Broken controller on Pit Boss / Louisiana Grill

[3-2-1]

I have a Costco Louisiana pellet smoker (pit boss) and today after I fired her up all was good preheating the water bath to 225. Added some ribs and came back 2 hours later and the temp said 111F and I was like WTF. Turned it up to 400F/High and it came to 215 so it said so I grab another temp probe independent of the smoker controls and checked the heat out the hat top, 375...ugh so I lowered it back to 225 set point and it said 110 as actual.

What I found odd is I had also Probe 1 with a RTD and was also ready 1105 about half actual. So set point was 225 and actual was 111 and Probe 1 was 105 but actual was really 225ish. I am sure my control board is fried and under warranty so no problem there but what I found interesting is I realized there is no PID control here, the different "temperature" settings actually means nothing, the auger just feeds at a predefined rate, hence why some pellets have bad temperature fluctuation because different quality and type or wood/pellets burn rate. Auger and temperature probe do not talk ;-) Happy Smoking

Ribs came out bomb

 

[RCAlan]

I have a Costco Louisiana pellet smoker (pit boss) and today after I fired her up all was good preheating the water bath to 225. Added some ribs and came back 2 hours later and the temp said 111F and I was like WTF. Turned it up to 400F/High and it came to 215 so it said so I grab another temp probe independent of the smoker controls and checked the heat out the hat top, 375...ugh so I lowered it back to 225 set point and it said 110 as actual.

What I found odd is I had also Probe 1 with a RTD and was also ready 1105 about half actual. So set point was 225 and actual was 111 and Probe 1 was 105 but actual was really 225ish. I am sure my control board is fried and under warranty so no problem there but what I found interesting is I realized there is no PID control here, the different "temperature" settings actually means nothing, the auger just feeds at a predefined rate, hence why some pellets have bad temperature fluctuation because different quality and type or wood/pellets burn rate. Auger and temperature probe do not talk ;-) Happy Smoking

Ribs came out bomb

Perhaps your controller’s thermostat is set to display Celsius and not Fahrenheit... 110* degrees Celsius is 225*-230* Fahrenheit. Make sure your Pellet Grills Controller is set to display Fahrenheit and not Celsius. Good luck. Good job on the Spares...

Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[3-2-1]

Perhaps your controller’s thermostat is set to display Celsius and not Fahrenheit... 110* degrees Celsius is 225*-230* Fahrenheit. Make sure your Pellet Grills Controller is set to display Fahrenheit and not Celsius. Good luck. Good job on the Spares...

Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

Im hoping that was the issue because the controller was having REM when I took a picture or video, totally acting like never before. I did spill some water on the front face when I was filling the water bath. Even though I wiped it off, I'm wondering if some moisture was in it. I fired up the smoker this morning and it appears to operating normal.
I absolutely love this smoker, did a ton of research before settling on this on, vertical with water bath and lots of racks and smoking area not to mention you can remove all the shelves and literally hang a suckling pig in this beast. Bang for the buck you can't go wrong. For the record I have a vertical wood smoker and also a horizontal wood smoker, both can use full length logs but what a PITA not to use so much but where to find real wood fuel like cherry wood in the Bay Area CA!
Pellet smoker so much to choose from and Amazon will drop off at the door!

 

[Steff3]

Cabela's, which is mfg'd by LumberJack, has cherry, apple, pecan, peach pecan as well as the usuals. Will deliver at I believe $50 orders and above.

 

[3-2-1]

Cabela's, which is mfg'd by LumberJack, has cherry, apple, pecan, peach pecan as well as the usuals. Will deliver at I believe $50 orders and above.

I tried Cabelas-Hickory-Bourbon-Brown-Sugar flavored pellets, smoked like a motha but the heat was not consistent. I tried blending them but dumped them because a lot of sawdust at the bottom of the bag, cheap sure but you get what you pay for. There is so much better besides Cabelas pellets.

 

[Steff3]

I tried Cabelas-Hickory-Bourbon-Brown-Sugar flavored pellets, smoked like a motha but the heat was not consistent. I tried blending them but dumped them because a lot of sawdust at the bottom of the bag, cheap sure but you get what you pay for. There is so much better besides Cabelas pellets.

The Cabela's blends are their own but the 100% are LJ. I've been using them for the last year without issue, burn and smoke identical to the 100% LJ I had. Excessive pellet dust probably the handling I would assume but at any rate, sorry your experience was bad.....smoke on.

 

[3-2-1]

The Cabela's blends are their own but the 100% are LJ. I've been using them for the last year without issue, burn and smoke identical to the 100% LJ I had. Excessive pellet dust probably the handling I would assume but at any rate, sorry your experience was bad.....smoke on.

Sorry but you sound like you work for LumberJack or Cabela's? Do you rep for either?

If you want a nice bourbon oak smoke flavor, try a bag of Jim Beams pellets "Made from 100% genuine charred American White Oak barrel staves and heads that once aged Jim Beam"

Keep on Smokin

 

[mike243]

Where on the net are you all getting your info that certain pellets are made by certain companys?, I see folks stating such and no search I have done shows nothing like that, it would be nice to have that info but only if verified

 

[Steff3]

Sorry but you sound like you work for LumberJack or Cabela's? Do you rep for either?

If you want a nice bourbon oak smoke flavor, try a bag of Jim Beams pellets "Made from 100% genuine charred American White Oak barrel staves and heads that once aged Jim Beam"

Keep on Smokin

Lol, no, not either. I'm a retired 67 yr old milkman for pitty sake. There was a fellow on another forum I follow who had visited the LJ plant and while there they confirmed they mfg Cabela,s but the Cabela's blends blends were of their own. Just sharing info.

 

[3-2-1]

Lol, no, not either. I'm a retired 67 yr old milkman for pitty sake. There was a fellow on another forum I follow who had visited the LJ plant and while there they confirmed they mfg Cabela,s but the Cabela's blends blends were of their own. Just sharing info.

Nice, I wish for the day to retire! It would not surprise me if LJ was making Cabela's pellets. Costco has PitBoss build their Louisiana Grills brand and well Kirkland branded products are all made by reputable companies.
The issue I saw with Cabela's pellets while sure $10 for 20 lbs was very attractive the pellets smoked crazy amounts and the heat was all over the map. So I tried blending some with pitboss competition blend to help even out the temperature consistency which it helped but man you could tell when some of the Cabela's pellets were in the burn pot.
A lot of dust in the bottom of the bags. The feeling I got is the Cabela's pellets are made cheaply and flavor added to the mash before pressing into rabbit food looking things aka pellets. This is why they are inexpensive compared with other brands who will note the real wood in the pellet mix.
I get all questionable when companies start trying to get all fancy with marketing and try and convince me the wood is only from a specific area on the wood and why theirs is better blah blah blah. I have tried several different brands of pellets thanks to Covid smoking activities but just like wine, I let my nose and tastebuds tell me what smells and tastes good.
With that said, if I could find a deal on Jim Beam real genuine 100% previously used bourbon barrels like they sell, I would buy a pallet worth of pelle s. The White Oak is a great hardwood and the barrels are charred before having whiskey lay in them for years (batch after batch), the flavor these real wood pellets put out is incredible.

 

[Fueling Around]

I have a Costco Louisiana pellet smoker (pit boss)
...

Son-in-Law has Cabelas branded Louisiana pooper. He is on his 3rd controller and 2nd auger motor, and 3rd auger coupling bolt.
Before you jump "what he done wrong" wagon it is NOTHING and confirmed by multiple calls to Louisiana Customer Service..

I suggest you contact customer service at Louisiana. According to S-i-L they are pretty good.

I don't expect any smoke flavor from my pellet pooper.
I added a pellet tube to the cook chamber and actually get a good smoke flavor and my wife is happy..
Friend says he uses 2 smoke tubes in his pooper.

 

[3-2-1]

Son-in-Law has Cabelas branded Louisiana pooper. He is on his 3rd controller and 2nd auger motor, and 3rd auger coupling bolt.
Before you jump "what he done wrong" wagon it is NOTHING and confirmed by multiple calls to Louisiana Customer Service..

I suggest you contact customer service at Louisiana. According to S-i-L they are pretty good.

I don't expect any smoke flavor from my pellet pooper.
I added a pellet tube to the cook chamber and actually get a good smoke flavor and my wife is happy..
Friend says he uses 2 smoke tubes in his pooper.

I don't work in the BBQ production factory but I believe Cabela's makes their own pellet smoker that is not rebranded under a different manufacturer. I can't find anything to support someone else makes Cabela's, definitely everyone is running with Treager design idea since the patent expired, auger fed delivering pellets to a burn pot with "forced induction" from fan with an igniter.
Costco Louisiana Grills are rebranded PitBoss smokers, this I believe to be accurate as well but like I said, I don't work in the Kirkland world.

Turns out I had hit the F/C button which read out in Celsius DOH! Smoker ready for the weekend :)

I think a lot of some of the complaints is directly related to the Pellets, there is SO many out there (I've tried 7), differences I've noticed is amount of smoke level, and I mean huge differences, the cabela's Bourbon Brown Sugar (flavored) will smoke like a forest fire and the heat control will vary quite a bit. Different pellet brands will have different size pellets and compression of dust, augers could take a beating from some of these variances.

A lot of pellets are made from mixed hardwood and blends and also some add flavor to the mash before compressing them into pellets. When you use a real wood smoker and use say Oak, yes you get a lot of smoke flavor, are you using oak logs with bark. Out of all the pellets I've tried so far I'm hedging my dollar on Jim Beam pellets which are made out of 100% JB bourbon barrels which are100% White Oak wood, no BS added, just straight up recycled JB barrels. Try a bag, trust me, incredible outcome.

Smoke On