Pellet vs charcoal smoker

[ksmith9]

Good evening everyone. Quick question, I went to home depot today and they had a pretty slick looking gravity fed charcoal smoker for about $400. It had wifi, temperature control. I'm currently smoking with the Louisiana grills vertical smoker from Costco. What is everyone's thoughts about the pellets vs. Charcoal smokers in terms of flavor, heat regulation, char, etc. Thanks in advance!

 

[Chasdev]

IMHO, pellet cookers only advantage is that they are set and forget, other than perhaps having to add fuel on very long cooks.
Meat flavor wise, they are weak sisters compared to gravity rigs, as long as you remember to add wood chunks to the charcoal.
Gravity rigs are also set and forget so it's pretty much a tie, user friendly wise.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

I've never owned or used a pellet smoker because IMO they only provide a "tease" of smoke flavor in the finished product. But I'll qualify that as having grown up in South Texas using charcoal and mesquite, or all mesquite, for grilling and smoking with a very occasional bag of hickory chunks for vareity until I left Texas in 2000. Living in other places where water oak, pecan, shagbark hickory, and wild cherry were locally abundant which expanded my cooking wood palette. I've tried apple and sugar maple and those aren't my personal preference for example. It's all a matter of individual preferences.

Having said that I haven't tried any foods cooked on a pellet rig that incorporated some of the relatively new Royal Oak 100% Hardwood pellets on a pellet grill, nor have I yet had any food cooked on a gravity fed charcoal and wood smoker. My experience is a vertical bullet style smoker with remote temperature system with configurable alarms is sufficient when I don't want to invest the time & effort feeding an offset smoker. However if I wound up with some degree of greater physical restrictions / difficulty I'd be researching gravity fed charcoal and wood smokers for my next purchase. I'm just not optimistic I'd enjoy the finished product from a pellet rig on a continuous basis.

YMMV of course.

 

[mike243]

I love my pellet smoker for a lot of reasons, I would love to own a gravity smoker and will buy 1 at some point, they are fuel hogs from what I read so they wont get used all the time or every time, the pellet is very versatile but smoke is less than other cookers but can be helped several ways. some folks hate anything electric but I don't hate none of them.

 

[smokerjim]

can't speak on charcoal smokers but I have a pitboss pellet smoker/grill yes they're convenient but as to smoke flavor in my opinion has a lot to be desired, my mes 30 beats my pellet without question.

 

[Winterrider]

My MES 40 with the Auber and mailbox mod is my go-to unit 75% of the time. When use the RT 590 , most times add 6" smoke tube which is additional 2 hrs of extra smoke. Both are set it and forget it.

 

[xbubblehead]

I prefer the smokiness of charcoal over pellets, I have to admit the set and forget convenience of a pellet smoker/grill is tempting though.

 

[RCAlan]

I have both, a much modified pellet smoker and a gravity fed smoker. IMHO, pellet smoke will never compare to true hardwood and charcoal smoke…. I had to add a hardwood burning smoke generator and a smoke basket to my pellet grill too get the desired smoke I was missing from pellet smoke alone. I posted this earlier in another thread that if the present day Gravity Fed Smokers from Masterbuilt and CharGriller were available 4 years ago, I would’ve went that route in a heartbeat first. My CG-980 is able to produce great hardwood and charcoal smoke from 200* degrees on up over 350* degrees and it’s as set it and forget it as any pellet grill. Every Smoker has their pros and cons… but if someone is looking for the easiest way to make great bbq, without compromising a great smoke flavor profile, then the Gravity Fed Smokers are the way to go. Would I get rid of my Pellet Pro Austin XL?? No. It’s still very effective and does a great job on seafood and poultry, but the CG-980 requires less work, plus the great hardwood and charcoal smoke that today’s stand alone pellet grills can’t replicate. .02

__________________
Char-Griller 980 GF… Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... In SoCal and Always... Semper Fi

 

[ksmith9]

Thanks for everyone's feedback, https://www.homedepot.com/p/Masterb...UhRPgGuYHtYQjnHuH2YaAtZ8EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is the smoker I was talking about. I feel I could put my pellet smoker up for $200 and pay the difference just got to see if I can get my wife on board. Would you all trade essentially the pellet smoker +300 to get into something like this?

 

[ofelles]

I have a pellet and a cabinet cooker. I still love my pellet because of the ease of use but my cabinet provides a much better smoke profile in my opinion. I run a controller and fan on my cabinet and it is close to the pellet in set and forget. Starting it up required more work though.
The gravity fed cooker, from what I heard are as easy to use as pellet cookers with more pronounced smoke when used with wood chunks. Not sure what your budget is but for more $$$ there is Myron Mixon or Assassin Smokers or Stumps Smokers to name a few. For insulated cabinet smokers check out Lone Star Grillz, again more $$$

 

[912smoker]

Never had a pellet pooper but do own a MBGF 1050. The 560 would work on weekday cooks but need the extra room on the weekends for the kids and grands.
Had it since Jan 21 and fire it up 3-4 times a week . Absolutely love it.......but only have the MES40 (which I also love )
to compare it to .

And if you're not in a rush you should be able to grab one on sale !

 

[whistlepig]

Thanks for everyone's feedback, https://www.homedepot.com/p/Masterb...UhRPgGuYHtYQjnHuH2YaAtZ8EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

This is the smoker I was talking about. I feel I could put my pellet smoker up for $200 and pay the difference just got to see if I can get my wife on board. Would you all trade essentially the pellet smoker +300 to get into something like this?

I have had one of these for over a year now. It can crank up to 700 degrees. I can use it as a charcoal grill and it will maintain precise grilling temps. Or I can but some wood chunks in the hopper and it does a great job as a smoker.

At the worst if I am in a hurry I get great flavor from the charcoal grilling. And when I have time I can slow the process down and throw some Cherry chunks in the gravity hopper. The Masterbuilt gravity series are nice.

 

[2fatpugs]

It also depends greatly on your taste preference. My wife prefers the meat smoked in the pellet cooker than smoked meats from restaurants because she doesn't like the heavy smoke. I personally like the heavy smoke flavor so a pellet grill with a smoke enhancer is a good compromise. If you have enough space, you can always get both!

 

[SNeal5966]

How does a pellet pooper compare to running charcoal without wood chunks? Still less smokey than that? I have a large 24" x 48" 1/4" steel home built offset (documented here on the site) but I also have a Weber Summit Charcoal that I sometimes use in the smoking configuration when I want to sleep, or do a small quantity, or be away all day while something is cooking. I am currently debating getting a controller to really have that dialed in for set it and forget it or adding a pellet pooper. What are everyone's thoughts? I have had bbq off pellet poopers before and I really don't taste much more than a hint of smoke, but the rub comes out more. But it is consistently cooked well. The Summit is soooooo efficient on charcoal that cost of operation is probably a wash, or maybe even cheaper than pellets considering the run time you get when you load it up with coals. If you look at BabyBackManiac's channel, he has one and loaded it up with charcoal in that configuration and got more than 50 hours at 225 with it. I will say it also does not hold a full bag of coal, probably around 10 - 15 pounds fills the bottom section for smoking. I should weigh a bag before and after loading to see how it looks. I did a brisket flat on it yesterday, and it cooked for 13 hours and you can barely tell I burned coals. I also noticed that I don't like the flavor of too many wood chunks, so only put in 1 or 2, but so long as you are burning a nice clean fire the offset flavor is better all around. But a TON of work. I have to dedicate being there the whole time lol

I just can't get over the idea of maybe wanting to add a pellet grill, but I think a controller for the summit is the better choice.

Now, If could automate that offset by getting a robot to stoke the coals and throw on splits.......LOL

 

[SNeal5966]

One other thing.....the pellet grills parts reliability is always a question I have, especially lower cost units. How often to auger motors, fans, hot rods, etc have to be replaced on a pellet pooper, and that adds cost whereas with charcoal you can get away from the need for all that stuff, except if you want to add a controller but it is not necessary just a nice to have....though I don't think I'd ever buy a gravity. There are too many other options that get you the same performance without using tons of charcoal. I have a friend that has one, works well but he goes through more charcoal than anyone I know! lol

 

[2fatpugs]

You might need to replace the fan and hot rod after a few years but the auger and controller should last 5+ years. How much pellet use rate depends on how hot your are cooking and ambient temperature. In CA, I probably use a few of pounds of pellets per 10hr of low and slow cooking. I also suggest if you wrapping your protein, put it in the oven after wrapping to finish it. This will save you a lot on pellets.