I really don’t like this place.

[chingador]

I stumbled across this site back in 2006. There are periods of time when I post a lot but at times I will retreat into the background and just read what everybody else is saying. Either way, I am on this site every day. There is a lot to be learned, there is some entertainment, there are some great cook threads, some fine folks, and since this is the internet, there is a fair amount of drama and human imperfections.

When I first joined, I was fairly new to cooking BBQ. My father and brother were big grillers, but my culinary skills were limited to the indoors. I was a good cook, actually did some table side cooking at a private country club so knew my way around a kitchen.

When I joined my cooking arsenal consisted of a gasser from BBQ Galore and a horizontal drum grill from H-E-B. When I joined I learned about the Bandera and it was downhill from there. At the same time my wife bought me a copy of Mike Mill’s “peace love and bbq” and off I went. So I figured out what a fatty was, learned the virtue of thin blue smoke vs thick grey smoke, and all was good. I burned through 2 banderas and figured out that I would be happier with a more permanent cooker. A good friend of mine had a hookup on Primo Kamados at cost so I bought a Primo XL oval Kamado and have been cooking on it for the last 10 years. I still needed more capacity so I added an ugly drum smoker. Where did I learn about this cooker? Right here.

It is here I learned about pellet cookers many years ago. Sounded weird. The Traeger infomercials hit the cable networks 5 years ago and I decided I would never own something so lame.

But something happened. I just started to doubt the quality of slow smoked meats off of my Primo and UDS. Don’t get me wrong. It is good but just not quite there. Especially on pork ribs. Nothing was as good as the food that came off the old bandera. Maybe I was just mistaken?

But every time I make ribs on an offset stickburner the quality of food is just better. The problem? Kamado pits are just too efficient and that tiny smoldering fire just burns too dirty. I have tried everything. Smaller chunks. No chunks. Whatever. Just getting tired of that stale smoke flavor.

The problem is that I don’t really have the room for a stick burner and really don’t want to babysit a firebox. I see posts here from guys that have nice stickburners yet they don’t use them much and are still buying pellet grills

So maybe I should consider a pellet grill. Damn you, BBQ Brethren, you are making me spend money again!

I am starting to come around. Finally. The knock on pellet grills is that the smoke flavor is light. That is right up my alley. I prefer an extremely clean fire. If I can see any smoke, it is probably too much. So I might be a perfect guy for the flavor profile these grills put out.

So what will I get? I want quality but my finances are limited. A Mak sounds like a great option but it is out of my budget. I don’t want to go the cheap route either so mid price range, is my comfort zone. Thanks to this site, my choices are down to Rec Tec and Grilla Grills. As an aside, I am keeping the Primo. For high temp cooks it will still be my go to. The new pellet grill will be mainly used as a smoker or for cooks around 425 and lower. It would also be cool to have an outdoor cooker that my wife can hit a button and get rolling. Or my son but that is a different conversation.

But here is my quandary: My cook area is limited. I have a covered patio. The space between support posts for the cover is 80”. If I remove both stainless shelves from my Primo cart the total width of that would be 32”. That leaves 48” to squeeze in a new cooker. My original though was to leave one shelve on the Primo and get either a RT 340 or Grilla Chimp, but my fear was that the cook area was going to be too small. So my choice is between a Silverbac and a Rec Tec 590.

I am leaning towards the Rec Tec. The main reason is that I really like the WiFi option. Am I seeing this wrong? Is this one of those options that sounds like a good idea but in reality isn’t that beneficial?help me out brethren? I am also concerned with flavor. Even though I like a cleaner, lower smoke profile, I don’t want to go too far the other way. The original controller on the silverbac sounds just right for slow smoking. The whole notion of “trust the swing” just resonates with me. I would be happy with either.

My choice right now is the RT 590 vs the Silverbac pro series. Is the WiFi worth the extra $150? I think it might be but some expert guidance would be appreciated.

 

[jham0077]

I despise this place too. I lurk more than anything else. I've got my old Weber, UDS, and a flattop. I've glanced at pellet grills but not seriously. I forget what brand my dad has, but I'm waiting on him to upgrade and I'll pick up a hand-me-down pellet grill.
Good luck with your search.

 

[blazinfire]

Well you dont want to hear my opinion. But I agree I am ul to 5 cookers now because of this place haha.. now for my opinion u dont wanna hear.. grilla grills has a very good cooker based on the two cooks I did on mine so far.

Have u seen my past two threads?. Messed pictures up on my cook yesterday so food coming from it is on page 3. My first post about the silverbac shows the cooker being put together and stuff. Not at pc so if u want links I'll post them.

But I'll say this. I know nothing of rec tec. That was not even a consideration for me. I was going with a pit boss until I heard about grilla grills and I'm sold on GG. Glad I didnt choose the pit boss I was looking at.

Now on smoke flavor. I did an 11 hr cook on the gg silverbac yesterday, everything tasted great wasnt heavy on the smoke but it had a good smoke profile. The way I looked at it was I knew the smoke profile was lighter than other types of cookers so I went into it wanting a lighter profile. It was perfect imo. Not over powering but it's still smokey
. Thing I noticed about the cook yesterday the silverbac burned very clean the entire time.it has a temp.swing but when that happens you get more smoke

 

[Mike Twangzer]

I think that the Smoke Daddy Pellet Pro is 48 inches. Don't have one but seems solid and rasonably priced. I see more comments about Grilla

 

[blazinfire]

Also wanna say. Not pushing GG on anyone as I dont have enough time with my silverbac to really have a straight opinion on it. Need more cooks. But my post above was hoping I can say "dont be scared of going to a pellet pooper". Because I had no clue what to expect. I didnt expect much and never wanted one. Bought mine because I need easy to use and more space than my WSM. Surprised the crap out of me how good pellets do for cooking food.

Oh yeah I also had to measure the silverbac for someone last night. It is almost exactly 47 inches width

 

[chingador]

Well you dont want to hear my opinion. But I agree I am ul to 5 cookers now because of this place haha.. now for my opinion u dont wanna hear.. grilla grills has a very good cooker based on the two cooks I did on mine so far.

Have u seen my past two threads?. Messed pictures up on my cook yesterday so food coming from it is on page 3. My first post about the silverbac shows the cooker being put together and stuff. Not at pc so if u want links I'll post them.

But I'll say this. I know nothing of rec tec. That was not even a consideration for me. I was going with a pit boss until I heard about grilla grills and I'm sold on GG. Glad I didnt choose the pit boss I was looking at.

Now on smoke flavor. I did an 11 hr cook on the gg silverbac yesterday, everything tasted great wasnt heavy on the smoke but it had a good smoke profile. The way I looked at it was I knew the smoke profile was lighter than other types of cookers so I went into it wanting a lighter profile. It was perfect imo. Not over powering but it's still smokey
. Thing I noticed about the cook yesterday the silverbac burned very clean the entire time.it has a temp.swing but when that happens you get more smoke

I followed your cook and I really like the Silverbac. My dilemma is that I am hung up in the WiFi that comes with the Rec Tec. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is it more of a want than a need? Most of the time I will be using the cooker I will be near the cooker. I cook more ribs than brisket or pork butts to be honest.

 

[blazinfire]

I followed your cook and I really like the Silverbac. My dilemma is that I am hung up in the WiFi that comes with the Rec Tec. Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is it more of a want than a need? Most of the time I will be using the cooker I will be near the cooker. I cook more ribs than brisket or pork butts to be honest.

Want my honest opinion? Its up to you. if you want the WiFi then look for that option... Sure Wifi would be awesome where I wouldn't have to go outside to even check things.. But what's the point of smoking food then? I enjoy the fact I have to either walk to the cooker and check on things while I'm doing stuff outside, or I have to walk outside and check on things.

But like I said personal preference if that's something you would like and use then sure. I see the convenience in it.

 

[Hot Spot]

Grilla could be an option if space is limited. Add the upper extension rack and it gives you 630 square inches and takes up less space. With the extension rack, the Alpha which offers a PID and non PID controller is the same price as the RT 590. No wifi though.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

The Rec Tec 590 with the WiFi is definitely a good unit and the WiFi sets it off.

I’ve had mine for a year now and it has performed flawlessly. We love ours.

It’s 5:02 AM right now. For some reason I woke up earlier than usual and I’m on this site using my iPhone to post this and surf the web as I still lie in bed until I doze off again.

If I had something on my RT 590 right now, I could use this same phone to check my cook, raise or lower my temps, all without having to get up, throw something on, grab one of my pistols since I’m going outside in the wee hours of the morning and liable to run across God knows who or what at such a time going out back like that, go downstairs and go outside to check on things. I could check things, food temp, pit temp, raise or lower cook temp, advance or delay alarms based on how things are going, right from the app, in bed, virtually while I post this.

For me, a big part of pellet smoking is the automation and the not having to babysit and check on things. The WiFi does that for me.

Temp swings are not a “feature” in a pellet grill that I was looking for either, as I don’t for one minute believe that temp swings in a pellet grill makes food somehow taste better. I prefer solid temp control and the PID controller of the Rec Tec offers me that as well. If I want wider fluctuations in temps, then I’ll use one of my WSMs or my Kamado Joe and babysit one of those for most of the night and get more smoke flavor than the average pellet grill is going to give me anyway since pellets burn so clean to begin with.

 

[Goose52]

me too

I didn't realize there was such a thing as a dirty smoke flavor until i started lurking here. I read reviews on the PBC and thought now here's a smoker i can afford. The food off of it is good but not great, not any better ribs etc than from the weber grill.

so, i learned that i prefer a lighter smoke profile. Like you. i don't have a lot of room on the patio. i'm thinking i will also get a grilla, actually THE grilla, the original round one. it has a smaller footprint than the silverbac and with the optional upper rack can handle a fair amount of meat. i know nothing about PDI and wifi grilling. i either putz around the yard or garage or sit nearby with a beer and check temps near the end of the cook. old dog syndrome.

enjoy your choice.

 

[kynmo2010]

I have had the original Silverbac for nearly 18 months. I bought the original model w/o pellet dump and extra SS to save a few dollars. I went back and forth between this and a GMG. When I pulled the trigger on the Silverbac I really worried if I had made a mistake because of the 1 feature I wasn't getting, WiFi. To be honest, I don't miss it. When I do a long smoke, I basically stay aroung the house and work on chores. I may be gone for an hour or so running an errand, but ususally not much more. I really think WiFi is only a useful feature if you are going to be away from the smoker for hours at a time. Also, if space is a concern, you may look at the OG model. Its a unique design and I think it still offers plenty of space. Although I haven't seen 1 in person.

 

[chingador]

The Rec Tec 590 with the WiFi is definitely a good unit and the WiFi sets it off.

I’ve had mine for a year now and it has performed flawlessly. We love ours.

It’s 5:02 AM right now. For some reason I woke up earlier than usual and I’m on this site using my iPhone to post this and surf the web as I still lie in bed until I doze off again.

If I had something on my RT 590 right now, I could use this same phone to check my cook, raise or lower my temps, all without having to get up, throw something on, grab one of my pistols since I’m going outside in the wee hours of the morning and liable to run across God knows who or what at such a time going out back like that, go downstairs and go outside to check on things. I could check things, food temp, pit temp, raise or lower cook temp, advance or delay alarms based on how things are going, right from the app, in bed, virtually while I post this.

For me, a big part of pellet smoking is the automation and the not having to babysit and check on things. The WiFi does that for me.

Temp swings are not a “feature” in a pellet grill that I was looking for either, as I don’t for one minute believe that temp swings in a pellet grill makes food somehow taste better. I prefer solid temp control and the PID controller of the Rec Tec offers me that as well. If I want wider fluctuations in temps, then I’ll use one of my WSMs or my Kamado Joe and babysit one of those for most of the night and get more smoke flavor than the average pellet grill is going to give me anyway since pellets burn so clean to begin with.

Thank you and exactly what I needed to hear. I play a lot of tennis on weekend mornings and am away from the house a bit so WiFi is probably something I would use from time to time.

One more question. How do you like the flavor profile compared to the others? Do you prefer the cleaner flavor profile or wish you had more smoke?

 

[chingador]

I didn't realize there was such a thing as a dirty smoke flavor until i started lurking here. I read reviews on the PBC and thought now here's a smoker i can afford. The food off of it is good but not great, not any better ribs etc than from the weber grill.

so, i learned that i prefer a lighter smoke profile. Like you. i don't have a lot of room on the patio. i'm thinking i will also get a grilla, actually THE grilla, the original round one. it has a smaller footprint than the silverbac and with the optional upper rack can handle a fair amount of meat. i know nothing about PDI and wifi grilling. i either putz around the yard or garage or sit nearby with a beer and check temps near the end of the cook. old dog syndrome.

enjoy your choice.

The funny thing is that it only bothers me on pork ribs. Pork butt or brisket the flavor is fine. Another gripe on the Primo is very small, if any smoke ring. Not a huge gripe but all things equal I like to see a smoke ring.

I look forward to doing some side by side rib cooks with the pellet grill and Primo

The original Grilla was recommended to me by some guys on the Facebook group. It is a good cooker for sure. I just don’t like the looks of it and it is at the very top of my price range. So is the RT590 but it seems to fit my needs perfectly and checks all the boxes.

The more I think about it my mind seems made up

Good luck with your cooker search

 

[kickedaside05]

I'm in the same boat as kynmo2010. I had a GMG Jim Bowie with WiFi, because I thought I would use it a lot but I never used it once. I always just hung around drinking some adult beverages doing chores. I liked the convenience of pellet smokers, but I won't be going back any time soon. Not knocking them by any means because I really enjoyed them, but I was always babysitting it so I figured why not try something else.

 

[gtsum]

I had WiFi on the Memphis and didn’t have it on the yoder. It really didn’t matter one way or the other, but it was nice to adjust temps when away from the house if necessary (to speed up a cook for instance). It certainly isn’t needed to monitor cooker temps as that will drive u crazy as it’s constantly changing depending on meat location, etc. Just set your temp and let it do it’s thing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[rwalters]

Lots of great info here! I’ll just add a couple of comments.
-IMO, foods that come off of my MAK are 90% as good as that same end product coming from my previous stick burner. The biggest difference is that it only requires about 10% of the work to achieve a great end result. Bottom line, pellet cookers are very capable of turning out a very tasty/desirable end product.
-I went for several years without WiFi on my MAK. Decided to add it a little over a year ago, and I now use it for 100% of my cooks. I absolutely love having it.

Sounds like we should already give you a warm welcome to the wonderful world of pellet cooking!

 

[Ag76]

I stumbled across this site back in 2006. There are periods of time when I post a lot but at times I will retreat into the background and just read what everybody else is saying. Either way, I am on this site every day. There is a lot to be learned, there is some entertainment, there are some great cook threads, some fine folks, and since this is the internet, there is a fair amount of drama and human imperfections.

When I first joined, I was fairly new to cooking BBQ. My father and brother were big grillers, but my culinary skills were limited to the indoors. I was a good cook, actually did some table side cooking at a private country club so knew my way around a kitchen.

When I joined my cooking arsenal consisted of a gasser from BBQ Galore and a horizontal drum grill from H-E-B. When I joined I learned about the Bandera and it was downhill from there. At the same time my wife bought me a copy of Mike Mill’s “peace love and bbq” and off I went. So I figured out what a fatty was, learned the virtue of thin blue smoke vs thick grey smoke, and all was good. I burned through 2 banderas and figured out that I would be happier with a more permanent cooker. A good friend of mine had a hookup on Primo Kamados at cost so I bought a Primo XL oval Kamado and have been cooking on it for the last 10 years. I still needed more capacity so I added an ugly drum smoker. Where did I learn about this cooker? Right here.

It is here I learned about pellet cookers many years ago. Sounded weird. The Traeger infomercials hit the cable networks 5 years ago and I decided I would never own something so lame.

But something happened. I just started to doubt the quality of slow smoked meats off of my Primo and UDS. Don’t get me wrong. It is good but just not quite there. Especially on pork ribs. Nothing was as good as the food that came off the old bandera. Maybe I was just mistaken?

But every time I make ribs on an offset stickburner the quality of food is just better. The problem? Kamado pits are just too efficient and that tiny smoldering fire just burns too dirty. I have tried everything. Smaller chunks. No chunks. Whatever. Just getting tired of that stale smoke flavor.

The problem is that I don’t really have the room for a stick burner and really don’t want to babysit a firebox. I see posts here from guys that have nice stickburners yet they don’t use them much and are still buying pellet grills

So maybe I should consider a pellet grill. Damn you, BBQ Brethren, you are making me spend money again!

I am starting to come around. Finally. The knock on pellet grills is that the smoke flavor is light. That is right up my alley. I prefer an extremely clean fire. If I can see any smoke, it is probably too much. So I might be a perfect guy for the flavor profile these grills put out.

So what will I get? I want quality but my finances are limited. A Mak sounds like a great option but it is out of my budget. I don’t want to go the cheap route either so mid price range, is my comfort zone. Thanks to this site, my choices are down to Rec Tec and Grilla Grills. As an aside, I am keeping the Primo. For high temp cooks it will still be my go to. The new pellet grill will be mainly used as a smoker or for cooks around 425 and lower. It would also be cool to have an outdoor cooker that my wife can hit a button and get rolling. Or my son but that is a different conversation.

But here is my quandary: My cook area is limited. I have a covered patio. The space between support posts for the cover is 80”. If I remove both stainless shelves from my Primo cart the total width of that would be 32”. That leaves 48” to squeeze in a new cooker. My original though was to leave one shelve on the Primo and get either a RT 340 or Grilla Chimp, but my fear was that the cook area was going to be too small. So my choice is between a Silverbac and a Rec Tec 590.

I am leaning towards the Rec Tec. The main reason is that I really like the WiFi option. Am I seeing this wrong? Is this one of those options that sounds like a good idea but in reality isn’t that beneficial?help me out brethren? I am also concerned with flavor. Even though I like a cleaner, lower smoke profile, I don’t want to go too far the other way. The original controller on the silverbac sounds just right for slow smoking. The whole notion of “trust the swing” just resonates with me. I would be happy with either.

My choice right now is the RT 590 vs the Silverbac pro series. Is the WiFi worth the extra $150? I think it might be but some expert guidance would be appreciated.

i guess you saw the thread on the discount being offered on the MAK pellet grills?
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279141

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Thank you and exactly what I needed to hear. I play a lot of tennis on weekend mornings and am away from the house a bit so WiFi is probably something I would use from time to time.

One more question. How do you like the flavor profile compared to the others? Do you prefer the cleaner flavor profile or wish you had more smoke?

Glad to help.

If you play tennis or you are away from home for any reason during your cook, or you're upstairs, downstairs, or just simply don't want to go outside, or you're next door shooting the breeze with your neighbor, well then the WiFi and PID allows you to keep an eye on things, adjust them if necessary remotely. Also, if you have to leave the house for a bit, well then while you're out of the house taking care of any business that you need to take care of, you can go ahead and do it instead of being tethered to a smoker, playing with vents here and there or adding fuel or "wondering" if things are as they should be.

With a PID controller, your temps are going to stay within plus or minus 5 degrees of what you set them, as long as there are pellets in the hopper, and as mentioned before, wherever you are. Be it playing tennis, or a trip to Home Depot, or the supermarket to pick up the ingredients for the sides that you forgot to pick up, handling the "honey do" list, wherever and with your phone, you'll know not only what the temp actually is, as well as the temp of your food. You don't need to hurry and get back to check on things because you can just glance down at your phone and tell what they're doing.

If you're a few blocks from home and with food you're planning on cooking and you want to fire up the grill before you get home, well then you can do that remotely as well, so as to bring it up to temp for when you get home.

I've utilized my RT590 in the above or similar situations on several occasions. I can't imagine the unit without WiFi and look at this as a significant benefit.

But the real benefit that I've found with the RT590 with WiFi is for my long, low and slow cooks that will run overnight. Brisket and pork shoulders.

I can put them on at around 11:00 PM or so, and just let them ride all night, never going back outside unless I want to wrap them.

I can put them on, put my temp probes in, take a shower, come in here on this forum and BS with the Brethren, and then look at my phone before I turn in, and sleep like a baby.

When I wake up the next morning, again, just a glance at my phone to see where things are, and if "necessary", as in I want to wrap, well then I'll get up. But not in the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning to fool around with vents and fuel.

The grill can also be shut down remotely if necessary.

As for the flavor profile. Well, it is a lighter smoke flavor than from my other cookers, because pellets burn so clean vs say lump charcoal in a Kamado or even sticks.

For many, the smoke flavor of pellets is fine. For some things, even for me it's fine.

But I have found that when I want additional smoke in my pellet grill for long cooks, then I use an A-MAZE-N 18 inch telescoping smoke tube and pellet "dust".

The telescoping smoke tube can be expanded from it's normal 12in to 18in.

I put my favorite pellets into a grinder and turn them back into sawdust. I then fill the smoke tube with these crushed sawdust pellets. I pack the dust in tightly.

This allows a larger overall volume of wood into the same smoke tube because the shape of the pellets, which would take up more space inside of the tube, is out of the equation, and I'm just using dust.

This allows the smoke tube to burn longer. It also helps to prop it up about an inch or two nearest the burning end. It goes without saying that you have to make sure that it is well lit with a propane torch and that you have let it burn for awhile before putting it inside of the cooking chamber.

But to any of this, and it also gets to the root of your initial post in some way.

It is my belief that there is no one outdoor cooker for everything. All have their tradeoffs. That's part of why this place tends to make people spend money.

Sometimes I'm in the mood for the flavor profile that I get off of my Kamado or one of my WSMs. Other times my Rec Tec.

If I'm doing a long cook, then the Rec Tec gets the call. If I'm doing just one or two slabs of ribs, a shorter cook, well then either the Rec Tec, the Kamado or the Webers might be up.

If I'm doing both short, (ribs,wings), and long (brisket, pork butt) cooks for the same gathering, well then all of them might get the call with the Rec Tec doing the heavy lifting, the overnight cook, and the others getting the ribs and the sides.

Finally, and this pertains somewhat to smoke profile. I look at my Rec Tec RT 590 not so much as a do it all, jack of all trades cooker, because some things the RT590 does better, some things my other cookers do better. Some things I like better from off my RT 590, Shrimp en brochette ABTs, etc. Some things I like better from my KJ, (Cedar planked salmon) . Sometimes I mix it up as the mood strikes me. A "mistake" that I see some make, is to go out and buy a pellet grill after believing the marketing hype that pellet grills somehow do all things well and that they will be the last cookers you'll ever buy. Good way to get set up for disappointment in my opinion.

But rather I look at my RT590 pellet smoker as just another cooking option along with my other options. Not shown in the pic below is my 18in WSM. I use them all and like them all and would not want to be faced with choosing just one.

 

[rwalters]

Glad to help.

If you play tennis or you are away from home for any reason during your cook, well then the WiFi and PID allows you to keep an eye on things, adjust them if necessary remotely, and while you're out of the house taking care of any business that you need to take care of instead of being tethered to a smoker, playing with vents here and there or adding fuel.

Your temps are going to stay within plus or minus 5 degrees of what you set them, and as mentioned before, wherever you are. Be it playing tennis, or a trip to Home Depot, at the supermarket, handling the "honey do" list, wherever and with your phone, you'll know not only what the temp actually is, as well as the temp of your food. You don't need to hurry and get back to check on things because you can just glance down at your phone and tell what they're doing.

If you're a few blocks from home and with food you're planning on cooking and you want to fire up the grill, then you can do that remotely as well, so as to bring it up to temp for when you get home.

I've utilized my RT 590 in the above or similar situations on several occasions.

But the real benefit that I've found is for my long, low and slow cooks that will run overnight. Brisket and pork shoulders.

I can put them on at around 11:00 PM and just let them ride all night, never going back outside unless I want to wrap them.

I can put them on, put my temp probes in, take a shower, come in here and BS with the Brethren, and then look at my phone before I turn in, and sleep like a baby.

When I wake up the next morning, again, just a glance at my phone to see where things are, and if "necessary", as in I want to wrap, well then I'll get up. But not in the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning.

The grill can also be shut down remotely if necessary.

As for the flavor profile. Well, it is a lighter smoke flavor because pellets burn so clean vs say lump charcoal in a Kamado or even sticks.

For many, the smoke flavor of pellets is fine. For some things, even for me it's fine.

But I have found that when I want additional smoke in my pellet grill for long cooks, then I use an 18 inch telescoping smoke tube and pellet "dust".

The telescoping smoke tube can be expanded from it's normal 12in to 18 in.

I put pellets into a grinder and turn them back into sawdust. I then fill the smoke tube with these crushed sawdust pellets.

This allows a larger overall volume of wood into the same smoke tube because the shape of the pellets is out of the equation, and I'm just using dust.

This allows the smoke tube to burn longer. It also helps to prop it up about an inch or two nearest the burning end.

But to any of this, and it also gets to the root of your initial post in some way.

There is no one cooker for everything.

Sometimes I'm in the mood for the flavor profile that I get off of my Kamado or one of my WSMs. Other times my Rec Tec.

If I'm doing a long cook, then the Rec Tec gets the call. If I'm doing just one or two slabs of ribs, a shorter cook, well then either the Rec Tec, the Kamado or the Webers might be up.

If I'm doing both short, (ribs,wings), and long (brisket, pork butt) cooks for the same gathering, well then all of them might get the call with the Rec Tec doing the heavy lifting, the overnight cook, and the others getting the ribs and the sides.

Finally, and this pertains somewhat to smoke profile. I look at my Rec Tec RT 590 not so much as a do it all, jack of all trades cooker, because some things the RT590 does better, some things my other cookers do better. Some things I like better from off my RT 590, Shrimp en brochette ABTs, etc. Some things I like better from my KJ, (Cedar planked salmon) . Sometimes I mix it up as the mood strikes me. A "mistake" that I see some make, is to go out and buy a pellet grill after believing the marketing hype that pellet grills somehow do all things well and that they will be the last cookers you'll ever buy. Good way to get set up for disappointment in my opinion.

But rather I look at my RT500 pellet smoker as just another cooking option along with my other options. Not shown in the pic below is my 18in WSM. I use them all and like them all and would not want to be faced with choosing just one.

Beautiful family pic

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Beautiful family pic

Thanks. They get along quite well together, and they all seem to be ready to get into the game whenever their particular number is called.