Pit Boss Phoenix Kettle: Why isn't Weber making one?


 
Updated Reflections on the Pit Boss Phoenix pellet kettle

I have been cooking here and there with my Pit Boxx Phoenix. Tonight I tried some of the slider burgers from Sams that I like so much:

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Sorry, I failed to get a picture while still on the grill. These were done like the pork chops I posted last month, using GrillGrate grates.

So, I am overall happy. I think this is a pretty nice grill for 400 bucks. It seems pretty well built and even looks sharp in my opinion. So far it fires up readily and is pretty easy to keep clean. I have already made use of the pellet dump switching from Bear Mountain Chophouse Blend to Lumberjack Char Hickory. No issues with the auger that I have noticed. The grill makes decent smoke. I also like that it has legitamite grease managment, although not much has accumulated so far in my grease bucket. Adding the "spin to open" diffuser from my failed Landmann pellet kettle seems to have been a positive, but the OEM setup is fine and lets you fool around with charcoal if you like as Tom Horsman demonstrated a couple of times. I also registered my Phoenix to be sure to get my 5-year warranty from Pit Boss.

One thing I haven't tried yet is installing my OnlyFire kettle rotisserie attachment. This is one of the big advantages of the 22" kettle shape. I need to get on that!

THE NOT AS GOOD

I bought this grill primarily to use as a break from the sometimes boring aspect of gas grilling. Since my wife adamantly rejects charcoal but will tolerate pellet grilling, this was a good compromise. With the addition of GrillGrate grates, the Phoenix can deliver modestly seared food. However, it takes a lot longer to get up to heat. That isn't always convenient and has already gotten me in trouble for late dinner. So, it is a qualified success - and definitely more fun (at least sometimes) than gas grilling. But it is not a complete gas grill replacement, in my view anyway. For something quick, my 1st generation Summit can be scorching hot in way less time.

The lid is sometime a pain. It theoretically can hang on the side of the lower bowl, but I am leery of scratching something. The lack of a hinge is great for adding 22" accessories - and I am glad for that - but it is not the most convenient thing when you are just doing regular grilling.

The hopper sides could be more sharply sloped. I have had to keep an eye on the hopper to prevent excessive bridging. I would be reluctant to do an overnight cook thinking I could sleep for 6 hours without checking it. I have also occasionally had smoke come back through the hopper, but not evidence of real burnback. My Recteq has never done that, so it is a little bit unsettling.

I do not have buyer's remorse and will continue to enjoy learning how to use this pellet kettle. I will admit, though, that I was tormented when I saw this no longer available Recteq special "Black Edition" Bullseye for sale on FBM. What a stunning grill:

Recteq special Black Edition Bullseye.jpg

Very expensive, though!

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Jon I'm glad you are enjoying your new pellet kettle. Fun to try new things. If you ever don't need you Black Jr. Anymore I'd be happy to buy it from you😊
 
Jon Tofte said:
I promised some follow-up on my recently acquired new Pit Boss Phoenix pellet kettle. I bought it to replace my beautiful Spider Huntsman whose charcoal flavor didn’t sit well with my wife.

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I have been holding on to a diamond pattern cast iron 22” grate for this kind of application. My first cook was done using this rather than the unimpressive folding grate that Pit Boss supplies. I made sure the Phoenix was up to the max 500 degrees and gave it extra time for the cast iron to get hot.

The steaks were fair at best with minimal sear effect. It was a hot summer day, but it hauntingly reminded me of doing steaks on my former Huntsman in the winter 🥵. I could hear The Who singing about not getting fooled again!

On my next try, I again gave the Phoenix plenty of time but used a rub on my Sam’s slider burgers that features black salt, I guess in hopes of obtaining more attractive results. (The steaks I had previously done had a mild Jack Stack BBQ steak seasoning I had bought on my trip to Kansas City.) The burgers tasted better than the steaks, and there was at least a little sizzle when I set the sliders on the cast iron:

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OK, I thought, but other than a little bit of pellet smoke flavor, my gas Summit could have done much better.

A NEW IDEA

About this time, I was trying to repair the Landmann pellet kettle I had bought unused at a furniture discount store. It was originally sold for a time at Sam’s Club. I bought it cheap and got a number of really good cooks from it. My main gripe was that it was 21 inches in diameter and could not interface with Weber 22 inch kettle grates and accessories. Then, the glow plug failed, and while getting a replacement proved easy enough, installing it was another matter. After hours of disassembly, I still could not access the glow plug to replace it. In comparison, that’s a 10 minute job on my Recteq. I finally through in the towel and turned the heap of parts into scrap.

One thing I did really like about the Landmann was the heavy gauge stainless diffuser that had a spinning top that allowed some open access to the firepot below when being used for high heat grilling but which could be closed for low and slow:

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With this diffuser open, the Landmann absolutely could sear:

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So, the thought came to me of keeping the Landmann difuser and using it in my Phoenix🤔.
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One day you’ll buy the WSK.
 
While true (I could not read that entire thing) but much of the way it happens is by absorbing radiant energy i.e. being in direct sun. So of course it can get hotter than the air surrounding it.
 
Glad to see the update and that you're liking it. Seems to be very heavy duty lid and bowl like a kettle, not sure if it's the same process. You're right about that Black Edition it was way too expensive but very nice. I think their newer grills are not as well made, perhaps due to new ownership. I do love the searing ability of mine, a good option to have in addition to gas or charcoal. Although my Q1200 heats up faster than anything and does a mean steak on those ci grates!
Wow, wonder why that Pitboss is so low-a bit warm maybe? Nice looking grill!
 
I think the Pit Boss Phoenix performs like a typical pellet grill. Topping out at 500 is pretty much what you can expect. The ability to get way above that is what makes the Bullseye unusual. Even the Searwood seems to struggle to get up to 600 if you agree with Tom Horsman's reviews on it.

I wish I didn't have to play around with GrillGrate grates, etc. to do decent burgers or chops, but it is an acceptable trade-off for an overall nice grill costing only $400. I will admit, though, had that Black Edition been for sale when I was selling my Huntsman, I probably would have made a road trip to Iowa! Of course, that would have gotten me in even more hot water at home :whistle: !
 
Just looking at some of the reviews on the pit boss website, have you experienced any of the backburn issues where the hopper seems to catch fire? Looks like a common occurrence for some people but I'm wondering if it is operator error. Looks like a cool concept and idea, it's intriguing especially at this price point
 
More times than not, back burn is operator error. Every time I've had it happen it's because I was "careless" in how I handled something. I.E., didn't clean he firepot out, shutting down from very high temps i.e. 400+ degrees, or was experimenting with different PID controllers. I know some grills by poor design have a propensity for it but, by and large it's usually operator error or carelessness
 
LMichaels said:
More times than not, back burn is operator error. Every time I've had it happen it's because I was "careless" in how I handled something. I.E., didn't clean he firepot out, shutting down from very high temps i.e. 400+ degrees, or was experimenting with different PID controllers. I know some grills by poor design have a propensity for it but, by and large it's usually operator error or carelessness
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That what I thought, but a couple of the reviews stated it happened during the initial burn in. Seemed odd
 
I mentioned that I had some smoke come back through the hopper, but not anything more than that. I can't really pin down why. I am trying to be extra careful with keeping this grill clean.

I am also toying with another idea to "open up" this grill a little like the SmokeFire. We will see if my idea works well enough to compensate for issues my idea might also bring.
 
I need to follow that method.

I tried my somewhat audacious idea today and got way faster and hotter heat response.😎 I need to look things over post cook and then I will put uo pictures of my Phoenix/SmokeFire hybrid!
 
So, I got to thinking about my Phoenix and wishing it would get hotter, faster. I pondered the heat trap effect of the very nice but also very thick stainless rotating diffuser I coopted from my defunct Landmann kettle. (See my previous post about this above.) Although it has small openings when rotated to that position, just like the stock Phoenix diffuser it puts a lot of thermal mass between the firepot and the cooking grates.

That lead me to thinking about the innovative “open” concept Weber tried on the SmokeFire pellet grill. I dug out an old Weber charcoal grate, two Genesis 300 heat diffusers, and a cheap, wider flavorizer that the prior owner of my Vieluxe had tossed ON TOP of the sagging original flavorizers. These were all scrap metal bound and ripe for experimentation.

Basically, I created a diffuser arrangement in my Pit Boss Phoenix that is much more like a Weber SmokeFire. These pictures were taken after the experimental cook and before I vaccumed up the ash:
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My first test was very encouraging. The Phoenix got up to 500 WAY faster and the GrillGrate grates were hot enough to make a definite sizzle when setting down a lone burger which cooked up in a very short time.
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I was happy to find no grease in the firepot and the little bit that fell through the GrillGrate grates being channeled to the grease drain and drip bucket below. One burger is not an adequate test to verify that my ambitious mods hasn’t created a “GreaseFire II” pellet grill. I will do more tests. However, I am optimistic that I am getting much closer to my aspirations for a pellet kettle.
 
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