Pellet Smoker/Grill Recommendations

[1804]

I could eat out at peacock or east 40's about a dozen times for the price of these guys. good lord.

East 40 sucks home cooked smoked meat priceless

 

[VDAWG]

I have a traeger and don't get me wrong, I do really like it, but I just haven't been able to get the flavor of a stick burner. I wish I had a green egg or other ceramic. I'm seriously considering making the switch. IMO, The problem with pellet poopers is they use the pellets as a heat source, which causes them to burn to hot to let off good smoke. I do use an A-Maze'N smoke tray and that does help....but I still don't get the flavor profile that I'm looking for. I've tried and tried many things, and yeah the food is good, but it's still not there..... IMO go ceramic.

 

[ShootnBlanks]

I have a traeger and don't get me wrong, I do really like it, but I just haven't been able to get the flavor of a stick burner. I wish I had a green egg or other ceramic. I'm seriously considering making the switch. IMO, The problem with pellet poopers is they use the pellets as a heat source, which causes them to burn to hot to let off good smoke. I do use an A-Maze'N smoke tray and that does help....but I still don't get the flavor profile that I'm looking for. I've tried and tried many things, and yeah the food is good, but it's still not there..... IMO go ceramic.

Good to know. I'm shopping for a grill now and I'm trying to decide if pellet is worth the price, or maybe go a charcoal/gas combo or something else. I don't know much about pellet but the GMG caught my eye...

 

[pluggin]

Has anyone ever tried the Pit Boss pellet grills?

 

[TKIRK57]

how about cabelas brand they have lifetime warranty?

 

[ItemB]

how about cabelas brand they have lifetime warranty?

Yep I have used both a cabelas pellet smoker and green mountain. The cabelas smoker is made by camp chef I believe so it is very similar to a camp chef pellet cooker. The only advantage I think the cabelas has over the green mountain is the ash clean out. The green mountain is better built heavier steel and has a larger lid for smoking a big turkey.

 

[Browneye]

I have a Pit Boss I like mine. Half the price of a Traeger.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Good to know. I'm shopping for a grill now and I'm trying to decide if pellet is worth the price, or maybe go a charcoal/gas combo or something else. I don't know much about pellet but the GMG caught my eye...

Depending on your price range maybe an offset smoker of some sort. I have a Oklahoma joe combo (offset smoker/grill, charcoal grill, gad grill)and it is nice for the price but I did make a couple cheap mods to it.
I came across these guys a month or two ago and am now very intrigued
http://www.cajunsmokers.com

 

[BRK]

I have a traeger and don't get me wrong, I do really like it, but I just haven't been able to get the flavor of a stick burner. I wish I had a green egg or other ceramic. I'm seriously considering making the switch. IMO, The problem with pellet poopers is they use the pellets as a heat source, which causes them to burn to hot to let off good smoke. I do use an A-Maze'N smoke tray and that does help....but I still don't get the flavor profile that I'm looking for. I've tried and tried many things, and yeah the food is good, but it's still not there..... IMO go ceramic.

I'd strongly recommend not lumping the Green Mountain Grills into this with "all" pellet grills. I get smoke at every temperature with mine, and very, very heavy smoke up to about 250-275. Anything below 200 is crazy smokey....

 

[PrairieGhost]

I don't have any pellet advice but what I suggest on the pork would be to skip the wet marinade and just do a dry marinade overnight. Sprinkle on a little kosher salt all over along with a simple rub. My general rub is white and brown sugar (50/50) some garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika if you have it, a little mustard and cumin powder as well if you have it. Layer it on in a light coat and let it sit overnight and you should get a nice bark, just careful on the temp with all the sugar. I also like to use a mix of apple juice and cider vinegar for a spray or baste while smoking

Thank you much for the advise. I did buy the insulated blanket and I did a seven pound Boston Butt roast for pulled pork yesterday. I ws disappointed. It didn't turn out as good as my offset cheapo that I got at Walmart on fall closeout for $75. I used wood from the shelterbelt that surrounds my house and the smoke flavor beat the new Traeger. It smoked ok on the smoke setting, but very little smoke on 225 or 250 degrees. It must have blown out once and the firepot filled with pellets. Everything below he drip pan was all ash for some reason. I vacuumed it out and restarted then everything went ok. Our wind was from the south with gusts of 50 mph so it was a bit unusual.

 

[VDAWG]

Something that I tried just yesterday.... I took about 6 wood chunks and layed them on top of the heat deflector that goes right above the fire pot. You can't lay down real thick chunks because there isn't much room between the deflector and the drip pan, but if the drip pan sits on the wood a bit, what the heck. I got some good tasting smoke from that, and it didn't seem to effect how the traeger regulated temp. It seemed to hold temp at 250 just fine. I think I am definitely onto something here, and I'll be trying it again. I have used the heck out of my traeger for many years and I've tried many, many tricks and this has gotten me the best results so far. I can't believe I didn't try this a long time ago....

 

[jdfisherman]

Thanks all for the replies. Ended up with a Green Mountain Daniel Boone non-wifi $600 on sale $400. Played around with it a little but no serious cooking yet. Next question: what does everyone use for brand of pellets? What flavors? Thanks again!

 

[nxtgeneration]

Thanks all for the replies. Ended up with a Green Mountain Daniel Boone non-wifi $600 on sale $400. Played around with it a little but no serious cooking yet. Next question: what does everyone use for brand of pellets? What flavors? Thanks again!

Congrats on the purchase. I have the same grill except i went w/ the wifi version. So far I've used Lumberjack and the GMG pellets. I've read to stay away from Traeger pellets in the GMG because they are a little longer and can cause jams in the GMG's. I've only had mine for a few weeks so I'm still experimenting. So far I've used the GMG fruitwood blend and the Lumberjack competition blend. I haven't noticed a significant difference in either of them yet. In my electric smoker I like to use cherry/apple blends on pork and chicken and hickory/mesquite on red meat.

 

[BRK]

Thanks all for the replies. Ended up with a Green Mountain Daniel Boone non-wifi $600 on sale $400. Played around with it a little but no serious cooking yet. Next question: what does everyone use for brand of pellets? What flavors? Thanks again!

Great to hear. I've only used GMG Fruitwood and Gold blend. It's been windy so I haven't really used mine much since thanksgiving, but I intend on getting some long smoking in on every nice day we get.

 

[norm70]

Has anyone ever tried the Pit Boss pellet grills?

I have one picked it up this fall. I like it and cant beat the price. My parents have a traeger and I dont see any difference. Do a good burn and clean with any pellet grill. I made this mistake when I 1st got one and ruined some chicken. Buy high quality pellets.

 

[troutslayer]

I've never had any problems with the Traeger pellets in my GMG and pretty much only use Traeger pellets as I like the selection they have.

 

[ItemB]

If you know of some family members and friends that have pellet grills go together and get a bulk order of pellets from here https://bbqpelletsonline.com/ even with shipping a guy saves a good amount of money they are the lumberjack brand if I remember right so they are good quality pellets. I have had pellets in the sealed bag in my garage for a year before I ended up using them and haven't had any issues yet. Also order a pet food storage container and put the pellets in there after you open the bag and you should be good to go.

For pellet flavor I like to mix hickory with either cherry or apple.

 

[luvcatchingbass]

Thanks all for the replies. Ended up with a Green Mountain Daniel Boone non-wifi $600 on sale $400. Played around with it a little but no serious cooking yet. Next question: what does everyone use for brand of pellets? What flavors? Thanks again!

no help on the pellet thing but flavor I suggest trying Pecan and Cherry either mix or separate. Seems now that is my almost everything besides some oak chunks I made.

 

[Joshua79]

Has anyone ever tried the Pit Boss pellet grills?

Absolutely love mine. Tried a few different pellets I keep comming back to the Pit boss Competition blend of
Maple Hickory and Cherry. Love it

 

[Traxion]

Very happy with my Camp Chef!