Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Any general items, polls
mickeyb
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Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by mickeyb »

Hi have a bit of delima thinking of getting a pellet smoker either the green mountain grill wifi model or the yoda 640,

Two different beasts, the Yoda heaps more sturdier but double the price tag to suit.

Guess its personal opion but just wondering if the cook is similar in both. The other sticking point is the price of pellets there very exy, I was in the states 2 weeks ago pellets and smokers so cheap there compared to Aussie

Is there anyone in Vic doing pellets at a good price than the main commercial ones out there



Secondly Ive been tossing up on A Primo or Kamado cooker heard they are more versatile and can do more than a smoker. Again price point is pendant on the size, there a couple different models on ebay from smoking bbq around $800 guessing Chinese copy so bit hesitant as at least the other 2 have great warranty structure

So any help on the pellets smokers and charcoal cookers would be great
Commander Cody
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Commander Cody »

dunno who told you that about the kamado being more versatile and able to do more than a pellet pooper.

it is the other way around, those kamados are soo over-rated. there is not the same real estate as a pellet pooper. and need more attention than a pellet pooper, if i was gunna get a vertical smoker i would be looking at a WSM or a pro-q, more real estate and easier to use than a kamado.

i had a kamado, and gave it away, i found it was a real PINTA.

you have yourself a real delima with the pellet poopers but, here is another one just for good measure, TRAEGER.

the pellets might seem expensive, but that is at the cash register part of it, when using your smoker they are quite economical, but if you use you BBQ as a grill that is when you will notice usage. i reckon they are on par with a good charcoal grill for fuel consumption, and if you buy quality charcoal you will more than likely pay the same as good quality pellets.

good luck and don't sweat it. go the pellet pooper. and i reckon the yoder is worth a look at, then go buy a GMG or TRAEGER

kevin
....up in smoke.....that's where my money goes.....
wedwards
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Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by wedwards »

Bbqs galore have 15kg bags of generic hardwood pellets for $15 a bag. Mix this with your tasty wood pellets so the go further, or use them when running pellet grill at high temps. That cheap enough for ya? I agree with what had been said about size etc, and agree that most kamados (except maybe some of the higher end ones) are very overrated, kamado owners would probably disagree though, so go check out all options in person.


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mickeyb
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by mickeyb »

Cheers see bbq have those maxi heat hard wood pellets so assuming they should be ok.

The green Mountain Grill Jim Bowie might be a good first smoker to get and play with.
Commander Cody
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Commander Cody »

good call.

you will not be sorry, pellet grills are so good to play with and do some great tucker.

stand by for Bentley...............he is the pellet pooper boss.

kevin
....up in smoke.....that's where my money goes.....
Bentley
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Bentley »

About the only comment I have for you is regarding flavor. I don't care what type pit you are using, if it burns wood and you are using it "correctly" and I use quotes for that as who is to say what a correct smoke flavor is...It should all taste the same...that simple for me.

Now, I cooked on a 1950's cast iron BBQ my folks had in the mid 70's with charcoal, no wood then, had no idea what BBQ wood was when I was 15, 16, 17...It was charcoal, and it was Kingsford charcoal for that matter. In the 80's it was their Weber, the original 22 inch Kettle, still charcoal...in the late 80's and early 90's cheap Home Depot gas units.

Come 1991, my 1st homemade UDS and the dawn of pure 100% hardwood cooking, no more charcoal...come 1998, Treager and my personal El Dorado...Joe Traeger nail it with..."Taste the Difference"...for me that was it!

But in all that time, from 1991 to the present, when I had the fires dialed in on the UDS and the few Evil Stick burners I used during those 7 years, they tasted the same or very close to the taste of the Pellet Pits...just way to much work for a fat middle aged guy!

So to me, unless you like what I would term a heavy, over smoked wood product...you should be able to achieve it with any unit, some will be much easier and much more consistent then others...and if you are asking if the food that comes off Pellet units will taste the same, yes they will!

mickeyb wrote:Guess its personal opion but just wondering if the cook is similar in both.
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Muppet
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Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Muppet »

wedwards wrote:Bbqs galore have 15kg bags of generic hardwood pellets for $15 a bag. Mix this with your tasty wood pellets so the go further, or use them when running pellet grill at high temps. That cheap enough for ya? I agree with what had been said about size etc, and agree that most kamados (except maybe some of the higher end ones) are very overrated, kamado owners would probably disagree though, so go check out all options in person.


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This is correct and I understand quite a few people use them.
For myself it came down to safety of my family. I have no probs taking risks myself but I can't risk our kids health on a few $
I have a good selection of basic Ques. I love my Saffire Kamado and Treager Junior.
The Saffire gets used the most, it's more versatile q out there. Not knocking Kev but can't see how a pelletq will ever be as good of all rounder.
For me I have been playing with both over a year now, IMO the pellet Ques have the best taste. Hands down. It may not worry you but smoke ring is another. Hard to get good repeatable smoke rings in kamados. Yes PelletQues have more usable room.
Those 2 things are the clincher in my eyes but in saying this Id never part with either.
It's really going to come down to your own situation...
Get both ;)
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Flippo
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Flippo »

Taking a keen interest in this thread.

I have a WSM and am super happy with it, love it in fact, and hence have no desire for a Kamodo type Q unless it was gifted or found etc but am really starting to get a real desire for a set and forget, no fuss pellet pooper style Q. Still a bit green with them though. Not sure if my usage rate can justify the cost.

Am I right in thinking that, as well as smoking, you can grill on them as well like a normal gasser? If that is the case then that would change the game immensely
Commander Cody
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Commander Cody »

but start with the pellet grill.............. :twisted: :twisted:

good easy way to learn the 'Q" route, will let you work out your time and temps,

what difference rubs and marinades, as well as brines will do in a low and slow cook.

or a good ol' grill up.

with out wasting money on charcoal.....then ordering a home delivered pizza........( by that time i would be totally schnorkeled ), so Mc maggots or the other poison burger joint would be a no go..... :lol:

......................................................and i so totally agree with you Bentley...............................................

.........................................................................YESSSSSSSS you can grill on a pellet grill..................................................
....up in smoke.....that's where my money goes.....
wedwards
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by wedwards »

Flippo wrote:Taking a keen interest in this thread.

I have a WSM and am super happy with it, love it in fact, and hence have no desire for a Kamodo type Q unless it was gifted or found etc but am really starting to get a real desire for a set and forget, no fuss pellet pooper style Q. Still a bit green with them though. Not sure if my usage rate can justify the cost.

Am I right in thinking that, as well as smoking, you can grill on them as well like a normal gasser? If that is the case then that would change the game immensely
I was in your boat a few months ago with a WSM and some Qs and a kettle. After the first cook on the GMG I put my WSM up for sale. Pellet grills are THAT good at saving time, and the granular control over their temp settings is great.

In terms of grilling, my experience has been less than stellar. I put that down to my perception that they use a LOT of pellets to get up to, and keep, grilling temps. If you use the generic hardwood pellets from bbqs galore at $15 a bag, that alleviates the issue somewhat. Once the temp is up, if you have a set of grill grates, the GMG does an OK job for grilling. I feel the yoder is better designed with this purpose in mind, because its simple to position your grill grates directly over the firebox (which is situated at one end, not in the middle like the GMG) and cook over real fire - you can do this with the GMG but its a nightmare in comparison as you have to remove all the guts of the unit (grills, deflector plate, wind shield), then position your grill grates, then get it up to temp. If you are reverse searing,removing hot parts is not much fun to do in a hot grill. The yoder allows you to pre-setup your grill for this activity, put in your grill grates on the left side, reverse sear on the right side, then fire it up and do the final sear on the left side on the grill grates over the fire pot, without having to remove anything.

Note, these are personal preferences, which you (and most likely bentley :) ) may not agree with.

Having said all that, I still have the weber family Q sitting around and it still gets used at least once a week for quick cooks, or when I need to cook something different for one of my kids who has allergies.
wedwards
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by wedwards »

Muppet wrote:
wedwards wrote:Bbqs galore have 15kg bags of generic hardwood pellets for $15 a bag. Mix this with your tasty wood pellets so the go further, or use them when running pellet grill at high temps. That cheap enough for ya? I agree with what had been said about size etc, and agree that most kamados (except maybe some of the higher end ones) are very overrated, kamado owners would probably disagree though, so go check out all options in person.


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This is correct and I understand quite a few people use them.
For myself it came down to safety of my family. I have no probs taking risks myself but I can't risk our kids health on a few $
I have a good selection of basic Ques. I love my Saffire Kamado and Treager Junior.
The Saffire gets used the most, it's more versatile q out there. Not knocking Kev but can't see how a pelletq will ever be as good of all rounder.
For me I have been playing with both over a year now, IMO the pellet Ques have the best taste. Hands down. It may not worry you but smoke ring is another. Hard to get good repeatable smoke rings in kamados. Yes PelletQues have more usable room.
Those 2 things are the clincher in my eyes but in saying this Id never part with either.
It's really going to come down to your own situation...
Get both ;)
Yeah Im heading that way too - the first 50 bags of the generic pellets might be fine, it only takes one bag to make people sick. I tend to use the pellet grills for low and slow, and any high head stuff (finishing reverse sear etc etc), I tend to fire up the weber q. The reasons for that are that im an impatient sod, so I like to be able to take my steaks straight from the pellet grill and finish them immediately without having to wait while the pellet grill comes up to grilling temp.

As a low and slow grill, pellet grills are as efficient or more so, as anything Ive ever used (and just ask my wife how many bbqs Ive tried - she keeps track of that sort of thing apparently :) ), however the one that I haven't owned myself is a kamado, so cant comment on that.

As far as smoke ring is concerned, Ive seen guys get as good smoke rings on the kamado as a pellet grill just using some know-how - for instance, one trick is that meat goes in straight from fridge, or even better put in freezer for an hour and really chill it down to almost freezing point - the colder your meat is initially, and the longer it stays below temps that no longer take in the smoke, the more smoke will get into it and the bigger smoke ring you will have. Another trick is to just cold smoke it for an hour, then cook it, but I feel like im cheating on the meat if I do that :)
mickeyb
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by mickeyb »

Thanks for the reply, want all 3 gmc yoder and kamado, but maybe one day May start off with the gmc and go from there

Thanks

Mickey
Davo
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Re: Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Davo »

I reckon you'd have to be very unlucky to get a bag of pellets that would make you crook. The place that makes them have done so for years and the owner has been using a pellet BBQ before they started to come into Australia.
The pellets are made in Woodburn which is a town about 20kms South of Ballina on the North Coast NSW and the entire North coast from Kyogle, Casino, Lismore and the Hinterlands of Murwillumbah have been hardwood timber regions since the days of the bullock teams of mid to late 1800's where the Bullock teams used to drag the timber down to Lawrence on the Clarence River to be sent to all parts of the world by boat.

On the North coast from Coffs harbour to the QLD Border there's a lot of sawmills that would have normally burnt or buried the sawdust....yes it could be a bit of mixed timber but it'd be all hardwood as the North Coast is not really pine wood territory.

Hoping that now the Woodpellet scene is taking off in Australia that there'll be more Australian Pellet makers come aboard and make pellets from our native woods.

Cheers

Davo
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wedwards
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Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by wedwards »

Thanks for the info Davo, if that's how and where they are made I'll keep using them


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Muppet
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Pellet Smokers & Primo Kamados

Post by Muppet »

Davo wrote:I reckon you'd have to be very unlucky to get a bag of pellets that would make you crook. The place that makes them have done so for years and the owner has been using a pellet BBQ before they started to come into Australia.
The pellets are made in Woodburn which is a town about 20kms South of Ballina on the North Coast NSW and the entire North coast from Kyogle, Casino, Lismore and the Hinterlands of Murwillumbah have been hardwood timber regions since the days of the bullock teams of mid to late 1800's where the Bullock teams used to drag the timber down to Lawrence on the Clarence River to be sent to all parts of the world by boat.

On the North coast from Coffs harbour to the QLD Border there's a lot of sawmills that would have normally burnt or buried the sawdust....yes it could be a bit of mixed timber but it'd be all hardwood as the North Coast is not really pine wood territory.

Hoping that now the Woodpellet scene is taking off in Australia that there'll be more Australian Pellet makers come aboard and make pellets from our native woods.

Cheers

Davo
Thanks for the info Davo. It's all good, it's just a personal decision.
I know from elsewhere that some of the more toxic compounds found on this earth are derived from various saps, woods and leaves. IMO If I don't know or can't find out then what's a few $ for the sake of the kids.
I've had this discussion a few times with a few different people. The guy at the shop had no idea, then the not for human consumption warning....
Cheers mate
Baby steps...
Current Weaponry - Saffire Kamado, Treager Junior, Outdoorchef 57, Performer 46, 'Fooseball' Grill, Hibachi
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