New smoker...for meats

[Jimmy_jack]

Went and got a Pit Boss electric pellet smoker. So far I have mixed emotions. It has been making great smoked meats but man are there some temp fluctuations. I’m using a multi-probe Bluetooth thermometer so I can keep it closed and monitor while I do other things. Anyone else have a pellet smoker?

[Jimmy_jack]

Also tried my hand at cold pickling some onions and radishes. That’s some good stuff, let me tell ya!

[Stump89]

Those beef ribs look awesome. My favorite bbq. Nice!

[Markspring1978]

I use a Traeger and love the pellet smokers. Did a 24 lb turkey for Thanksgiving, unreal, best turkey we’ve ever had. Did an orange bourbon brine which was perfect  

I have some temp flux, but partly because I live in Montana and it gets cold and windy in the mountains where I live. To help with this, I drape a welding blanket over the bbq, which helps immensely. I see you live in FL, so wind and cooler temps might not be a factor for you. 

[slowsmoke]

I’ll have a small traeger. It can produce some incredible meat. Family and friends are always requesting it. 

You have to just get over the temp fluctuations. Watching it on a remote thermometer will drive you nuts. Not unlike watching the RH in your humidor ?  just pick a range you are comfortable with, set some alarms, and don’t sweat it. The meat alway comes out great. 

The higher end smokers probably maintain temp better. I’ve been thinking about upgrading. The MAK 2 Star is the Cadillac. I’ve also heard good things about RecTec. 

[cardinalfan85]

Awesome! I had to work on Thanksgiving and yesterday so finishing up smoking a turkey as we speak ?!

[cardinalfan85]

Here's Johnny ?

[Jimmy_jack]

Finished the butt 

[JohnInCleveland]

I'm a better cook than photographer.  Turkey on the BGE with a brine of about 14 hrs.  

[Jimmy_jack]

@JohnInClevelandYeah man...the brine is the business

[MD Puffer]

You inspired me to season my Masterbuilt Sportsman Elite today.  I've had it for nearly a year and never used it.  Between moving and a newborn it sort dropped on the list of priorities.  However, I currently have a bag of cherry chips and a 20lb ham in the fridge which is getting smoked tomorrow!

[slowsmoke]

2 hours ago, JohnInCleveland said:

I'm a better cook than photographer.  Turkey on the BGE with a brine of about 14 hrs.  

A brined bird and a smoker go together like a cigar and good booze. 

8 minutes ago, MD Puffer said:

You inspired me to season my Masterbuilt Sportsman Elite today.  I've had it for nearly a year and never used it.  Between moving and a newborn it sort dropped on the list of priorities.  However, I currently have a bag of cherry chips and a 20lb ham in the fridge which is getting smoked tomorrow!

Get some brown sugar, honey, a spray bottle full of pineapple juice, and glaze it to high heaven. 

[reliefdvm]

Like others have said,  don't worry about the temp variations. Your grill will smoke anything you want. Pulled pork with a good rub will take 12 th 18 hours and is so worth it. Just keep the hopper full of pellets.

I have had pellet grills for the last 15 years and love them. In the sub 1K $ range all the pellet grills are pretty much the same. For most of them their weakness is steaks. Doesn't really grill as much as roast. But I've tried cooking good steaks on charcoal, propane and cast iron pans, and I get complaints that they don't taste as good. 

When you step up to the  $1800 plus range things change. The grills are insulated. The fan speed is variable so the temperature fluctuate only a few degrees. My current one is WiFi connected and has an app that let's me load custom cooking programs as well as being able to see grill temp and meat temp with the probe on my phone. 

I'll never go back to a manual smoker. 

[Jimmy_jack]

@reliefdvm thanks. I’ve got her dialed in now. Longer startup and warmup is what I needed. Finished an 11 hour smoke a little while ago. Bone pulled out with ease. Great butt.

 

[Oscar300]

All looks great, that butt looks gooooooooood.  Im a Kamado Joe owner and proud, great BBQ with great lifetime warranty. 

 

[Derboesekoenig]

10 hours ago, Jimmy_jack said:

@reliefdvm thanks. I’ve got her dialed in now. Longer startup and warmup is what I needed. Finished an 11 hour smoke a little while ago. Bone pulled out with ease. Great butt.

 

This is why I can never be a vegan or vegetarian. Mouth-watering mmm haha

[smokin.joe]

After using a traditional smoker (with a firebox on the side) for 8+ years, I made a tough decision to switch to pellet smoker. The Old Country smoker I bought from Academy Sporting Goods fell apart with rust. Would never buy this brand again. I really liked using real Pecan and Oak, but it was a lot of work when smoking briskets or other larger items as it was at least a 10 hour effort. After looking at numerous pellet smokers, I went with a Traeger Pro Series 34. Used it twice since I made the purchase 3 weeks ago. Smoked a brined turkey that came out well. Then 2 briskets and 4 slabs of ribs. I found some temperature fluctuations but not enough to worry about. It is a fairly painless way to smoke meat. Just set the temperature (can also use the meat probes) and check every few hours.

[BrightonCorgi]

Kamado smokers (Like Big Green Egg) will have the least fluctuations.  They are well insulated.  I have a Weber Smoky Mountain now, but plan to replace with Kamado at some point.  They use way less charcoal, so you can get fancy with the wood without it being a pain.

[komodo]

On 11/24/2018 at 11:06 PM, Jimmy_jack said:

Went and got a Pit Boss electric pellet smoker. So far I have mixed emotions. It has been making great smoked meats but man are there some temp fluctuations. I’m using a multi-probe Bluetooth thermometer so I can keep it closed and monitor while I do other things. Anyone else have a pellet smoker?

And here we are. Stuck upon this thread and came here to share that it seems to be a common problem. Actually, I haven't had a bad experience with my PB (it's 700FB), and I get really good "end results", but I had to babysit the PB the entire cooks due to temp swings. I contacted PB support team, though - from their words - this is normal. 

So here comes a piece of advice. Higher temps hold much steadier than the low smoking temps. Pellet choice matters too. I use Lumberjack Char Hickory (pic attached) in my Pit Boss and it will run 200-215F all day.

I hope this helps. 

[Hollywood Ninja]

It’s just the nature of the beast. You’ll get spikes when the pellets flare up and dips when they smolder. It’s small compressed sawdust, so they don’t burn long. Unlike a traditional stick/wood burner where you can slowly introduce new fuel, pre-warm said fuel and control temp fluctuations with your vents.

But you certainly can’t beat the convenience of a pellet smoker, especially for long 12+ hour smokes. I still do ribs and turkey on a stick burner, but everything else gets done on the pellet smoker.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BrightonCorgi]

The vast majority of my cooking in the WSM, I remove the water pan and crank it up as high as I can get it.  It's essentially a wood fired oven than a smoker.  The higher heat doesn't smoke the meat as much and the higher temps yield a better texture on the surface.  Not to mention quicker cooking times.  Brisket or butt, then I'll do the traditional smoking temp ranges, but that is not so often I cook either.

[ElPuro]

Don't sweat minor temp fluctuations. I have been smoking for many years on electric, Kamado and now offset (still use all). The key is to keep it within a range,  that's all. I allow my offset to fluctuate +/- 50 degrees, and it puts off the best 'que of all the smokers. With pellets, especially lower cost ones,  you'll need to keep temps in the lower part of the range (225-250) to get decent smoke flavor. 

[Lomey]

58 minutes ago, ElPuro said:

Don't sweat minor temp fluctuations. I have been smoking for many years on electric, Kamado and now offset (still use all). The key is to keep it within a range,  that's all. I allow my offset to fluctuate +/- 50 degrees, and it puts off the best 'que of all the smokers. With pellets, especially lower cost ones,  you'll need to keep temps in the lower part of the range (225-250) to get decent smoke flavor. 

Is that a Shirley Fabrication smoker?  That's my dream smoker.  It was on my short list a couple of years ago, but didn't want to wait on the build time so I went with something local.  I'm going to look at getting on the list soon.

[ElPuro]

Good eye. 24x60 model.

[Lotusguy]

Oh man, I just started looking at their website and now I’m drooling/dreaming...