Pit Boss Austin XL... Anything better for $500 or less?

[mike243]

Would love to have the font table but its no biggie to me,mine works great and that's all that matters in the end. love the 2 temp probes also

 

[JWFokker]

And another nice PB 1100 feature: the P setting. Use can adjust the amount of smoke 0-7(4 being standard) on your cooking.

Just for clarification, the P setting simply adjusts how often the pellets are added. Smoke production is more closely tied to the temperature. By changing the P setting you can get it to produce smoke more frequently, but the fire will also run hotter and thus produce less dense smoke. Such is the nature of pellet grills.

 

[mike243]

the higher the number the lower the temp and more smoke ,lower number more even higher temps less smoke

 

[Little-m]

Would love to have the font table but its no biggie to me,mine works great and that's all that matters in the end. love the 2 temp probes also

If memory serves, you can order one from off their website.

 

[smokinq13]

Or you can build your own and make it look even better... that's what i did

 

[Leggy]

Hi,

New to this great forum and thank you for the help in advance.

Never had a pellet smoker and interested in PB 1100 but with all this talk about light smoke flavor that pellet smokers put in general I was wondering if a gas grill with Amazen tube generates higher/better smoke and smoke flavor than pellet smoker itself (without Amazen tube).
I am currently using a gas grill with the Amazen tube smoker with indirect cooking and although the smoke isn't intense but it's not bad either using Cookin pellets perfect mix and have Lumber Jack sample pack on the way

 

[JWFokker]

There's a strong case to be made for using a pellet tube or two and cold smoking for a couple of hours, then finishing with whatever heat source you prefer.

 

[mpkelley20]

Honestly, I haven’t had any issues with smoke flavor once I switched to lumberjack pellets. When I’ve added a smoker tube to get more smoke I’ve found the result to be too much smoke.

 

[mike243]

and there's the rub,every body is different on the amount of smoke, my wife don't like heavy smoke these days so I'm pretty good for her, I like a little heavier but I adjust lol

 

[jac63]

and there's the rub,every body is different on the amount of smoke

Exactly! Both my wife and I get pretty severe indigestion from heavy smoke, love the flavor just can't deal with the results. The pellet smoker is about perfect for us, especially with LJ pellets.

 

[Leggy]

Thank you for the replies but still haven't figured how comparable the smoke intensity and flavor of pellets burnt in Amazen tube in a gas grill to the intensity and flavor of smoke generated in a pellet smoker. Are they barely distinguishable or one is stronger than the other?

 

[mpkelley20]

For me the pellet

Thank you for the replies but still haven't figured how comparable the smoke intensity and flavor of pellets burnt in Amazen tube in a gas grill to the intensity and flavor of smoke generated in a pellet smoker. Are they barely distinguishable or one is stronger than the other?

I used tubes in my old weber and got decent smoke. Probably similar to when using just the standard pellet smoker here. With the tube and the pellet grill, it was a lot more for me. Almost too much as I already stated. I find the Pit ZBoss with cherry lumberjack pellets in the hopper alone is perfect. I suppose if I wanted to really get that "oh...you smoked it....a lot" flavor, I will go back to adding the tube to supplement.

What I love about the pellet grill vs my weber is that everything I cook tastes better. Even with fast cooks like burgers over the open flame on the 1100 or a pizza at 500 degrees, the food comes off with a wood stove type flavor. Similar to cooking burgers or dogs on a charcoal grill vs propane. It's just better. I haven't used my Weber all season. I use the pellet grill for smoking, baking, searing...everything. The 1100 with the easy to open center pit makes it easy to cook burgers or put a char on food.

So for me, the overall taste profile of wood vs propane is why I prefer the grill. The ability to easily control temps for long smokes is also better than propane.

 

[mpkelley20]

Let me add...the smoke flavor between the weber with the tube and the pellet grill is different. Can't explain the science behind it but it is different. Probably due to the main heat source.

 

[Leggy]

Thank you for the details. Would you say the smoke flavor out of the pellet grill without using the tube is lighter or stronger when compared to the gas grill with the tube?

 

[mpkelley20]

It has been a while since I used my gas grill. But the taste is just different. Between the smoke and what I will call the "wood oven" taste profile, I prefer the pellet grill food. Even when cooking a pizza at 500 degrees in a few minutes, I get the wood oven pizzeria taste. When I would cook on a gas grill, it just taste like pizza. Hard to describe.

I think you can get similar smoke on a gas grill with a tube. If you are ok with the overall flavor profile of propane vs. wood then you probably don't want a pellet grill. But there are so many more benefits of a pellet grill that I have found vs. my gas that "I" no longer need my gas grill. I don't have issues with the direct grilling as my 1100 has that. I don't mind the slightly longer heat up times. The cost of pellets vs. propane is actually cheaper for me where I live. I don't need 800 degree temps for what I cook. The 1100 maintains temps without my constant involvement.

If you are making a decision on smoke alone, I think it is a tough call. But like I said, with the pellet grill and a tube, it is way more smoke than a gas and tube. At least for me.

 

[mike243]

I also could get by with just my gas grill but I can make burgers and chicken without baby setting it to stop fires in the pellet smoker , cant do that with the gasser,also get some smoke flavor when doing high heat. love all my cookers and each has its place

 

[smokinq13]

I agree with mike on this one. I love my weber spirit, genesis, my mes 30in( which i need to still fix) and i love my pellet grill. They all have their applications and uses which I'm sure i could manage if i had to choose one over the other BUT there is just something about cooking on a pellet grill which no other grill could do. Yes the smoke flavor isn't as strong as a stick burner but depending on type and manufacturer of the pellets you still might be happy. My best bet woukd be to wait til walmart has pellet grills on sale and get one yourself... go to brickseek.com and just keep an eye out for sales... usually 1st of the year they do

 

[Leggy]

Thank you everyone for the good feedback.
I live in SoCal and usually grill for 10 people and sometimes it could go up to 25 but that's very rare. Most of the time the food is variety of veggies, filet mignon chunks and marinated chicken chunks on skewers and I grill this over my 6 burner natural gas Nexgrill and it does great so far.
On the same grill I smoked using wood chips and now pellets beer can chicken, tri tip, beef back ribs, beef chuck short ribs and the result was mostly very good. The other day I did tri tip using Cookin perfect mix pellet and the taste was amazing including the smoke flavor. However, the challenge is maintaining the heat and available grate space as I use 2 burners plus the tube and end up with total available space of 300 square inch.
I enjoy meat smoking and indirect cooking and would like to have a dedicated cooker for that hence the pellet smoker for ease of setup and cooking. I have gas grill and I prefer to grill and sear on the gas so grilling capabilities on my smoker isn't important for me at all. All I need is good smoker.
I read a lot of comments about light smoke flavor but wasn't sure how light they mean, if similar intensity to tube on gas then I am sold as we prefer that level of smoke intensity. My wife wasn't a fan wood chip smoke flavor as she thought it was strong.
Yesterday went to Lowe's and checked the 1100, 820 and the vertical and now I am torn between the 1100 and the vertical mainly due to grate space (I am not limited with cooker space as I have plenty of backyard space).
The chamber height of 1100 seemed low and I am uncertain how easily I will fit 2-3 beer can chicken and be able to rotate them around particularly when the second shelf is used.
Searched for vertical vs horizontal pellet smoker but couldn't find much info. I really like the setup of the horizontal but the cooking space of the vertical is unbeatable.

 

[mike243]

Mine is the same size as the 1100 and no need to rotate anything around as far as I know, have done lots of pork but most of my chickens are low heat high smoke to start then 350+ to finish and 2 spatchcock chickens were the biggest whole birds I have done. I bought my son the PB 5 vertical and he likes it a lot

 

[J. McRican]

The walmart in my area(New Hampshire) has the Austin XL on clearance for $349. I have seen it on line going between $458 and $499. You have to actually go into the store and check out the grills. I havent seen the same price checking on-line even if i look at my store specifically. Hope you have the clearance price available for you too