Experiences with pellet smokers?

[beernutz]

I am contemplating buying a pellet smoker. I have a Big Steel Keg, a stainless clone of a Big Green Egg, and a Weber Smokey Joe so I am a fan of using charcoal. However, I have a friend who raves about his Green Mountain Daniel Boone and how easy and stress free it is to use, not to mention his brisket is phenomenal, so I'm considering buying a pellet smoker.

I previously used an Auber temp controller with a PID that controlled a fan in the Big Steel Keg for long smokes which worked great. However, it died after a couple years and Auber wants around $150 for a replacement. I could build a DIY one but I am thinking I might just put the money into a pellet smoker.

In addition to Green Mountain I'm looking at Traeger and Camp Chef (found it on Amazon and it has good reviews). I would like to get the best bang for the buck and though I don't have a top end on my budget I highly doubt I'd spend more than $1000 because I'm inherently cheap.

Do any HBTers have hands-on experience with a particular pellet smoker they'd care to share?

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I don't really have any direct experience, although I know four guys with Traeger's (they all love them) and one with GMG (he loves it).

Being where you are, though, you should check out Rec Tec. Their smokers are gorgeous, and I've read only amazingly positive things about them. When I was looking at grills/smokers I almost ended up with one, but it was $200 to ship it from GA to CA. (Apparently now they ship free). https://www.rectecgrills.com/

Everything I've heard about Rec Tec puts them in a tier above GMG/Traeger, but not quite at the Yoder/Mak/Fast Eddy level. And that nice red RT-680 is a think of beauty. Comes in just under your $1000 budget.

 

[passedpawn]

My brother bought a Traeger and returned it. He had unrealistic expectations of being able to cook a steak on it, but it would not get above 400F.

He never tried it as a smoker. No comment on suitability there.

 

[Boomer]

I have a GMG Daniel Boone and absolutely love it. For the reason listed just above this one, I went with the GMG over the Traeger. I can set my GMG on 500 and sear steak after a long smoke at 225.

Hands down the best grill I’ve ever used. FWIW, I’ve used Weber charcoal grills, electric cabinet style smokers, indirect fired smokers, and electric barrel style smokers.

The GMG is simple, reliable, cheaper to use than charcoal, and the food is incredible.

All of these were cooked on my GMG Daniel Boone.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

That's another thing I've heard, that the Rec Tec does a better job of searing than a Traeger.

Still, I don't think a pellet grill is ideal for searing unless you end up with one of the expensive models that have a dedicated system for searing. Some are better than others, of course. But none are ideal.

 

[Boomer]

That's another thing I've heard, that the Rec Tec does a better job of searing than a Traeger.

Still, I don't think a pellet grill is ideal for searing unless you end up with one of the expensive models that have a dedicated system for searing. Some are better than others, of course. But none are ideal.

I’ll politely disagree. 500 degrees is plenty hot enough for a good sear and mine isn’t “one of the expensive models.”

I’ll be doing ribeyes either tomorrow night or Wednesday and I’ll gladly post a play-by-play in this thread. If the photographs are anything less than mouth-watering, I’ll concede.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

I've been contemplating getting a GMG. Can you "easily" grill the regular Staples on it like burgers/brats? Still have my gas weber but I truly hate that POS. Would the GMG be a good all around grilling machine?

 

[Boomer]

I've been contemplating getting a GMG. Can you "easily" grill the regular Staples on it like burgers/brats? Still have my gas weber but I truly hate that POS. Would the GMG be a good all around grilling machine?

It is an incredible all around grilling machine. If I wanna do quick burgers or brats, I just crank it up and do them quick. If I have a little more time, I’ll let them smoke for a while before cranking it up to finish them. It has replaced every other device I have. The only one I still use now is the cabinet smoker. I ran some dryer duct to it and put it over the stack on my GMG and use the cabinet to cold smoke cheese and fish and stuff.

I can’t recommend the GMG enough.

Also worth pointing out, in addition to the far superior searing capabilities than a Traeger, the comparable Traeger version weighs 50lbs less. This thing is built to last.

I get outrageously immersed in research prior to most purchases like this one and settled on the GMG Daniel Boone, for what it’s worth!

 

[Ki-ri-n]

Good to know-thanks! I've been leaning that way from my bit of research. Heard the Wi-Fi can be a little buggy but is managable.

 

[Boomer]

If I were buying another one, I wouldn’t get the WiFi version.

I have it; but, I’ve used it once.

 

[Ki-ri-n]

Why? No need to program different temps and time? Kinda like mash stepping or single infusion to put it in our terms?

 

[Boomer]

It’s exactly like that; but, it’s so easy, I just don’t use it. I just go out there and change the temp whenever it needs to change.

I can see the benefit, I just don’t know if it’s worth the extra coin.

 

[ITV]

I would like to get the best bang for the buck and though I don't have a top end on my budget I highly doubt I'd spend more than $1000 because I'm inherently cheap.

I am inherently cheap as well that's why I cook with charcoal. You might want to price the cost of pellets to see if you really want to go that route.

 

[Boomer]

I am inherently cheap as well that's why I cook with charcoal. You might want to price the cost of pellets to see if you really want to go that route.

I have. That's why I said it's cheaper than charcoal. I had the smoker running on Sunday for about 8 hours and used about $3 worth of pellets.

It's also worth pointing out that I live in Montana and don't have any type of insulating blanket on mine. I'm sure my efficiency would increase if I added something like that (and probably will for this coming winter).

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I’ll politely disagree. 500 degrees is plenty hot enough for a good sear and mine isn’t “one of the expensive models.”

I’ll be doing ribeyes either tomorrow night or Wednesday and I’ll gladly post a play-by-play in this thread. If the photographs are anything less than mouth-watering, I’ll concede.

I'm not saying it's not adequate. I'm saying it's not exactly ideal.

Just FYI, when I was looking at grills, I almost ended up with a GMG Jim Bowie. It was about $700-800 at the time and although I liked the Rec Tec more, I couldn't justify an extra $400-500 for a Rec Tec (with shipping). It was narrowly edged out by my Kamado Joe Big Joe, and that was only because of the pricing they had at Costco road shows for the Big Joe. Had I needed to pay full retail, I would have gotten the GMG. Had I needed to buy all the accessories that are included with the Kamado Joe (and are extra with a BGE), I would have gotten the GMG. And I liked both the GMG and the Rec Tec over the Traeger, as I had heard of more issues with Traeger build quality than I would have liked.

But pellet grills by definition are indirect heat. They have a small fire box where the fire is built and the design of the drip tray is intended to spread the heat and make it indirect, so that you have even heating left->right. It's hard to have even heating over a fire box that only takes up a tiny bit of the area underneath the cooking surface.

So I'm not knocking pellet grills. I'm saying they're limited in their ability to supply high direct heat, relative to charcoal or to propane grills with specific searing burners. And Traeger has reports of having trouble getting above 400/425, while GMG and Rec Tec are better able to get to 500.

 

[Boomer]

I'm not saying it's not adequate. I'm saying it's not exactly ideal.

Just FYI, when I was looking at grills, I almost ended up with a GMG Jim Bowie. It was about $700-800 at the time and although I liked the Rec Tec more, I couldn't justify an extra $400-500 for a Rec Tec (with shipping). It was narrowly edged out by my Kamado Joe Big Joe, and that was only because of the pricing they had at Costco road shows for the Big Joe. Had I needed to pay full retail, I would have gotten the GMG. Had I needed to buy all the accessories that are included with the Kamado Joe (and are extra with a BGE), I would have gotten the GMG. And I liked both the GMG and the Rec Tec over the Traeger, as I had heard of more issues with Traeger build quality than I would have liked.

But pellet grills by definition are indirect heat. They have a small fire box where the fire is built and the design of the drip tray is intended to spread the heat and make it indirect, so that you have even heating left->right. It's hard to have even heating over a fire box that only takes up a tiny bit of the area underneath the cooking surface.

So I'm not knocking pellet grills. I'm saying they're limited in their ability to supply high direct heat, relative to charcoal or to propane grills with specific searing burners. And Traeger has reports of having trouble getting above 400/425, while GMG and Rec Tec are better able to get to 500.

Correct.

However, I have found that, with mine, I can move the heat shield all the way to the right and then the left side gets super hot. It's somewhat of a PITA to do; but, it works.

I'll concede that they don't sear as well as putting a steak directly over the top of a bed of coals or a gas burner. However, my experience has been that the end result is almost identical, it just takes a few seconds longer to get it done.

 

[beernutz]

Thanks for all the input, that was very helpful. I think I've narrowed it down to the GM Daniel Boone or Camp Chef PG24DLX if I go with a larger size, or because of the location where this will be used possibly the smaller portable GM Davy Crockett. They can be found for around $550, $450, and $350.

I've read too many reviews which mention Traeger quality issues despite it's high end pricing to consider that brand and the RecTec, while within my stated budget and a very fine smoker by all accounts, doesn't see to have the same bang for the buck as the GM or Camp Chef.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Given the choice, I'd spend the extra for the GMG.

I'm an electrical engineer, and can tell you that when you're combining an electrical controller, a mechanical motor and auger, and fire, you want to have a high degree of trust that they've ironed out the bugs. When I was doing my research on these (~2014 IIRC), Camp Chef didn't make pellet grills and GMG already had a strong reputation.

There are times I recommend going a cheaper route. This isn't one of them.

(I would say that the Rec Tec RT-680 is a more direct comparison to the GMG Jim Bowie, although still $1K vs $750. But per your bang for the buck comparison, the RT-680 shouldn't be compared to the Daniel Boone due to the MUCH bigger grilling surface on the Rec Tec.)

 

[passedpawn]

I'm an electrical engineer, and can tell you that when you're combining an electrical controller, a mechanical motor and auger, and fire, you want to have a high degree of trust that they've ironed out the bugs.

haha: trust me, I'm an engineer But yea, I agree. I don't know if there is regulatory oversight in the grill market, but I doubt it, and it's likely that some seriously unsafe crap will make it to sales. Caveat emptor!

 

[Ki-ri-n]

I'm still waiting for pics from Boomer

 

[Boomer]

I'm still waiting for pics from Boomer

Oh ****!

 

[Boomer]

 

[Boomer]

You’ll have to forgive me - I got this from @fourfarthing today and got a little over zealous and forgot I was supposed to document this procedure!

 

[Boomer]

They’re about to come in while I crank it up to 500 and then sear them.

 

[Boomer]

 

[Boomer]

Close up of the ribeyes. Sorry, I couldn’t help but plug the Julius I was drinking...

 

[Ki-ri-n]

 

[Boomer]

Yeah they don’t suck. Just saying, the GMG Daniel Boone is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. We use it 4-5 times a week for everything from
Ribeyes to ribs and from brats to pumpkin pies.

What?!?

Yep. I baked our pumpkin pies on it back in November for thanksgiving. I can’t recommend it enough.

 

[AzOr]

+1 on the GMG Daniel Boone. My previous propane cabinet smoker was fun but you really have to plan your smokes.
With pellet smokers you can do crazy stuff like throw a brisket on in the morning, do your chores, then by 3 or 4 pm you have an amazing meal.

I think the build quality of GMG grills are great without the spendy price tag of others. Shop around and you can easily find the 20lb bags of pellets for 10$.

There was another smoker thread recently and someone mentioned the new camp chef model. That looks nice too. The ash dumping feature looks cool.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

Yeah they don’t suck. Just saying, the GMG Daniel Boone is one of the best purchases I’ve ever made. We use it 4-5 times a week for everything from
Ribeyes to ribs and from brats to pumpkin pies.

What?!?

Yep. I baked our pumpkin pies on it back in November for thanksgiving. I can’t recommend it enough.

I'll jump on the GMG train too. I use mine on average 2-3 nights a week. This week I smoked up a beer can chicken, made hot dogs, burgers and a batch of chocolate cookies for a block party. I also just started lagering a rauch munich dunkel that I made with malt that I smoked in the GMG (dryer duct 'hat' into a foam cooler). Tomorrow I'll use it to make chile rellenos. I love this thing.

 

[JacquesG]

I am contemplating buying a pellet smoker. I have a Big Steel Keg, a stainless clone of a Big Green Egg, and a Weber Smokey Joe so I am a fan of using charcoal. However, I have a friend who raves about his Green Mountain Daniel Boone and how easy and stress free it is to use, not to mention his brisket is phenomenal, so I'm considering buying a pellet smoker.

I previously used an Auber temp controller with a PID that controlled a fan in the Big Steel Keg for long smokes which worked great. However, it died after a couple years and Auber wants around $150 for a replacement. I could build a DIY one but I am thinking I might just put the money into a pellet smoker.

In addition to Green Mountain I'm looking at Traeger and Camp Chef (found it on Amazon and it has good reviews). I would like to get the best bang for the buck and though I don't have a top end on my budget I highly doubt I'd spend more than $1000 because I'm inherently cheap.

Do any HBTers have hands-on experience with a particular pellet smoker they'd care to share?

I’ve had my Traeger for a couple years and I love it. While I’ve had a few minor issues with it, Traeger customer service stepped up to help fix them. I have seared a steak on it because it doesn’t get above about 400 degrees, but there is a hot spot on it that can handle a good sear.
I don’t use it for everything. Sometimes I just want to sear and cook a quick steak or a piece of salmon. But in general, it’s been a good adjunct to my gas grill with a high sear zone. Here in SoCal, the Traeger is the thing.

 

[Boomer]

I’ve had my Traeger for a couple years and I love it. While I’ve had a few minor issues with it, Traeger customer service stepped up to help fix them. I have seared a steak on it because it doesn’t get above about 400 degrees, but there is a hot spot on it that can handle a good sear.
I don’t use it for everything. Sometimes I just want to sear and cook a quick steak or a piece of salmon. But in general, it’s been a good adjunct to my gas grill with a high sear zone. Here in SoCal, the Traeger is the thing.

If I ever have to use GMG customer service, I’ll report back...



I’m sure a Traeger is much better than just using charcoal; but, they are the ones who had the patent so they had years to market them and gain brand loyalty. Now that the patent has expired, unfortunately, they can’t even keep up with the market on a product they invented. No offense to any Traeger owners, they just all seem to vehemently defend their overpriced substandard grills. Okay, okay, I meant some offense!

Seriously, if you want to spend extra money to get a Traeger, go for it. However, this is one of the very rare instances where you can spend less money and get a superior product.

 

[BrewHogDeluxe]

I have a Treager and love it. I cook everything on it. Have done awesome briskets to rack of lamb. If you want steaks I smoke mine for about 1/2 hour then crank it up to grill them. Have even made brownies on it. Best thing is OSH carries them and all of their accessories and so does Sportsmen's Warehouse. Plus they have a great app.

 

[Rhyanmeade]

I pretty much second everything Boomer is saying. I have a GMG Danielle Boone WiFi version, and have done everything from burgers, chicken breasts, steaks of all kinds, ribs, tri tip, brisket, pork chops, etc. The grates/drip pan slide so the holes open up, giving a better sear. I even bought the pizza oven attachment and make amazing wood fired style pizzas.

The WiFi requires a strong signal when connecting in server mode, but works fine connected directly.

I also can't say enough about their customer support. I broke a fan blade cleaning it, and they sent a replacement to me at no cost 3 days later. They've also been right on top of some email questions I had.

Next experiment will be smoking grains for a smoked porter...

 

[JMathie77]

I have a Pit Boss pellet smoker and I love it. Does everything I need it to and it can also get up to 500 degrees no problem. Pretty much the same as a treager just cheaper.

 

[jafo28]

Just saw Lowes has the Pit Boss 820D on sale, been thinking about getting a pellet smoker for a while, this one might be it.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Pit-Boss-8...mperature-powder-coat-Pellet-Grill/1000266681

 

[user 30639]

Commenting so I can find this post later. I have started researching for a new grill and am thinking about a pellet grill. I currently have a plain Weber charcoal kettle, which I like and is a good size for me. But, I pretty much just use it on weekends since I hate waiting 30-45 minutes for the coals to be ready. That's ok on weekends but annoying on weeknights. My plan was to get a Weber genesis, I used to have one and really liked it. But...I want to start smoking as well and the gas grill doesn't really work for that.

Two questions on the pellet grills. 1) on average, how long does a hopper full of pellets last? I know it depends on how much you grill/smoke and what temp you're at. And 2) how long does it take after to you light it to be ready to grill?

 

[brew703]

I was thinking of getting a pellet smoker and did a bit of research. I found Grilla Grills. If i had purchased a pellet smoker it would be the Grilla. They have a FB group that is very informative not to mention customer service is top notch. I emailed the owner and he responded to many questions within an hour or two.
In all honestly, i opted not to order one only because i have a Stumps smoker and a BIG STEEL keg and really don't need another one but i was intrigued. The Grilla is still on my wish list and may end up getting one later in the year.
https://grillagrills.com/

 

[AzOr]

Commenting so I can find this post later. I have started researching for a new grill and am thinking about a pellet grill. I currently have a plain Weber charcoal kettle, which I like and is a good size for me. But, I pretty much just use it on weekends since I hate waiting 30-45 minutes for the coals to be ready. That's ok on weekends but annoying on weeknights. My plan was to get a Weber genesis, I used to have one and really liked it. But...I want to start smoking as well and the gas grill doesn't really work for that.

Two questions on the pellet grills. 1) on average, how long does a hopper full of pellets last? I know it depends on how much you grill/smoke and what temp you're at. And 2) how long does it take after to you light it to be ready to grill?

Ooh, that is a really tough question to answer. So many variables; smoking or grilling temp, outside temp, type of wood, cooking method etc.
I have the GMG Daniel Boone and I can do a 10 hour pork shoulder at 225 and use maybe 2.5-3 lbs of pellets

There are also many ways to conserve pellets. Most meats can only absorb 4-6 hours of smoke. So during the winter when I don’t mind turning on oven, I can smoke a brisket or chuckie for 5 or 6 hoursf, then wrap and finish in oven for another 3 or 4 hours. In the summer I’ll usually do whole smoke on grill.

 

[Boomer]

Also, I think the warm up cycle on my GMG is about 5 minutes. After that, I sent it to a temp and it's there very quickly. Last night I had ribeyes on the grill within 10 minutes of turning it on.