New to Pellet grills

[mpkelley20]

Hi All,

Decided to try pellet grills as my next attempt at becoming a decent barbecue chef. I think I have found a grill that makes this cooking/barbecue/smoke thing dummy proof. My last attempt was a Weber Genesis that I could easily create hockey pucks on regardless of what i was cooking.

After looking at higher priced vs. mid price and looking at features, I decided to take baby steps into the space and went with the Pit Boss 1100 Pro Series. The ability to sear food seemed nice and the price was right considering costs of other brands like traeger.

So far I have used this grill more than any other grill I've owned combined. I have cooked basic hamburgers (both cooking without flipping and using the searing area), sausage and hot dogs as well as "smoking" several items like chicken drumsticks, meatloaf and homemade pastrami. I have used it to cook homemade pizza as well. everything i have tried has come out excellent. So again, dummy proof!

With that said, I am going to possibly complicate cooking after reading a bit here. I have been using the Pit Boss Comp blend from lowes ($15 for 40 pounds) and recently bought smaller bags of the hickory and apple blend. I now know that the pit boss brand probably isn't the best and I could do better with other brands and/or complimenting those pellets with higher quality ones using a smoke tube.

My main question is this.... Would it be better to buy higher quality pellets like the ones "Todd" sells and use those through my standard auger feed? Or should I stick to the Pit Boss and just use the better ones in a tube for added smoke? I don't want to waste the good ones but from what I have read, it seems like they will burn better than the Pit Boss ones.

My next smoker attempt will likely be a full brisket which will be the longest smoke I've done on the grill. Hoping not to screw that up by getting too confident!

Thanks!

 

[bregent]

The only way to know is to try it yourself. I prefer to burn 100% hickory in the grill and not use any supplemental smoke device. Personally, I don't care for the quality of smoke that a tube provides and I know others that feel the same. But, many folks like to use them and enjoy the results.
If you're going to be burning a lot of pellets in your grill, you might want to check out a group buy of a brand like Lumberjack. You can get 100% flavor wood pellets for probably less than you're paying now for Pit Boss blends.

 

[mpkelley20]

Thank you. I will take a look at Lumberjack. I have read several threads about them as well. I have no issues buying bulk as I see me using this grill for a lot more than just weekend cooking.

 

[oldsmokerdude]

The local BIG R store near me sells lot's of varieties of the Lumberjack pellets, including 100% hickory. I don't pay significantly more for these than I do the cheaper pellets from big box stores. Burning the better pellet in your smoker via the auger has always produced better results for me than using a smoke tube or tray. But others are pleased augmenting their smoke with the tubes and trays. Like bregent says, try both ways and see what you like best. Either way, it's bound to taste good!

 

[Jabiru]

I recently purchased a pellet grill and same as you have never BBQ'd so much as it is so easy.

My grills smokiness is just right for most people, I use the amazn tube every now an then if I want a heavier smoke, it works well i have found. I use the tube for the first hour or so.

 

[jlud]

First off, I don’t do the smoke tube. Second, first pellets I bought were the same ones from Lowe’s. They worked, but to me a lot of ash and no smoke flavor. BBQ delight burned cleaner but no huge flavor difference, maybe a bit but I mixed some. Lumberjack Char Hickory are the best I have used so far. Great flavor to me and fairly clean burn. I couldn’t find LJ Hickory or would have bought those to. When I used MES or WSM I have always preferred hickory.

 

[mpkelley20]

I definitely get a smoke flavor with the pit boss pellets. Much more so than when I used my Weber with a smoke box with wood chips. I like a smokey flavor but I don't want it overpowering either. I go camping a lot when we take our Jeeps offroading and a guy always brings his old wood smoker. Cooks chicken, beef and pork in it at the same time and smokes it all day. Everything taste like wood....can't tell what I am eating. LOL. I am finding the Pit Boss Grill is giving me a great combo of smoke and food flavor but was really wondering if I was missing something by not trying better pellets. It sounds like I got some testing to do to see if I can even taste the difference using a different pellet first, then move to maybe try a tube. I will start off small with a few bags and take it from there. I will gladly buy in bulk if I find a flavor profile I like.

Ive been going through recipes and I am addicted to the homemade pastrami. I saw some pics of other that made some starting with corned beef which is what I did. Based on photos, I think I did a great job on my first try. Will try and upload later.

Never thought I would enjoy grilling but the versatility of these pellet grills make it so easy. Definitely cheating!

 

[mpkelley20]

Here is my first attempt at pastrami

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Nice.