New Pit Boss

[rablack21]

I have really been eyeballing the series 7 also. Really interested in hear y'alls reviews.

 

[TulsaJeff]

I have not used this one or this style yet( should have one soon), but I really enjoy pellet smoking and have learned that in this type of cooking, it's all about the average temperature.

You have pellets dropping into a small burn pot which in turn smolder and then burn thereby creating smoke and heat. In order to get a good amount of smoke as well as the proper heat, it's almost impossible to not have some temperature swings in my opinion.

Once I got over the fact that swings was part of the process, I discovered that the food was amazing and that's what truly matters.

I use the Camp Chef Woodwind and just got the SG from them. I also use the Traeger and should have a RecTec soon. All of these units that I have used so far create better smoke and the food has better flavor when I give it an hour of low heat and then turn it up to my set temperature after that.

On the Woodwind, i always start out on "Lo Smoke" for about 1 hour then on to "Hi Smoke" to finish and the smoke flavor rivals most of my other smokers with the exception of my reverse flow stick burner.

I look forward to hearing more about the Pit Boss vertical unit.

 

[weev]

Mine is still going good I have used it every weekend with no problems except for a full tummy
I have been surprised that it doesn't go threw more pellets but im ok with that

 

[ab canuck]

Very curious how these babies work. I think pit boss has a great pellet grill as is. Be watching these now..

 

[rablack21]

I just went out and bought the copperhead 5 series this weekend! This is my first pellet fueled smoker or grill. So it has been interesting getting to know it and how it works. So far I have only smoked some bacon wrapped hot dogs and some chicken wings. Compared to the MES 40 that I had previously, this thing is huge. Due to the nature of how the pellet smoker works it does have some temperature swings, but I believe that is just the nature of the beast. When it feeds pellets, it creates quite a bit of smoke, the temp rises due to the added fuel. Then the temp drops back down to what it is set at. Then the cycle repeats itself over and over again. This part was a little hard to get used to as I wasn't expecting it.
I will say this for Pit Boss though: they have awesome customer service, and they have someone available 7 days a week! I called and spoke to them Saturday and Sunday and I was trying to figure out what was normal and if something wasn't!
Here is a few pics of me messing around with it.

 

[weev]

Awesome I hope it does good for you

 

[ravenclan]

i bought the PitBoss 700FB and no complaints yet

 

[rablack21]

ravenclan, does your temp also surge up and down a bit? Just curious.

 

[ravenclan]

I smoke at 225 degrees but during the dump of pellets i go up about 10 degrees. The pellet setting i was on is the factory set at "P4". i want a little more smokey taste so my next smoke i will change the smoke setting to "P3" and see how it goes from there.

I don't think the swing is to bad but this one my front porch with the wind gusting up to 10MPH.

I am very happy with the smokes so far but i still need to do some more smokes to fine tune what "flavor" the wife and I like.

 

[weev]

i bought the PitBoss 700FB and no complaints yet
View attachment 362454
View attachment 362455

Congrats on the new smoker and I will definitely take a plate of that it looks awesome

 

[weev]

ravenclan, does your temp also surge up and down a bit? Just curious.

Most all of the pellet smokers do because of the adding of more fuel every few min. Stick burners do roughly the same thing just over a longer time period every half hour or so you add another log and the temp goes up a bit but they both seem to average out

 

[rablack21]

most all of the pellet smokers do because of the adding of more fuel every few min. stick burners do roughly the same thing just over a longer time period every half hour or so you add another log and the temp goes up a bit but the both seem to average out

This is my assessment as well. Thanks for confirming!

 

[porknography]

Has anyone had any trouble with the copperhead 5 or any verticle series door not adjusted properly so the cmgasket fits the opening?

 

[yahoot]

we picked up an upright 5 and an upright 7 earlier this month. WOW. Love them. SO much space! Easy to clean out, easy to change pellets.

we did have a problem with the door on the 7 (turned out it was a bent hinge pin), but easily fixed. Other than that, no issues getting them to seal

I love that the shelves are adjustable/removable. IIRC, we are able to get 6 briskets in the 7 series.

A quick word about temperature swings - virtually every heating appliance has temp swings. Even the oven in your kitchen will swing considerably (put your remote thermometer in it sometime and watch it swing +\- 20f.). Same with your furnace. Just the way thermostats work. The controllers/thermometers/thermostats/etc. in most appliances are set to not report those swings at a fine level of granularity. They generally report an average temp over some period of time. If they didn't, people would be constantly freaking out because of the "inconsistency" of their appliances. Unfortunately, too many of us have good thermometers and can see all that variability in our pellet smokers and but it is certainly not unique to pellet smokers.

 

[TulsaJeff]

My Pit Boss Copperhead 7 series did not close completely without applying some pressure when I got mine but I adjusted the latch to pull it really tight and now it seals perfectly all the way around.

@yahoot you are absolutely correct, in fact, I just finished testing my wife's Thermador after replacing the control board and it swings 25 or better in both directions. Most ovens do this but you never know it because the thermometer reads a steady temperature and people think it is staying right on the money.

I love smokers like the Smokin-it 2D and the Rec-tec RT-700 that use a PID controller to hold a perfect temperature but I also don't mind cooking by the averages.

 

[rablack21]

Has anyone had any trouble with the copperhead 5 or any verticle series door not adjusted properly so the cmgasket fits the opening?

Yes, I had an issue with the door on my copperhead 5 as well. My door drooped on the right side; so the gasket would not seal in the upper right corner. So I heated up the smoker, got some gloves, and lifted up on the lower right portion of the door in a counter clock wise twisting motion. The hinges bent ever so slightly, and now the door fits correctly on the frame. Now the gaskets seals all the way around.

On a side note, has anyone else found the grate in the pellet hopper to be annoying and mostly useless? It is a bit of a pain and makes it more difficult to change out pellets. Sure you open the pellet door and most dump out, but it leaves a big mound of pellets on both sides of the hopper left over that won't move. And you can stick your hand down in there to push the rest of the pellets out. I have been using a broom handle stuck down in there to move the rest of the pellets out. Not complaining. I love my smoker! Just seems well intended but a bit of a hassle. Seems like it would be better to make the grate removable so you can get down in the hopper for pellet change out / cleaning the window.

 

[Jon Dickey]

Couple month update. I absolutely love my Pit Boss 7 series. I do have a couple complaints - the location of the temp probe for "actual" is in a horrible location. Right next to the firebox under the water pan, and it causes the readings to go crazy and give me heart attacks. I also wish their was a better place to route the external probes rather than through the deal seal.

I have had most luck running at 200 or 250+, the 225 setting seems to have most fluctuations. I recently changed pellet brands from Cabelas to Lumberjack and it did make a world of difference in temp and taste.

I did however, place an external probe at the top, middle, and bottom racks to compare it to the actual and it will calm a lot of nerves.

So far I have done a brisket, ribs, turkey and pork shoulder. If I had to do it over again, I would buy the same one. I absolutely love it. I just recently did my first 12+ hour smoke and it performed great. Would definitely recommend.

 

[ross77]

I believe Cabelas pellets are made by Lumberjack. Did you also change the type of wood?

 

[yahoot]

I haven't looked in a while, but Cabelas used to source pellets regionally, like Traeger does. Its one of the "dirty little secrets" of the name-brand pellet suppliers - they don't make pellets, so they shift their sourcing a lot.

That means the pellets you buy might be made by Great Lakes Renewable Energy (who make lumberjacks) some years in some regions in some flavors, and they also might be from Bear Mountain Forest Products (in Oregon - Alder based pellets) in other years in other regions or flavors, or by Omalley in Virginia, or any of the dozens of other pellet manufacturers around the country.

It is much cheaper for the company to source/ship regionally, but it makes it hard for users to rely on any level of consistency because they never know what they are getting from year to year or even from flavor to flavor.

We regularly pick up samples of a lot of brands at trade shows and events (both "name" brands and direct from manufacturers) because we are always looking for better pellets at lower prices. Currently, we source lumberjacks (through group buys) for our regular smoking. There are other very good brands out there, but we don't like Alder-based pellets (which rules out most pellets made in the pacific NW) and we get the best delivered price to California for lumberjacks.

 

[hinds90]

Hmmmm these are very interesting and based off of the reviews in this thread I may have to try one out.