke. I still like charcoal smoked food but o still prefer pellet and stickburner. If I run my kettle like this the food is good.
FYI the kamado is still in the background because my father in law hasn’t picked it up yet!

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Did some jerk wings on the Mak and fired up the Weber kettle just because lol.
Since we were on the topic of charcoal smoking I took a picture of what I like to see on my Weber kettle before putting the food on. I also wanted to take a pic of my fire. I put about 4-5 small chunks in and they’re mostly charred on the outside but still producing smoke. I still like charcoal smoked food but o still prefer pellet and stickburner. If I run my kettle like this the food is good.
FYI the kamado is still in the background because my father in law hasn’t picked it up yet!

Wow. Aside from some differences, you choosing the MAK as your pellet grill, myself the Rec Tec, we have similar taste in cookers.

I have a Kamado Joe and a 22in Weber Kettle among my cookers as well.

Yeah, regarding your pic, this is about how I like to see my wood and coals as well.

However my wife actually prefers the light smoke from my pellet grill over my other cookers though, and often times, I can see why.

I just did a cook for 10 house guest last week. I used 5 of my cookers.

The KJ, with lump charcoal for plank salmon drizzled with honey.

The 22in WSM, set up in what I call, "kettle configuration" using the fire ring on the second grate and the top grate as the cooking grate to sear steaks coming from off my Anova sous vide cookers.

The 22in Weber Kettle for grilled oysters in cast iron oyster trays.

The Rec Tec for bacon wrapped, crabmeat and cheese stuffed, jumbo shrimp, drizzled with Mambo sauce.

I was working like a wild man. But I got it done.

This cook, really didn't call for a lot of smoke, I didn't need, nor want a lot of heavy smoke for this, and it came out great.

 

[BKING!]

Wow. Aside from some differences, you choosing the MAK as your pellet grill, myself the Rec Tec, we have similar taste in cookers.

I have a Kamado Joe and a 22in Weber Kettle among my cookers as well.

Yeah, regarding your pic, this is about how I like to see my wood and coals as well.

However my wife actually prefers the light smoke from my pellet grill over my other cookers though, and often times, I can see why.

I just did a cook for 10 house guest last week. I used 5 of my cookers.

The KJ, with lump charcoal for plank salmon drizzled with honey.

The 22in WSM, set up in what I call, "kettle configuration" using the fire ring on the second grate and the top grate as the cooking grate to sear steaks coming from off my Anova sous vide cookers.

The 22in Weber Kettle for grilled oysters in cast iron oyster trays.

The Rec Tec for bacon wrapped, crabmeat and cheese stuffed, jumbo shrimp, drizzled with Mambo sauce.

I was working like a wild man. But I got it done.

This cook, really didn't call for a lot of smoke, I didn't need, nor want a lot of heavy smoke for this, and it came out great.

It’s hard to beat a Weber! I used to have a 22 wsm as well. Loved that thing.

 

[ice_mf_mike]

Unless smoking a lot of meat, I smoke everything on the upper grate. Most of my smoking is done w/ the Pellet Boss set to 210° which gives me an upper grate temp of 225-235°. Lower set temp means a bit more smoke, but still get a bit higher cooking temp cooking on upper grate. Win win if ya ask me. Regarding heavier smoke. In my opinion, if you are used to laying down heavy smoke on your WSM you will never achieve that on your MAK. I cooked on WSM’s for years. Fantastic smokers! I used to love heavy smoke and I used to think that heavy smoke was the proper way to smoke meats. Nowadays when I taste meat with heavier smoke profiles, I find myself not really enjoying it anymore. To me, it’s all about a light clean smoke profile. Smoke seasoned meat vs smoked. In my opinion, if you keep cooking on your MAK there is a good chance that like me, your tastes are gonna start to change. Heck, I remember the first time I went from charcoal/chunks to a stick burner. My first few cooks left me wondering where the smoke was... lol.

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.

 

[BKING!]

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]

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!]

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!]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.