Pellet heads question on amount of smoke on Rec Tec 590

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Hey I have done the research on pg's and decided on a Rec Tec 590. However, my wife likes a heavy smoke profile so I got a couple of baby back ribs that my buddy cooked on his Rec Tec 590 to see amount of smoke. We both tasted them and couldn't taste any smoke. This is his first type of smoker, but he thought the ribs had a lot of smoke flavor. He cooked them at 225* the whole way and wrapped them (not sure how much into it maybe 2 hours). If the smoke profile isn't enough for my wife I can just go to Wal-Mart and get a cheap Pit Boss to play with instead of dropped $1k on a Rec Tec (but the Rec Tec is nice and a good investment if the smoke is sufficient). I have a WSM that we are used to. Is it the grill or can much more smoke be accomplished at the lower extreme smoke setting? He is using Pit-Boss pellets if it matters. Thanks.

 

[PatAttack]

Mine will be here in a few days, so I'll let you know.

I think many have said to use cookinpellets 100% hickory to get that smoke flavor we stick burners are used to. Still may not be the same but I've heard it comes pretty close.

 

[gtsum]

You will generally want to cook low and slow and not wrap as much with a pellet cooker to get full smoke flavor. You also want to look at using 100% hickory (cooking pellets or lumberjack) for the strongest smoke flavor.

That said, if you or your wife likes a heavier smoke profile, a pellet grill isn’t going to give you the same flavor as a stick burner, or a charcoal cooker with wood chunks. It is more of a smoke seasoning.

I owned a couple pellet grills and ran over 3000lbs of pellets through them and decided I like stick burner better...I reckon I spent over 6 grand on the cookers (and sold them for about half that), but they treated me well while I had them and I got to try a few out...Pellet grills are very convenient for quick meals and you can cook anything on them you can cook in your oven. They are handy for sure


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[cclinard1]

My friend has the Rec Tec 590 and I have a Pit Boss Austin XL. I don’t get much smoke profile off his that I’ve tried. He’s using Rec Tec and Lumberjack pellets. I typically use Pit Boss comp pellets and a smoke tube. My Austin XL puts out great food and it’s a lot of cooker for the money. I’m not familiar with altering the settings on the Rec Tec, but I do feel like I’ve got the Pit Boss dialed in.

 

[pjtexas1]

Definitely gonna be tough to get the smoke flavor of a wsm on a pellet cooker. Charcoal is a heavier smoke. You might want to see if your friend will let you cook something on his and try 2 hours on smoke and see if it's any better.

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[BBQ Freak]

Try Lumberjack Hickory pellets and I got real good smoke flavor and also found smoking at lower temp it has been stronger smoke profile .

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Definitely gonna be tough to get the smoke flavor of a wsm on a pellet cooker. Charcoal is a heavier smoke. You might want to see if your friend will let you cook something on his and try 2 hours on smoke and see if it's any better.

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Pete this has kind of been my guess for a little while now. Just want to make sure before I sink that much cash into a cooker when I could save it up towards another kind!

 

[Dweverett]

Definitely gonna be tough to get the smoke flavor of a wsm on a pellet cooker. Charcoal is a heavier smoke. You might want to see if your friend will let you cook something on his and try 2 hours on smoke and see if it's any better.

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I agree. The WSM puts out a pretty heavy smoke flavor. It’s just not what you will get from the Rectec, even with a smoke tube etc. If that’s what you and your wife like I wouldn’t recommend going this route.

 

[chingador]

Yeah if you want a heavy smoke flavor a pellet grill might not be the best option. I like a lighter, cleaner smoke profile but get plenty on ribs. It is when you move to larger cuts like brisket and pork butt where you might miss some. For what it is worth, I did an overnight pork butt using Lumberjack hickory blend (not 100%).cooked overnight at 210 and cranked to 225 in the morning. It had a good deep smoke flavor (for me at least). You can always add a smoke tube.

 

[Cookb4]

I also like a stronger smoke flavor. I dropped a couple grand on a pellet grill and was disappointed in the smoke flavor. Don’t repeat my mistake.... try food off a pellet smoker a few more times before you buy.

 

[smileyman]

Hey SweetheatBBQnNC,
I too enjoy a good smoky flavor to my smoked foods . If you are looking for the same smoky flavor you are getting now from a WSM or stickerburner or any other smoker BESIDES a pellet grill you will be disappointed in the pellet grill . I bought a Zgrill soley for this reason ( to try one out for myself ) I am still trying to get it dialed in to get a more smoky flavor but I feel it is pointless. I like the ease of the pellet smokers but that is about it .

 

[chingador]

Another thing to consider is that taste is subjective What one person thinks is Smokey enough might not even be close for the next guy.

That said, I have seen more than a few posts on the Facebook groups where people complain about lack of smoke flavor. I think it is a pellet grill issue in general but as brands go, it might be more of a case with Rec Tec. Maybe it is the PID controller? I don’t know because I think the amount of smoke is perfect. For me at least.

Maybe you can buy a bag of Lumberjack or cookinpellets 100% hickory. Or even a bag of B&B mesquite and cook another rack of ribs on your friends RT. First hour at 210, rest of the way at 225 unwrapped the whole way. See what you think. FWIW, I never wrap ribs on my RT and they come out perfect.

PM me if you have any direct questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I have both a Rec Tec RT590 and a 22in WSM. I just today, smoked a rack of St Louis cut ribs on the WSM. No way the Rec Tec can give as strong a smoke flavor as my WSM can running lump charcoal and wood chunks. If this is the flavor that you and your wife are looking for, well then it's doubtful that a pellet grill is going to give that to you no matter what pellets you're running in it, or how many smoke tubes you put into it.

Some days I have a taste for a lighter smoke flavor and the pellet grill does that. Sometimes I'm up for the stronger smoke profile that the WSM or the Kamado gives.

 

[SmokeRingsMatter]

You need to turn the dial all the way down to go into extreme smoke mode which will run around 180F but will produce roughly 45 second bursts of smoke. I usually run at that temp for 2 hours before cranking the temp up to 225F + which will produce almost no smoke, just clean burning wood flavor.


Without going into detail, there is a calibration setting that you can calibrate the ambient temp probe to trick the extreme smoke mode into kicking in at higher temps. Your ambient probe will still say 180F but depending on you calibration you would actually be running hotter in the 200F range. You would need to test with a external thermometer so you know what temp you are really running at.



The settings can be set back to default by doing a factory reset.

 

[chingador]

I get a good amount of smoke at 225 FWIW. It tapers off at 250 and at 275, pretty much appears like clean "blue" smoke from a well running stick burner.