- Mar 11, 2018
- 3
- 0
I am a new pellet smoker owner and wanted to share my first impressions and ask a few questions. After a few months of research here and looking at a few in person, I picked the Rec Tec RT-700. It cost way more than what I had planned on spending but as I did research and saw things I knew I would value, I kept going up market. I was about to buy something else when I saw that Rec Tec released a new line with integrated probes and wifi. The RT-590 was the size I wanted but it won’t be released until May. After a week, I gave in and ordered the March shipping RT-700.
It arrived a few days ago and I was impressed from the start by the shipping box and packaging. It was higher quality than anything heavy I have ordered, it was really well protected. The smoker itself is just solid. It is a lot of thick stainless steel. Setting up the controller and wifi was easy. The app does what it needs for a first version. It shows all the temps and plots them over time. They need to add more features to bring it up to par with something like GMG’s app.
I used it for bacon & kabobs after burn in. The kabobs took a lot longer than the propane grill, which I assume is since the heat is mostly radiant. They had a very light smoke flavor and I didn’t notice much smoke while cooking at 400.
Next I made burnt ends from a corned beef point and a pork shoulder. I broke out the AMNPS to be safe because I didn’t want to risk not having a good smoke flavor. Both turned out well and the app made it easy to be away yet keep an eye on things.
My questions...
Is the amount of smoke a pellet smoker can create inverse to the amount of heat it needs to put out to maintain temp? I noticed very little smoke set at 400 degrees, it was 20 degrees outside and ran through pellets. Then at 250 there was some smoke and when I turned it down to 200, even more.
I think that if it was 80 degrees out and I set it to 225 the pellets would be run through slower, allowing more smoke, than on a 30 degree day. Is that right?
Rec Tec has something called Extreme Smoke, which cuts the blower on and off. Maybe that is just it, the blower needs to cut off to really make smoke and it won’t do it unless it can maintain temp that way. Less chance for smoke on a cold day.
I don’t mind supplementing it with the AMNP. Next time I am going to try wood chips on the tray built into the deflector. Looking forward to dialing it in. Any suggestions would be great.
It arrived a few days ago and I was impressed from the start by the shipping box and packaging. It was higher quality than anything heavy I have ordered, it was really well protected. The smoker itself is just solid. It is a lot of thick stainless steel. Setting up the controller and wifi was easy. The app does what it needs for a first version. It shows all the temps and plots them over time. They need to add more features to bring it up to par with something like GMG’s app.
I used it for bacon & kabobs after burn in. The kabobs took a lot longer than the propane grill, which I assume is since the heat is mostly radiant. They had a very light smoke flavor and I didn’t notice much smoke while cooking at 400.
Next I made burnt ends from a corned beef point and a pork shoulder. I broke out the AMNPS to be safe because I didn’t want to risk not having a good smoke flavor. Both turned out well and the app made it easy to be away yet keep an eye on things.
My questions...
Is the amount of smoke a pellet smoker can create inverse to the amount of heat it needs to put out to maintain temp? I noticed very little smoke set at 400 degrees, it was 20 degrees outside and ran through pellets. Then at 250 there was some smoke and when I turned it down to 200, even more.
I think that if it was 80 degrees out and I set it to 225 the pellets would be run through slower, allowing more smoke, than on a 30 degree day. Is that right?
Rec Tec has something called Extreme Smoke, which cuts the blower on and off. Maybe that is just it, the blower needs to cut off to really make smoke and it won’t do it unless it can maintain temp that way. Less chance for smoke on a cold day.
I don’t mind supplementing it with the AMNP. Next time I am going to try wood chips on the tray built into the deflector. Looking forward to dialing it in. Any suggestions would be great.