New Pellet Grill Questions and Observations

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NKSmoke

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I am in the marked for a new pellet grill and wanted to get some input from those of you more experienced than I. I have been using a small Traeger for about 6 years now and have smoked a variety of meats, cakes, cheeses, and anything else I could think of. I just haven’t been impressed with the quality of the Traeger. A little breeze really messes with the temp and the pellets hang up in the hopper. I recently went to Austin and Lockhart and tasted several of the popular BBQ joints including Franklins, Blacks, Smitty’s, and Kruze Market. I found that they all had one thing in common, a deep smoke flavor in their meats that I haven’t been able to come close to in my Traeger. Yes I realize they aren’t using PGs and have decades of experience.

I am wondering if that flavor can be achieved in a PG out there somewhere. Has anyone been able to or even get close? My father has a GMG that he has used for about a year and is constantly complaining about the lack of smoke output compared to my Traeger so for me that one is out. I have been looking several different brands and specifically at the MAK 2 and the Yoder 640 and am wondering if anyone has been achieving deep smoke flavor with those. Specifically with brisket. I realize I can add a pellet tube of some kind to produce more smoke but it seems a shame to spend $1500 or more on a grill and have to add a $25 tube to produce smoke. Am I wrong here? Just wondering if anyone has been able to produce that pit level of flavor with a PG and if so, which one? Am I simply not going to be able to unless I use a stick burner? Thanks for any input in helping me with my decision!
 
You will get a wide variety of answers. I had similar issues with the Traeger, even with using the $25 tube for added smoke. Some guys here will tell you that Yoder and Mak impart plenty of smoke. I've never had food from one so I can't say.

I will tell you I switched to charcoal and wood chunks on a Pit Barrel Cooker and get great smoke flavor. There are lots of options for charcoal and wood combo smokers (Weber Smokey Mountain, Ugly Drum Smoker, Insulated Cabinets like a Humphreys). I think all of them have better flavor than your Treager.

Of course a stick burner is the best smoke flavor but requires constant tending. Just depends on what you want.
 
You will have to use a tube smoker or mojo brick to get that level of smoke.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XWSBEBzoEs"]Amazen 12" Pellet Tube Smoker - Quick and Dirty Review - YouTube[/ame]
 
There are absolutely ways to increase smoke flavor in pellet grills, but you will never get the same type of flavor from a charcoal/wood burner in my experience.

I use a FEC-100 that I put an expanded metal grate next to the firebox and use wood chunks to get additional smoke for instance.
 
Tell us HOW you cook and we might be able to give you better answers.
 
I have a Memphis Pro pellet cooker and an old horizontal wood burner.
The flavor of the Memphis doesn't come close to the wood burner. I've added extra pellet packs to the Pro but it still doesn't taste the same as my wood burner.
I LOVE both cookers and wouldn't give up the Memphis Pro.... I prefer meat smoked on the wood burner.

Just what I've found on the equipment I have.
 
I don't think you will be able to replicate what you are after. I own pellet grills, and have ate off of at least five different brands. I personally like the flavor, but it's not a stick burner. The closest I can get is on sausage. I cook links hanging iny pellet smoker from start to finish at around 170. The flavor is very similar to sticks.

The problem is, sausage is about the only thing you can do that way. It's not all that reasonable to try to cook a large hunk of meat like brisket at 170 forever. Also, after several hours in the hazy 170 smoke, it starts to pick up an ashtray like flavor in my opinion.

Can you get close? Yes. Can you replicate what you are after perfectly? I doubt it.
 
CopyNPaste said:
You will have to use a tube smoker or mojo brick to get that level of smoke.

I bought a tube and used it for the first time in my Traeger last weekend while smoking a turkey. I placed it under the heat shield and half way through sparks blew up onto the drip pan/heat shield and started the turkey drippings on fire. Black turkey and heat high enough to get the paint bubbling on the right side of the smoker was the result of my tube experience. Maybe I had it too far to the right. Glad I was home!
Click to expand...
 
I had a stick burner first and replaced my gas grill with a pellet cooker. Stick burner has always been great flavor to me. That said, I do smoke a lot on the pellet grill. I just made pastrami yesterday an ran 4 hours on smoke setting (160-190) with the meat on the top rack and close to the exhaust, and then turned it up to finish off. I think it is good on smoke flavor but not really strong. Big change from growing up with my grandpa's BBQ every Sunday that would make you burp smoke 4 or 5 hrs later but a good change. The brethren and being a bbq judge have helped me to understand smoke as another seasoning for food rather than the main ingredient. If you are not liking the smoke flavor, use the smoke setting longer and you should get more smoke flavor. You could also do that with the tube. I would guess that to be true of any pellet grill, just remember it is a grill too.
 
The main reason you are not getting that deep smoke flavor you crave is because of the pellets, and not the cooker. In the research I have done, the reason has to do with the actual manufacturing of the pellets. Most of the moisture is removed from the wood during the process, and it is the moisture in the wood that chemically reacts with the proteins in meat that gives you that smoke flavor your are trying to achieve. At one time Backwoods was toying with pellet and charcoal cooker, but I don't think they ever made it available. The idea was the pellets for constant heat, and the charcoal/wood for flavor. As Jasonjax stated, if you can burn some actual wood chunks in your cooker, you can improve on the flavor profile.
 
I have cooked on stick burners and I have cooked on pellet munchers. I am not aware of anyway to obtain the same depth of smokiness from my pellet muncher that can be EASILY obtained from burning sticks.

With that said, I LOVE the flavor profile that I get from my MAK!! Given the choice, I will choose pellets 9 to 1 over burning sticks. For me, it's a matter of convenience first. Unless one has the time to dedicate to burning sticks, I find that a lot less cooking happens when you have to actively manage a fire. I can easily cook 5-6 days/week with my MAK. Not so with a stick burner.

If you have the option of having both, that is PERFECT :)

Just my 2-cents.
 
So you know what the smoke flavor from the Traeger tastes like. I had a Traeger for years and I agree the smoke flavor is light. I added a Smoke Daddy smoke generator and that helped some. I wasn't totally happy with the temp swings in my Traeger, so I bought a MAK. Big improvement for me as the controller is fully programmable so I set my brisket profile to smoke at 175 for two hours, then raise the pit temp to 265 and maintain it until the brisket reaches an internal temp of 205, then drop the pit temp to hold the meat. To my taste, better smoke flavor than the Traeger.

That said, I also have a stick burner and there is no way my pellet grills ever get the flavor from the stick burner. I use the MAK 10x more though because it is just so easy to use. The stick burner requires more attention.
 
Go with a Rec Tec! Excellent quality and construction, awesome customer service! I have the RT-680 and the RT-300, no complaints.
 
azkeith said:
So you know what the smoke flavor from the Traeger tastes like. I had a Traeger for years and I agree the smoke flavor is light. I added a Smoke Daddy smoke generator and that helped some. I wasn't totally happy with the temp swings in my Traeger, so I bought a MAK. Big improvement for me as the controller is fully programmable so I set my brisket profile to smoke at 175 for two hours, then raise the pit temp to 265 and maintain it until the brisket reaches an internal temp of 205, then drop the pit temp to hold the meat. To my taste, better smoke flavor than the Traeger.

That said, I also have a stick burner and there is no way my pellet grills ever get the flavor from the stick burner. I use the MAK 10x more though because it is just so easy to use. The stick burner requires more attention.
Click to expand...

Do you notice any temp swings when it gets breezy with your MAK? I read its body is made from 16 gauge and I think the Traeger is 18 gauge and I definitely do. I didn't think i would have temp swing problems with the Yoder body being 10 gauge but wasn't sure about the MAK. Sounds like it has some nice features!
 
Thanks for all of the input today, it is much appreciated. It seems like I am going to have a hard time achieving exactly what I am looking for in a PG so maybe that is a good excuse to buy both eventually. Its hard to beat the convenience of a PG though. During the week after work is mostly when I will be using it.
 
NKSmoke said:
Thanks for all of the input today, it is much appreciated. It seems like I am going to have a hard time achieving exactly what I am looking for in a PG so maybe that is a good excuse to buy both eventually. Its hard to beat the convenience of a PG though. During the week after work is mostly when I will be using it.
Click to expand...



Why not just add something like a Pit Barrel Cooker to your arsenal?
 
NKSmoke said:
What do you mean by how? Traeger, low and slow mostly.
Click to expand...

I mean your process. I prefer to start my meat at 170 (smoke temperature) for several hours before I bump it up to 275 to finish. That's what works for me in my FEC 240's.
 
Try sitting a wood chunk or Mojobrick on the side of your fire pot so it smolders. That will give more wood smoke.
 
I have cooked on a stick burner for the last 7 years. First cook is going on the yoder ys630 tonight. I will let you know what the smoke flavour is like tomorrow. I'm told yoder replicates a perfectly attended firebox.
 
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