Smokers : Offset vs Pellet

So what is your opinion on traditional offset smokers vs pellet smokers. I have a traditional offset stick burner and I love it. It can be hard sometimes to manage the heat, but it always produces a good cook. I know there are pros and cons on both. I know some of the diehard bbq cooks don�t consider the pellet coolers a real smoker. So what do y�all think?

I'm happy with my masterbuilt.

For those that don't cook all the time, or just getting into BBQ, then a pellet smoker is fine. Like an electric smoker, it will produce a nice product, and you do not need any babysitting.

As your comfort and experience increase, then you might consider an offset pit. Downside is a fair amount of babysitting and learning how to control smoke & heat. Upside is the beer drinking while performing such tasks.

I love my offset smoker. I have an Oklahoma Joe that I knew was a beginning smoker when I bought it used and have done very well with it. Although yesterday I did have a hard time keeping the heat down. I am in the market for the same style just made of quarter-inch steel. My neighbor just purchased a pellet smoker and the temperature control does look like an advantage.

I�m not sure why anyone who has watched a Treager smoke at 225 would look you in the face and say �that�s not a real smoker�. Or, that�s just an outdoor oven. Ovens don�t produce flavored smoke.

I have had both over the years and my Treager is the most versatile I�ve ever used. Changing pellets from mesquite or hickory to applewood or maple is very easy. I keep a 5 gallon bucket of each just in case I do ribs or a brisket or chicken. You just have to find what you like best.

I have only had it about a year. You absolutely have to clean it out after every 24 hours of use. The fire box will get ash build up. And on long smoke recipes like a 10# brisket, where you go 12-14 hours, you need a water container to keep at least a little extra moisture in the chamber.
Overall I am very happy with it and the folks that I have cooked for would agree. The learning curve was pretty sharp at first. I cooked a bad brisket and some bad ribs. But I think that is all history now.

That is the pellet smoker my neighbor has. We both smoked brisket yesterday. He set his at 225, filled the pellet chamber, and walked off. He checked on it occasionally and 13 hours later had a pretty good brisket. I was cooking on my offset and battled the heat all day. I couldn�t get that thing under 270. I cooked it hot and fast, was done in about six hours, and it actually turned out well. But I did a lot more babysitting then he did.

I smoked a 12 pounder Wednesday night. Put it on a 1am. 225 degrees.
I checked it at 6am and the chamber temp had actually dropped to about 190� which to me is preferable over a temperature spike hot.
All you have to do is drop it down to shut down mode, which slows the auger feeding the pellets. Wait about 10 minutes and then kick it back up. After I did that it was set at 220 until about 4pm. Meat temp was just over 190.
Took it out and put it in a cooler to rest until 6.
I think it was the best one that I have ever done.
Very easy to do and delicious!

I had several offset smokers in the past and they were good, just had to babysit them. I now have a Louisiana Pellet pooper. I catered a luncheon awhile back, I put the meat on at 3:00am and went back to bed, no worries. Not having to babysit a smoker gives me more time to drink.

This guy builds a very nice smoker.

https://www.bigphilssmokers.com/

I'll stick with my off set cooker, but I do understand why folks go with pellet. I wonder though if there were two BBQ joints next door to each other, one wood smoke one pellet. I wonder which one most folks would eat at first...

I will keep on using my offset or my BGE. Even though you can make a good product on a pellet, it does not end up the same as cooking on a wood fire.

I love my Pit Boss pellet smoker. Everything I�ve cooked on it has been great.

Pellet for ribs and brisket, charcoal for burgers and steaks.

I have an offset smoker trailer that I converted to run off of propane. Above the burner ring is a cast iron Dutch oven where I put chunks of wood (about the size of 2 golf balls side by side) 6-7 at a time. I start the burner and let it come to temp, and add wood chunks every couple of hours, and 12 hours later, I have a damn fine brisket. I just need to figure out a contraption to automatically add the wood chunks for me and I will be done.

Would love to see a blind taste test with each type of smoker used. I bet the people that could raste the difference and guess which one was which would be very low.

Been looking at the pellet smokers for a little while now. If I buy one I'll be going with the Rec Tec 590.

I have an old Charbroil barrel grill. A Dynaglo offset stick burner. I actually do better on on the Charbroil.
Been thinking about either a pellet of Kamado type for briskets. I'm not into sitting out there for 13 hours anymore.
I have heard the pellet grills don't get the smoke flavor like others. Yankee dude at work brought in a brisket on Friday. Cooked it on his Kamado. Turned out really good.

I will say it! If it ain�t cooked with wood it ain�t right.

Those pellets are nothing more than compressed cardboard with flavor added. Then the idea of allowing a outdoor oven to be called a BBQ pit???? That�s just more of that yuppie [censored]!!!

Next thing they will be boiling steaks and saying �oh,,, it�s the only way to cook�

You�ll buy nothing and like it, young man!!!!

Not true, I believe the Cookshack Fast Eddie pellet smokers win most BBQ contest when allowed.

Don't knock it till you try it.

http://www.cookshack.com

I have a green mountain grill pellet smoker and I love it. I bought it because I didn't want to be babysitting a smoker all day. I usually throw on a brisket when the wife gets up to work and go back to sleep and check on it when I wake up. I always see my neighbor going back and forth checking on his offset smoker while I'm watching tv or playing with the dog

Lumberjack pellets are 100% virgin wood from the species on the bag. No fillers.

I�ve wondered about this. All the research I�ve done shows the pellets are real wood. I have seen the pellet smokers used in BBQ Pitmasters. The other competitors don�t like it and take some jabs at the guys using them.

Heat is heat, smoke is smoke. The meat has no way to differentiate if the heat and smoke are from wood or pellets.

This.

That.

This brings up a question. On a wood fire cooker, you can make the smoke different colors, blue, white, and not much smoke at all. Can you do that on a pellet smoker? The three different colors of smoke play a big role in flavor and bitterness. I have eaten food cooked on a Yoder Pellet Smoker and also off of another one I�m not sure what kind, and it did not have the flavor I am used to getting off of a wood fire.

Bet you didn't burp up smoke either, like on a wood fired.

If I want more smoke using my pellet grill I just use this.

https://www.amazon.com/LIZZQ-Premium-Pel...ds=smoking+tube

I don't post much but I'm on here every day! This topic caught my attention because I have been going through this. I had an offset stick burner and got pretty good with it . I I got older I got lazy and wanted something easy for just me and my wife. Got a Masterbuilt electric that uses chips. Cooks really good food , but, food does not look like the TV food. Finally got a Masterbuilt Pellet Smoker. Have been using it about 6 months. It cooks some of the best looking food I have ever cooked. Bark, smoke ring, tenderness, PERFECT! My problem is the smoke flavor is barely present. I have changed pellets(Lumberjack) and ran the smoke phase longer, trying about everything I can find on the pellet forums. I just can't get the smoke flavor I want. I think I'm going to try a combo cook with my chip smoker first and finish on the pellets and see what happens. That's my 2cents.

This all seems a bit spiteful on her part. Why can�t she just get up a little earlier and put the brisket on?

lol I will look into this, but it does give me an excuse to crack a beer at 6 in the morning

Not all wood fires will make everyone burp smoke. It depends on the individual. Myself, I rarely do if ever. My wife, she will not eat smoked foods, they all make her do it no matter what the method.

Smoke and flavor are not the same. It�s obvious to the taste. It�s a quick fix to taking the time and doing it right.

Someone please explain this (virgin wood)?
It�s pulp extruded thru a press!!!! Liquid flavor added to satisfy the yuppies.

Wrong again!



Cookshack barbecue pellets are made from hardwoods that contain fewer resins and the pellets are produced in a controlled process to ensure a food grade product. Our food grade pellets are made by pulverizing and drying hardwood sawdust and extruding to an uniform density through a rotating die under enormous heat and pressure (250� F @ 3,000 PSI). The pellets get their shape from the naturally occurring lignin in the wood. The pellets are cooled and placed in 20 lb. bags.

Here's another tip for you:

Food grade wood pellets burn more efficiently than raw wood used in stick burner pits. Wood pellets are a superior cooking technology, providing the best cooking platform for barbecue recipes.

Food grade pellets are clean-burning that produce very little ash with a low creosote buildup.

The obvious taste difference is the Creosote.

I never did like the Creosote flavor on meat, there is a difference.

Heck! I am an OLD and knew all that!

Dropping knowledge all over the place. Still pulled an �old� and sent three (edit: 4) posts instead of one, but you can work on that.

Make that 5!

I have never had a stick burner but about 18 months ago I had a charcoal grill, gas grill, electric smoker, Blackstone griddle and a Yoder smoker. I now only have the griddle and the Yoder. I can cook anything I want to on those two and make it turn out great. I use 100% wood pellets with no flavors or anything added and it is super easy to use. The Yoder is built like a tank... they are expensive but I haven�t seen any other pellet smoker built like them and they will get screaming hot for searing if you want. I love my Yoder, it is one of the best purchases I have ever made and I am a person who usually experiences buyers remorse on big purchases.

Jason

Jason likes his Yoder

Vorhees?

I have cooked on my fathers offset pit for years after I inherited it. Oak Lump from B&B. Regulates good. Doesn't need a lot of attention. Burning sticks did and I switched to lump charcoal. 1/4 inch steel custom made and will last generations.

Not sure what you can do with pellets, but these turned out purdy good over mesquite...

Does that smoker put off good smoke with just the lump charcoal?

Lump oak B&B and oak chunks is what I prefer to use for beef in my smoker. I�ll use royal oak and pecan in the smoker when smoking Pork.

I have a book my mom gave me when I was 13, I can lend you.

A thin blue smoke. And yep. It does.

Smoking with just charcoal and no wood is Carolina style Q

It�s Q for Q�s

Check out B&B..... It ain't yo pops Kingford. Lot's of other brands out there. BGE people use it as well. It is real wood.

Charcoal is wood.

This is not a logic thread. This is a point out how dumb F4A is thread

Royal Oak also makes a nice lump.

Charcoal is charred wood (wood with all liquid and most of its gasses removed by charring it at 500+degrees)� why charcoal hardly smokes at all�there�s hardly any gasses left to ignite to create smoke

Lump doesn�t have any fillers (clay, cement, kaolin), so it burns hotter, cleaner, and shorter

I like B&B and Royal Oak, but if you have a non insulated smoker, good old Kingsford Blue has a time and place for long 10+ hour smokes

Open attacks on a civil discussion. I am sure you are a good dude. Not so much.

This is correct and the reason I use wood chunks along with the lump in my smoker.

Yep... And my contact delivered two cord post oak yesterday. Mainly for heating the shop. I might throw a stick on the pit .... I dunno. And I sure don't care how a man cooks his Q. Nobody around here have ever complained.