I have the Stainless Steel front shelf on both the Lone Star Grillz and the Pitts and Spitts Maverick 2000. The shelf on the Lone Star Grillz is a folding shelf.
The Maverick 2000 has three tier cooking grates. What a lot of people don't know about the Pitts and Spitts is that you can use the same size grill grate on the middle tier that is used on the bottom tier, giving you an additional 350 sq inches of cooking space. That is the way I have my P&S set up. The Lone Star Grillz cook chamber is two tier cooking grates, and the shape and height of the cook chamber reduces Cooking/smoking capacity.
There are big differences between the two.
1. Both are built like a tank, very high quality. Both weight approximately 450 lbs. During winter months here in NJ, I use a welders blanket when temps drop below freezing to get to and maintain temperatures on the Pitts and Spitts, because the Pitts & Spitts cook chamber is larger.
2. The Lone Star Grillz temperature is controlled by a
Fireboard controller, and temps are designed to fluctuate to make it smoke like an offset. This creates a lot of clean blue smoke even when cooking at higher temperatures. The Pitts and Spitts controller is a PID controller of their own making I believe.
3. The Maverick 2000 is dead on when holding temperature. I get a decent amount of smoke up to 275-300 degrees, but not much after that. On the Lone Star Grillz I get the kind of smoke you see on YouTube videos all the way up to its max temp of 450 degrees.
4. Max temp on the Maverick 2000 is 600 degrees; lowest temp is 180.
5. Max temp on the Lone Star Grillz is 450, and lowest temp is 160. At 160 there is a warming feature to keep food warm until serving.
6. On larger cooks, I use the Maverick 2000 as an outdoor oven (for corn on the cob, Mac&Cheese, veggies, peach beans, or desserts), and use the Lone Star Grillz as a smoker for meats.
7. Both are great for overnight cooks (my 20 lb Briskets go into each smoker at 200 degrees at 8:00 Pm the night before serving, and are ready to be wrapped around 7:00 AM the next morning. After the 3-4 hour resting period I am ready to serve around 3:00 PM. All my Briskets and larger Pork Butts and Shoulders are done this way.
8. When I smoke cured pork belly to make bacon, the Lone Star Grillz is the way to go because I can smoke as low as 160, but usually set it for 170 degrees and the belly's get a tremendous amount of smoke.
9. Clean up is much easier on the Lone Star Grillz due to the removable fire pot, which is cleaned out before each cook. After 3 cooks I remove the deflector plate and vacuum out the whole chamber. In order to clean out the fire pot on the Pitts and Spitts, the grates and deflector plates must be removed to vacuum out the fire pot. Both have the ball valve for easy grease management.
10. I have the 8 inch oversized pneumatic wheels on the Pitts and Spitts, and the off-road package on the Lone Star Grillz.
I usually purchase a pallet load of Lumberjack pellets in the spring, and then again in the fall. As soon as I pick up my next load, i plan to blend the hickory pellets with the hickory wood chips I purchased through Lone Star Grillz (I purchased enough wood chips for a 50-50 mix with 60 lbs of LJ Hickory pellets) and I will report my findings. I will say that the wood chips look uniform in size and thickness, and recommended by Chris at Lone Star Grillz for use on Lone Star Grillz. I would not use them on the Pitts and Spitts.
Note to 02ebz06: In your signature you list your Lone Star Grillz Pellet Smoker as 24 x 42
On the Lone Star Grillz website they show a 20 x 36 and a 20 x 42 cook chamber. My question is, is your 24 x 42 a custom order or is this a typo? To expand the cook chamber to 24 x 42 would be a worthwhile upgrade, significantly increasing cook capacity and would definitely capture my interest.
Thanks - Steve
