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New to me Memphis Advantage Plus Pellet Grill/Smoker


 
R

R Chin

TVWBB Fan
Been wondering what the pellet life was like and have been monitoring marketplace and CL for a cheap Yoder smoker. After seeing multiple listings of rusty yoders and reading about the top complaint (rust) I was hesitant to pull the trigger on a Yoder unless I got a screaming deal. A Memphis Grill popped up on my Yoder search on FB and after lots of research for durability and parts availability, I decided to take a look. Seller was motivated and I negotiated him down from $500 to $400.

Memphis moved their manufacturing to China in 2019 and has taken a big hit to their reputation and dealer network. My primary concern was keeping this thing running with proprietary parts, but other than the controller, it seems like I could probably kluge something from generic parts to keep it operational.

Everything is 430 or 304 stainless so not a speck of rust anywhere. Grates are substantial - I’d say 8mm - even the upper shelves

It’s “double walled”, but not “sealed” like the higher end Pro or Elite models - this means there are two layers of sheet between the cooking chamber and the environment, but it’s not a sealed jacket like I assumed. No matter, I’m testing at 200f and the thing is barely cycling and I can touch the exterior surfaces - only issue is I don’t see much smoke. Now running at 225f and there is some visible smoke coming out the exhaust vents in back of lid.

Hopper is only 12lb but I think that should be plenty to get through the night running low and slow with the insulation.

Any ideas for first cook?
 

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I had no clue they were that type. (front hopper, center burn pot, double slant grease tray. Quite interesting. Not nearly the "generic" or off the shelf type product I'd envisioned when you first mentioned the interest in it. I.E. side mounted hopper (housing electronics, and motors), auger box running out to burn pot with igniter snaked inside it. This reminds me more of a couple of the RecTec models Very interested to see how it does. One I've had my eye on as a great candidate is the Traeger Silverton. I really like the layout of it. Looks like a run of the mill gas grill, except with the hopper on the side. Very similar to your Memphis
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FWIW, I have a Yoder 24"x48" charcoal grill, 5+ years old now. With my high heat grilling, even stove paint takes a beating, but it does seem to be holding up well. It does have a design flaw that I'm still chasing that leads to the ash drawer filling up with water after a rainstorm.

Even if the lid double walls aren't sealed, they'll still aid significantly IMO to keeping the heat inside.

I really don't want to SEE much smoke coming out of the stack on my smoker. A very thin blue smoke is all I want.
 
LMichaels said:
I had no clue they were that type. (front hopper, center burn pot, double slant grease tray. Quite interesting. Not nearly the "generic" or off the shelf type product I'd envisioned when you first mentioned the interest in it. I.E. side mounted hopper (housing electronics, and motors), auger box running out to burn pot with igniter snaked inside it. This reminds me more of a couple of the RecTec models Very interested to see how it does. One I've had my eye on as a great candidate is the Traeger Silverton. I really like the layout of it. Looks like a run of the mill gas grill, except with the hopper on the side. Very similar to your Memphis
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Click to expand...
Smokin Brothers also makes a front hopper pellet grill right here in the US.

smokinbrothers.com

Wood Pellet Grill Made in America 30-Inch Premier Plus

Upgrade your wood pellet grill game with this American Made grill that features a welded frame, center stack for even temperature, and so much more!
smokinbrothers.com smokinbrothers.com
 
Today I inspected and cleaned the entire grill starting with the burn pot and plenum.

Here are better shots of the deflector - one flat deflector above burn pot riveted to the sloped grease trays. (The lower priced Select model has a deflector only sloped from left to right)

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I removed the burn pot and found the plenum full of ash (pic after shop vac)

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The seller had received an ER2 which indicated a bad RTD. He ordered an oem RTD from Memphis and installed but did not route the cable properly and had to lower the probe placement to compensate for the “short” cable

I found his “splice” using electrical tape with exposed conductors adjacent to the fan

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I relocated the probe back to the original location and did the best I could to repair the wiring using crimp connectors and heat shrink tubing.

I also found some bolts with sheared heads that secure the side shelves - will attempt to extract tomorrow

First cook on the Memphis will be two racks of BRITU baby back ribs
 
Good you caught those "mishaps" in there. It does look like it may have seen some water or moisture in it's day. Looks like a could be a nice pit. Only rough thing might be is for the most part you can't just run to the Amazon page and get generic type parts for it
 
And we’re off… maiden cook of new to me Memphis grill
Two racks of baby backs on the middle and upper racks with Kirkland (aka pit boss) pellets @225 for 3h

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Meanwhile, I’m extracting some studs where the bolt heads were sheared off - one on each side supporting the shelves. Previous owner added some sheet metal screws but left the broken bolts…
 
That is how I do my Q. I always tend to use the upper rack(s) on my pits. Sometimes I use a disposable pan sometimes I don't depends on my mood or what I am cooking
 
Yea with my Gen 2 EX6 I always use one because all of the grease fire issues with the Gen1.
I don't think I used my bottom rack at all except for grilling a few times.
 
Wanted to try it without pans or foil to see how difficult it would be to clean the deflectors after the cook

Not much to report + here is progress pic after 1.5h

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Results:

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Color looks great but…
Overcooked - I got small racks and should have checked more frequently and pulled earlier. Could also be different heat profile than the WSK

Too sweet - I usually take racks off WSK one by one as they finish and move them over to Vieluxe for glazing and carmelizing. I glazed on the pellet grill since they were already a little over cooked and did not carmelize. Could also be that I used my new ThermoWorks silicone basting brush that is larger and unknowingly slathered more sauce than I usually do.

Smokiness - very subtle and less noticeable than WSK with smoke tube


Next rib cook on the pellet grill: I will get my usual Costco ribs which are larger. Check more frequently. Use my normal basting brush and carmelize on the gasser. Add smoke tube.


Overall - pellet cooking is easy-peezy and I think with a few tweaks can get close to what I was producing on the wsk

So easy that I was able to extract the broken bolts and re-tap the threads on the shelf supports while the pellet grill kept chugging along…
 
I don't bother with separate grill glazing on times when I use sauce. As they get to my target temp and probe tenderness I simply will crank the pellet pit I am using from it's "normal" 250 to 350 and they caramelize/glaze just fine. Have never found it necessary to uncover the Wolf and deal with that beast for such a simple task. I think when you get more comfortable with the work flow and timing of the Memphis you will come to realize the gasser is barely even necessary to use.
I've never used Pit Boss pellets so I'm unsure how they stack up. I have used the ones from Sam's Club IIRC they're Bear Mountain or Lumberjack, I still have also a good stock of Bear Mountain 50/50 oak/hickory blend pellets from my run on Menards 2 years ago and buying like 280lbs worth or so :D
Once gone I will likely go back to buying at Costco and getting Kirkland these seem to be top notch and at $12.99 per 40lb a great bargain.
All the ones I mention using give me plenty of smoke/smoke profile. Again though this is dependent on how you run your temp profiles as well. As I get both my pellet grills approaching 250 and upward the profile tends to go down a bit. I've found typically on smaller cooks (ribs, thick steaks, etc) running in Super Smoke mode for the first 30 min then getting the ribs up 250 for the duration (until saucing) does a fine job. On larger longer cooks I don't fool around with Super Smoke. So something like a pork shoulder or brisket will simply go in at 225-235 for the duration and they get all the smoke you'd want
 
Damage assessment:
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I must confess that on my gasser, I never ever scrape the flavorizer bars… out of sight out of mind, but on this Memphis it’s right there in plain view
Do I need to be concerned about buildup on the deflector of a pellet grill?

How often does the fly ash need to be vacuumed?
 
R Chin said:
Damage assessment:
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I must confess that on my gasser, I never ever scrape the flavorizer bars… out of sight out of mind, but on this Memphis it’s right there in plain view
Do I need to be concerned about buildup on the deflector of a pellet grill?

How often does the fly ash need to be vacuumed?
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My deflectors have a pretty heavy buildup on both my grills I give them occasional light scrapings otherwise I don't give it a second thought
 
I don't think you need to be overly concerned about the deflector, although you could use wide, heavy duty aluminum foil to line it. There are also disposable aluminum trays, but the ones I have seen are made for straight deflectors. Not sure if you could just bend them in the middle. I have used both methods on my Recteq RT-700 to make cleanup easier.

BBQ Ribs.jpg

The ash below is more of an issue to me. If too much ash builds up, it may start blowing all over your food. I have a dedicated very small Shop Vac that I use. I bought a huge package of filter bags pretty inexpensively to be able to replace readily as needed. It makes pretty quick work of vacuuming up that ash. Depending on how long my cooks are, I try to do that every other cook.
 
I used to use foil to wrap the deflector in both my pellet grills. But two things convinced me otherwise. First, severe temp errors and fluctuations and 2nd it's actually WAY more time consuming to deal with it. I got feedback from both Z Grills CS and Members Mark CS both said no to foil wrapping citing specifically the big temp issues I was having. Both companies told me to not line them. I think people get obsessed trying to keep that tray looking "new". What for? Pull it out, give it a quick scrape down occasionally and cook away. Heck you don't wrap flavorizer bars in foil. So why this?
 
I have been fortunate to never have had temp problems with my Recteq wrapping with aluminum foil, but I admit it is debatable whether the foil helps save time. Recteq used to have a video showing you how "easy" it is to wrap the deflector on my exact model.

I have found the pre-made disposable sheets from Traeger DO make thing easier. I understand that Recteq makes them now as well. No wrapping and unwrapping, just lift it off and toss. But, yes, I agree and don't worry about stains on my deflector. It's a GRILL!
 
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