THE BBQ BRETHREN FORUMS
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Pellet Grills
- Thread starter Lockon
- Start date
frog13
Knows what a fatty is.
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2014
- Location
- Frozen Tundra, WI
Not as much smoke flavor as you will get with a stick burner, but yes, good smoke flavor. As to the smoke ring, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
Pellet grills produce a very mild and consistent smoke flavor. Consistent can be a great thing. Yes they still produce a smoke ring.
That being said, there are rules that seem to apply to pellet cooking. It has been my experience that you produce good smoke at lower temperatures. When you start cranking the temperature up past 225 or 250, the fire is burning fast enough and hot enough that it doesn't seem to produce the smoke. So I normally start my cooks off at 200 or 225 for a few hours to get that good smoke in there, then I will crank up the temperature a bit and focus more on cooking. Some people, and I have tried, add supplemental smoke from a cold smoke generator or burning a small bit of pellets separate from the firepot.
Cooking at this lower temperature can prolong the cook slightly, but on the flipside since there is a fan blowing constantly, there is more airflow which provides more convection cooking and will speed up the cooking. In the end it takes about the same amount of time as if I just started at 250 on my charcoal smokers.
They are extremely convenient to start up and get to temperature. Recovery is also fast due to the increased airflow. You do have to find sources of pellets, and not all pellets are created equal. Find a good quality brand name locally or order of the web.
Also note that as with anything mechanical and electrical, it will eventually fail. It would suck to be having a big bbq and your pellet auger decides not to turn. So have a backup smoker that can't fail!
That being said, there are rules that seem to apply to pellet cooking. It has been my experience that you produce good smoke at lower temperatures. When you start cranking the temperature up past 225 or 250, the fire is burning fast enough and hot enough that it doesn't seem to produce the smoke. So I normally start my cooks off at 200 or 225 for a few hours to get that good smoke in there, then I will crank up the temperature a bit and focus more on cooking. Some people, and I have tried, add supplemental smoke from a cold smoke generator or burning a small bit of pellets separate from the firepot.
Cooking at this lower temperature can prolong the cook slightly, but on the flipside since there is a fan blowing constantly, there is more airflow which provides more convection cooking and will speed up the cooking. In the end it takes about the same amount of time as if I just started at 250 on my charcoal smokers.
They are extremely convenient to start up and get to temperature. Recovery is also fast due to the increased airflow. You do have to find sources of pellets, and not all pellets are created equal. Find a good quality brand name locally or order of the web.
Also note that as with anything mechanical and electrical, it will eventually fail. It would suck to be having a big bbq and your pellet auger decides not to turn. So have a backup smoker that can't fail!
rookiedad
is Blowin Smoke!
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Location
- patchogue, n.y.
...like a wsm! :grin:
Richard_
is Blowin Smoke!
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2008
- Location
- Dallas Or.
Like a pair of UDS :tsk:
