Opinions on Pellet grills

[SlowmotionQue]

I feel like though you should have a lower cost with out the PID controller that should be your selling point. Anyway just voicing my opinion.

Same here, it's all opinion.

I'm just pointing out that which I've pointed out in effort to show that marketing hype seems to be alive and well when it comes to any of this.

I get what you're saying regarding the lower price.

But the problem with that move is that for just a few dollars more, a prospective buyer could go ahead and get a competing product with a PID controller in it, and you still lose a sale to another company.

Trying to convince people that wider fluctuations in cooking temperature, which was among your selling points, was somehow conducive to smoke flavor was on the one hand, genius. As there is no consistently reliable way to prove or disprove such.

Now that you are in a position to totally eliminate wide temp fluctuations from your products, well what's the best move?

You can't simply abandon the concept and prior position that you held months ago, and go on to adopt one which indicates or points to a belief that wide temp fluctuations were never of any advantage to begin with. At least you can't do that "cold turkey" anyway, no pun intended.

Doing that would be an admission that wide temperature swings were never a requisite to getting good flavor in the first place, and the prior claims were hype.

So you do the next best thing. You offer "both". The old and the new. And in so doing, possibly knowing all along that the buyer who has the capability to use "both", is probably going to only use one.

 

[Winterrider]

 

[ameskimo1]

I agree, this is making waaaaay too much out of nothing. This is a hobby I, like most here, enjoy; this thread is like the on and on club about somethign that is preference. The guy is just picking and would be further ahead getting the grill he likes and moving onto the next topic.

 

[Pelagic]

Yawn...What's cooking today? I did 2 spatchcocked chickens yesterday and my neighbor has a massive meat collection going into his Traeger today...Cinco de Mayo and all.

 

[mike243]

Wings and all I know is the lower the temps the more smoke I have, your mileage may vary

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Yawn...What's cooking today? I did 2 spatchcocked chickens yesterday and my neighbor has a massive meat collection going into his Traeger today...Cinco de Mayo and all.

Just put these on.

I guess I'll have to sacrifice on the smoke flavor due to my temps holding steady and not swinging all over the place.
Good thing I'm using a smoke tube.

Just picked these two up today at Sam's. They'll be getting the same treatment in a week or so. Only at 225*. Steady.

 

[Pelagic]

May have to get me a smoke tube!

I'm sort of regretting getting rid of my Masterbuilt vertical stick smoker....Oh well..

 

[ameskimo1]

May have to get me a smoke tube!

I'm sort of regretting getting rid of my Masterbuilt vertical smoker....Oh well..

Love and still have my MB vertical dual fuel although I tended to burn sticks and/or lump; made some great food in that thing. Biggest reason I migrated to pellets was to get away from babysitting all day.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Well, this is how they came out at a steady 250*. Wrapped in foil when the bark set. Butter, brown sugar, and apple juice. Then unwrapped and run at 425* for just long enough to refirm the bark before applying the sauce and letting it set.

For those who believe that the "smoke ring" is the be all and end all and an indicator of how much "smoke" the meat absorbed, and how "smokey" these are, well; this is what a steady 250* gets you.

And here I was only halfway trying because I got off to a late start and decided to go at 250* instead of 225*. Had I gone 225*, considering that these came right out of the fridge after sitting in the fridge for a couple hours, and went onto the grates cold straight from the fridge, the smoke ring would have been more visual.

Three bites should easily tell me what I want to know. These are tender, juicy, and have just enough smoke flavor. The bone is clean where it was bitten.

Good food can be had without the tradeoff of having your temps bouncing all over the place.

These ware done on a Rec Tec Stampede. On a flat out whim. I was bored and it was late already. The were running at a steady 250* until after the bark set. Then the foil wrap phase for about an hour, at which point they were unwrapped then run at 425* "buck nekkid" to firm up the bark again, set the sauce, and take them home.

C'mon SlowmotionQue. I've seen you clean a bone with one bite better than that when you still had baby teeth. I know that the rib in the last pic was hot, but let's try that again, and this time give it the ol' college try.

Cut off a new bone Que.

Ah, yeah. That's looking good. Go ahead and give it a bite. With meaning this time.

Now see that's, that's what I'm talking about. If that bone hadn't gotten in the way, you would have bitten clean through.

Go ahead and take it on home.

 

[sweetride95]

Proof is in the quality of your finished product. I could care less how you get there.
Enjoy your process. Like anything, repetition and knowing your equipment, PID or not, matters most.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Proof is in the quality of your finished product. I could care less how you get there.
Enjoy your process. Like anything, repetition and knowing your equipment, PID or not, matters most.

So very true. Good food can be produced with either. So the position that one offers an advantage over the other in terms of the end result, and smoky taste, is a sales pitch

And one can take that analogy all the way down to using a pellet smoker for an overnight cook vs tending fire all night long using a stick burner.

Some are going to choose pellets. Others stick burners.

Good food can be produced with either.

 

[habitat]

I love baked goods, the pellet grill is always the choice of many baked goods

 

[bregent]

I think Grilla felt they were loosing too many customers with their lak of a PID controller, hence the new dual version. It's just marketing sense, most potential buyers are convinced that a PID controller is better, so they almost had to start offering one.

Yeah, I think you're right about that. And they had to continue providing the non-PID option as they have been claiming that it's better than PID for years. I will say this though - not all PID controllers are created equal, and the same is true for non-PID. Fast Eddy controllers are not PID, and most folks love them over PID controllers for their flexibility of control.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Yeah, I think you're right about that. And they had to continue providing the non-PID option as they have been claiming that it's better than PID for years. I will say this though - not all PID controllers are created equal, and the same is true for non-PID. Fast Eddy controllers are not PID, and most folks love them over PID controllers for their flexibility of control.

Bingo.

 

[ameskimo1]

How exactly was Grilla losing customers? Curious where you get that information from?

They only sell direct and are selling them about as fast as they can get them out the door. No Costco, no Cabela's, etc.

 

[metsfan2152]

How exactly was Grilla losing customers? Curious where you get that information from?

They only sell direct and are selling them about as fast as they can get them out the door. No Costco, no Cabela's, etc.

I mean good for them if they are selling them fast. But I mean why else would they preach non-pid is better and then switch to PID. I think they did it the best way possible from the marketing standpoint. To put both PID and non-pid modes on the units. My only guess is to get more customers and compete with other pellet competitors.

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I mean good for them if they are selling them fast. But I mean why else would they preach non-pid is better and then switch to PID. I think they did it the best way possible from the marketing standpoint. To put both PID and non-pid modes on the units. My only guess is to get more customers and compete with other pellet competitors.

If things were going along swimmingly and they thought that current sales couldn’t be improved upon, well then why not stick with the prior story of “non PID is better”, instead of switching up and offering a PID option?

They certainly didn’t change up and switch to offering a PID option after sticking to the hard core prior “non PID is better” position with the intent of “losing” sales.

They didn’t change their tune in an effort to lose sales or leave sales at their prior levels. They changed their tune in an effort to gain sales.

 

[sweetride95]

Non-PID is better because the $/unit is probably measurably cheaper.
Millions of Pit Boss and Traegers out there making the same food a few thousand Rec Tec or MAKs are making.
Buy whatever makes you feel good. If a $5000 pellet grill, built with .500" thick plate steel, gets you there, go for it.
What won't we bench race?

 

[SlowmotionQue]

Pretty soon, it might come down to “buy what’s available.”

If either option is phased out, then it will be interesting to see which of the two it will be. PID or non PID.

One company which preached the benefits of non PID, now seems to be doing it’s part and making some effort to phase it out.

One might wonder what their motivations for doing so are. Especially after touting the other option for so long and hard.

Seems that other manufacturers are doing their part to phase it out too.

I wonder why?

Probably for some of the same reasons that “three on the column” transmissions were eventually phased out.

 

[sweetride95]

Adding a PID to my Traeger has really changed how the grill feels. It makes my mediocre grill feel much higher quality. A decent amount of accuracy, literal or perceived, makes a difference. Why wouldn't Traeger or somebody similar take advantage of it.