Let's talk grills

colin450

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How does the wifi pit temp controller work on that type of grill

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Just plug it in and hook it onto the lower vent, close it till it's up tight to the control, top vent 1/4" open, set your temp and let it do its thing. The brand I bought is Flameboss but there's several others out there that are as good or better from what I've read.

edit: You obviously have your meat probe and pit temp probe that plug into the control and you can see in their app.
 

hoamskilet

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Hmm, that changes things....I didnt know that could be done on those grills. Damnit.....1 more option to look into haha

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rotor_powerd

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I have an older Traeger, 2 Weber 22" kettles, 22" and 18" Weber Smokey Mountains, a big offset stick burner, and a Uuni 3 pellet fired pizza oven. They're all great, but if you're looking for an all around smoker/grill to transition away from propane I would definitely for for a pellet grill. No they aren't super heavy on smoke but they turn out great food and are quick and easy to use. I'm doing burgers on my Traeger tonight for dinner but I've also done 14 hour brisket cooks on it - and it gives so much more flavor than any gas grill ever could.

Weber kettles are fun to play with and can be picked up super cheap used on Martketplace, if you want to start learning charcoal I'd pick one of them up also
 

Morgan

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While I do like the egg and would buy it again, there is an annoyance insofar as how they component-ize every accessory.
BGE offers a product for nearly anything you might imagine, but never as a kit or package to lower the cost. They also have super tight control over pricing and online selling. Upgrading the egg is not unlike upgrading a car.

That said, Kamodo Joe seems like a better value since they incorporate several accessories with the grill purchase.
 

08mojo

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Just the kind of person I want to hear from. I’m looking at the Big Joe 3. Do you recommend any extras? Do you recommend the Classic size? I mostly cook for 3 or 4 people but occasionally a crowd.


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I would take a look at the Classic size. It's the perfect size for most of your cooks and will consume less charcoal for the majority of your cooking vs the Big Joe. If you are occasionally cooking for a crowd, there are ways to be creative and make the Classic size work: for ribs, buy rib racks that hold the ribs on their side (I think I cooked 5-6 racks of baby back ribs on a large/classic size grill); you can also double stack the grilling surfaces (not my pic)

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While I do like the egg and would buy it again, there is an annoyance insofar as how they component-ize every accessory.
BGE offers a product for nearly anything you might imagine, but never as a kit or package to lower the cost. They also have super tight control over pricing and online selling. Upgrading the egg is not unlike upgrading a car.

That said, Kamodo Joe seems like a better value since they incorporate several accessories with the grill purchase.

Yes and no. I have a Large Egg and a Classic Joe. The Joe does come with more accessories 'out of the box,' but you also pay more. When I was cross shopping, the prices seemed to be virtually identical for the Joe and the Egg. I needed a second grill and ended up going with Kamado Joe for the simple reason they were moving their local warehouse and were liquidating the remaining inventory. I paid $520 for a brand new Classic joe and standard accessories.

The Egg seems to be higher quality: solid ceramic fire-box for the egg vs the multi-piece (and pain in the ass to clean) Joe fire-box, thicker plate setter in the egg, etc... In general the Egg stuff is higher quality (including accessories). I do have to give the Joe credit: their hinge/latch setup and seals are superior to the Egg.

Performance wise: I have to give the nod to the Kamado Joe (but not by much). The Joe has a very even cooking temperature across the entire cooking grate. My Egg is always a little warmer at the back and a little cooler at the front.

You can't go wrong with either one. I suspect my Egg will survive better over the long run, but we'll see.
 

apex svt

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I’ll throw up my old mans monstrosity of a smoker. Lang smoker, half charcoal, half firebox, duel shelves, reverse flow type and a smoke cabinet over the firebox. He can whip up some good stuff out of that thing.

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ssj4sadie

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At the moment I have a weber 26 and a pit barrel cooker. The weber is used strictly for grilling and the pit barrel for smoking.

Now the 26 is expensive and unless you use it all the time and have a larger family its better to get the 22. The 26 is awesome for shear capacity though and holds temps just as well as my previous 22s.

My pit barrel gets used once or twice a month at the moment. If you use the hook and hang method it offers a lot of capacity for its size. You can however only do 1 brisket or 2 butts at a time. Not that big of a deal but when you entertain like I do it can come up short.

With that said if I had it to do over again I would not have bought the pit barrel. The quality is good and it works but the lack of capacity and dealing with the rebar is what I don't like.

This has led me down the road of building a UDS. Plenty of capacity with 2 racks and a much longer burn time. Depending on how you build it and where you get your drum it can be as cheap as $150. I am lookong at about $250. Stack that against the pit barrel and the UDS wins out on capacity, temp control and price.

With all that said I cannot stand pellet smokers. Why? Simple the smoke flavor tastes fake and I cast taste the chemicals used by treager and pit boss to flavor their pellets. Don't let treager lie to you, all their pellets are the same wood with added flavoring to make apple, cherry ect. Also if you have a warranty claim with them never admit you used anything other then their pellets or they'll void your warranty which is garbage imop.
Man, **** a UDS. My BIL and I made one and it was a major pain in the ass. Could never get it to hold a good temp and it burned through charcoal like a mother ****er. I gave it to my BIL and I'm not sure he uses it.

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Camp Chef pellet smoker. Price seems good and the ribs I had from one were amazing. Someone mentioned it already but Traeger and Pit Boss pellets are the low end BS pellets. From what I have read the The Camp Chef pellets are real wood and don't have additives.
 

nickf2005

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Pit Boss Pellet Grill, I love it.
I'm eyeing these.

I've been using a Charboil Commercial Imfrared for 10 years and it's on its last leg. I want to retain the ease of propane for 80% of my cooking, but would love to get into smoking a bit.

My Googling lead me to the Pit Boss, available at Lowes. Sounds like it may be a perfect combo?

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colin450

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Hmm, that changes things....I didnt know that could be done on those grills. Damnit.....1 more option to look into haha

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I have a couple friends with pellet grills and what they really seem to be missing is the ability to do high heat sears, like 700°+ range. No problem for a BGE.

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Blkkbgt

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Man, **** a UDS. My BIL and I made one and it was a major pain in the ass. Could never get it to hold a good temp and it burned through charcoal like a mother ****er. I gave it to my BIL and I'm not sure he uses it.

I have been kicking around the idea of getting a Camp Chef pellet smoker. Price seems good and the ribs I had from one were amazing. Someone mentioned it already but Traeger and Pit Boss pellets are the low end BS pellets. From what I have read the The Camp Chef pellets are real wood and don't have additives.

I laughed so ****ing hard at this.

1 one of 2 things happened. Either you ****ed up your build or you have shitty fire management skills. Could be both but its usually one or the other when people make the claim a UDS won't hold temp.

Lastly if you think a pos pellet grill makes good Q you've got problems dude lol!
 

ssj4sadie

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I laughed so ****ing hard at this.

1 one of 2 things happened. Either you ****ed up your build or you have shitty fire management skills. Could be both but its usually one or the other when people make the claim a UDS won't hold temp.

Lastly if you think a pos pellet grill makes good Q you've got problems dude lol!
You don’t even have a UDS and claim to know it all? Alright dude. I bet you come in first place in all the “Q” competitions.
 

alex3610

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Currently I have a Weber Genesis propane grill with a side burner, a Weber Performer charcoal grill, and a vertical cabinet propane smoker. The smoker has really gotten me interested in doing more smoking but it's a pain in the ass. Temp fluctuates a lot and have to keep the little fire box filled with wood chunks. You really need to keep an eye on it the entire time it's running. The taste of food out of my Performer beats the propane grill all day every day, but it's a lot more work and with a 2 and 4 year old it hardly ever gets used anymore.

The solution? As many others have said, pellet grill. I'm going with the Camp Chef Woodwind Wifi 24. Under $1k, so not cheap but not one of the high end brands either. Has a PID controller and obviously WIFI capabilities. The Camp Chef also has something called the slide-grill that lets you slide open a heat shield to convert it to direct heat for grilling vs. slow cooking. Not to mention with the PID controller you can use it like an oven because it will hold temps very accurately. Think of anything from lasagna to cinnamon rolls but now with a smoke flavor. Very versatile. Also, you can buy a propane sear box that hangs on the side for reverse searing after smoking something. At a minimum it's going to replace my Performer and the vertical smoker. I really don't think we need the Genesis anymore either but my wife is intimidated by this grill so I may keep it for her to use when I'm at work. I can't wait to get this thing. I did a ton of research before I landed on the Camp Chef. Lots of people seem very happy with Rec-Tec, Grilla, and Green Mountain Grills. Traeger seems hit or miss, and pit boss is at a lower price point so I don't think it's a fair comparison. Lots of guys out there are modding lower end grills with the better control units and having excellent results. Good luck!
 

Adower

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Just the kind of person I want to hear from. I’m looking at the Big Joe 3. Do you recommend any extras? Do you recommend the Classic size? I mostly cook for 3 or 4 people but occasionally a crowd.


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Get the big joe if you can pony up the $$. I ended up getting a big joe since I had the money. You can always put less coal in the big joe to conserve fuel when not cooking for a large amount of people.

I noticed that I also started having way more get togethers at my spot and having the big joe allowed me to cook for 10+ people.
 

Blkkbgt

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You don’t even have a UDS and claim to know it all? Alright dude. I bet you come in first place in all the “Q” competitions.

You are correct, I currently do not own a UDS. I have however recently cooked on one for a few months that was left at my house after a party. I only got 2 cooks in while I had it but it held temps just fine even with the shitty ball valves that were used.

No I do not compete but I make some damn good Q.

Carry on with your man bun and pellet grill fantasies.
 

ssj4sadie

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You are correct, I currently do not own a UDS. I have however recently cooked on one for a few months that was left at my house after a party. I only got 2 cooks in while I had it but it held temps just fine even with the shitty ball valves that were used.

No I do not compete but I make some damn good Q.

Carry on with your man bun and pellet grill fantasies.
Dafuq? Call me a man bun and you continually refer to BBQ as "Q". How the hell do you "cook on one for a few months" with only two cooks? I get it, you want a UDS so you're all balls tucked back about it. But the fact of the matter is a shit ton of people have had excellent results with pellet grills cooking some damn good "Q". If you notice a trend in this thread, is that a good number of people have ditched their charcoal grills in favor of a pellet grill because you can get damn near if not equal results in a fraction of the time and energy. That is not even taking into account smoking meat.
 

nxhappy

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i learned to stick with 2 burners. MUCH better even cooking and heat. just my 02
 

Blkkbgt

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Dafuq? Call me a man bun and you continually refer to BBQ as "Q". How the hell do you "cook on one for a few months" with only two cooks? I get it, you want a UDS so you're all balls tucked back about it. But the fact of the matter is a shit ton of people have had excellent results with pellet grills cooking some damn good "Q". If you notice a trend in this thread, is that a good number of people have ditched their charcoal grills in favor of a pellet grill because you can get damn near if not equal results in a fraction of the time and energy. That is not even taking into account smoking meat.

Yes people who belong to BBQ forums and FB pages just say Q instead off BBQ.

Yes I only cooked on the UDS twice but the reality of it is that a UDS really isn't different than my PBC and the food doesn't taste any better on either unit. I used it out of curiosity more then anything else. I had zero problems with it and loved the capacity it offered.

I really don't care what the "trend" is of this thread. Pellet grills are crap IMOP and a cop out for those that don't want to or can't learn how to regulate a simple fire. Additionally if you were to do a lot of reading you'll find tons of people who have ditched their pellet grills due to malfunctions and off tasting food. I can assure you if you brought me two pieces of anything cooked on a charcoal smoker and pellet grill I can tell you which one came from where blind. Once someone points out the specific taste of a pellet grill (chemical taste with a plastic coating) you'll always be able to detect it. Most can always pick out which food was made on a stick burner as well.

But to each his own as they say. If a pellet grill is what makes someone's mouth hole happy so be it. I'll never own one.
 

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