If you had it to do over.

[MKinHB]

Portable Power Options for Pellet Grills [2021 Update] • pelletgrillreviews

We detail solutions for powering portable pellet grills for tailgating and camping. We look at batteries, solar charging, and power needs for pellet grills.

pelletgrillreviews.com

 

[Cowboy1955]

I have a generator to keep the fridge and freezer going. It's fairly quiet as generators go, but still too loud.

I would like a nearly silent source of power to run the pellet grill, like an automotive 12V battery.

Power inverter?

 

[Dan-H]

Portable Power Options for Pellet Grills [2021 Update] • pelletgrillreviews

We detail solutions for powering portable pellet grills for tailgating and camping. We look at batteries, solar charging, and power needs for pellet grills.

pelletgrillreviews.com

Thanks. I need to look into some of these options.

 

[Steelheader1974]

I have the 1150. I been smoking on it every weekend since I got it maybe 2 months now. I was gonna buy another charcoal offset but I seen these and thought I’d try it seeing I never had one. The grill itself I think is well built compared to some other flimsy ones out there I like the heavy sturdy feeling. Makes sure it doesn’t go anywhere Lol. I keep it outside at all times but covered when not in use. I’ll see how it holds up over time. See how it gets through the winter and see how it smokes at cold outside temps. I really don’t have any issues with it besides the left to right temp swings. I know about the mod to fix that just haven’t bought one yet. I like to use it as is just to see how it performs. I’ll eventually get that maybe today lol. I find that the top rack seems a little useless seeing I’m always smoking big stuff and it seems hard to maneuver stuff around with it. I want to try and maybe put some ribs on the top rack and a water pan below on the grill grate and see how that works out. Maybe I’ll try that today. I also noticed on the smoke setting it swings a little from like 190 up to 250 idk if that’s normal it came with the updated controller. When I set it to a certain temp it holds there once it gets there. As far as smoke flavor goes it’s decent. I noticed that it’s very hard to over smoke anything on it even using hickory. It was way different on the offset smoker. That one I could smoke it too much but I learned over the years of using one how to not do that. As far as actual grilling goes I tend to lean towards my propane grill and throw some wood chips on the pan under the grate seeing it doesn’t have a direct burner to come in contact with the chips. I find it quicker then to get out the extension cord and plug it in and wait for the PB to heat up. I will try it eventually just seems easier and quicker on the propane grill during weekdays after work when there isnt a lot of time. I have tried pork chops on the PB during the work week. I smoked them on the smoke setting for about a hour then cranked it up and seared them they were pretty good but took a lot longer. The only thing I really did to the PB1150 was put a gasket around the door for smoke leakage which seems to help and I also have like three oven thermometers along the main grate just to watch the temps a little that’s how I noticed the temp difference from left to right. I keep my stack open maybe 2 inches set it like that one day and kept it there seems to operate better. I see some pictures or videos with it all the way down I tried that but I feel that it works better open. Maybe it’s just me and my imagination lol. As far as the app goes I tried them both and I feel that mine runs better on the smoke it one with the white background I get better connected and it actual works if I have to run to the store quick I can still see the grill temps and stuff going on. Would I buy it again prolly I was thinking about maybe a vertical one for my girlfriends house when I’m over there so I can still smoke lol. I think I would of liked the 1600 more for the double wall thickness for winter smoking other than that I like it.

 

[MikeInFla]

I have a generator to keep the fridge and freezer going. It's fairly quiet as generators go, but still too loud.

I would like a nearly silent source of power to run the pellet grill, like an automotive 12V battery.

Those jackery's are completely silent from what I understand but pricey.

 

[Dan-H]

Those jackery's are completely silent from what I understand but pricey.

@MikeInFla yes, those are expensive.

@MKinHB thanks for the link. an excerpt:

The typical pellet smoker requires about 30 watts (30W) of electrical power when running, and anywhere from 300-500 watts (300-500W) for the 5-10 minutes during startup when the ignitor is running to light the pellets and the fan is running to build the fire in the fire pot.

I picked up an inverter on amazon. I almost always have an extra 12v battery in fair condition in the garage so if the power goes out mid cook its probably less than 10 mins to move a battery to the backyard, hook up the inverter and keep cooking.

edit: so this will cover the short unexpected outages we get in summer.

We can also get our power shut off for fire safety, and these outages can last days and while I have a small generator to keep the freezer and fridge cold, this could give an option for smoking on the pellet without the noise of the generator.

 

[Eastwood]

Ok here’s a question probably most of us have asked ourself. Especially new to pellet guys like me.
I know I’ve pondered over this a few times myself. And from a lot of the posts we see In here, I’m sure there’s a few that would have some input.

OK…….
If you knew what you do now. Would you have bought it. And maybe more importantly would you have bought a different model than the one you got?

First off I’m not posting this for it to become a bashing thread! If it does I would like a mod to just take it down.

There’s a lot of things about pellet cookers that newbies don’t know till it’s too late. And also different features and models. For myself there’s a lot of things I didn’t know about, to consider.

Who knows. Maybe somebody lurking around thinking about getting in the game might stumble on this and get a little educated about them.

I’ll start by saying I was infatuated with the pellet smokers in general and ran across a very good deal on a floor model. Price on mine at Lowe’s was 459 I believe and mine went out the door for 320 bucks and tax.

PBV4PS2

At first I was about ready to take it back because of the lack of smoke. Especially since the sales guy told me these things were the smokiest available. My first few cooks were, well lacking. The ease of using it was great. But the lack of smoke was almost a deal breaker. I ran across a couple of websites and watched a million YouTube’s like most do. And especially in here I learned two things. The first being they do NOT deliver the smoky flavor as say my offset or chip burner. And the second thing I learned I didn’t know what the hell I was doing lol. Low temp smoke session and most of the time a smoke tube. And experiment with pellets.
Now I’m pretty happy with it. I use it a few times a week. And can get satisfactory smoke when I want it. And have even used to cook when I didn’t necessarily want heavy smoke. Kinda like an outside oven if ya will.

As far as buying one. Knowing what I do now. Yup I certainly would.
But the same one ??? I’m on the fence there. I see the 850s and others with their grill like capabilities and actually thought about replacing this one. I have a couple of son in laws that I’m sure would like it.
But it ain’t going nowhere right now. Lol. But man I do like the idea of the other options on the others.

I'm not sure I know what a smoke tube is or when I need one. Can you comment? I usually grill more than smoke but want to do proper smoking too. I agree that if I'm on low I'm expecting consistent smoke.

 

[Dennis F]

I'm extremely happy with my Austin Xl. It does exactly what a pellet grill is supposed to do. It's just another option to cook. I get decent smoke flavor. I've tried the a maze n tube but too much of that dirty smoke can make your food pretty bitter. Best way I find for extra smoke is some wood chunks under the drip pan/deflector, On the heat diffuser right next to the fire pot. Works great and clean smoke!!!

 

[michaelbell317]

In considering your question.....

I thought about it for about 20 minutes or so.

I bought the 1150. There were a bunch of us all went and got them within a couple weeks of each other. I had been wanting a grill, and a smoker. This fit the bill.

I love this thing. There are two issues I have found with it. Neither is a deal breaker, and both of them have been modified.

1) The metal grate over the pellet hopper. I know why its there, to make sure people do not stick their hands down there and get their fingers hurt in the pellet auger. It is just annoying when trying to level out the pellets on a long cook. I just removed the whole grate because I am smart enough to not put my hand in there.

2) I feel that there is an *obvious* design flaw regarding the left side of the grill, where the heat shield has a 1/2 to 3/4 inch gap across the entire shield that allows the heat to go up right over the barrel temp probe. I had a 50 to 60 degree temp difference between the left and right side of my grill. I purchased a "mod". and installed it. Problem fixed. Now no more than a 10 degree difference between the left and right sides.

So there are a LOT of comments and threads about upgrading the controller, and the horrors of it. I have not upgraded mine. It works very well. Still fence-riding on whether or not I will.

Now. Would I buy this one again. Yes. Yes, it would have the same issues, and they would be fixed in the same way as mentioned above.

BUT.

I'm honestly debating if I need an 1150. I could probably make everything I wanted to, on the 820. Basically the same thing...just smaller.

And from what I understand, THAT one has the heat shield that keeps the heat from going up across the temp probe.

I cant give a firm, "I would buy the 820", or a firm "I would buy the 1150"....at this time. I would buy one of them again. It is absolutely an awesome beginner pellet smoker grill.

What "mod" did you purchase and install? I have the 850 but have only used it twice so far. I'm really liking the results to this point. The temp seems to be okay, but I'll have to check out the left side a little closer now that you've mentioned it.

 

[detractus]

I have the same model. PB4 V2 from Lowes. Coming from a little Masterbuilt electric, yes, absolutely I would do it again. I get TONS more smoke out of the PB than I ever did out of the Masterbuilt. I have smoke rings on my meat for the first time ever, and for me, the Masterbuilt was plenty of smoke.

I'm glad I got the vertical, and would not want a grill style pellet smoker. For grilling, I have my Weber Genesis.

The only frustration or disappointments have been with the fit and finish of the door. It doesn't hang perfectly square, so I've had to put some washers in to square it up. And the latch doesn't have any adjustment to tighten like some other latches that allow you to screw in or out to adjust the tightness. Hence, out of the box, a lot of smoke seeped around the door. I fixed that by getting one of those seal kits you can find online.

The controller having jumpy temp settings was unexpected. It is workable, and the temperature oscillates over time, so I'm not sure 1-5 degree gradations would make a whole lot of difference. However if I were to find a controller upgrade that blew it out of the water was readily available, and dummy-proof to install, I would do it in an instant.

 

[Nathangriff88]

Ok here’s a question probably most of us have asked ourself. Especially new to pellet guys like me.
I know I’ve pondered over this a few times myself. And from a lot of the posts we see In here, I’m sure there’s a few that would have some input.

OK…….
If you knew what you do now. Would you have bought it. And maybe more importantly would you have bought a different model than the one you got?

First off I’m not posting this for it to become a bashing thread! If it does I would like a mod to just take it down.

There’s a lot of things about pellet cookers that newbies don’t know till it’s too late. And also different features and models. For myself there’s a lot of things I didn’t know about, to consider.

Who knows. Maybe somebody lurking around thinking about getting in the game might stumble on this and get a little educated about them.

I’ll start by saying I was infatuated with the pellet smokers in general and ran across a very good deal on a floor model. Price on mine at Lowe’s was 459 I believe and mine went out the door for 320 bucks and tax.

PBV4PS2

At first I was about ready to take it back because of the lack of smoke. Especially since the sales guy told me these things were the smokiest available. My first few cooks were, well lacking. The ease of using it was great. But the lack of smoke was almost a deal breaker. I ran across a couple of websites and watched a million YouTube’s like most do. And especially in here I learned two things. The first being they do NOT deliver the smoky flavor as say my offset or chip burner. And the second thing I learned I didn’t know what the hell I was doing lol. Low temp smoke session and most of the time a smoke tube. And experiment with pellets.
Now I’m pretty happy with it. I use it a few times a week. And can get satisfactory smoke when I want it. And have even used to cook when I didn’t necessarily want heavy smoke. Kinda like an outside oven if ya will.

As far as buying one. Knowing what I do now. Yup I certainly would.
But the same one ??? I’m on the fence there. I see the 850s and others with their grill like capabilities and actually thought about replacing this one. I have a couple of son in laws that I’m sure would like it.
But it ain’t going nowhere right now. Lol. But man I do like the idea of the other options on the others.

I am on my second Pitboss. I started getting into bbq a little over 10 years ago. My first out was a $50 smoker with a side box from Walmart. And I learned how to smoke with that first. Main reason for switching to a pellet smoker was simply because I couldn’t bring my other pit with me when I moved out of state. I was proud of what I could do with the stick burner, so I decided to try something different. I started with a pro series 820, and I used the hell out of it. It was a learning curve for sure but I don’t regret it at all. To me Pitboss build quality for the price you can not beat it. I now have a 1600 pro series, my biggest complaint with the 1600 was the controller. Though after a lot of back and forth I finally have the correct controller and software in mine, and it is fantastic. And like someone else said on here, it’s built like a tank.

things I would (will) change

Insulate the double wall of the 1600.

The lid gasket is a great concept but it doesn’t stay in place well. And the fire pot dump gasket always seems to be spewing some smoke at least.

outside of those couple things, it’s been a great unit so far, and I always recommend Pitboss to people considering a pellet smoker.

 

[Cowboy1955]

I'm not sure I know what a smoke tube is or when I need one. Can you comment? I usually grill more than smoke but want to do proper smoking too. I agree that if I'm on low I'm expecting consistent smoke.

This is what they look like. Adds more flavor to your meat. I’ve even used it when I’ve grilled a steak. Got mine off Amazon.

 

[natgas]

I'm very pleased with my 820D3 after about one year---plenty of smoke and now that I've replaced the temp probe, it keeps a constant temp pretty well; getting ready to do a brisket this weekend and looking forward to it; but, like many, I would purchase a Traeger in a heartbeat if I could justify the cost

 

[Donna]

Yes I would do it again! I have the Laredo 1000. My very first smoker. I looked around a bit and did a little research before I purchased it. So far I’m pretty happy with it. someone said earlier it’s built like a tank … yes it is! I’m Short and not real strong, opening that lid can be challenge! Been watching lots and lots of YouTube! Great info!
I had to replace the control panel because it wouldn’t read with the app. Like someone said earlier about the grate over the pellets, not too happy about being able to remove that. But I use a stick and that’s fine. Also I ordered a magnetic shoot to put in the back for the pellets to come out otherwise they fly everywhere.
yes I would definitely buy this again. Very very happy with it. Customer service was great when I called about the control panel and my phone not connecting. I know this is usually a man’s World, but when there’s no man around, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

 

[MarsPitbossKC]

I agree with all of the one-time newbies regarding the lack of smoke from the pellet stoves. I had a Smoke Hollow Hybrid that I absolutely loved that had propane grill and sear, charcoal grill and a side mount smoke box. Besides using the smoke box like you normally would, I also built a rack that fit in the box that allowed me to use it for roasting corn. The Smoke Hollow was the perfect grill, but after many years of hard use, it finally came time to replace it. I looked for an identical replacement but apparently Smoke Hollow isn't around anymore and I couldn't find anything close to what I had, so I took the huge leap (for me anyway) to go in an entirely different direction. So after a bunch of research (I thought) I landed on a Pit Boss KC Combo Platinum. I liked the fact that it still had propane since my wife will occasionally cook dinner on the grill and she prefers quick and easy. The KC comes with a really nice griddle, but honestly, I thought I would never use it. Boy was I wrong. I've used the griddle more than the rest of the grill so far. I even started doing breakfast on the grill for the first time in years.

However, I still REALLY miss the smoke of the Smoke Hollow. I'm still learning different techniques for getting more smoke, but I've come to the reality that I will never be able to get the same level of smoke I once had from my new KC. It's not all bad. I really like the ease of the pellets, the variety of flavors and the decent level of control it provides.

For anyone shopping around, if you're looking for a lot of smoke, like the neighbors call you to ask if your backyard is on fire, kind of smoke, you won't get it from any pellet grill that I know of.