Thanks to all on the board for the answers! I pulled the trigger on the Rec Tec 590. Will let you know how it turns out.

I got a pellet about 2 years ago when my Weber Q melted (user error). Decided to get a pellet and like it a lot. Wife and kids don't like the smoke flavor on everything, so I got a cheap propane grill recently that I use for certain meats. I like having both.

I cook a lot of briskets on my pellet grill and have a hard time keeping it clean enough to go back to high temperatures.

The grease that just sort of coats everything has a tendency to catch fire if I go to anything north of 300 degrees.

For that reason I use my pellet grill for low-and-slow and I use my Old Smokey for true grilling. I've been eying an outdoor table top griddle though, as I like grilling veggies and shrimp and such - and I think it would be a lot easier than managing with foil or cages.

What brand pellet grill do you have Frio?

I've got the Traeger, and I moved up to their Timberline 1300 a year ago.

Smoked fantastic and the features are great, just can't ever totally degrease it.

May want to invest in a small shop vac to get the dust out and either clean the drip tray after a few uses or put foil on top of it. Shop vac can be used to get the pellets out too when you want to change.

Good idea.


What pellets are recommended / favorites?

My protocol is to thoroughly clean the grill every time I need to add pellets.

The Traeger and RECTEC pellets are both good and readily available. My grill had burned each of them very efficiently, so I don't even mess with other brands. I have run one bag of the Weber pellets, and they seemed to do well also.

I vac that sucker every time, I scrub the grills themselves, I clear the trap - but it Is just coated from the grease that travels within the smoke.

It may be from general over-use, which I wear as a badge of honor

I like the Hickory flavor of Traeger pellets for all beef

Of course, the real key is in the prep seasoning and the mop sauce

lawless89 said:

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Have a green mountain pellet grill with the grill grates. Grill grates are on the side and can run up to 700degrees at surface. So it's easy to get a sear with those.

Did a 7lb prime rib yesterday and got the perfect crust on the outside.

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What grates are you using and how high do you set the temp to get to 700?

I hate these threads. I really want to start building my outdoor kitchen, and I have convinced myself that I need to build around whatever cooking device/s I choose.

I've been using a 13 year old gas grill with replacement parts and an electric smoker forever. I have absolutely no idea what to go with. How the hell am I suppose to decide?

The Camp Chef Woodwind is awesome. You can change out pellets mid smoke and clean doesn't require a vacuum. I smoked ribeyes the other night at 200 degrees till they read 115 deg, then seared them to perfection on the side burner. The next day I smoked a brisket and it was perfect.

jammer262 said:

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The Camp Chef Woodwind is awesome. You can change out pellets mid smoke and clean doesn't require a vacuum. I smoked ribeyes the other night at 200 degrees till they read 115 deg, then seared them to perfection on the side burner. The next day I smoked a brisket and it was perfect.

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This is the only way I do steaks now. I use both the pellet and gas grill.

n_touch said:

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lawless89 said:

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Have a green mountain pellet grill with the grill grates. Grill grates are on the side and can run up to 700degrees at surface. So it's easy to get a sear with those.

Did a 7lb prime rib yesterday and got the perfect crust on the outside.

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What grates are you using and how high do you set the temp to get to 700?

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GrillGrates brand. Got three panels and they came with the spatula that is used to fit inbetween the grates. Had to look it up. I max my GMG out which I think is 550 degrees, move the heat shield to the opposite side of the grill and then the grates make up the difference to get to 700.

https://www.grillgrate.com/shop-grillgrates/standard-grillgrates/pellet-grills/

Was it mostly decided that if you go pellet, you don't need an additional smoker?

I can't imagine what for, smoking is what a pellet does best.

10-04. I get it. I was doing a lot of product reading and was becoming skeptical of the language in the product details. A lot of pellet products seem to be described as grills. Then, you'll see a few that are seemingly identical as others, but described as smokers.

If you like the Traeger pellets. check your local McCoy's. In BCS, they stock hickory, mesquite, and pecan for $12/bag.

I didn't love them for grilling, even when I was doing it. I like grilling pretty hot and they just don't have that same sizzle to me.

But man, my briskets and rib game went through the roof with the pellet grill and I'll never cook them on anything else again.

For your basic burgers, sausage and chicken - it's hard to beat the taste and simplicity of the Old Smokey.

My one additional add is likely going to be a big skillet, for the diversity of things like veggies, liquids like eggs, and other creative stuff I can come up with.

do you have an outdoor burner for the skillet or just gonna put it on the pellet grill?

I'm looking at one like this https://blackstoneproducts.com/collections/griddles/products/36-griddle-cooking-station-with-stainless-steel-front-plate

Just propane fired stand alone skillet with a nice big surface

Hell, I even use my pellet grill to smoke a pot of water I then use to make ice cubes for my bourbon. The cubes don't come out crystal clear, but I love the slow release of the smoke in my drink.

Soooo.... if I were to want to look into the purchase of a pellet grill, what brands should be considered and which avoided?

To me Treager are overpriced. Green Mountian seems to have the most bang for you buck. Pit boss is a really solid machine and a good pit that you can get pretty hot to sear. Camp chef is another good entry machine and you cam always add a sear box to it.

As with anything it comes down to what you will use it for and your budget. I have a Green Mountain Boone. Good size, does everything we need and have the pizza attachment. Was not sure how I would like it but we do quite a bit of pizza now.

I like Rectec due to the controller being one of the better in the market, Wifi, all stainless construction, and the price is close to ones made with carbon steel. I have seen a Green Mountain Grill rust and there have been people complain about that. The new Webber had some issues when it first came out and I am not sure if they fixed them.

Rectec would be first and then Traeger if you are looking to spend around $1000. You could always get a non-wifi version and add your own setup later but it will cost about the same in the long run. I would say the Wifi is nice as I can be smoking something on the weekend and if I have to run an errand I can change the temperature or turn off from my phone. It also has alerts when it hits temperatures.

I bought the non-wifi Traeger. I don't mind not having wifi.

If I got a pellet it would ideally be for both smoking and grilling so I could get rid of the bulky charcoal grill and possibly my current smoker. Not opposed to wifi but not sure it would be a must. No real budget but I am a fan of "bang for your buck" as long as you aren't sacrificing quality & durability.

I'm a camp chef fan for the versatility of the sear box attachment.

It's been a while since I did the research, but I narrowed down to either Green Mtn or RECTEC. Green Mtn had thicker steel walls, but RECTEC had the best controller. As mentioned previously, I had also read some complaints about the Green Mtn rusting, but to me that can be avoided with a little care. I ended up choosing the RecTec 590 and haven't been disappointed in the least.

As for the WiFi...
Do you NEED it? Absolutely note, but it is super useful. For one, you can set alarms for your meat probes that let you know when you hit your designated internal temperature. The benefit to this is I can be in the kitchen working on sides, or just watching the ballgame for that matter, and I don't have to monitor the grill.

Why I really love it:
My routine is to pull meat from the freezer at night to defrost. In the morning, I pre-season it and throw it in the fridge. When I am on the way home from work and get about 15 min from home, I open the app and fire up the grill to start preheating. I call my daughter to pull the meat from the fridge and let it come to room temp. I go change my clothes, hit the head, kiss the fam, etc. Then I'm ready to throw the meat on the grill.

Sodadude said:

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After decades of gas grills, switched to this a couple years ago. Always used gas for the convenience, but after a few months practice the charcoal approach isn't much more work and the food tastes SO much better! And no flare ups. Never going back.

https://www.pkgrills.com/the-pk-grill-smoker-classic-silver/

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My dad has had one of these for so long that I honestly dont remember not having it.

Replaced the grates a few times but he has had it for at least 40-45 years.

For those that went Rec Tec, what was the deciding factor in the 590 vs 700?

I'm in a similar boat that my gas grill is about to go to the curb from age and rust through, and my electric smoker is becoming unreliable on the temp control, so I figured to replace them with a single unit.

The 590 isn't too big to conveniently cook for a family of 4 to 6, but it's still big enough to easily feed a group of 10 - 12. It could easily handle three 15 lb briskets at once or 18-24 burgers, but it doesn't feel like too much grill to fire up for just a couple of steaks.

The 700 will handle enough for food for a small army, and it costs more.