Stampede Question before I sell my 590 and get a stick burner

[Motodad1776]

Smoking/curing a ham, bacon, cheese, fish or the likes is a big difference between cooking low and slow and kissing with smoke.....otherwise I do agree with you.

 

[Rectechie]

Have a 2 yr old 590, have had a number of mechanical issues with it but support has always come through extremely well.

My question though is regarding performance.

After dozens of cooks, all sorts of meats, mostly RT wood blend pellets, and every recipe and technique I can find on this forum and others, my opinion of the 590 is that its really just a big oven that produces a tiny bit of smoke. I have tried low temps, 225-250, long hours, varying temps and hours, butcher paper wraps, you name it. But never any serious bark unless I leave meat on so long it just dries out. Different pellets, dual smoker tubes, you name it and I have tried it.

Have cooked big box meats, custom meats and cuts, a huge variety of things but at the prices we have to pay these days, I am just not happy and looking for any advice as to what I may not have yet tried or if that's just the way a 590 cooks.

Honestly, I get better bark and flavor cooking on my gas grill with two smoker tubes than the 590. Yes, the wi-fi and set it and leave it is great, but not for what I end up with.

Any suggestions or thoughts before I put this thing up for sale and move on? BTW, live in FL where temp and high humidity are constants.

Thanks in advance

Have a 2 yr old 590, have had a number of mechanical issues with it but support has always come through extremely well.

My question though is regarding performance.

After dozens of cooks, all sorts of meats, mostly RT wood blend pellets, and every recipe and technique I can find on this forum and others, my opinion of the 590 is that its really just a big oven that produces a tiny bit of smoke. I have tried low temps, 225-250, long hours, varying temps and hours, butcher paper wraps, you name it. But never any serious bark unless I leave meat on so long it just dries out. Different pellets, dual smoker tubes, you name it and I have tried it.

Have cooked big box meats, custom meats and cuts, a huge variety of things but at the prices we have to pay these days, I am just not happy and looking for any advice as to what I may not have yet tried or if that's just the way a 590 cooks.

Honestly, I get better bark and flavor cooking on my gas grill with two smoker tubes than the 590. Yes, the wi-fi and set it and leave it is great, but not for what I end up with.

Any suggestions or thoughts before I put this thing up for sale and move on? BTW, live in FL where temp and high humidity are constants.

Thanks in advance

Try Bear Mountain Bold pellets. Lots more smoke and plenty of bark.

 

[TravnDFW]

Yeah, I would use it for a boat anchor, if I were you! My 2 year old RT-590 is just collecting dust in the corner of my garage. I can't even sell it around here. I hate to throw $1300 on the dump but it's in my way. I won't even give it to charity because it would be cruel.

I’m close to buying the 590 but your post got my attention. Can you share more details plz?

 

[Buckeye smoker]

I didnt read all the previous posts but, have you tried like a smoke daddy setup that holds real wood chunks?...
Ive personal found imo* blends suck and straight flavors give the best results. You could always get a small log smoldering before starting to get the stick burner flavor youre after .

 

[Threadcutter]

I didnt read all the previous posts but, have you tried like a smoke daddy setup that holds real wood chunks?...
Ive personal found imo* blends suck and straight flavors give the best results. You could always get a small log smoldering before starting to get the stick burner flavor youre after .

I added a Smoke Daddy "Big Kahuna" to my 700/Bull. I'm happy with it. It will go through a load of chips pretty quickly (1/2 hour'ish), but it's easy to recharge the chips while it's in use. Smoke Daddy also makes this unit;

https://smokedaddyinc.com/product/the-heavy-d-stick-burning-heat-diffuser/

In my mind, there are a couple of problems with this unit;

1. You have to take out the grates and drip tray to load this with wood. (Kind of a pain).

2. If you want to load additional wood during a cook, you have to pull everything apart while the parts (and meat) are hot. (Fairly impractical. Do-able, but dangerous).

One of the things that I REALLY like about the Big Kahuna is that I can cold smoke and I can add only as much wood chips/smoke to a cook as I want. I will typically hickory cold smoke baby backs naked for about an hour, then pull them and prep them with rub. Then, it's back on the grill for regular 700 smoking/cook.

I suppose that if I were a purist, I'd have a stick burner, but I never wanted to have to constantly monitor it or the cook.

 

[bornelsu]

Two thoughts come to mind. First, I have been very unimpressed with the results from RT pellets, as well as other blends. My strong preference is unblended Hickory pellets and, surprisingly, the best I’ve found so far are Kingsford Hickory. I just purchased a bag of Bear Mountain Hickory and will try them next.

Second, the level of “smoke” in food is definitely a personal preference. What is good for one person is too much or too little for another. If you are in the “heavy smoke” category, you probably won’t ever be satisfied with what comes out of a pellet smoker.

Here’s a photo of a brisket I recently did on the RT-340 with Kingsford Hickory pellets. In my opinion, it had good bark, a nice smoke ring and a great, smoky flavor. YMMV

View attachment 16605

Good job on the brisket. Looks great