I Need a New Grill/Smoker

[Brokenhandle]

Look forward to seeing you put it to use! I always use Lumberjack pellets and really like them...wait till they go on sale, $8 for a 20 lb bag.

Ryan

 

[mike243]

Congrats, try the Kingsford pellets top notch f!avor imo, little higher than some others, for special cooks I will pu a bag, 1 thing I didn't see fo!ks posting is outside temps, the colder it is the more pellets you will burn

 

[chilerelleno]

Congrats, try the Kingsford pellets top notch f!avor imo, little higher than some others, for special cooks I will pu a bag, 1 thing I didn't see fo!ks posting is outside temps, the colder it is the more pellets you will burn

I live on the Gulf coast so freezing cold isn't a regular occurrence for us.

I get it that I'll be trying out various brands and blends of pellets just like seeing which bullets a rifle prefers.

 

[chilerelleno]

Look forward to seeing you put it to use! I always use Lumberjack pellets and really like them...wait till they go on sale, $8 for a 20 lb bag.

Ryan

I've one place near me that sells them, 30 minutes away. For sure if I see a sale I'd stock up a hundred pounds or more.

 

[chilerelleno]

It's here!
Now I either need to get up several hours before going to work or wait till Saturday to put it together.
Gonna get a good burn in, especially since I need to season the large griddle plate I got with it.

 

[tallbm]

I need some helpful recommendations and input, especially from y'all with direct experience in the newer pellet poopers.

My old Charbroil grill has been rebuilt numerous times and I just can't justify continued rebuilds, and my Camp Chef SV24 is rusted out in the bottom.

Time to bite the bullet and think about buying new gear and the list of choices are daunting.
Propane or pellet are what I'm interested in.

The following seem like they might do both grilling and smoking, maybe not so well at one or another though.
Traeger Timberline 850 gen 1
Rec Tec 1250
And with the pellet machines what would I be looking at for operating costs (pellets)?
Further I'd be wanting to know which pellets have the best smoke flavors, burn rates and whatever else I'd need to know about them.

And a Weber Genesis S-435 should be a great grilling machine, but not much for smoking.
One thing I look at with the Sear Stations like on the Genesis is that it is half or less of the total grate area, and that looks like it could slow your roll when cooking for a lot of people.

Is there a machine out there that does both grilling and smoking well? And does it reliably?

Maybe I should just buy another CCSV24 and a dedicated grill again.
I've time to ponder it since it'll take a month or so to finance the purchase(s) out of our budget.

Hahaha looks like I came back and finished my reply way too late. Congrats on the new smoker! :D


OLD POST BELOW (incase the info is needed, feel free to ignore otherwise):
I didn't read everyone's posts so if this was mentioned please forgive me lol.

I don't own a pellet grill BUT no matter what I follow this standard rule for grilling/searing because I use propane grills and it rings true no matter the type of grill.

The best practice is that you look for a grill that can produce 80-100 BTU's of energy per square inch of main cooking surface (main grill rack not counting 2nd tier rack).

Any grill that does this can guarantee a sear on meets like steaks and chops like we all want and generally can get to 600-700F+ no problem for that searing job. It is crazy to me how even well built looking and well known name propane grills by companies like Weber fail to meat this 80-100 BTU's per square inch performance!

That covers grilling, now lets talk about smoking.

I read almost every pellet smoker/grill post on here and armed with all that knowledge would look for one that comes with a pellet grill PID controller and the pellet smoker/grill is of quality. (Geneally PID = greater quality pellet pooper because it's a more precise control device).

Next I would burn the inexpensive Pit Boss pellets as fuel/heat because they burn well, are the least expensive, and are widely available (walmart, academy, costco, and everywhere else).
For smoker flavor I would rock a pellet tube with the quality pellets like Lumberjack, Prefect Pellet (cookingpellets.com), Kingsford or something else that does 100% of the wood on the label of the bag.

Doing things this way means you separate smoke generation from heat generation.
Doing this means you minimize cost for fuel/heat and maximize smoke flavor with the best flavor wood pellets and not spending an arm and a leg running through premium flavor pellets as fuel.

I'm not sure how much this may help you but that's the info I have and the approach I already have mapped out in my head :D

So if in your shoes, I would guarantee my pellet pooper could produce the BTU's, had the quality of build + control (PID), and did everything I wanted the best way possible :D

Let me know if this makes any sense. I do tend to ramble :D

 

[civilsmoker]

View attachment 655923
It's here!
Now I either need to get up several hours before going to work or wait till Saturday to put it together.
Gonna get a good burn in, especially since I need to season the large griddle plate I got with it.

congrats and that pic is why they sell so many, its always in stock, they deliver it quickly, and you will soon see it works! Before I got mine, I looked at the "higher end" competitors and they were months out and some even more......vs the 7 days to the driveway oh and the $$ saved paid for lots o pellets and meat to consume!

 

[chilerelleno]

Got it assembled and did the burn-in.
Wanted to see how hot it'd get, turned it up to Ful and it hit 773°.
At temps over 750° I foresee no problems getting a decent sear both on the grates, sear plates and griddle.

Didn't season the griddle yet, and yeah, their large griddle is large.
I'm already thinking of fajitas!

Taking good advice here and getting a tube for the high quality $$$ pellets.

 

[tallbm]

Got it assembled and did the burn-in.
Wanted to see how hot it'd get, turned it up to Ful and it hit 773°.
At temps over 750° I foresee no problems getting a decent sear both on the grates, sear plates and griddle.

Didn't season the griddle yet, and yeah, their large griddle is large.
I'm already thinking of fajitas!

Taking good advice here and getting a tube for the high quality $$$ pellets.

Nice!

It may be worth getting 2 tubes so you can load them and alternate easily when doing longer smokes. No need to burn yourself trying to empty cherries in order to load up the same tube again. The 2nd tube will come to the rescue and alternating is a breeze :D

 

[tbern]

congrats on a great looking new toy!! enjoy it!

 

[JIMSMOKES]

Nice!

It may be worth getting 2 tubes so you can load them and alternate easily when doing longer smokes. No need to burn yourself trying to empty cherries in order to load up the same tube again. The 2nd tube will come to the rescue and alternating is a breeze :D

This is a good idea. I now have 3 of them and keep one loaded ready to go at all times. I even use them in my grill.
I fill them with pellets and wood chips. Hand full of pellets then a hand full of chips then shake it down and repeat.

 

[tallbm]

This is a good idea. I now have 3 of them and keep one loaded ready to go at all times. I even use them in my grill.
I fill them with pellets and wood chips. Hand full of pellets then a hand full of chips then shake it down and repeat.

Yep! I rock an AMNPS tray but it is good to hear you are the living proof on loading up a few and rocking along with them.

Makes me want to get one for my propane grill..... wheels are spinning in my head now :P

 

[Fueling Around]

Got ya beat. I have 2 long tubes and 2 short tubes.
Long tube is great for steady smoke. I use the short for mostly cherry to add the color to the meat. Short is also great to leave vertical

 

[tallbm]

Got ya beat. I have 2 long tubes and 2 short tubes.
Long tube is great for steady smoke. I use the short for mostly cherry to add the color to the meat. Short is also great to leave vertical

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that use of the tubes. Didn't think about running one vertical at all.

 

[bill1]

773F!??! Did you bubble up paint at that temp Chile?

Gotta' ask...what is the crucible inner diameter in a RecTeq? Granted Traegers (and their many chinese cousins) are quite conservative in just how fast the software will fill a crucible at high temps but this is so much hotter than I'm used to that something seems fundamentally different...like there's a sizably larger fire in a RC?

Interestingly the RT website sells a replacement auger motor, but not a replacement crucible. Do these never wear out? How thick are the walls?

 

[bill1]

if this is true, the crucible/burn-pot dims are a little smaller (!) than Traegers!

Burn Pot for Recteq/Rec Tec Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker

Keep the fire going, get delicious flavor with hardwood fuel. The firepot design allows airflow around the ignitor, keeping it cooler after shutdown. Rec Tec Burn Pot Replacement for RT-2500, BFG RT-300 Mini, RT-340, RT-590, RT-700, RT-B380 Bullseye, RT-CMG Beast, RT-TMG Chuckwagon

yaoawe.com

 

[civilsmoker]

773F!??! Did you bubble up paint at that temp Chile?

Gotta' ask...what is the crucible inner diameter in a RecTeq? Granted Traegers (and their many chinese cousins) are quite conservative in just how fast the software will fill a crucible at high temps but this is so much hotter than I'm used to that something seems fundamentally different...like there's a sizably larger fire in a RC?

Interestingly the RT website sells a replacement auger motor, but not a replacement crucible. Do these never wear out? How thick are the walls?

Bill, when the 1250 came out they increased the auger speed from 2.5 to 3.0 RPM which allowed it to break the 700 deg temp. It also has a heavy duty cast deflector plate. Since then, they have upgraded all the models to have the faster auger (not sure about the deflector plate), they determined that it was the rate of pellets that was holding back the upper temp limit. I do suspect that if ran a constant diet of 700 plus the pot might start to see an earlier replacement, however, it's a low carbine mild steel so it can handle lots of heat before if fails. I expect to get at least 6-8 plus years out of mine..... on my Memphis Grill it was the electronics that gave out after 12 years....

PS 700+ deg in a pellet grill this size is HOT HOT HOT!!! did I say HOT.... just for perspective that is the top limit for grill grates functional temp.......

 

[chilerelleno]

773F!??! Did you bubble up paint at that temp Chile?

LOL... Nope.
But then it is an indirect diffused heat.
I think it can go higher, but I haven't tried.

Last night after cooking I turned it to 500° for 30 minutes to help clean it / burn it off.
After it had all but cooled down as programmed I had smoke and then a fire in the firepot.
I think it dumped more pellets into the pot after cool down, and the pot was still hot enough for ignition.

 

[chilerelleno]

PS 700+ deg in a pellet grill this size is HOT HOT HOT!!! did I say HOT.... just for perspective that is the top limit for grill grates functional temp.......

I wanted a HOT HOT HOT!!! machine that could both smoke and grill.
I think I may have found it.
It can crisp poultry skin, hell that good for me right there.
Now let's see how well it'll sear burgers and steaks.
The sear plates or griddle should both do the trick.
I always did like to smoke and then reverse sear in cast iron.

 

[bill1]

Chile. I think you nailed the explanation with the auger speed increase. Mine is only 1.3 rpm. So do you know if the RT auger motor is AC or DC? Mine is ac and looks like the one on the RT parts page so a simple switch would be easy. Then again these all turn through a gear box so that’s another option to turbocharge mine!