Finally found the Pellet Smoker to complete my smoker arsenal!

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kevin james

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jul 30, 2012
484
394
Sacramento, CA
Over the last couple of years I've built up an arsenal of different smokers, each with it's own purpose as I'm a believer in having different tools in the tool belt for different jobs. Not to mention, I'm also a little obsessive when I get in to a hobby and tend to go a little over the top. I admit that lol. Anyways, after my very first smoker died several years ago (a MES 30), I decided I wanted to try a pellet grill and I bought a Pit Boss Pro Series 1100. I felt it was a decent enough smoker at the time, but one thing led to another, and other smokers came in to the picture including a Weber Smokey Mountain, Weber Kettle, and a little Weber Smokey Joe, a couple different offset stick burners, and another electric smoker specifically for ultra low temp smoking for sausage etc. Other cookers also entered the picture including a Blackstone Griddle and an Ooni Pizza oven. All of these get used regularly, but it got to the point where the Pit Boss hadn't been fired up even once in the last couple of years.

I started realizing the reason why the Pit Boss wasn't getting any use is that I really just don't like it very much any more based on it's controller, it's lack of features, and just my overall cooking preferences. At the same time I also realized that a pellet smoker serves a very practical purpose and is a great tool, and that if I had one I actually liked it would probably get a lot of use, especially for week night cooks. I mostly work from home, but I definitely don't have the ability to babysit a fire in one of the offset's while I work, for me personally my WSM is not in any way set it and forget it, and the electric is really for sausage and other low temp cooks (and also serves as a holding cabinet).

So I started thinking about the features I wanted, and looking at different options. I realized that was was important to me was a better quality controller, preferably a PID controller with minimal temp swings and WIFI capability, something that has a full size upper shelf, and something that is capable of puting a stronger smoke flavor on my meat than the average pellet smoker as I really have gotten used to my stick burners, which are my primary cookers. So I started looking at options, and had it narrowed down to three different pellet smokers. The Weber EX6 Gen 2, the new Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 36, and the Rec Tec RT 1250. All three met all of my requirements, it was just down to deciding which one to go with.

Then something happened.... I saw a thread here by another user that made me think of something I hadn't considered.... a cabinet style pellet smoker. That seemed to be a great idea because instead of just having a main grate and an upper rack, it has multiple racks! The reason that is important to me is I am absolutely adamant about cooking brisket and pork shoulder FAT CAP UP. It's just not even debatable for me, and with a pellet grill's fire pot right in the middle of the chamber and the main grate so close to the firepot, you just get too much radiant heat and therefor you really need to go fat cap down. But with an upper grate or better yet multiple racks in a vertical, you can get the meat up far enough away from the firepot that it's not a problem, and for even more protection you can also put a water pan directly below the meat if you want. So... at this point I just needed to find a vertical unit that had the other features I wanted such as PID controller preferably with WIFI capability, and the ability to put a stronger smoke profile on the meat.

So... back to the drawing board. I looked around and it seemed there weren't too many options for verticals. The main ones I found were by Pit Boss, and Camp Chef makes one as well. After researching both of those I really wasn't impressed with either brand's vertical offerings. Then I remembered a Youtube video I saw by Dead Broke BBQ, on a vertical unit made by Smoke Daddy, who also makes a bunch of accessories to upgrade other brands of pellet grills with controllers, heat diffusers and other things. So I did my research and found the Smoke Daddy Pellet Pro 2300 vertical cabinet smoker, which met almost all of my requirements. It's vertical so it's better than a main grate and upper rack, It has a PID controller, and you can add their "Heavy D" stick burning heat diffuser which is supposed to get you a stronger smoke flavor. The one thing it didn't have was WIFI... which sucks, but I decided I can monitor temps by my WIFI Fireboard, which is all I really need. But to make up for that it has some other features that are really nice. First, it's double walled, which while not as good as fully insulated it will retain heat much better than your average pellet smoker. It also has a convection fan at the top of the cabinet that can be turned on or off as desired, and this helps to ensure even temps through the entire cabinet. And last but not least, this thing has a TON of capacity... I mean a ton. It comes with three racks which are 20x21, and a rib rack that can hold 7 racks of ribs, and there is room for 3 more racks. At 21x20 each rack is capable of holding two briskets or four pork butts. Unfortunately, the space between the racks is a little less than I'd like, so if you're smoking briskets or pork butts you're really limited to 4 racks, maybe 5 racks. But still... you could cook at least 5 briskets and 6 Pork butts at one time, and you may even be able to fit the rib rack for 7 racks of ribs. And tri-tips? You could fit at least 4 maybe even 5 tri-tips on each rack and they are thin enough you could load up all 6 racks, or you could even add a seventh if you ditch the rib rack and buy a seventh rack (they sell them individually or as a 3 pack). That's potentially 28-35 tri-tips total.... That is one hell of a lot of food! I do sell some BBQ on the side here and there so in addition to week night cook duty, this could also come in very handy for large cooks, even serving as a dedicated tri-tip and rib cooker.

So, I ended up pulling the trigger on it. Took delivery on it yesterday and got it assembled last night. Today has been rainy all day and I had some other stuff going on as well, but I'm planning to do the burn off and seasoning tonight and the first cook on it tomorrow, a whole chicken and a Tri-tip. Very much looking forward to seeing how this thing performs! Also really looking forward to being able to do week night cooks which will be a game changer for me.

And now, the obligatory pics:
Pellet-Pro-2300-Pic-1.jpg

Pellet-Pro-2300-Pic-2.jpg
 
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Remember, low and slow temps to start, always produces the best smoke flavor profile from pellet smokers… FYI.. Your Pellet Pro Smoker has enough room to place a smoke basket on the very bottom rack or on top of the heat diffuser to produce real hardwood smoke to go along with the pellet smoke being produced and you still have volumes of room left to bbq and slow smoke. That’s where the PID Controller will come in handy and shine as well by keeping the temps under control. Take your time to get too know and learn your new smoker and enjoy. .02. Good luck.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
 
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Remember, low and slow temps to start, always produces the best smoke flavor profile from pellet smokers… FYI.. Your Pellet Pro Smoker has enough room to place a smoke basket on the very bottom rack or on top of the heat diffuser to produce real hardwood smoke to go along with the pellet smoke being produced and you still have volumes of room left to bbq and slow smoke. That’s where the PID Controller will come in handy and shine as well by keeping the temps under control. Take your time to get too know and learn your new smoker and enjoy. .02. Good luck.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
Yes, it definitely has a lot of room, that's for sure. Plenty of room to cook as much food as I could possibly need for even the largest of cooks.

I got their Heavy D stick burning diffuser to go with it, and I also have various pellet tubes and a pellet tray. I'm not sure exactly what your referring to by a smoke basket though. If a smoke basket is another option, I'd love to know a little more about what that is.
 
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Yes, it definitely has a lot of room, that's for sure. Plenty of room to cook as much food as I could possibly need for even the largest of cooks.

I got their Heavy D stick burning diffuser to go with it, and I also have various pellet tubes and a pellet tray. I'm not sure exactly what your referring to by a smoke basket though. If a smoke basket is another option, I'd love to know a little more about what that is.

Checkout the posted link and read postings #116 through #120… https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...pid-upgrade-for-my-pb-austin-xl.291288/page-6

Adding a Smoke Basket is just another inexpensive option to help add true Hardwood and Charcoal smoke to your pellet smoker. LoneStar Grills and IronSide Smokers both use smoke baskets in their pellet smokes to produce true hardwood smoke. You can use the SmokeDaddy Heavy D wood burning heat diffuser in somewhat the same way, I just found during 3 years of usage, that I had better results using the SmokeDaddy Heavy D heat diffuser just as a stand alone heat diffuser and not adding hardwood to it. I found I had better temp control and better smoke production when I added the smoke basket. With the smoke basket, you’ll have more control over the ignition of the hardwood you choose to use, the type of smoke being produced and better temperature management. First, since you already have a couple of pellet smoke tubes, try loading one with a mixture of hardwood chips and pellets and give that a test run to see how you like the results. I myself prefer as much hardwood smoke production as I can get, so that’s why on my setup, I use the SmokeDaddy Magnum P.I.G. Smoke Gen. along with a smoke basket. I don’t really notice the pellet smoke anymore and I can dial back the hardwood smoke production some if I choose too, just by turning the valve on the outlet tube. Getting back to the Smoke Basket… Adding a Smoke Basket may cost you about a $50.00 investment to go along with your pellet smoke tubes which you already have, so you see there’s a lot of options you have in adding true hardwood smoke too your new SD Pellet Pro Smoker without breaking the bank.. Good luck

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
 
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Checkout the posted link and read postings #116 through #120… https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...pid-upgrade-for-my-pb-austin-xl.291288/page-6

Adding a Smoke Basket is just another inexpensive option to help add true Hardwood and Charcoal smoke to your pellet smoker. LoneStar Grills and IronSide Smokers both use smoke baskets in their pellet smokes to produce true hardwood smoke. You can use the SmokeDaddy Heavy D wood burning heat diffuser in somewhat the same way, I just found during 3 years of usage, that I had better results using the SmokeDaddy Heavy D heat diffuser just as a stand alone heat diffuser and not adding hardwood to it. I found I had better temp control and better smoke production when I added the smoke basket. With the smoke basket, you’ll have more control over the ignition of the hardwood you choose to use, the type of smoke being produced and better temperature management. First, since you already have a couple of pellet smoke tubes, try loading one with a mixture of hardwood chips and pellets and give that a test run to see how you like the results. I myself prefer as much hardwood smoke production as I can get, so that’s why on my setup, I use the SmokeDaddy Magnum P.I.G. Smoke Gen. along with a smoke basket. I don’t really notice the pellet smoke anymore and I can dial back the hardwood smoke production some if I choose too, just by turning the valve on the outlet tube. Getting back to the Smoke Basket… Adding a Smoke Basket may cost you about a $50.00 investment to go along with your pellet smoke tubes which you already have, so you see there’s a lot of options you have in adding true hardwood smoke too your new SD Pellet Pro Smoker without breaking the bank.. Good luck

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
Awesome. Any idea where I can buy a smoke basket? I looked on both Lonestar Grillz website as well as Ironside Smokers, but did not see one available on either site.

Also, how does it work exactly? Do you just put wood chunks/splits or charcoal in it and place it on top of the heat diffuser underneath the drip pan? Sorry, may be dumb questions but this idea is very intriguing to me and I just want to make sure I'm fully understanding how to use it.
 
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For my custom built smoker I bought Ight two of their hopper assembly and the heavy D heat diffusers and that work great! Great customer service. Note do not plug it into a GFCI circuit mine would always pop them and idk if it because I have two wired together but I wouldn’t think it’s draws that much amperage.
 
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Awesome. Any idea where I can buy a smoke basket? I looked on both Lonestar Grillz website as well as Ironside Smokers, but did not see one available on either site.

Also, how does it work exactly? Do you just put wood chunks/splits or charcoal in it and place it on top of the heat diffuser underneath the drip pan? Sorry, may be dumb questions but this idea is very intriguing to me and I just want to make sure I'm fully understanding how to use it.


It all depends on how much space you have to work with and the dimensions of your smoker. The smoke basket doesn’t have to be huge, it should be about the same length and width of the heat diffuser. The smoke/charcoal basket would be placed on top of the heat diffuser and loaded with some wood chunks and then covered with pre-lit/ashed over charcoals. From looking at the location of the heat diffuser in your smoker, reloading or adding more wood chunks to a smoke basket looks pretty easy. I would Google bbq Smoke baskets for sale near your location and see what’s available near you. You can try Lowes and Home Depot as well. The smoke basket pictured in the IronSide Smoker looks way to tall for your application, but looking at the picture
1670877262529.jpeg

You can see the Auger tube at the very bottom and the heat diffuser above it, with the smoke basket sitting on top of the heat diffuser. With your application, perhaps something like this one would work…
1670877327481.jpeg

It’s 17 inches in length by 11 inches in width and just $26.00 at Lowe’s. Again, the smoke basket doesn’t have to be huge, it just has to get the job done. One thing about this hobby that’s fun is trying new things and making fantastic bbq… .02. I hope the info helps and good luck.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
 
Last edited:
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It all depends on how much space you have to work with and the dimensions of your smoker. The smoke basket doesn’t have to be huge, it should be about the same length and width of the heat diffuser. The smoke/charcoal basket would be placed on top of the heat diffuser and loaded with some wood chunks and then covered with pre-lit/ashed over charcoals. From looking at the location of the heat diffuser in your smoker, reloading or adding more wood chunks to a smoke basket looks pretty easy. I would Google bbq Smoke baskets for sale near your location and see what’s available near you. You can try Lowes and Home Depot as well. The smoke basket pictured in the IronSide Smoker looks way to tall for your application, but looking at the picture View attachment 651021
You can see the the Auger tube at the very bottom and the heat diffuser above it, with the smoke basket sitting on top of the heat diffuser. With your application, perhaps something like this one would work… View attachment 651022
It’s 17 inches in length by 11 inches in width and just $26.00 at Lowe’s. Again, the smoke basket doesn’t have to be huge, it just has to get the job done. One thing about this hobby that’s fun is trying new things and making fantastic bbq… .02. I hope the info helps and good luck.

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
Yes, that is very helpful. I will have to give that a try. But, before I do I want to give this unit a fair shake and do a couple cooks with nothing but the pellets in the firebox, then try the heavy D diffusor, then try it with the pellet tubes. I will say when I did the burn off it did have a constant output of TBS through the entire duration, even at higher temps like 400. That is not what I was used to on my old Pit Boss. The pellet smokers that seem to be known for a better smoke profile like the Rec Teq's and the Weber Smokefire also seem to have that trait. So we'll see, but either way experimenting is half the fun!
 
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Over the last couple of years I've built up an arsenal of different smokers, each with it's own purpose as I'm a believer in having different tools in the tool belt for different jobs. Not to mention, I'm also a little obsessive when I get in to a hobby and tend to go a little over the top. I admit that lol. Anyways, after my very first smoker died several years ago (a MES 30), I decided I wanted to try a pellet grill and I bought a Pit Boss Pro Series 1100. I felt it was a decent enough smoker at the time, but one thing led to another, and other smokers came in to the picture including a Weber Smokey Mountain, Weber Kettle, and a little Weber Smokey Joe, a couple different offset stick burners, and another electric smoker specifically for ultra low temp smoking for sausage etc. Other cookers also entered the picture including a Blackstone Griddle and an Ooni Pizza oven. All of these get used regularly, but it got to the point where the Pit Boss hadn't been fired up even once in the last couple of years.

I started realizing the reason why the Pit Boss wasn't getting any use is that I really just don't like it very much any more based on it's controller, it's lack of features, and just my overall cooking preferences. At the same time I also realized that a pellet smoker serves a very practical purpose and is a great tool, and that if I had one I actually liked it would probably get a lot of use, especially for week night cooks. I mostly work from home, but I definitely don't have the ability to babysit a fire in one of the offset's while I work, for me personally my WSM is not in any way set it and forget it, and the electric is really for sausage and other low temp cooks (and also serves as a holding cabinet).

So I started thinking about the features I wanted, and looking at different options. I realized that was was important to me was a better quality controller, preferably a PID controller with minimal temp swings and WIFI capability, something that has a full size upper shelf, and something that is capable of puting a stronger smoke flavor on my meat than the average pellet smoker as I really have gotten used to my stick burners, which are my primary cookers. So I started looking at options, and had it narrowed down to three different pellet smokers. The Weber EX6 Gen 2, the new Camp Chef Woodwind Pro 36, and the Rec Tec RT 1250. All three met all of my requirements, it was just down to deciding which one to go with.

Then something happened.... I saw a thread here by another user that made me think of something I hadn't considered.... a cabinet style pellet smoker. That seemed to be a great idea because instead of just having a main grate and an upper rack, it has multiple racks! The reason that is important to me is I am absolutely adamant about cooking brisket and pork shoulder FAT CAP UP. It's just not even debatable for me, and with a pellet grill's fire pot right in the middle of the chamber and the main grate so close to the firepot, you just get too much radiant heat and therefor you really need to go fat cap down. But with an upper grate or better yet multiple racks in a vertical, you can get the meat up far enough away from the firepot that it's not a problem, and for even more protection you can also put a water pan directly below the meat if you want. So... at this point I just needed to find a vertical unit that had the other features I wanted such as PID controller preferably with WIFI capability, and the ability to put a stronger smoke profile on the meat.

So... back to the drawing board. I looked around and it seemed there weren't too many options for verticals. The main ones I found were by Pit Boss, and Camp Chef makes one as well. After researching both of those I really wasn't impressed with either brand's vertical offerings. Then I remembered a Youtube video I saw by Dead Broke BBQ, on a vertical unit made by Smoke Daddy, who also makes a bunch of accessories to upgrade other brands of pellet grills with controllers, heat diffusers and other things. So I did my research and found the Smoke Daddy Pellet Pro 2300 vertical cabinet smoker, which met almost all of my requirements. It's vertical so it's better than a main grate and upper rack, It has a PID controller, and you can add their "Heavy D" stick burning heat diffuser which is supposed to get you a stronger smoke flavor. The one thing it didn't have was WIFI... which sucks, but I decided I can monitor temps by my WIFI Fireboard, which is all I really need. But to make up for that it has some other features that are really nice. First, it's double walled, which while not as good as fully insulated it will retain heat much better than your average pellet smoker. It also has a convection fan at the top of the cabinet that can be turned on or off as desired, and this helps to ensure even temps through the entire cabinet. And last but not least, this thing has a TON of capacity... I mean a ton. It comes with three racks which are 20x21, and a rib rack that can hold 7 racks of ribs, and there is room for 3 more racks. At 21x20 each rack is capable of holding two briskets or four pork butts. Unfortunately, the space between the racks is a little less than I'd like, so if you're smoking briskets or pork butts you're really limited to 4 racks, maybe 5 racks. But still... you could cook at least 5 briskets and 6 Pork butts at one time, and you may even be able to fit the rib rack for 7 racks of ribs. And tri-tips? You could fit at least 4 maybe even 5 tri-tips on each rack and they are thin enough you could load up all 6 racks, or you could even add a seventh if you ditch the rib rack and buy a seventh rack (they sell them individually or as a 3 pack). That's potentially 28-35 tri-tips total.... That is one hell of a lot of food! I do sell some BBQ on the side here and there so in addition to week night cook duty, this could also come in very handy for large cooks, even serving as a dedicated tri-tip and rib cooker.

So, I ended up pulling the trigger on it. Took delivery on it yesterday and got it assembled last night. Today has been rainy all day and I had some other stuff going on as well, but I'm planning to do the burn off and seasoning tonight and the first cook on it tomorrow, a whole chicken and a Tri-tip. Very much looking forward to seeing how this thing performs! Also really looking forward to being able to do week night cooks which will be a game changer for me.

And now, the obligatory pics:
View attachment 650822

View attachment 650823
Great smoker!! Refreshing to see someone else is as self aware of their obsessive hobby behavior. I’m in that club lol.
 
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