Over tbe last year + we've noticed wild swings in the smoke outpiut, and it's not the fault of the 2500.

Bluepig

Active member
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The short time we had it up and running in Utah our smoke output was consistent, and massive. Since we've moved down here to N. FL it is wildly inconsistent. Turns out in a humid climate there are drastic differences in the moisture content of the pellets, as well as percentages of the wood listed on the bag. One might think a slightly higher moisture content would increase the smoke, but that is not the case. I have two moisture detectors, one for drywall (two probes separated by an inch, and another a single probe). I've started to test pellets and notate those that have more than 7% moisture content. Anything above 10% seems to burn much worse and fills your firepot with garbage. To test our 7% or lower theory, we took a bag that came in at an average of 7.5% and placed two large aluminum cookie sheets out in the summer sun for two hours. This lowered the moisture content to ~5%. When we used these pellets we got more smoke, but our meat was dry (there is a point where the pellet will draw moisture from other available sources (?)). Doing these tests in Florida is a pain for several reasons: we leave our pellet box full, so we have to burn it until empty for the tests. Leaving your pellet box full introduces moisture in the pellets, so our regular output is not representative of the moisture present when we first open the bag (sometimes we are over 18% and that devastates smoke production, but produces very jucy meat). How long since the last rain?

Our RT-2500 sits under our patio cover and it is covered by the factory cover and neither reduce or hold the moisture at a constant.

We started our smoker journey with a Big Green Egg in 1997. We had it for almost 15 years and moved it once. Unfortunately, the inside ceramic rings started coming apart, and then quickly started to disintegrate. My wife wanted a vertical electric smoker which was great for ribs and jerky, but not great for steaks and roasts. Then we started buying the Green Mountain Grill's. They are amazing grills, first a Daniel Boone, then we wanted a larger one and bought the Jim Bowie. When we were leaving Utah my Dentist friend asked if we'd sell them the grill and we did (I already had the RT-2500 on order). There are still cooking functions we both believe are better served on our Weber propane grill.

I don't know that our experiences and journey will help anyone make a decision, or changes to their pellet selection or prep, but I thought I'd share. While I can make suggestions on the smoker prep, I can't make any on meat prep, and that is where you move from science to art, and like art smoking is a personal preference.

If you have a RecTeq Grill, your best and most flavorful days are ahead. This can be said about almost any smoker over a standard grill, but RecTeq quality stands above all that we have owned, giving the slight edge from Green Mountain to the RecTeq.
 
Good data... People expect everything to work perfectly all the time any condition. Thats not realistic.
 
The short time we had it up and running in Utah our smoke output was consistent, and massive. Since we've moved down here to N. FL it is wildly inconsistent. Turns out in a humid climate there are drastic differences in the moisture content of the pellets, as well as percentages of the wood listed on the bag. One might think a slightly higher moisture content would increase the smoke, but that is not the case. I have two moisture detectors, one for drywall (two probes separated by an inch, and another a single probe). I've started to test pellets and notate those that have more than 7% moisture content. Anything above 10% seems to burn much worse and fills your firepot with garbage. To test our 7% or lower theory, we took a bag that came in at an average of 7.5% and placed two large aluminum cookie sheets out in the summer sun for two hours. This lowered the moisture content to ~5%. When we used these pellets we got more smoke, but our meat was dry (there is a point where the pellet will draw moisture from other available sources (?)). Doing these tests in Florida is a pain for several reasons: we leave our pellet box full, so we have to burn it until empty for the tests. Leaving your pellet box full introduces moisture in the pellets, so our regular output is not representative of the moisture present when we first open the bag (sometimes we are over 18% and that devastates smoke production, but produces very jucy meat). How long since the last rain?

Our RT-2500 sits under our patio cover and it is covered by the factory cover and neither reduce or hold the moisture at a constant.

We started our smoker journey with a Big Green Egg in 1997. We had it for almost 15 years and moved it once. Unfortunately, the inside ceramic rings started coming apart, and then quickly started to disintegrate. My wife wanted a vertical electric smoker which was great for ribs and jerky, but not great for steaks and roasts. Then we started buying the Green Mountain Grill's. They are amazing grills, first a Daniel Boone, then we wanted a larger one and bought the Jim Bowie. When we were leaving Utah my Dentist friend asked if we'd sell them the grill and we did (I already had the RT-2500 on order). There are still cooking functions we both believe are better served on our Weber propane grill.

I don't know that our experiences and journey will help anyone make a decision, or changes to their pellet selection or prep, but I thought I'd share. While I can make suggestions on the smoker prep, I can't make any on meat prep, and that is where you move from science to art, and like art smoking is a personal preference.

If you have a RecTeq Grill, your best and most flavorful days are ahead. This can be said about almost any smoker over a standard grill, but RecTeq quality stands above all that we have owned, giving the slight edge from Green Mountain to the RecTeq.
Ditto. Started off with a GM. Moved and have a RT now. I really do love it better
 

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