BBQ Pellet grills

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I've seen these and am not impressed. The pink pig thing is really ugly. The concept of using wood pellets to cook, but you can't use the same pellets that are used in a heating stove, because there is no way to tell what contaminants are in the stove pellets, so they cook pellets are hugely expensive.

I think that if you know how to use a BBQ, you can add your own "flavored" wood smoke by soaking chips of your favorite wood in water and letting them smolder over the hot charcoal fire. If you are really into this, there are very reasonably priced smokers available on the market.

When I lived in Arizona we could by a pound of mesquite charcoal for about a buck. That if used correctly would last a grilling season. A little wood/chips go a long way when cooking. If you are seriously into BBQ's and you can weld, there are some really great indirect cooker designs out on the net for free.

I helped a friend haul a trailered cooker from a back yard last year. He said he wanted a massive BBQ, I found it, and only partially regretted helping make the move. The first smoked party he had, proved worth the time and effort. Imagine a 1/4 beef. 1/2 hog. and three turkeys cooked in a 16 foot smoker. Best part was the sauce on fall of the bone meat. Sorry about the drooling.

Back to topic, you can buy a lot of very good food for the price of one of these stoves. If you want a small ultimate cooker, and want some endorsements right away, start a question about the Big Green Egg.
 
Wow those pig and steer grilles sure are pretty;PRETTY UGLY!
 
they blow the socks off alot of grills on the market and rager is the best pellet grill out there. Your not using heating pellets to cook with, your using specialty hardwood pellets for flavor. Some of the best food i have ever had has come of of tragers, and they are great compromise between gas and charcoal.
I went to this fantastic BBQ place in lyons colorado day before yesterday. I peeked in the back to see what they were using, and guess what, that had severel trager pellet grills smomking away. Dont let the looks fool you, these things rock.
 
Last weekend I had the best smoked pork shoulder I have ever tasted. Took a three drawer filing cabinet, cut a hole in the bottom and the top, mounted a stove pipe and sat it on top of the old Sierra insert out back. Stuffed the 4.2 cf firebox with beech and oak, dumped a pork should in the center drawer and 12 hours later heavenly smoked pork.

Old stoves never die. They just feed ya instead of heat ya.
 
BB-what color is your filing cabinet?I say paint a fluffy cotton tail and some big pink ears on that sucker,call it the "Rabbit Cabinet", and you've got yerself a home-made smoker that Traeger might license from you. :cheese:
 
My brother-in-law has one and it is awesome, no flare ups (even when cooking rats-cream cheese stuffed jalapeños wrapped in bacon) since it is indirect heat and the temp is very steady. The only thing he doesn't like is that he has to clean it after every 3-4 uses. I would have one now, but his cost about a grand and I don't cook out enough to warrant throwing around that type of jack.
 
I like my recycled hot water heater... Want to see it in action, come to the Hearth Party (see sticky in Hearth room)

Gooserider
 
I've got a Traeger smoker, and I've got to say I love it. It's the biggest one they make, and I can do six pork butts or six slabs of pork spares without a problem. Now, stick-burners will tell you that a pellet smoker isnt ''real' BBQ, and from a purist standpoint, I can see where they're coming from. From a realist's view, with the activities my kids are involved in, my job, and everything else that keeps me running 24/7, I can tell you it's a wonderful thing to be able to throw some butts on at midnight, set the temp at 240, and let'er go for 16-18 hours. The only thing I do is top up the pellet hopper in the morning, and give the butts a squirt of Jack Daniel's/cider vinegar/maple syrup when I think about it. The only thing it doesn't do really well is grill steaks. With oak pellets, I can get the thing pretty hot, but it's really better just to throw them on the gasser.

If you're interested in one, I bought mine from Boschler's Hardware in Oregon. I talked to Kyle, and he hooked me up. Even shipped to the bay area, it was cheaper than I could get it locally.

As an aside, when I got my smoker, I was assembling it-which just entails putting on the casters and inserting the grates, and realized that the brackets for the upper shelf were too short. I called Traeger support and sent them a couple of digital photos of the problem area. They called me right back and said to go ahead and use the grill, and that they would send someone out to take care of it. This was on a Friday. Tuesday morning, here comes a guy in a truck with a brand new grill. Absolutely awesome service.

jd
 
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