Pellet Grills

Look Before You Leap!!

Brinkman, Traeger and a few others are entry level pellet grills

Yoder, MAK and Memphis are definitely higher quality and higher price too

Take into consideration insulated walls and/or metal thickness, especially for colder climates

I own a Traeger Texas(Clone), and am pleased with it so far.  That said, I'm ready to move up to a Memphis Pro or Yoder YS640 in the very near future

Pellet grills work more like a "Pellet Fired Convection Oven", than a smoker.  If you're used to a heavier smoke, like in a stick burner, a pellet grill may be somewhat disappointing.  There are a few tricks to smoking on a pellet grill.

What brand and model are you looking at?

Remember, it's the Cook, not the Cooker that makes good BBQ!!

Todd

You would really be surprised who carries pellet grills and pellets

If you start looking, you may find some

Yes, there are many online dealers for pellets, but shipping can get expensive

You might want to throw Green Mountain grills into the mix. I don't own one, but have looked into pellet grills. The GM's seem nicer and better built than the Traegers, IMO.

To say your from the south and we haven't seen or heard of pellet grills made me laugh.

I have been debating a Yoder for quite sometime.  Been using a propane smoker for the past year and right now I am just not totally sold on it.  It smokes fine but can be overpowering when you don't really want it, and I can definitely taste the gas in the end product. My only hesitation with a pellet grill is the cost of them.  To get anything worth having you are looking at upwards of 1k plus.  You won't find them in Wal-Mart, have to pretty much go to your local stove store like a hearth and patio type or wood stove insert store, or maybe a local hardware and appliance store.

The cheaper Brinkman's if I am not mistaken do not have the temp control of the higher end unit's, thought I read somewhere that your temp options were, "low, medium, and high".

I have been considering...

Yoder

Blaz'n Grills

and Rec Tec grills (made in GA)

I'll probably end up pulling the trigger on the Rec Tec even though it has the rediculous looking steer horns on it, they are close enough for me to drive down and pick it up and helps keep the cash in my neck of the woods.  Besides they have reduced the price by quite a few dollars recently.

When cooking with wood pellets the flavorful smoke penetrates the food leaving a beautiful smoke ring and a rich smoky flavor. Before your first bite, you can see how good it’ll be.

It’s completely hassle free, just set the controls on your Wood Pellet Grill and you’re good to go. No need for constant monitoring here. You can just walk away and not have to worry about over cooked food, unlike gas or charcoal grills. For long overnight recipes you can rest assured that your wood pellet grills are safe and there is no need to worry. It’s easy to have perfect results every time. You can even mix or blend your pellets to get the flavor form a light smoke to a heavy effect depending on what your taste.

I use a Memphis Elite Wood Fire Grill. The controls are state of the art. I set my temp and it locks on to that and never moves. It has a meat probe that is real nice to work with. The Memphis has a “Direct Sear” insert for steaks and chops or what ever you like that is nice. Most of the others don’t. And the Memphis Elite temperature range is from 180 to 700 degrees. I have done everything from beef to cheesecake on my Memphis. I don’t think there is a better grill out there…

PS: I have used the Green Mountain, Traeger, MAK, Royall and now the Memphis.

Ken

Considering that I currently own three different pellet cookers my opinion isn't exactly unbiased! Personally I appreciate the efficiency of my insulated Fec which burns about a half pound per hour in the 225-250 range. My Traeger, which I started with does a good job but is more of hog when it come to pellet consumption and temp swings. Again just my personal opinion here...I think the Traeger controller has gotten a little long in the tooth when compared to some of the newer units on the on the market.

Avins said:

I'm from the South and we havent seen or heard a lot about these "pellet grills". There is not a store here that sells the grills or the pellets. That being said, my main cioncern is getting pellets without having to order them everytime I need them. If the taste and cooking are that much better I would be willing to deal with the hassle until some local stores started carrying the product. I use a Masterbuilt electric smoker now and have been somewhat pleased. Its just an old one without the digital temperature control so you have to constantly baby it to make sure the temp does not get out of control. I came across the Yoder and Traeger through a web search and from what I've read they serve as a grill and smoker. Seeing as I also need a grill I thought this would be a good option.

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I've had a Bradley (junked it) & currently have a MES40. I currently have a Blazin Grillworks Grid Iron. It is twice as heavy duty as a treager & a lot cheaper. They are also American made in Nebraska. They come bolted down on a pallet & I believe shipping is reasonable on them. I use my MEB mostly for a holding cabinet now.

I emailed the folks at Rec Tec, and have struck that grill off my list.  Seems they are sourced from China.  I refuse to pay a grand plus shipping or drive to GA and pay tax for something that should be made right here.  

Especially when it is an outside appliance that I would want to last for many years.  I remember long long ago I had an accident and I needed to replace my front bumper.  Well not knowing any better I opted for the bumper made with "foreign" steel.  Within 6 months I had a rusted and pitted out bumper and ended buying a better US made one to replace it.  What a waste of time and money.  So now every time I am looking for something that is made to sit on the deck and is made out of metal, if it costs more than $300 it best be made in the US or I just won't buy it.  I waited 6 weeks this summer waiting for my Huntington grill to arrive at Lowes after I ordered it. Lowes called me to let me know they were building the grill and i would have the following week.  So I got to tell the wife we are getting a custom built grill.  She never knew any different.

Onto them pellet grills...  Do the controls allow to shut the grill down after a preset period of time of cooking?  Because that was the first thing I was thinking about when you mentioned for the long overnight smokes.

For the kind of money that is being charged for these things I would think it would be great to see a few more features built into the computer portion.  Such as...

Varying temp by time, where you could chose to smoke for say the first two hours, then have it bump the temp to wherever you want for the remaining time. Often times this is how I smoke meats, I think you get the best penetration at the lower heat levels and once the ring is formed the meat is sealed you can crank it up by 50 degrees and just finish it off.

A way to cook for a pre-determined amount of time and have the unit shut itself off. 

As an add on a temp probe for your product that is monitored by the control board and will either alarm or shut the grill down when it reaches the internal temp you set it for.  This would be worth it's weight in gold to me.

Features like those would help me part the money from my wallet and jump into the pellet game.  Otherwise I am having a real hard time justifying purchasing an appliance that cost on average 4 times what a typical smoker cost.  Even if there is a convenience factor with the grill keeping the temps right.

ptpalms said:

I currently have a Blazin Grillworks Grid Iron.

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What is the price and weight of the GridIron? Their website has just a very brief description.

woodscomp said:

Onto them pellet grills...  Do the controls allow to shut the grill down after a preset period of time of cooking?  Because that was the first thing I was thinking about when you mentioned for the long overnight smokes.

For the kind of money that is being charged for these things I would think it would be great to see a few more features built into the computer portion.  Such as...

Varying temp by time, where you could chose to smoke for say the first two hours, then have it bump the temp to wherever you want for the remaining time. Often times this is how I smoke meats, I think you get the best penetration at the lower heat levels and once the ring is formed the meat is sealed you can crank it up by 50 degrees and just finish it off.

A way to cook for a pre-determined amount of time and have the unit shut itself off. 

As an add on a temp probe for your product that is monitored by the control board and will either alarm or shut the grill down when it reaches the internal temp you set it for.  This would be worth it's weight in gold to me.

Features like those would help me part the money from my wallet and jump into the pellet game.  Otherwise I am having a real hard time justifying purchasing an appliance that cost on average 4 times what a typical smoker cost.  Even if there is a convenience factor with the grill keeping the temps right.

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Those features are available on the MAK 2 Star General using the Pellet Boss with temperature management control and digital meat probe with a $2300 starting price... Great features, nice grill; but I can use a Maverick ET-732 and control the temp manually for a huge savings and get a better quality grill in my opinion.

This is off the website from Bob at BBQ Bonanza in KC.  

The GRID IRON BBQ Pellet Smoker/Grill has a large cooking chamber and pellet hopper make this BBQ grill/smoker the perfect choice for large get togethers and family events.
Durable powder coat finish
Easy roll caster wheels
Easy clean burn pot.
Stainless Steel front shelf
Stainless Steel Cooking Surface 36" x 19.5" - 702 sq.in
Upper Inside Stainless Steel Cooking Shelf is included 31" x 10" - 310 sq.in
Total Cooking Surface 1,012 sq. inch
Weight is 224 lbs
Easy to Read LED Digital Control Thermostat


Larg Pellet Hopper Holds 30 lbs

I have been using bullet smokers for years.  I was saving for a $1200 grill and ran into 2 new Brinkman Pellet Grills for $110.00 each from a salvage auction.  I LOVE them. They are so easy to use.  They run as low as 200 degrees no problem.  I get plenty of smoke flavor without over smoking.  Once you try a pellet grill / smoker you will be hooked because it is so simple to manage time and temp.  I don't hear much about the Brinkmanns but mine work great.  Buy a lower end pellet grill / smoker and then if you like then take the plunge and spent the big bucks.  The thing to remember is they pretty much all work the same and as you have probably read a bunch of times its not the grill that makes great BBQ, it is the guy doing the cooking.  Good luck.  ps - I sold my bullet smokers and my Weber Grill collects dust now.

The Brinkmans now come with a much better controller and the "low-medium-high" versions can be easily upgraded with the Ortech controller.  I use 2 Brinkmans with Orteck controllers and have nothing but great things to say about them.  Great units for the price.

I own three tragers I think they all smoke the same I don't thing yoda or any other pellet smoker would do any better than each other they're all basically the same the end result is your going to get the same flavor from all pellet grills that said I invented a pellet fired stick burner cabinet smoker it's made out of 3/8" steel it has 6 slide outs 25×29" the one I made is made out of plain steel the ones I'm going to be manufactoring is going to be made out of 3/8 inch deck plate steel beautiful cabinet smoker I'm trying to figure out how to post a picture of it I guarantee you theres nothing on the market like it today 1 2×3×6" log will give you 8 to 10 hours of nice thin blue smoke if you're at a competition and you're cooking all day one log twice that size will give you 16 hours to 20 hours of smoke one log it's unheard of you can bake pies pizzas anything that a stove can bake with no smoke taste you have the option of pellet smoking or stick burning which ever flavor you prefer it does so much more I can't list it all here by the way I'm not advertising on here I'm just letting you know what's on the way look for it soon if you want to know more about this smoker or pellet smokers in general you can call Jerry @ 619-789-9039

Sorry about the mis/spelling and working on the first post but you'll get the pointbut that was baking pies bread cakes with no wood taste in them

i have a Louisiana Grill. made in Canada and reasonably priced. they fire up and must reach 450 degrees (can be set to 600) and then you can walk them down to 180. if just crank it down it seems to go out, so take a few minutes and let it get there gradually. it also comes with a meat probe and can be set for optimum temp and then shuts down and keeps the stuff warm. SO FAR SO GOOD.....
i actually use an AMNPT for extra smoke when i want it.

Goliath

I just ordered a Gridiron yesterday.  My decision was made after looking at all the review and the cooking area available.  There are a couple of higher end pellet smokers that just do not have the cooking area that the Gridiron does.  I look forward to the adventure of the grill when it arrives!!!