Just got my first pellet smoker. Any tips?

[jjchieffan]

Honestly, I wasn't even looking for one, but I was at Sam's Club on Saturday and their demo company was selling the Z-grill700-2F. The guy pitched it to me and I was sold. The fact that he had one left in the box, and 2 already built displays left, one which I was able to buy, closed the deal. The price was great too. It was only $399. They have the same model on the company website, on sale, for $529.
Anyway. I brought it home and immediately burned it in and grilled some steaks and pork chops on it, which turned out great. I plan to smoke a brisket or rubs on it this weekend. I watched some videos on YouTube. One guy smoked his ribs using the 4--1-1 method. Smoke 4 hours at 225, wrap in foil and add water. Cook for another hour, remove the foil, add BBQ sauce and smoke for another hour. I've never tried that method. Sounds like a short cut to get them tender in half the time. Do any of you like that method?
I know that you guys are the kings of all things BBQ, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated. It sounds like this is going to make smoking a breeze. Fill the hopper, set the PID, and go. Is it really that easy with pellet smokers?

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by Bwana

Yep, that's the exact model I have. The beast weighs about as much as a small bus and does a fantastic job of smoking. The thickness of the steel really helps me out when it gets colder around here as well. I have had stick burners in the past and as you stated, you can't tell the difference in the end product.

I had an island built and bought the drop in version of the YS640. You are correct, colder temps don't bother the smoker with the thickness of that unit. Hell, it's so heavy, my wife can hardly open the hood

[Lzen]

I just bought a ZGrill (ZPG-7002B) a couple of months ago. Lowes had them on sale. They said they had purchased a bunch more than they intended so they had to mark them down. They were originally $500 and they had them marked down to $200. I figured why not get into pellet grilling for a small price. So far, I love it.

I would recommend you get yourself a wireless temp probe for your meat.

This thing makes smoking/grilling easy. It's hard to over cook food and easy to cook it just right if you have a temp probe.

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by chop

You can get plenty of smoke in your meat from a pellet smoker. I just did two pork butts and a brisket in my pellet smoker and they turned out great. I also have a stick burner. One thing you can do with a pellet smoker that you can’t do with a stick burner is to cook food over night. Throw your meat on the smoker at a temp of around 200 degrees and let it cook low and slow while you sleep. Turn the temp up when you wake up and the food is ready sooner. There’s fun in managing a fire then there are times you just want the food because you have other things to do also.

I smoked my first pork butt on there on the Saturday night before Easter for all my relatives who were coming the next day. I started smoking a 10lb butt at about 4pm but I only did it for about an hour. Needless to say, I was up at 3-3:30am taking the thing off the grill because it was done cooking. Lesson learned. Next time, I will do like you suggest and smoke for several hours and not actually start the cooking temp until right before bed.

[tooge]

Originally Posted by jjchieffan

Honestly, I wasn't even looking for one, but I was at Sam's Club on Saturday and their demo company was selling the Z-grill700-2F. The guy pitched it to me and I was sold. The fact that he had one left in the box, and 2 already built displays left, one which I was able to buy, closed the deal. The price was great too. It was only $399. They have the same model on the company website, on sale, for $529.
Anyway. I brought it home and immediately burned it in and grilled some steaks and pork chops on it, which turned out great. I plan to smoke a brisket or rubs on it this weekend. I watched some videos on YouTube. One guy smoked his ribs using the 4--1-1 method. Smoke 4 hours at 225, wrap in foil and add water. Cook for another hour, remove the foil, add BBQ sauce and smoke for another hour. I've never tried that method. Sounds like a short cut to get them tender in half the time. Do any of you like that method?
I know that you guys are the kings of all things BBQ, so any pointers would be greatly appreciated. It sounds like this is going to make smoking a breeze. Fill the hopper, set the PID, and go. Is it really that easy with pellet smokers?

Ok, first off, nice buy. I have a pellet smoker (Grilla) and a WSM. By comparison, you won't get quite the smoke from a pellet so if you like more smoke flavor, use a smoke tube or box in the smoker. I prefer a lighter smoke so I don't use one.

As for the ribs, do NOT foil them at all. That essentially steams them and while it does speed the process, you lose quite a bit of the bark and meat juice to steam. Put the smoker on 225 and smoke for 5 hours for baby backs and 6 for spares. Use the bend test to make sure they are done, or check with a fork and done when fork tender. Those times should pretty much get you there though. You will have a great bark and flavor. If you want to add sauce, add it the last 45 minutes or so.

[Lzen]

Get one of these to use exclusively for cleaning out the ash in the firebox.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-H...0100/202017218

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by Lzen

I just bought a ZGrill (ZPG-7002B) a couple of months ago. Lowes had them on sale. They said they had purchased a bunch more than they intended so they had to mark them down. They were originally $500 and they had them marked down to $200. I figured why not get into pellet grilling for a small price. So far, I love it.

I would recommend you get yourself a wireless temp probe for your meat.

This thing makes smoking/grilling easy. It's hard to over cook food and easy to cook it just right if you have a temp probe.

That's the one I got, except that I got the 2F, which is this year's model. It has a PID and 2 probes. I got it at Sam's, but this link at Amazon has the best pictures and description.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...pd_rd_wg=4cwbZ

[GloryDayz]

Originally Posted by tooge

Ok, first off, nice buy. I have a pellet smoker (Grilla) and a WSM. By comparison, you won't get quite the smoke from a pellet so if you like more smoke flavor, use a smoke tube or box in the smoker. I prefer a lighter smoke so I don't use one.

As for the ribs, do NOT foil them at all. That essentially steams them and while it does speed the process, you lose quite a bit of the bark and meat juice to steam. Put the smoker on 225 and smoke for 5 hours for baby backs and 6 for spares. Use the bend test to make sure they are done, or check with a fork and done when fork tender. Those times should pretty much get you there though. You will have a great bark and flavor. If you want to add sauce, add it the last 45 minutes or so.

1,000,000% truth. I finally got one and the thing is simply amazing...

[Chief Pagan]

Originally Posted by MTG#10

I've always been a bbq purest, would only smoke over wood and grill over charcoal. Then last year my buddy wanted me to make some ribs on his new RecTeq pellet smoker for his daughter's graduation party. I offered to make them at home on my offset then bring them over but he insisted so after warning him they wouldn't be as good as they normally are I said fine.

As much as I hate to admit it, they were nearly identical to what I've made for years on my WSM and offset. So I bought a RecTeq Stampede for myself and haven't regretted it at all. The only thing I don't like about it is it's making me lazy and I've been finding myself using it more than my stick burners.

Damn modern conveniences. Why the other day the grandkid was asking me why didn’t I buy ribs from a grocery store instead of butchering hogs in the backyard and making my suburban neighbors mad at me.

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by GloryDayz

1,000,000% truth. I finally got one and the thing is simply amazing...

I just started smoking cheese with my A-MAZE-N cold smoker tube. Love it.

[jjchieffan]

Originally Posted by tooge

Ok, first off, nice buy. I have a pellet smoker (Grilla) and a WSM. By comparison, you won't get quite the smoke from a pellet so if you like more smoke flavor, use a smoke tube or box in the smoker. I prefer a lighter smoke so I don't use one.

As for the ribs, do NOT foil them at all. That essentially steams them and while it does speed the process, you lose quite a bit of the bark and meat juice to steam. Put the smoker on 225 and smoke for 5 hours for baby backs and 6 for spares. Use the bend test to make sure they are done, or check with a fork and done when fork tender. Those times should pretty much get you there though. You will have a great bark and flavor. If you want to add sauce, add it the last 45 minutes or so.

Thank you. Great input. I didn't think that the foil steaming sounded like a great idea. As for the smoke tube, I'm going to look into that. I like plenty of smoke flavor.

[MTG#10]

Originally Posted by Lzen

Get one of these to use exclusively for cleaning out the ash in the firebox.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Bucket-H...0100/202017218

Great advice. First time I cleaned mine out I forgot to put the filter back on (used it for water previously) and completely doused my neighbor's yard in ash. It rained a few hours later though so I dont think he noticed.

[tooge]

I've also put a chunk or two of non soaked wood right on top of my heat deflector of my pellet grill and it'll add tons of smoke also. I don't like a heavy smoke flavor though so unless I'm doing a real short cook like chicken wings, I don't use a smoke tube

[okiedokieokoye]

Love my pellet smoker. The key for me is to marinade everything first. Ribs and steaks I do overnight, salmon the day of. It's the best salmon I've ever had. With ribs I do the 3-2-1 method. They are incredible.

[In58men]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

Do you really?

No lol

[ChiTown]

Originally Posted by tooge

I've also put a chunk or two of non soaked wood right on top of my heat deflector of my pellet grill and it'll add tons of smoke also. I don't like a heavy smoke flavor though so unless I'm doing a real short cook like chicken wings, I don't use a smoke tube

Yeah, I like the smoke flavor, but you can absolutely get too much smoke on the meat. I want the smoke to be an additive to what I've got on the smoker, but I want the marinade, rub, etc of the meat to be the main event.