New here, Be gentle!

[Tut0r]

Wow, is all I can say, glad to have stumbled across this forum! Great insight into a lot of different smokers/grills and everyone seems super helpful. I hope this isn't posted to much i've seen a handful of questions relating to temperture fluctations and a few have had some great ideas of wrapping their smoker to allow more consistent heat.

I have a pitboss pellet grill. Good first smoker for the low low price of $450 brand new! Was stoked! So far it has been a great investment with many hours spent smoking anything from St Louis ribs, Brisket, Carolina Pulled pork and a smattering of aussie snags.

Started off with a coolabah vertical grill and that thing was atrocious, noticed they are similar to the traegar but seem slightly worse off construction wise.

Issue i'm having is consistent temps, i've noticed the basic thermometer that comes with the unit probably isn't in the best spot or that great, can fluctuate up to 10 degrees at the tip and is usually 5 off grill level temp(have been testing grill plate level temps with a digital vs standard. Anyone have good tips or tricks to get these smokers to stay more consistant? Played with the P setting a lot and some days she'll be as tight on the needle as a druggie in Fitzroy, other days shes swinging that bat around more than my old lady.

Would love some feedback on getting consistent temperatures.

[the dane]

I would say 90% of outdoor cookers have fluctuations. People do try gasket kits and sealers. But yes your right the temp gauge can be 100% one day and really off the next. So many things can do this wind, whats cooking, fire set ups, (but your using pellets) i have never used pellets before. Also comes down to what you pay it what you get. I find there is not a huge difference between 225F and 300F. I used to panic if I had a temp spike of 315F and pull the meat out, do a shut down then restart. Now I ride it out. I would be a bit upset if I was to purchase a $2500 to $6000 cooker and still getting big temp difference and spikes

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Tut0r]

Originally bought it for the ease of use to control the temps. So far it's not bad but does prove a pain, but it's outside undercover protected from wind, aiming to build one soon enough!

Back to the fight I suppose

[Davo]

Welcome to the forum TutOr,

Yes there's a factory somewhere in China that churns out Pellet grills and I guess they use various grades of metal pending on market and what the brand it will be going under, orders....theres a lot of basics but really, apart from a few different design variations, they are not a complicated machine.
I had one of the original Traegers Pellet grills that were made in the USA, Traeger invented the pellet grill...they were the first and still a decent smoker grill even though they are constructed in China now......Now on saying that, my Traeger's thermostat was very basic, they originally came out with 3 settings, SMOKE/MED/HI which I was very happy to work with, it was simple and it worked, then I got upgraditis....changed it to a digital thermostat and regretted it, the temps were all over the bloody place.

But put simply, don't stress about slight variations in temps, you'll always get different temp readings from one end of the grill to the other, from grill grate to top of lid but you get used to these variations. For example, the generally accepted temp for smoking is 225F or 106C depending what you work with...the use of Farenheit is because in the earlier days of 12 yrs ago, we had to learn the old system still used by Americans so we can emulate them, but hot smoking can be done at 180-250F, then low n slow BBQ is from around 250-320F, then it's roasting from 320-380F then grilling from 380F onward. So if you were striving for 225F for smoking but it fluctuated between 220-250F...don't sweat the small stuff as it won't really make that much difference. Also the temp from Food grate to top of lid can vary up to 50+F because it's just under the lid is where it's at it's hottest.

Put a couple of scotch fillet roasts in the pellet cooker, ensure your pellet bin is full as you can get it, set it to smoke, place the 2 roasts in the cooker around 9pm, wake up around 6am to the beautiful smell of roast piggy...or you could do it with a beef brisket or chuck roast....nothing like it

Davo

[Tut0r]

Welcome to the forum TutOr,

Yes there's a factory somewhere in China that churns out Pellet grills and I guess they use various grades of metal pending on market and what the brand it will be going under, orders....theres a lot of basics but really, apart from a few different design variations, they are not a complicated machine.
I had one of the original Traegers Pellet grills that were made in the USA, Traeger invented the pellet grill...they were the first and still a decent smoker grill even though they are constructed in China now......Now on saying that, my Traeger's thermostat was very basic, they originally came out with 3 settings, SMOKE/MED/HI which I was very happy to work with, it was simple and it worked, then I got upgraditis....changed it to a digital thermostat and regretted it, the temps were all over the bloody place.

But put simply, don't stress about slight variations in temps, you'll always get different temp readings from one end of the grill to the other, from grill grate to top of lid but you get used to these variations. For example, the generally accepted temp for smoking is 225F or 106C depending what you work with...the use of Farenheit is because in the earlier days of 12 yrs ago, we had to learn the old system still used by Americans so we can emulate them, but hot smoking can be done at 180-250F, then low n slow BBQ is from around 250-320F, then it's roasting from 320-380F then grilling from 380F onward. So if you were striving for 225F for smoking but it fluctuated between 220-250F...don't sweat the small stuff as it won't really make that much difference. Also the temp from Food grate to top of lid can vary up to 50+F because it's just under the lid is where it's at it's hottest.

Put a couple of scotch fillet roasts in the pellet cooker, ensure your pellet bin is full as you can get it, set it to smoke, place the 2 roasts in the cooker around 9pm, wake up around 6am to the beautiful smell of roast piggy...or you could do it with a beef brisket or chuck roast....nothing like it

Davo

Thanks for the extra info, yeah I had the choice between that or the competing Traegar. While the Traegar still looks slightly sturdied construction i couldn't pass up how cheap the pitboss was, I use to smoke around 225 - 250 but have found the sweet spot for myself to sit closer to 250 - 280. Wasn't getting great bark on a lot of meats at the lower ends, just pulled off a spare rib for 6 hours and had a nice tender rib, still not happy with the consistency.

Although I find untouched the pitboss will still swing 20 degrees Fahrenheit quite often, I'm a stickler when it comes to temp and like to allow a very slight varience as I have found on long cooks those lost degrees can sometimes really throw off the end game....Probably my OCD

[Davo]

Yeah I wouldn't lose sleep over a 20F variance....it'll make bugger all difference.

I've tasted a high heat brisket that was started at around 280F, smoked for 3 hours then thrown in a deep pan, covered with foil till it got to 205F internal meat temp...the results were magic.

YouTube is very much a fantastic learning tool....for just about everything.


Davo