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NFT: Pellet Grill Recs

redbeard : 5/18/2022 5:26 am
Good morning, you seedy gents. I've been in the market for a pellet grill for a while so I've been treating this evenings insomnia with a healthy dose of all things meat and bbq centric.

Any of you guys have a pellet grill? I know Traeger's are generally considered the top o' the line, however I'm seeing some stuff online about them not being ideal for standard grilling. Certainly going to be smoking a lot once I have one in hand, but my go-to's are steaks, burgers and chicken, so I don't want to throw down 1000 bucks or more on something that is going to deliver good results doing the basics

Any recs or info you could provide would be greatly appreciated, BBI











Oh yeah...and let's fucking go Rangers
Mrs got me a  
Bubba : 5/18/2022 6:57 am : link
electric Pitt Boss for xmas. Love it. I'm a novice in the smoking arena but the electric controls take a lot of the guess work out of it. I've made several babyback ribs and pork butts for pulled pork. Getting better at the technique each time.
Camp Chef SG 24 should be perfect  
BigBlue7 : 5/18/2022 6:58 am : link
Great pellet smoker and it has the slide function to expose the fire pit and do more direct grilling

If you want a few more bells and whistles like WiFi go with the Woodwind

Stay away from Traeger pellets. Use something like Lumberjack
RE: Camp Chef SG 24 should be perfect  
Bubba : 5/18/2022 7:01 am : link
In comment 15711979 BigBlue7 said:
Quote:
Great pellet smoker and it has the slide function to expose the fire pit and do more direct grilling

If you want a few more bells and whistles like WiFi go with the Woodwind

Stay away from Traeger pellets. Use something like Lumberjack


As stated I'm new to this. Why Lumberjack over Traeger?
When I get one  
Mark from Jersey : 5/18/2022 7:17 am : link
I’ll get a Rec Tec. They seem to last a bit longer than the other pellet smokers with less bells and whistles.
Smokers are smokers IMO  
mattlawson : 5/18/2022 7:21 am : link
Grills are grills - so if you want all in one and don’t want to use charcoal on the reg - I just don’t know how happy you’ll be with your search.

Traegers are fool proof for smoking. Plug and play. But they aren’t regular grills. The top of the line has a max temp of 500 so sear stations are actually induction burners. It’s a nice piece of equipment but it is electric.

Depends on what you want to do but I have a weber Smokey mountain for versatility in charcoal grilling and smoking, and I also have a weber propane gas grill for speed and volume.
RE: RE: Camp Chef SG 24 should be perfect  
BigBlue7 : 5/18/2022 7:28 am : link
In comment 15711981 Bubba said:
Quote:
In comment 15711979 BigBlue7 said:


Quote:


Great pellet smoker and it has the slide function to expose the fire pit and do more direct grilling

If you want a few more bells and whistles like WiFi go with the Woodwind

Stay away from Traeger pellets. Use something like Lumberjack



As stated I'm new to this. Why Lumberjack over Traeger?


Traeger uses alder and oak as filler wood and the filler is in a higher proportion than the wood that actually adds flavors (mesquite, hickory, cherry, applewood etc)

I’ve used both and notice the Traeger pellets produce a lot less smoke and wood flavor.
RE: Smokers are smokers IMO  
BigBlue7 : 5/18/2022 7:30 am : link
In comment 15711987 mattlawson said:
Quote:
Grills are grills - so if you want all in one and don’t want to use charcoal on the reg - I just don’t know how happy you’ll be with your search.

Traegers are fool proof for smoking. Plug and play. But they aren’t regular grills. The top of the line has a max temp of 500 so sear stations are actually induction burners. It’s a nice piece of equipment but it is electric.

Depends on what you want to do but I have a weber Smokey mountain for versatility in charcoal grilling and smoking, and I also have a weber propane gas grill for speed and volume.


Agreed. I use my Weber genesis for grilling and searing ( higher temps) and my pellets smoker for low and slow (250 degrees and under).
I have a Chargriller 980  
D-Rod : 5/18/2022 7:50 am : link
uses automatically fed charcoal instead of pellets. Happy with it this far.
I have a RecTeq  
Peter from NH (formerly CT) : 5/18/2022 7:50 am : link
Thing is awesome. Holds temperature perfectly, whether summer or winter. If you add some grill plates, you have all kinds of versatility. Easily the best outdoor cooking device I have ever owned. Would buy another if I needed a new one. Given the quality of construction (high quality, thick stainless) doubt I ever will.

I did a lot of research before I went this direction.
https://www.recteq.com/ - ( New Window )
RecTeq is legit  
Dillon in Va : 5/18/2022 7:59 am : link
If you want a lasting piece, take a good look at RecTeq smokers - high quality build, great performance, and rarely ever more than 5 degree deviation. I own the 700 with the side Smoke Box installed, the 320 (nice for easy travel), and the Bullseye (love this guy! - unique design and can reach over 700 degrees in riot mode).

Other brands I'd consider are Yoder (would be 1B but very pricey), Traeger (biggest name brand and quality product), Green Mountain Grills, and Grilla Grills (very underrated). Those consistently perform at high level and built to last.

Pitt Boss is prob the best of the next tier. Still a pretty good pellet smoker but have had buddies complain every now and then.

I have a several different types of smokers (270 smoker, drums (Cotton Gin, Gateway} BGEs, Webers, RecTeqs, yakitori style) and pellets are definitely convenient, reliable, and can definitely deliver some great tasting food.
Agreed on RecTec  
BigBlue7 : 5/18/2022 8:15 am : link
I did a ton of research but opted for Camp Chef because I wasn't sure if it was something I'd enjoy. I've had my Camp Chef for almost 2 years now and love it and really have no complaints about it at all. If/when the Camp Chef kicks the bucket I would go RecTec on my next one, but the Camp Chef is build very well and I hope it lasts a long time.
I love my Traeger  
jvm52106 : 5/18/2022 8:17 am : link
and would highly recommend them.
there is a griller/smoker  
I Love Clams Casino : 5/18/2022 8:59 am : link
and it does BOTH quite effectively.

I have a Masterbuilt Gravity series 800. It uses regular charcoal, not pellets.

Also with the 800 Series, I also have a baffle that is installed in the heat box to convert it to a griddle.

It's the best of ALL worlds. a tad pricey, but absolutely 100% worth every penny - check it out -
Masterbuilt 800 - ( New Window )
I bought a Traeger at the beginning of the pandemic  
Heisenberg : 5/18/2022 9:00 am : link
And I love it. Idiot proof smokers. All you have to do is make sure the hopper is full. I work from home full time now so I can use it basically any day of the week. I think most pellet grills are pretty good. Rec tec is a common recommendation, as you see here. Find one that fits your price point.

They're not what I'd call a grill, though. I don't think I'd use them for that. I still have my trusty old weber (18yrs) for that stuff.
i did the pellet thing...  
BigBlueDawg56 : 5/18/2022 9:09 am : link
i did the masterbuilt. my new fav toy is the oklahoma joe bronco. its a drum smoker that is as easy to moderate temp as a pellet grill and get real charcoal taste. u can hang chickens, ribs, sausage or anything like that or just cook on the grates. no clean up. food tastes amazing...
RE: RecTeq is legit  
MNP70 : 5/18/2022 9:10 am : link
In comment 15712009 Dillon in Va said:
Quote:
If you want a lasting piece, take a good look at RecTeq smokers - high quality build, great performance, and rarely ever more than 5 degree deviation. I own the 700 with the side Smoke Box installed, the 320 (nice for easy travel), and the Bullseye (love this guy! - unique design and can reach over 700 degrees in riot mode).

Other brands I'd consider are Yoder (would be 1B but very pricey), Traeger (biggest name brand and quality product), Green Mountain Grills, and Grilla Grills (very underrated). Those consistently perform at high level and built to last.

Pitt Boss is prob the best of the next tier. Still a pretty good pellet smoker but have had buddies complain every now and then.

I have a several different types of smokers (270 smoker, drums (Cotton Gin, Gateway} BGEs, Webers, RecTeqs, yakitori style) and pellets are definitely convenient, reliable, and can definitely deliver some great tasting food.


My buddy has one of these. Asked me to download the app and have access to it. I like to mess with him and shut it off sometimes...
Traeger is the "OG" of pellet grills  
bigblue5611 : 5/18/2022 9:32 am : link
RecTeq is solid and has one of the best warranty's available. Green Mountain and Camp Chef are two other solid brands and Yoder is also great but pricey and I've seen comments where they can show rust spots on the outside after a while.

All that being said, I personally got a Weber SmokeFire after doing some deep dives a couple years ago. Zero complaints. It had some bad reviews early on but that was mainly due to software/firmware issues. Those have been fixed with patches/updates. It gets and stays low enough (~160-180 degrees in "smoke boost" mode) to do things like jerky and what not and gets hot enough (600) to sear steaks, burgers, etc.. I've done burgers, whole chickens, veggies, brisket, pork butts/shoulders, ribs, steaks, skewers, etc.

My suggestion would be to find some facebook groups of the grills/smokers you're looking at and check the comments, feedback, etc. There's sure to be a lot of fan boys in each one along with some people just there to be negative, but will certainly be honest ones as well. For the SmokeFire, if you wanted to check it out, check the group "Weber SmokeFire WoodFired Pellet Grill: Owners Group", that is the one I'm in, 6,600 people. There's also people with different pellet grills in "North Texas BBQ Addicts".

Hope at least some of that helps, happy to answer any other questions if you have them.
Grilla Silverback  
Larry from WV : 5/18/2022 10:48 am : link
I've been using mine for 6 years. It's been through 2 moves and still works great.

https://www.grillagrills.com/products/silverbac-alpha
Rec Teq  
DTgiants : 5/18/2022 11:14 am : link
The best pellet grill out there, not even close, awesome customer support and the grill stands up. You will not regret it
GMG  
floridafan : 5/18/2022 12:13 pm : link
I have a green mountain grill, it's ok.
For the price it was a good value.
If I ever replace it, I would go Rec Tec.
The build quality seems much better.
Recteq  
Darkkaramon : 5/18/2022 12:39 pm : link

I had a co-worker tell me about this brand. I got the 590 for 1000 and it's been fantastic. Out of the box it's entirely made of 304 stainless steel. Most other ones including Traegor will have some of it be just normal painted steel. It's built to last decades.

I recently just did a 16 hour smoke making pulled pork and it kept temp almost perfectly I got one alert from the app the entire time saying it went more than 10 degrees over temp I set it at. I highly recommend the Recteq. It smokes great almost always at temp.

One last note I cook burgers, chicken, fish on it no problem. It has no problem getting up to 500 and staying there. I regularly cook at 425 and it keeps it steady with no issues. I hope that helps.
one note on traeger - "grilling" on it sucks  
Eric on Li : 5/18/2022 12:45 pm : link
as a smoker it is really good. but if you jack it up to 400 degrees and try to use it as a grill it doesn't really work and flares up like crazy with anything that drips down. at least that's my experience on both ironwood and the previous version of timerbline (no experience on the new one that just came out, which does look like an attempt to fix that flaw).
I've got a Yoder YS640.  
smshmth8690 : 5/19/2022 10:27 pm : link
It has a direct grill feature, and it does a solid job, but I find the cooking area to be too small. You have to sear the food, then move it off of the grilling surface to cook over lower heat. The grill racks are also a pain in the ass to clean. I much prefer grilling on the Big Green Egg.

I used to have an offset barrel smoker, and I don't think that the pellet cookers get as much smoke on the food, but the convenience factor looms large. Set it, and forget it.
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