Pellet Smoker Bland Compared to old WSM

[kevin pitzer]

I have always used a WSM for smoking food until I purchased a Reqteq 590 in November. I finally did a pork butt (bone in of course) with Lumberjack pellets and it was very bland compared to my old charcoal smoker.
What the heck am I missing...Any suggestions? Not sure what all the hype is with pellet grills after this, but am starting to think I should have kept what I had.

 

[Nodak21]

You can try a pellet tube, but in my opinion, nothing on your pellet will compare to an offset or charcoal smoker. I mostly use my Traeger for grilling purposes, and the WSM for smoking.

 

[tucson bbq fan]

I have an old Pitts & Spitts offset wood box smoker, and a Memphis Elite Pellet smoker. Real wood (and real-wood charcoal) ALWAYS imparts more wood flavors than pellets. Both give you the same chemical changes to the meat, like breaking down collegen, smoke ring, etc., that is a big part of smoking meats. My understanding is that it is all in the pellet composition. Most pellets on the market use core wood, whereas, a lot of the flavor is from the bark and outer layer of wood. Lumberjack says they use the entire tree, core and outer layers, and I get a little bit more flavor from Lumberjack than other brands of pellets, but nowhere near my wood burner. So why use a pellet at all? Convenience is my reason. I don't have to tend the fire every few hours, and when I am running a 20+ hour smoke, I like to be able to get a good night's sleep, so that I can be awake and enjoy the results! I can put in a couple of big pork shoulders and a big brisket, get them started, then go to sleep and wake up 8 hours later and everything is still running fine.

 

[BigW.]

Lumberjack are good pellets, maybe you could try a stronger wood? Adding a smoke tube will also help a bit. Butterflying the butt, opens up more meat to the smoke. There are several Reqteq folks that will add some wisdom. Feel free to share a bit more of time/temp, pellet wood information for folks to help. Below is a similar thread that may help.

First time butt with pellets

So I have cooked plenty of pork butts on my weber smoky mountain. Have always turned out great. Now that I have gotten a recteq, I am still new to it. I have done ribs, chicken thighs, wings and they’ve all turned out good. Want to do the pork butt and have a question. I still want to get a...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[SmokinEdge]

Trouble is pellet machines burn very clean and efficient. The fire is fan fed all the time. The lower the cook temp the better the smoke flavor, but still not up with an offset or even gravity charcoal burner.
A lot of guys will start the cook low like 180F for a couple hours then run it up to 250-275F to finish the cook. The color is good and flavor is acceptable this way. If not you may look into the master built gravity charcoal units. They are set and forget with a bit more smoke especially if you put wood chunks in the ash pan. Wish you the best of luck.

 

[PapaLlama]

I was recently gifted a Louisiana Grill 7 series pellet smoker & I have actually had good results with the smoke. I have been buying a very high quality pellet produced in this region, and that may have something to do with it. It definitely isn't perfect compared to my WSM, but I have been happy with it. I have a newborn at home, so I count it as the cost of still being able to BBQ this summer.

 

[chopsaw]

In my opinion a WSM has a heavy smoke profile . So if you went from WSM to pellet it's gonna take some time to make the adjustment no matter what pellet you burn at what temp .

 

[civilsmoker]

In my opinion a WSM has a heavy smoke profile . So if you went from WSM to pellet it's gonna take some time to make the adjustment no matter what pellet you burn at what temp .

This is were the pellets shine, because they give a light smoke profile which is often more appealing to a larger table crowd, that said starting out with the 180 degree and then not wrapping it will help give a much better bark flavor. This will help but it won't create a heavy smoke profile of a WSM.

If you want to come close to the WSM, rather than a pellet tube, you can use a wire basket or smaller coal starter and light up some coals (3-4) and add a small chunk or two for the first 2 hours of the smoke. This will help add the heavy smoke overtone you are looking for.

PS...edit, it will do two things, one it will add a little heat to the chamber so your pellet will burn "slower" so less clean (ie more smoke) second the charcoal & wood smoke will circulate in the chamber to do its magic.....

 

[SmokinAl]

I went from a Lang & WSM, to a Rec Tec 1250. Surprisingly, my wife likes the flavor from the Rec tec better than the Lang. I am getting used to the lighter smoke flavor, and am willing to put up with it for the sake of convenience. I’m going to resist using a smoke tube for a while & may try the extreme smoke setting on the next smoke.
Al

 

[sandyut]

that said starting out with the 180 degree and then not wrapping it will help give a much better bark flavor.

this is what I do.

I never wrap any meat and big meats (butts, briskets etc.) I always start at 180 for an hour or two then kick it to 275.

I also went from an WSM to Rec Teq. I now prefer the Rec Teq. the smoke profiles are different, but I always thought my WSM cooks were a bit heavy on the smoke flavor.

 

[GrumpyGriller]

I never had an offset so I can't comment on a direct comparison, but I always use a smoke tube, many times 2 of them during most of my cooks. I anecdotally get plenty of flavor, and I tend to use a different pellet flavor in the tube(s). The pellet smokers are so much more efficient, especially at higher temps, that the tube is almost a necessity.

That being said, I don't rely on just the smoke flavor for tasty meals, so like everything else, it's a balance of the desired flavor profile, convenience, and other factors which can be adjusted via spices, marinades, smoke tubes etc.

 

[gmc2003]

There's a give and take in everything we do. In order to get the convenience of set-it-and-forget-it with pellet or electric you loose some of the flavor profiles charcoal or wood smokers give. There's also the risk of moving parts and circuits failing. The flip side is all the free time you gain by using pellets or electrics. The choice is yours and each has their benefits and drawbacks. It's up to the user to decide which is more important to them.

Chris

 

[chopsaw]

The choice is yours and each has their benefits and drawbacks.

That's why I have one of each . Depending on what I'm doing decides which cover comes off . Use them a lot in tandem too .

 

[schlotz]

We found that heavy smoke takes over and the meat flavor is lost. The pellet smoker allows the building of a smoky flavor profile that helps the meat flavor to shine through.

 

[chopsaw]

We found that heavy smoke takes over and the meat flavor is lost. The pellet smoker allows the building of a smoky flavor profile that helps the meat flavor to shine through.

Can't agree more .

 

[civilsmoker]

We found that heavy smoke takes over and the meat flavor is lost. The pellet smoker allows the building of a smoky flavor profile that helps the meat flavor to shine through.

Can't agree more .

A light velvety smoke flavor is the TBS we strive for on the wood burner in my book as well. The only thing I really notice is that there is a bit more body to a log burning than a pellet and to me that’s the difference......but my wife, boy, or me not baby sitting can use the pellet.....that means bbq 3-4 times a week vs once a month.......

 

[noboundaries]

There are two problems with the WSM and the heavy smoke flavors.

1. The instructions say to put the chunks on top of the cold charcoal. Nope. Bury them in the cold charcoal to get a lighter, purer smoke flavor. Don't add meat until the smoke lightens.

2. The water pan. When you combine the wrong chunk placement with water in the water pan, you are going to have a heavy smoke flavor. The wood ignites and the condensation from the boiling water on cold meat ends up coating the meat with particulates. Yuck.

Solution? Dry smoke and bury the wood chunks. I don't even bother with chunks the majority of the time now. I use a full 3-4" thick split. The buried split pre-heats and carbonizes cleaner, giving a purer smoke.

But, the WSM is gone for the OP, so it's too late to help him. Might help others though.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I used a WSM for most of my life. Was hard switching to pellet. I am coming around to it now. The extreme smoke for couple hours really helps. The last smoke on the WSM was almost to much smoke for me now. I will still put the WSM in rotation but using the pellet more. Give it some time.

 

[sandyut]

A light velvety smoke flavor is the TBS we strive for on the wood burner in my book as well. The only thing I really notice is that there is a bit more body to a log burning than a pellet and to me that’s the difference......but my wife, boy, or me not baby sitting can use the pellet.....that means bbq 3-4 times a week vs once a month.......

exacty! All that

 

[SlowmotionQue]

I have always used a WSM for smoking food until I purchased a Reqteq 590 in November. I finally did a pork butt (bone in of course) with Lumberjack pellets and it was very bland compared to my old charcoal smoker.
What the heck am I missing...Any suggestions? Not sure what all the hype is with pellet grills after this, but am starting to think I should have kept what I had.

it's going to be difficult to match the smoke profile of your WSM with your Rec Tec RT590.

I've managed to get it somewhat close in my own Rec Tec RT590 using smoke tubes. But my WSM, which is heavily modified just turns out a better result.

I use a temperature controller, Fireboard 2 Drive and BBQ Guru fans, in the WSM and so it will hold temperature to within +/-5°F of my set point. So every bit as well as my PID controlled Rec Tec.

I use no water pan, instead using a Hunsaker Vortex diffuser over the top of an oversized Arborfab fire basket. 18-20 plus hour cooking sessions, if necessary, are possible with this setup, and on a single fuel load.

I bury my wood chunks, or even a wood log, beneath my lump charcoal.

As one gentleman mentioned, this prevents excessive dirty smoke often seen by putting wood chunks on top of the coal bed. I have also found that the water pan in a WSM can result in food having a heavy smoke taste because of the moisture.

But overall, it is going to be very difficult to get a pellet smoker to match the smoke profile of food cooked in a WSM.

Pellets burn very cleanly and tend to leave a very light smoke flavor on foods. That said, some pellets are better than others at producing smoke flavor, but none are likely to match the flavor profile of food cooked on a well set up WSM.