Smoke flavor from a pellet grill

[teesquare]

Once again... Hub nailed it.

It is easy for each of us to prioritize ( READ: talk like a "fan-boy"... ) our advice based on a brand - because that is what we have voted for - with our wallet.

But as Hub points out understanding YOUR pit as an individual item is most important....and you will find his advice applies to ALL pellet cookers as a type of cooker rather than a brand.

Sage advice, high value. After Solomon...G_d created Hub......( well, he waited a little while....THEN made Hub )

[CDN Smoker]

What Mr "T" said the MAK has lots of smoke

[Subvet]

Lots of good advice here with only one thing missing.  HOW you cook on your pellet cooker will have a much larger impact that what brand of cooker it is 

Transitioning to a pellet cooker from other fuels means re-addressing the age-old concept often referred to a KNOWING YOUR PIT.  Your recipes and cooking approaches will need some modification and you'll even enjoy making them if you know you'll make progress toward success by learning your new pit.  It's fun!

Here are two articles you should read if you are serious about your pellet thoughts:

http://www.letstalkbbq.com/index.php?topic=2641.0
http://www.letstalkbbq.com/index.php?topic=2647.0

Hub

Wow, Hub. Those posts are just what I needed. A lot of things to think about and understand. I'll be reading them many times before deciding if I want to give pellet cooking a try.  Many thanks!
Ron

[mikeharold]

I recently took the step into the pellet smoker world and wasn't sure which way to go myself. I have a history with open pit Santa Maria style BBQing and am familiar with and enjoy a decent smoke flavor on my BBQ. I was very concerned about having little to no smoke flavor from the pellet smoker and did a lot of research and reading. One of which was HUB's articles he linked and those were a huge help! For me, I decided that if I was going to do it that I was going to get the best one I had the $ for at the time to avoid any frustrations of fealing with a cheap unit. Not that all cheap units are garbage, seems quite the opposite really, but still wanted to avoid any aggravation. Plus I figured that a higher end unit would yield a good return if I wound up not being happy. I wound up getting a MAK 1star once the dust settled. How do I like it? Well..........I love it!! I cook on it all the time and it has turned out some of the best BBQ I've done and has broadened my range tremendously! The smoke flavor is different than say an open pit or stick smoker, but not in a bad way. You learn how to get the flavor you are looking for. Plus the ease of cooking can't be beat once you figure out what you're doing!

So in conclusion, I was apprehensive, but came out loving my decision. Everyone's experience will differ and vary, but that's half the fun of it I think. Life would be boring if we all liked the same thing and had the same grills. Then what would we talk about?! Good luck on your journey and keep us posted on your decision.

[smokeasaurus]

So glad the Mak worked out great for Mike

I just think that when testing the pellet grill waters and if one is still unsure, an affordable entry level grill (Pit Boss,Camp Chef) is a good way to go. You are out less than 500 smackers and you can go from there.

I have had grub out of most pellet grills and could not honestly tell you which pit the grub came off of. I am willing to bet nobody can either. I talked to a guy that could tell without a doubt, 100 percent of the time, when BBQers Delight pellets were or were not used just by the smell coming from the pit.

I had the "expert" come over and he came back to my pellet grill which was smoking away and he guaranteed me without a doubt in the world that I had BBQers Delight in the hopper.

He really did not know what to say when I showed him the bag of Green Mountain Grill Gold   

I couldn't tell you what food is off of a 400 dollar or a two thousand dollar pit. The end results are both so excellent.

All I am really getting to is why not start off entry level and see how you like it. My first experience with a pellet grill only lasted two weekends. Six months later I had 4 pellet grills on the patio and countless bags of pellets when I was testing for Eric.

That still didn't do it for me until I got my Pit Boss middle of last year. I now have a Traeger Pro coming next week and when the stars line up, I will be getting a MAK One Star. The Pit Boss will be donated to the Elks Lodge Kitchen when that happens.

I say stick a toe in the proverbial hopper and see how you like it................I betcha you will 

[Subvet]

I say stick a toe in the proverbial hopper and see how you like it................I betcha you will 

Smoke, your experience and wisdom makes a lot of sense for many reasons including $$$$.$$

[RG]

I currently own, as I already stated, a Traeger. I not so long ago also owned a Pit Boss pellet grill. I couldn't tell which one was which based on the food and they dang near looked the same. Neither had the chimney, just the holes in the back like Smoke was saying. They had far more in common than different and it wouldn't have surprised me to learn that they were both built in the same factory. They were THAT similar!

[MJSBBQ]

Great post and reading thread! The technology sure is getting better. I have looked at the pellets from afar for several years. One of these days, my Big Red 4 burner will conk out (now about 11 years old), and I will finally get one of the pellets. I was always concerned that the pellets would not give me the sear power my Red has.

[teesquare]

Great post and reading thread! The technology sure is getting better. I have looked at the pellets from afar for several years. One of these days, my Big Red 4 burner will conk out (now about 11 years old), and I will finally get one of the pellets. I was always concerned that the pellets would not give me the sear power my Red has.

The Pellet Boss has a feature which helps you with that - and the use of Grill Grates on a pellet grill will give you the ability to sear with no problem.
So, you can reasonably cover the effective temperature range needed to cook from slow to reasonably fast. And - there are a few pellet grills ( Memphis comes to mind ) that can reach temperatures comparable to a gas grill on high.

When one adds that to all of the other options that more manufacturers now offer - such as iFi accessibility to control the grill....pellet grills are a marvelous tool to have for anyone who likes to cook or eat. Last I looked...that is a lot of humans .

[Savannahsmoker]

My take on all of this after decades of smoking meat and years of using pellet grills.

To change the smoke output of a pellet grill smoker one has to be able adjust the overall cycle time, minimum output time and maximum output time of the auger such as Fast Eddy's grills and the Savannah Stoker. Some controllers such as MAK have a smoke function that changes those parameters in the Smoke Mode including the Roanoke to a smaller extent.

The Traeger, the first pellet grill, and the Ortech controller use a minimum output of 15 seconds auger on time and an auger off time of 45, 55, 65, 75,85 seconds and so on called P-Settings.  The longer the auger off time the higher the temperature swing and the more smoke produced and the pit master have to strike a balance

The new controllers like the Roanoke have shortened up the Cycle time, corresponding auger on and off time and tighter PID settings to provide better temperature stability but at a loss of smoke produced.  These controllers are great for most people and for the pellet grill industry in whole because they require little user precipitation while producing excellent BBQ and Cooks.   

After a week of experimentation I was able to improve the Roanoke smoke production in my Grid Iron by adjusting the Minimum Duty Cycle, Maximum Duty Cycle, Auger Fixed On Time, Fan Duty Cycle Minimum and the PID settings resulting in improved smoke production.

We made some of these changes to Mike’s Grid Iron with Mike quickly picking up on some of the tweaks which I believe he continues to use today.

Because of the Roanoke lack of user parameter adjustability I replaced it in my Grid Iron with the Savannah Stoker IV which has a plethora of user parameter adjustability.

Bottom line is if you are the type who likes to sit next to an offset pit constantly making adjustments than a more user adjustable controller is what you would want.  If you are more of a set it and forget it person than the new controllers are perfect and will only get better with time.

[HighOnSmoke]

My take on all of this after decades of smoking meat and years of using pellet grills.

To change the smoke output of a pellet grill smoker one has to be able adjust the overall cycle time, minimum output time and maximum output time of the auger such as Fast Eddy's grills and the Savannah Stoker. Some controllers such as MAK have a smoke function that changes those parameters in the Smoke Mode including the Roanoke to a smaller extent.

The Traeger, the first pellet grill, and the Ortech controller use a minimum output of 15 seconds auger on time and an auger off time of 45, 55, 65, 75,85 seconds and so on called P-Settings.  The longer the auger off time the higher the temperature swing and the more smoke produced and the pit master have to strike a balance

The new controllers like the Roanoke have shortened up the Cycle time, corresponding auger on and off time and tighter PID settings to provide better temperature stability but at a loss of smoke produced.  These controllers are great for most people and for the pellet grill industry in whole because they require little user precipitation while producing excellent BBQ and Cooks.   

After a week of experimentation I was able to improve the Roanoke smoke production in my Grid Iron by adjusting the Minimum Duty Cycle, Maximum Duty Cycle, Auger Fixed On Time, Fan Duty Cycle Minimum and the PID settings resulting in improved smoke production.

We made some of these changes to Mike’s Grid Iron with Mike quickly picking up on some of the tweaks which I believe he continues to use today.

Because of the Roanoke lack of user parameter adjustability I replaced it in my Grid Iron with the Savannah Stoker IV which has a plethora of user parameter adjustability.

Bottom line is if you are the type who likes to sit next to an offset pit constantly making adjustments than a more user adjustable controller is what you would want.  If you are more of a set it and forget it person than the new controllers are perfect and will only get better with time.

I have in fact left most of the changes that we worked on intact. I adjusted a few other items until I was completely satisfied with the smoke output. I still may replace the Roanoke with a Stoker IV but that is down the road.