trying to smoke on a pellet grill

[frieed]

Lets start here ....

I like smoked meat and by that I mean the primary impression from the first byte of meat is SMOKE.
That said, I cannot get that with my pellet grill (a Campchef with temp setting and smoke settings).
I have tried different types of pellets and started clean with only new pellets. I have tried different brands of pellets. I have tried pellets that are 100% hickory or whatever. They all taste the same to me, fire-grilled, but never smoked. Don't get me wrong, a pellet grill produces amazing food with very little effort, but can It give me the smoke I want?
With my offset smoker I can give you a brisket that will set off the smoke detector, but that smoker is a high maintenance b*tch.
Does someone here have a pellet smoker technique to rival an offset ?

 

[Hickey]

Lets start here ....

I like smoked meat and by that I mean the primary impression from the first byte of meat is SMOKE.
That said, I cannot get that with my pellet grill (a Campchef with temp setting and smoke settings).
I have tried different types of pellets and started clean with only new pellets. I have tried different brands of pellets. I have tried pellets that are 100% hickory or whatever. They all taste the same to me, fire-grilled, but never smoked. Don't get me wrong, a pellet grill produces amazing food with very little effort, but can It give me the smoke I want?
With my offset smoker I can give you a brisket that will set off the smoke detector, but that smoker is a high maintenance b*tch.
Does someone here have a pellet smoker technique to rival an offset ?

I've never used it, but I know Treager sells a little perforated tube that you fill with pellets and light it for added smoke. You just place it on the same grate as the meat. I've seen a buddy use one and he gets it smoking real good by hitting it with a heat gun for a few minutes.

 

[DAA]

^^^ I use a smoke tube all the time.

Don't know if it can run with the offset smoker, but it definitely puts more smoke in the meat than the grill by itself does.

For burgers or steaks, I like to just cold smoke them with only the smoke tube for an hour before even lighting the pellet grill. For long cooks like brisket, I just light the tube and the grill at the same time.

- DAA

 

[Tonkaman]

I find myself trying to make sure food doesn’t get too smoky. Most of my guests don’t enjoy the initial taste of smoke though. My traeger will get a smoke ring deep inside any piece of meat so I don’t think they are underpowered by any means.

Your welcome to borrow my Traeger sometime and give it a few cooks to see if you’d like it.

 

[Mouse]

We get pretty good smoke flavor from our Camp Chef pellet stove. We run the smoke on the high settings and have the exhaust stack closed down a bit (especially in winter).

What model Camp Chef are you using?

 

[TRD270]

We get pretty good smoke flavor from our Camp Chef pellet stove. We run the smoke on the high settings and have the exhaust stack closed down a bit (especially in winter).

What model Camp Chef are you using?

My experience with my camp chef as well. With smoke on 10 thing is pouring smoke out of every crack

 

[frieed]

I have the SG-24 WiFi and it does pour smoke out when set to high smoke, but it just doesn't taste the same as smoked on the log burner.
I'm thinking about marrying my smoke generator to it to see if that works.

 

[nnnnnate]

What temps are you cooking on the camp chef at? Does the smoke ring you see indicate you ought to be tasting more smoke? Or in other words are you getting the ring like you would on your stick burner?

 

[frieed]

typically smoke at *220.
I get a good smoke ring on both, but the stick burner just tastes "smokier"

 

[Mouse]

What kind of wood pellets are you using? I've had better luck with some brands over others

 

[Hickey]

What kind of wood pellets are you using? I've had better luck with some brands over others

I would agree that the brands of pellets have a significant variation in flavor depth.

 

[str8axleguy]

So what brand of pellets do you guys like? I’ve used camp chef and Traeger and have not noticed much difference.

 

[Tonkaman]

I can’t remember the brand, but I really like the pellets I get from bbq pit stop. That dude does competition cooking and will BS with you for hours if you want.

 

[nnnnnate]

I can’t remember the brand, but I really like the pellets I get from bbq pit stop. That dude does competition cooking and will BS with you for hours if you want.

BBQ Delight? That's what I used for the first couple years and just recently found a guy in SJ selling LumberJack pellets out of his garage. I had read good thing about lumberjack so I thought I'd try them out. They are cheaper than BBQ Delight but supposedly don't have the filler that traeger and some others have. I don't notice a difference but I'm also not sure I've ever really tried or wanted to get a super smokey taste when I cook.

A big thing for me was when pit stop moved from 13th south down to fashion place. I'd stop on my lunch to pick up this or that pretty regularly but have only been to their new place once and have been buying rub at ace or online.

 

[Tonkaman]

BBQ Delight? That's what I used for the first couple years and just recently found a guy in SJ selling LumberJack pellets out of his garage. I had read good thing about lumberjack so I thought I'd try them out. They are cheaper than BBQ Delight but supposedly don't have the filler that traeger and some others have. I don't notice a difference but I'm also not sure I've ever really tried or wanted to get a super smokey taste when I cook.

A big thing for me was when pit stop moved from 13th south down to fashion place. I'd stop on my lunch to pick up this or that pretty regularly but have only been to their new place once and have been buying rub at ace or online.

Yup that sounds right.

I go to the original one in Lehi. It’s not very convenient, but I love talking with the owner.

 

[frieed]

I've tried all kinds of pellets (in the year I've had the grill I've run almost #300 of pellets through it).

I've tried LumberJack (you can get it at Cal Ranch) since it proclaimed 100% hickory but could not really tell the difference.

I think maybe my description of what I'm looking for is off... I grew up in Texas with oak-fired barbeque and what I get on the stick burner (burning apple at the moment) tastes more "authentic".

I think it may come down to the difference between how an offset grill works and a pellet grill.
With the offset, I keep a surplus of fuel in the firebox and regulate temperature by limiting the air. By design, the fuel smolders more.
With the pellet grill, there is tons of air and the fuel is regulated so the pellets always burn hot. I know the smoke setting messes with this some, but that is still a pretty good generalization. This might be why DAA has good luck using a smoke tube before he turns on the grill.

Or it might be the processing of the pellets.

It would really be interesting to do a "taste-off" between the various cookers.

 

[bryson]

...

It would really be interesting to do a "taste-off" between the various cookers.

In.