Pellet Pooper?

[N Cage]

Hey guys i'm thinking about buying a pellet pooper and would like to get some advice.

I currently have both a WSM 18 (with a DigiqDX2) & a masterbuilt electric 40''

First of all do any of you either have one or have tasted Q from one? I myself have not. I have a local dealer which has the heap trager units but thats really the only place locally that has them. I'm either going to get a Rec Tec or a Yoder and to be honest i'm leaning towards Yoder (YS640).

I see the opinions on pellet smokers in general all over the map. I see a example of someone who was selling their rec tec because they thought it tasted like what they cooked came out of oven and didn't have much flavor at all to people that actually prefer Q on a pellet. I have heard people who really like the taste of a pellets says it imparts a nice "light" smoke flavor to the food. Of course "light" is a subjective term. Also heard people say the smoke produced by a pellet grill produces a more "bluish" smoke rather than a white smoke with our WSMs.

Also heard some techniques to get a heavier smoker flavor with a pellet pooper (start out at 180 and then after an hour or so raise the temp accordingly). Apparently above 225 you don't get much smoke flavor. I did see a video on youtube where his yoder was set at 225 and it was producing quite a bit of smoke of course how that relates to how much smoke flavor was in the food i don't know.

I've seen enough videos to know at least the pellet smoker will give you a 'nice' smoke ring but again don't know how that relates to deep smoke flavor.

I haven't cooked a lot of Q on my electric smoker so far. I've only cooked ribs and cold smoked peppers out of my garden. While i do like the flavor of course i prefer what comes out of the wsm the food that comes out of the electric is still good. Sometimes with i don't either have the time or want to spend the effort they go on the electric. I'm going to be doing a pork butt soon. I've heard you will not get a smoke ring with an electric. Hopefully the smoke flavor is even deeper from a pellet pooper than what you would get from a electric.

I dare not ask these questions on any site that has a lot of pellet pushers . They will defend their pellets to their last dying breath . This could be because it does actually produce excellent Q or it could be because they spent so much money on their smoker/grill then they want to defend their investment . If twice as much on a vehicle i might want to defend its better than anything else when in actuality its the same or worse .

Anyways my thought if Pellet Poopers couldn't produce a nice smoker flavor and weren't excellent then why would a lot of people on the bbql circuit use them (correct me if i'm wrong). I think more than a few teams use the cookshack/fast eddies pellet poopers.

The reason i'm really asking is the pellet smokers are expensive (even the cheap ones) and the one i'm going to buy buying is not one of the cheap ones though its not in the top range either. Also the fuel is expensive and harder to find. If you mail order pellets the shipping cost can get QUITE expensive. My closest yoder dealer is about 2.5 hours away so its going to be 5 hours of driving on top of that just to get the machine . I'll probably always prefer the Q that comes out of the WSM (i've never tasted that bitter to much smoke flavor that people talk about) but the convience of a pellet machine would be awesome.

thanks,
Ncage

 

[Dwain Pannell]

I think they make a pellet ring/hopper/auger assy for the WSM. Cuts the pellet pooper investment in half since you already have a WSM.

Another way to get more smoke in a pellet pooper is to add a sawdust burner. Either a smoke generator, tube, or maze.

I have a cpl buddies that have Treagers and they love them and the Yoders look bullet proof. But then again, one of them was talking about buying a WSM.

I prefer lump and chunks for a cpl reasons: 1) Every grocery store sells charcoal. You have to buy pellets at only a couple places in town or on the 'net and 2) You need electricity to run it. I prefer a fire. No power required.

Different smokes for different folks.

 

[Greg Powers]

When I was getting ready to buy a pellet grill (I already had a FEC100) it came down between the YS640 and Cookshack PG1000. I went with the Cookshack and have not regretted it for one second. I live about halfway between the 2 plants so distance was not a factor. There are many of both on the comp circuit, and both are great cookers, but I hear of more problems with the Yoders.
Cookshack has now came out with the PG500 which is about the same cost as the YS640, but has a direct cooking area so you can grill directly over the firepot.
I have not found anything yet I cannot cook on my 1000, in addition to the usual smoking and grilling, I've deep fried, baked, you name it.
The pellets you use will make a huge difference, get good ones like BBQers Delight or Cookshack. I've dumped Traeger and Branch Creek pellets on the ground rather than finish a cook with them. Pellets will smolder more at lower temps, thus the habit of smoking for a few hours at 180 and then increasing the heat. And yes you can get smoke flavor from pellets.

 

[N Cage]

I think they make a pellet ring/hopper/auger assy for the WSM. Cuts the pellet pooper investment in half since you already have a WSM.

Another way to get more smoke in a pellet pooper is to add a sawdust burner. Either a smoke generator, tube, or maze.

I have a cpl buddies that have Treagers and they love them and the Yoders look bullet proof. But then again, one of them was talking about buying a WSM.

I prefer lump and chunks for a cpl reasons: 1) Every grocery store sells charcoal. You have to buy pellets at only a couple places in town or on the 'net and 2) You need electricity to run it. I prefer a fire. No power required.

Different smokes for different folks.

I think your talking about this unit:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00E683QJO/tvwb-20

Unfortunately its only for the 22' in unit not for the 18' like i have.