# PitBoss Vertical



## BGKYSmoker (Jul 18, 2019)

Ok i caved into peer pressure.


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## SmokinVOLfan (Jul 18, 2019)

Nice! Sometimes you just gotta cave. Let us know how it smokes!


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## Ohio Smoker (Jul 18, 2019)

I bought that too about two/three months ago and have absolutely zero regrets.  Food = Incredible.  Ease of use = Incredible.  Smoke = Amazing.  Cleanup = Pretty darn easy.

The only thing I'll caution is to buy the cover, and Lowe's doesn't stock them, so go onto the PitBoss website and get one.  It will cost you $60 (or $45 if you get the coupon first).

Easily the best purchase I've made in a long time.

One other tip:  Buy the InkBird wireless meat thermometer on Amazon.  The included probe is ok, but you need more than that.


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## BGKYSmoker (Jul 18, 2019)

Yup
Already got the cover. No probes for me (no like em)


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## tallbm (Jul 18, 2019)

SFLsmkr1 said:


> Ok i caved into peer pressure.
> 
> View attachment 400868



Nice!
Did you abandon your PID run smokehouse or are you only doing lower temp sausage smokes and such in it? :)


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## BGKYSmoker (Jul 19, 2019)

tallbm said:


> Nice!
> Did you abandon your PID run smokehouse or are you only doing lower temp sausage smokes and such in it? :)



I just use my TSM/PID for sausage.

The vertical i got to replace my campchef pellet pro.

Doing the burn off.


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## Charcoal Chump (Jul 19, 2019)

I was just looking at one of those in the store yesterday, looking forward to see your review and smoke session.


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## expat smoker (Sep 9, 2019)

Me too!! Waiting for a full review and comparison to a MPS of the same price range. I have the Pit Boss Grills 77435 Vertical Lp Gas Smoker in my Amazon cart now and just waiting to 'click' on it. Masterbuilt let me down by not returning calls and placing me on wait for a half hr+.
We hate to give you the pressure!
Thanks in advance, 
Jack


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## Wandap11 (Sep 13, 2019)

Just got a Pitt Boss Vertical pellet smoker for my birthday. I have never smoked anything! If I could get some pointers I would greatly appreciate it!


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## expat smoker (Sep 13, 2019)

Sorry, I'm not a pellet guy.......just chips and chunks.  Maybe better to post on another topic or make a topic yourself. 
Pellets are new to me and I was suspicious at first, but read that there are no binders to hold the little pellets together and am now intrigued.
Good luck and happy birthday!!


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## JWFokker (Sep 15, 2019)

Wandap11 said:


> Just got a Pitt Boss Vertical pellet smoker for my birthday. I have never smoked anything! If I could get some pointers I would greatly appreciate it!



You get more smoke at lower temperatures. Run low to put smoke on whatever you're cooking, then raise the temp after a couple of hours to cook to your finish temp. Above 250F not much smoke is generated as the fire burns too completely. Pellets generate the most smoke when they're burning slowly.


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## Ohio Smoker (Sep 15, 2019)

Wandap11 said:


> Just got a Pitt Boss Vertical pellet smoker for my birthday. I have never smoked anything! If I could get some pointers I would greatly appreciate it!



Congrats!  I've had mine now for about 3 months and no regrets.  The good news is that I never smoked anything before either, and this machine is basically "idiot proof".  You'll love it.

A couple of pointers:  a) Always line the water/drip pan with aluminum foil prior to smoking.  It makes your cleanup 1,000% easier.  Also, buy a good non-toxic cleaning spray to wipe down the glass after each smoke.  Highly recommend lemon oil cleaners.

b) The Competition pellets you can buy at Lowes or on the PitBoss website are great.  They give a really good smoke flavor to anything you want to smoke and the machine really doesn't use a ton of them.  I've smoked pork butts/shoulders now 4 times (13 hours of smoking each) and have only now just gone through a 40 pound bag.

c) Find a really good rub that you like and rub liberally prior to smoking.  There are great chicken/fish rubs and pork/beef rubs out there that taste wonderful.  Surprisingly, my favorite all came from Lowe's where I bought the machine.  They sell a cherry rub there that is perfect for pork, and also the "Rub Some Butt" and "Rub Some Chicken" ones taste great.  I am not a fan of slathering meat in sauce prior to smoking, but to each their own.

d) Keep your meat moist during smoking.  Buy one of those trigger sprayer bottles you can get at the big box stores and fill it with apple juice and spray your meat every 60 to 90 mins when smoking.  It makes all the difference.

Lastly, enjoy!  You won't screw anything up, and the smoker itself holds temperature really well.  You'll love it.


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## dward51 (Sep 15, 2019)

Rick, 

I run the water pan dry and only as a secondary heat deflector in my PB5. I moved the water pan to the 3rd hole from the bottom and the temp swings seem to be less as there is a little more volume of air for the flame to heat around the sensor which is below the pan (at lowest level).  I also use a full size disposable pan as my drip pan, but I'm not sure the Pro model  you have (PB4?) will hold the full sized pan on a rack.  It's perfect for the 5 series though.  Yes I sacrifice a cooking rack, but it's worth it.  Not a drop of drippings/grease on my water pan or the bottom of my PB5 after 8 smokes doing it this way.  I also watch the grate level temps, not the fire box (under water pan) level temps which are displayed on the unit controller.  The fire box will swing 20* or more but the pit is rock solid at the meat level in mine.

Also if I'm cooking something that is not drippings/grease heavy, I will just loosely foil the disposable pan and let it sag down into the pan.  I can strip off the foil and reuse the pan several times, but if it's something like a pork butt (or two), I just plan on using the whole pan to catch the grease and toss it.


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## Wandap11 (Sep 18, 2019)

JWFokker said:


> You get more smoke at lower temperatures. Run low to put smoke on whatever you're cooking, then raise the temp after a couple of hours to cook to your finish temp. Above 250F not much smoke is generated as the fire burns too completely. Pellets generate the most smoke when they're burning slowly.





dward51 said:


> Rick,
> 
> I run the water pan dry and only as a secondary heat deflector in my PB5. I moved the water pan to the 3rd hole from the bottom and the temp swings seem to be less as there is a little more volume of air for the flame to heat around the sensor which is below the pan (at lowest level).  I also use a full size disposable pan as my drip pan, but I'm not sure the Pro model  you have (PB4?) will hold the full sized pan on a rack.  It's perfect for the 5 series though.  Yes I sacrifice a cooking rack, but it's worth it.  Not a drop of drippings/grease on my water pan or the bottom of my PB5 after 8 smokes doing it this way.  I also watch the grate level temps, not the fire box (under water pan) level temps which are displayed on the unit controller.  The fire box will swing 20* or more but the pit is rock solid at the meat level in mine.
> 
> Also if I'm cooking something that is not drippings/grease heavy, I will just loosely foil the disposable pan and let it sag down into the pan.  I can strip off the foil and reuse the pan several times, but if it's something like a pork butt (or two), I just plan on using the whole pan to catch the grease and toss it.


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## Wandap11 (Sep 18, 2019)

Mine is a 4 series. Is there anything I need to do to the smoker before I start?


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## dward51 (Sep 19, 2019)

Just the initial burn in as described in the manual.  You want to run it at a high temp for a while to make sure all the oils and stuff from the manufacturing process are burned off.  

When I did my burn in, after I was satisfied it was done, I tossed some sausage on and dropped the temp down to 225* and smoked them.  I also do the shut down as described in the manual (sort of).  I will crank it up if I'm smoking at a lower temp and then you lower the temp so what is in the burn pot is mostly burned, then before it drops to my new low set temp, I put it in shutdown mode (push and hold the on/off button).  The auger and element will stop, but the fan will continue to run to burn up the remaining pellets in the burn pot.  Keep the door closed and latched during shutdown.   I also vacuum out my bottom and fire pot after every usage (the next day).


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## Wandap11 (Sep 19, 2019)

dward51 said:


> Just the initial burn in as described in the manual.  You want to run it at a high temp for a while to make sure all the oils and stuff from the manufacturing process are burned off.
> 
> When I did my burn in, after I was satisfied it was done, I tossed some sausage on and dropped the temp down to 225* and smoked them.  I also do the shut down as described in the manual (sort of).  I will crank it up if I'm smoking at a lower temp and then you lower the temp so what is in the burn pot is mostly burned, then before it drops to my new low set temp, I put it in shutdown mode (push and hold the on/off button).  The auger and element will stop, but the fan will continue to run to burn up the remaining pellets in the burn pot.  Keep the door closed and latched during shutdown.   I also vacuum out my bottom and fire pot after every usage (the next day).


Thanks for the info. Yeah I read some of the manual and saw where you need to do the initial burn.


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## tprice (Oct 1, 2019)

Just bought the Series 4 from Lowes this week, have not assembled it yet.  I have used MES smokers for years and after my last one crapped out I decided to go with a pellet smoker .  Look at the MES pellet but just did not look to well insulated. 

One question I have is do you leave the unused pellets in after you are done or do you empty the holding compartment.   I did buy a cover with mine as well.


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## Wandap11 (Oct 1, 2019)

tprice said:


> Just bought the Series 4 from Lowes this week, have not assembled it yet.  I have used MES smokers for years and after my last one crapped out I decided to go with a pellet smoker .  Look at the MES pellet but just did not look to well insulated.
> 
> One question I have is do you leave the unused pellets in after you are done or do you empty the holding compartment.   I did buy a cover with mine as well.


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## Wandap11 (Oct 1, 2019)

I have left mine in but will most likely empty them out if it’s going to be a while between smoking. I smoked wings and they were delicious! I did buy the cover but will still remove pellets just so they don’t get damp.


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## doug in san die (Sep 20, 2020)

Does having a pan full of water limit how hight the temperature can get?  My cheap bullet smoker will get to 350 without water, but with a pan full of water, it will only get to 225.

I worry about this , because I saw a video where the guy was getting error codes as a result of not having water in his Pit Boss

Any thoughts?

I really want to buy one, but I have a few concerns.


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## bill1 (Sep 21, 2020)

doug...the pellet smokers automatically add fuel, and can do this near continuously if the controller demands it and you keep the hopper full of pellets/fuel.  A bullet smoker is pretty much limited to the fuel you started with.  (If you have a door down low, you can maybe feed in a few extra coals, but it's limited.)  The controller on a pellet machine may limit your high temp to 400F or so, but I think they're just trying to preserve the temp probes and ensure the paint doesn't bubble!   So you'll have no trouble maintaining any temp in its range (typically _at least_ 180-350F) water pan or not.   (Heck you can practically leave the door/lid open!)

I'm becoming a real fan of water pans in a pellet grill (at least for my vertical cooker).  I keep a big one down low close to the fire and fill it at least once per hour.  Keeps everything moister and gets you through the stall quicker.  But all that steam I'm making from tap water isn't free...I'm probably using 5% more pellets.  But pellet grills aren't efficient--most of the heat goes out the stack.  The fans in them move quite a bit of air...much more than natural draft like in most smokers.  But pellets are relatively cheap...only a couple bucks per cook...I suspect most folks spend more on charcoal.


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