Pellet smokers have irregular cook temps

[Smoking tiger]

The original idea behind moving from a wood smoker to a pellet smoker was that I could just set it and forget it. For long cooks it was a no-brainer to maintain that all important consistent temperature. As a backyard BBQer with small kids it's much easier for me to cook food when I'm not tending to the fire like when I got started smoking 10 years ago.

But on my last brisket I learned something (searching the forum I don't see many threads about it). Smokers don't always hold the temperature you set it at. Or, I should say cook temp irregularity varies from grill to grill. My first smoker was the Camp Chef DLX which was great but the auger broke and I gave it to a buddy who fixed it. Now he's really into smoking meat. It was an excuse to step up to a bigger smoker, so I got the GMG Daniel Boone with wifi and app. The Camp Chef seems to hold temperatures fine, but after a conversation with the GMG support team they told me their firmware needed to be updated (an update was available) because the old firmware had voltage surges. When voltage surges happened it spiked the heat by pushing too many pellets into the heater.

My last brisket was a 17 pounder that was cooked for the correct amount of time but it got way overcooked. I had put it in the smoker at 9pm thinking it would cook at 250° and be ready for wrapping in the morning. I got up the next morning and the temperature of the meat was much higher than it should have been at that point.

The point being is pellet smokers aren't as reliable as one might think. You still have to check your meat with a thermostat throughout the cook. When researching new pellet grills some reviews will mention how well the grill can hold the temperature you actually want. Not all pellet grills are the same.

I have the same smoker and mine did the same thing. I was using tin foil to line the drip tray. When I started using the GMG drip tray liners it fixed the problem .

 

[pineywoods]

Many of the pellet smokers use or used a controller much like an oven controller if set at lets say 250 it would run to like 270 then shut off and kick back on when the temp fell to like 225 as things have progressed many are using better controllers that hold temps at 5-10 degree swings. I have an older Pit Boss and get swings of 25 degrees higher then I have set then when it shuts down it comes back on at 25 degrees below set temp and that sucks it's a 50 degree swing in temps. With something like a butt it's not terrible but ribs and such it really sucks I'm going to end up changing the controller it's just a matter of time.

 

[tanglefoot]

It doesn't matter what you're cookin' with. the implement is merely a tool to accomplish a task. I firmly believe it's up to the person utilizing that implement to learn and adapt to get the desired result. My $0.02.

 

[smokinsullivan]

The original idea behind moving from a wood smoker to a pellet smoker was that I could just set it and forget it. For long cooks it was a no-brainer to maintain that all important consistent temperature. As a backyard BBQer with small kids it's much easier for me to cook food when I'm not tending to the fire like when I got started smoking 10 years ago.

But on my last brisket I learned something (searching the forum I don't see many threads about it). Smokers don't always hold the temperature you set it at. Or, I should say cook temp irregularity varies from grill to grill. My first smoker was the Camp Chef DLX which was great but the auger broke and I gave it to a buddy who fixed it. Now he's really into smoking meat. It was an excuse to step up to a bigger smoker, so I got the GMG Daniel Boone with wifi and app. The Camp Chef seems to hold temperatures fine, but after a conversation with the GMG support team they told me their firmware needed to be updated (an update was available) because the old firmware had voltage surges. When voltage surges happened it spiked the heat by pushing too many pellets into the heater.

My last brisket was a 17 pounder that was cooked for the correct amount of time but it got way overcooked. I had put it in the smoker at 9pm thinking it would cook at 250° and be ready for wrapping in the morning. I got up the next morning and the temperature of the meat was much higher than it should have been at that point.

The point being is pellet smokers aren't as reliable as one might think. You still have to check your meat with a thermostat throughout the cook. When researching new pellet grills some reviews will mention how well the grill can hold the temperature you actually want. Not all pellet grills are the same.

Thats frustrating for sure. I use a Komado myself so I don’t deal with the issue but I’ve seen others... the first suggestion is to put more heat mass in the grill, like a few bricks. This will help smooth out the peaks and valleys a bit and will also help in times of strong breeze or lid opening. Second is to use a smart thermometer independent of the grill so you can temp alarms and the like to perhaps back your heat down before the brisket runs away from you. I use the Meater but any WiFi enabled one with good alerts will do. I also share all my cooks with my smoking buddies so if my alarm doesn’t work I’m sure someone will text me “wake up, briskets hot!”

 

[mike243]

Always remember you get more smoke on the lower temps so a swing will produce more smoke than 1 that stays at a set temp, at some temp/point a stable temp may not produce hardly any smoke but if it swings down a little it will make more , wind will affect most pits ,