Pellet smokers

[dutchmanazA1]

17 hours ago, PRDATR said:

My buddy has a Green Mountain he bought about five years ago and is has been pretty spot on.

He's lucky.  Mine is off and it always varies/is different every cook.  I just run another thermometer on the grates and use that to turn the GM temp up or down.  But it's always higher than what it says it is.  

[oz31p]

I have a pit boss and a kamado style smoker and I use a Bluetooth thermometer to track grill and meat temp. 
 

ive tried a few . Best I can find is INKBIRD bbq-4t

[Little Creek Calls]

I have been using a Yoder for 15 years and its still going strong. Only thing I have had to replace is the igniter rod once that they sent free of charge. The new Yoder's have ceramic igniter rods that are supposed to be better.

Also its great that Scheels carries them now so if you are interested you can go and check them out.

[MogollonMan]

Just looked up those Yoders. They look "real nice" (Cousin Eddie). But if I spenk over $2K on a smoker, I'd have to kick my own a$$ (sort of like a custom rifle). My 10+ year old GMG Jim Bowie has been great and still going strong. Have you contacted GMG about your issues?

[cjl2010]

18 hours ago, MogollonMan said:

Just looked up those Yoders. They look "real nice" (Cousin Eddie). But if I spenk over $2K on a smoker, I'd have to kick my own a$$ (sort of like a custom rifle). My 10+ year old GMG Jim Bowie has been great and still going strong. Have you contacted GMG about your issues?

I’ve been debating Lasik surgery or a Yoder! What’s another couple years using contacts!!

[Coach]

35 minutes ago, cjl2010 said:

I’ve been debating Lasik surgery or a Yoder! What’s another couple years using contacts!!

Go with the Lasik! It's life changing. 

[Coach]

19 hours ago, MogollonMan said:

Just looked up those Yoders. They look "real nice" (Cousin Eddie). But if I spenk over $2K on a smoker, I'd have to kick my own a$$ (sort of like a custom rifle). My 10+ year old GMG Jim Bowie has been great and still going strong. Have you contacted GMG about your issues?

Yeah same here on the Yoder. Nice but, no way can I justify that with the amount of meat smoking I do. I haven't contacted GMG yet. There are quite a few videos out there on calibrating them, so I'll go that route first.

I appreciate all the replies here, guys. Good to hear such a variety of experiences.

[cjl2010]

56 minutes ago, Coach said:

Go with the Lasik! It's life changing. 

That’s what I’ve heard. I feel like a Yoder would be life changing as well, especially to the finances!

[CatfishKev]

2 hours ago, Coach said:

Yeah same here on the Yoder. Nice but, no way can I justify that with the amount of meat smoking I do. I haven't contacted GMG yet. There are quite a few videos out there on calibrating them, so I'll go that route first.

I appreciate all the replies here, guys. Good to hear such a variety of experiences.

When I was doing my research I was on some of the meat smoking forums and a lot of people talked about special ordering these PID's (electronic controller) to replace the ones that come with the grills.  Downtown heart to swap them out and I think the whole point of them was to just have a more consistent overall average temperature without such extreme temperature swings.  Might be worth looking into 

[PRDATR]

31 minutes ago, CatfishKev said:

When I was doing my research I was on some of the meat smoking forums and a lot of people talked about special ordering these PID's (electronic controller) to replace the ones that come with the grills.  Downtown heart to swap them out and I think the whole point of them was to just have a more consistent overall average temperature without such extreme temperature swings.  Might be worth looking into 

We have been using PID's to control temperatures and the speed signal to VFD's for thirty years in the Commercial Building Automation Industry. PLC's use it in Process Control and I'd sure PID's are used in the Auto Industry too.

https://medium.com/@svm161265/when-and-why-to-use-p-pi-pd-and-pid-controller-73729a708bb5

https://www.pitboss-grills.com/blogs/blog/pid-controller-basics-how-it-works-on-a-pellet-grill?srsltid=AfmBOoqFwvNIlABff0txATkgVb1HUQHskCZ32vklhTmJklhsZj7oYTJY

[CatfishKev]

40 minutes ago, PRDATR said:

We have been using PID's to control temperatures and the speed signal to VFD's for thirty years in the Commercial Building Automation Industry. PLC's use it in Process Control and I'd sure PID's are used in the Auto Industry too.

https://medium.com/@svm161265/when-and-why-to-use-p-pi-pd-and-pid-controller-73729a708bb5

https://www.pitboss-grills.com/blogs/blog/pid-controller-basics-how-it-works-on-a-pellet-grill?srsltid=AfmBOoqFwvNIlABff0txATkgVb1HUQHskCZ32vklhTmJklhsZj7oYTJY

Thanks, one of these on a cheaper grill would make a big difference.  

[Coach]

I highly recommend this thermometer if you find your grill is reporting incorrect temps. https://store-us.meater.com/products/meater-plus 

It's how I found out my grill was so far off in the first place and saved my last two tri-tips.

[MogollonMan]

7 hours ago, cjl2010 said:

I’ve been debating Lasik surgery or a Yoder! What’s another couple years using contacts!!

Contacts and glasses suck! Lasik is one of the best things I've ever spent $$$ on. Much better than a smoker.

[couesbuck22]

Pellet grills are nice cuz you can throw a bunch of meat on fill the hopper and go to bed, I had bad luck with them went through 4 in about 5 years finally said screw it and bought an offset they had on sale at Home Depot, I’ll never go back to pellets. Usually what I do is I’ll cook on Friday nights, start the fire as soon as I get home from work get the meat on once I have a coalbed going and then I’ll stay up as long as I can adding pieces of oak every 20-30 mins and when I can’t stay up any longer I’ll wrap in butcher paper (meats usually just starting the stall)  and then put in the oven set at like 205 or 210. Then when I get up Saturday morning the meats usually around 180-190 then I’ll bump the oven up to 225 to finish it usually around noon. Let it rest wrapped in a towel til about 6 then dig in. Mine seems to cook a little faster the more meat you put in it so I’ll usually send a group text to the neighbors tell them I’m cooking Friday night who wants a pork butt and I’ll usually end up cooking 6-10 every time then they come get it when done. Couple neighbors moved an hour away but told me they still want the bbq hookup and they drive an hour one way every time I cook haha 

[Chef]

2 hours ago, couesbuck22 said:

...Couple neighbors moved an hour away but told me they still want the bbq hookup and they drive an hour one way every time I cook haha 

Love it!