Do you guys get enough smoke cooking above 225?

JohnDS

Well-known member
Messages
118
Location
Long Island, NY
Grill(s) owned
  1. Bull
Hey guys. 225 is what I cook everything at. It works good and the amount of smoke is good. I see a lot of the pros cooking at 275 on regular wood burners and I know part of the reason they do this is because you can get away with cooking at this temp without sacrificing quality, and another reason is it gets done FASTER. Has any experienced pellet smokers out there tried smoking at 275? Were you able to still have enough smoke flavor with this pellet smoker?

I refuse to use a smoke tube. I feel like I didn't spend all this money on the RT700 to have to add more smoke manually. I see people doing this all the time and it drives me crazy.
 
You have 1 of 2 options. Deal with the mild smoke you get from a pellet smoker or create more smoke via other means. Do you get plenty of smoke yes, but smoke flavor is so subjective that whats one persons heaven is anothers hell. Pellet smokers dont create the amount of smoke and never will inherently from what you get from stick or wood charcoal burners. I suppose a third option could be fire it up on smoke setting (low), let it hang there for a couple hours then crank it up. And yes i sometimes smoke stuff up to about 325. You still get great smoke ring on longer cooks but it is a very mild profile compared to other non pellet grills.
 
I've always been very pleased with the amount of smoke flavor and smoke rings on my cooks using my RT-700 when smoking at 225 - 275.
 
The only smoking I did before my Bull was with a cheap upright electric smoker. I was fairly happy with the results on most cooks with that. I was extremely happy with my Bull. I get all the smoke flavor I want. I cook most everything at or around 225, at least for the first few hours and it works well. I have even gotten a good smoke ring and flavor on shorter cooks like a tri-tip. But for those that want more smoke, as mentioned you can add a smoke tube or maybe a pellet grill is not the right thing for you. I use my Bull almost exclusively for smoking, I have a weber gas grill that I still use for higher heat searing and for burgers, steaks, pork chops etc.
 
It doesn't bother me to add more smoke producers. I added a smoke daddy to mine. My wife loves the amount of smoke from stock bull, I want more. Pellet smokers give up flavor intensity for convenience. It's part of the game.
 
It doesn't bother me to add more smoke producers. I added a smoke daddy to mine. My wife loves the amount of smoke from stock bull, I want more. Pellet smokers give up flavor intensity for convenience. It's part of the game.

Yea it's kind of unfortunate. I just feel like if I'm gonna use an extra smoke tube, I might as well put it in the bbq. I was actually able to have the ambient temp pretty steady before I got the pellet smoker. After all, although milder smoke, isn't the goal of a pellet smoker to smoke your food, not to produce milder smoke? It just happens to only be able to produce milder smoke, I'm sure it was not intentional when designing. Idk. I'll take the convenience with milder smoker over baby sitting all night with a stuck burner, but maybe they will figure something out in the future. I have a few ideas.
 
I think all smokers are like this. It's part of the burning efficiency I believe though I'm no chemist. I love my bull and it produces great food. I just need more smoke so the convenience plus the smoke daddy gives me everything I could want plus the ability to produce less smoke intensity for people like my wife. So, even though disappointing at first, it kind of worked out for me in the end.
 
Hey guys. 225 is what I cook everything at. It works good and the amount of smoke is good. I see a lot of the pros cooking at 275 on regular wood burners and I know part of the reason they do this is because you can get away with cooking at this temp without sacrificing quality, and another reason is it gets done FASTER. Has any experienced pellet smokers out there tried smoking at 275? Were you able to still have enough smoke flavor with this pellet smoker?

I refuse to use a smoke tube. I feel like I didn't spend all this money on the RT700 to have to add more smoke manually. I see people doing this all the time and it drives me crazy.
Smoke tubes cost around 20 bucks and they last almost 3 hours when full (they don't take many pellets to fill) They ramp up the smoke flavor big time and I personally think they are great for adding costlier wood pellets like pecan for example without having to throw a grip of them in the hopper. I enjoy messing around with this stuff so to me the tube is just one more thing to dork out on.
 
BBQ is a slow process. Be patient.


That said, there are ways to speed the process. For example (don't tell anyone I've done this many times when catering): I need to bbq some butts for an event tomorrow, but I have to go to work this morning(doesn't apply to me anymore). I put the butts in a tray, cover and put them in the oven at 350. I come home and pull them, tray the pulled pork, pour a broth seasoned with a favorite rub over the pulled pork and put the open tray on the smoker (mixing occasionally) until I like the smoke, then ramp it up to 350-400 to char for some "bark". You get moist seasoned meat, smoke, and charred "bark".
 
It doesn't bother me to add more smoke producers. I added a smoke daddy to mine. My wife loves the amount of smoke from stock bull, I want more. Pellet smokers give up flavor intensity for convenience. It's part of the game.
Can you link the "smoke daddy" you refer to. And how do you use it?
 
https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/big-kahuna-cold-smoke-generator/

They make smaller ones but I splurged. This thing kicks it up big time. It's a little fiddly until you get the hang of it but I couldn't imagine cooking without it. I keep it going for the first 135 degrees of the cook then let it ride normal.

You could argue that the convenience of a pellet smoker gets nullified using this kind of system but I only use it for the first part as I said and it's really not that difficult to walk outside open the cover drop a few wood chunks in and leave. The PID of the Rec Tec does the rest of the magic of keeping the temperature on point.
 
The other drawback is that you have to drill a hole in the side of your smoker and a lot of people aren't willing to do that. Like I said my results have been that much more amazing in the combination of the temperature control of the smoker along with the added kick of the big kahuna really makes this a devastating combo.
 
Hey guys. 225 is what I cook everything at. It works good and the amount of smoke is good. I see a lot of the pros cooking at 275 on regular wood burners and I know part of the reason they do this is because you can get away with cooking at this temp without sacrificing quality, and another reason is it gets done FASTER. Has any experienced pellet smokers out there tried smoking at 275? Were you able to still have enough smoke flavor with this pellet smoker?

I refuse to use a smoke tube. I feel like I didn't spend all this money on the RT700 to have to add more smoke manually. I see people doing this all the time and it drives me crazy.
Yeah I found this to be the case as well, I came from exclusively using Weber Smokey Mountain, 22” and 14”. I still do all my heavy smoking on the WSM’s. An use this 700 for burgers, chicken , baked potatoes,, light duty stuff. I’ll admit I like it better than the treagers, pit boss... I’ve tried different pellets with mixed results. Oh and you will find out that you will have to calibrate for grate temp and the two probes.
 
I have the opposite issue. As stated above, "How much is enough" is subjective. As i have experimented and really thought i wanted more and more, my family finally "politely" said i went too far. So, i scaled back. I have a tube. I use it only when i have to cook "fast" meaning i am in the 350 range when i should be 225-275. I use the tube to double the smoke because it is cooking in 50% less time. (steaks, chicken occasionally).

I personally (again personal choice) can't imagine running a long cook at 225 and adding the smoked daddy. My family would describe it as bitter i think. In fact, in my early experiments i didn't wrap things. Cause i was afraid i wouldn't get the full smoke flavor i paid for and i learned that light/med smoke and juicy was more important than super smoky and dry.

There is no shame in using a tube. Regardless of what you paid. There are a couple of other tricks folks use like chunk wood on the heat deflector. I have even heard of a few folks who burn wood in the bottom (seems like a bad idea but you do you).

I think the key is to find your spot whether with a smoke daddy/tube/snake or nothing... whatever it takes and then love the results. I am not sure i will ever stop experimenting personally. I have had to really take the log thing serious. So i can document what i learned each time (even purchased a log book). That helps me tweak/fiddle and get better and better!
 
I have the opposite issue. As stated above, "How much is enough" is subjective.

Yeah, I'm 100% in agreement with the sentiment above. Some people like more, some like less. My wife likes less which sucks because I like more, but I'm able to find the happy medium, most of the time.

Though, I don't agree that no-wrap makes it dry...I prefer it most of the time because I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to wrap when it hits the stall and my stuff turns out juicy AF.

That said it's not Rec Tec's fault. Pellet grills just burn too efficient to get stick burner smoke output but you have a range of options that include cheap and mildly effective to expensive and crazy effective. Your smoker, do what makes you happy.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account on our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top