How a wood pellet grill works...

Wood pellet grills have wildly gained in popularity over the last few years. Traeger started it all in the mid 80s when they came out with and patented the first wood pellet grills.

When Traeger's patent ran in 2008, there were 6 more manufacturers by the end of that year. Last I have heard there are over 60 manufacturers of wood pellet grills today showing the massive expanse of this industry.

Wood pellet grills all operate the same way. By that I mean they have a hopper mounted to the side of the grill cooking chamber that is filled with pellets. Pellets are nothing more than actual wood that has been turned to a sawdust and then pressed into the form of a pellet. When it comes to pellets, you get what you pay for. We sell the Lumberjack brand as they only use pure virgin wood fiber, they leave the bark on it for added flavor and never add flavor oils or binders.

An auger motor feeds the pellets via an auger into a fire pot. There is an igniter or hot rod that during start up will get red hot and light the pellets. A small fan feeds the fire pot the air it needs to burn.  This concept is basically no different than starting a small fire in a coffee can.

The fan not only feeds the fire pot oxygen, it will create a convention style cooking environment within the grill cooking chamber. This allows the heat and smoke to circulate evenly around your food.  Cooking indirectly a wood pellet grill is really no different than cooking in the oven in your kitchen. 

Once the igniter light's the pellets, the digital thermometer that most wood pellet grills come with monitors the temperature in the grill. As the temp begins to climb, the digital control tells the auger to slow down dumping less pellets into the fire pot. As the pellets burn down, the temp begins to drop which triggers the digital control to tell the auger to speed up dumping more pellets and so on and so on throughout your cook. For this reason, WOOD PELLET GRILLS HAVE AND WILL NEVER HOLD THEIR TEMPERATURE TO THE DEGREE.  That would be like trying to control the temperature of a campfire to the degree. Virtually impossible. Therefore, you will have temperature "swings" during your cook. 

The simple graph above shows the normal temp swings that will occur with a wood pellet grill. As the temp rises on the upswing, you will almost see little to no smoke. As the temp lowers on the downside, the grill will show visible smoke.  When you add wood to a fire it begins to burn more efficiently and of course hotter. As the wood burns down and starts to smolder, you typically see more smoke. This is what is going on in a wood pellet grill. 

The question most ask me is "then why are there digital controllers and PID (proportional–integral–derivative) controllers that are designed to hold temp to the degree?" First off, this is a marketing ploy to play on the digital age we live in. Our culture is shifting to more precise results what with digital use of thermometers and controllers. Again, no digital control can effectively hold the temp in a wood pellet grill to the degree. The PID controllers maybe lessen that temp gap but there will STILL be temp swings. 

My experience has been the food that comes off of any wood pellet grill whether it is a $300 grill or a $5000 grill; is the same. The difference are the "bells and whistles" those grills come with. Some offer pellet dumps to swap out your pellets in the hopper easily. Some offer multi-food probes to track the temperature of your food and now we have wood pellet grills that can be solely operated from your cell phone! 

All of this being said, wood pellet grills still remain the easiest way to "set it and forget it" when it comes to smoking and cooking.  These grills are very simple to use and a extremely versatile. 

Stop in some day to our store and we will show you everything there is to know about wood pellet grills! 

Dan M. 

Colorado BBQ Outfitters

Just the facts ma'am....

For the last 6 years I have heard just about every ridiculous idea, rumor, etc about barbecuing and/or grilling.

In this world we live in where it feels like integrity and truth have long gone by the wayside, one things is certain, facts are facts.

One of these so called untruths that exist out there is DO WOOD PELLET GRILLS HOLD THEIR TEMPERATURE TO THE DEGREE. The answer is NO. It does not matter whether you spend 100 dollars or ten thousand dollars on a wood pellet grill, they are not designed to nor will they hold their temperatures to the exact degree. In this digital age we live in, there sure are a lot of people trying to force them to. Adding PID controllers, etc. By doing this, you are actually causing more harm than good.

Pellet grills are designed using a pellet hopper to store the pellets that funnels down to an auger that feeds the pellets to a fire pot. There is a igniter that during the start up process gets red hot. That lights your pellets. Once the pellets are lit, the igniter turns off. The fan feeds the fire pot air that keeps the pellets going. As the auger drops more pellets into the fire pot, they ignite and the temperature starts to go up. The digital thermometer starts to read that the grill is getting hotter and slows down the auger to feed less pellets in the firebox. Then the temperature starts to drop some and the process repeats over and over. IT IS PERFECTLY NORMAL FOR A WOOD PELLET GRILL TO HAVE ANYWHERE FROM A 20 TO 30 DEGREE SWING DURING THE COOK.

If you sit and watch a wood pellet grill, you will notice it does not smoke during the entire cook.  One minute you will look out and not even be sure your grill is going as there is not any smoke coming out of it. That is the upswing part of the temperature climbing as the pellets burn more efficiently. Then 10 minutes later you look out and there is smoke coming out of the grill. That is the downswing part of the temperature lowering to adjust the internal temp of the grill and so on and so on.

If you still aren't convinced, just remember that digital controls and thermometer haven't been around that long, yet bbq has been made for hundreds of years. Don't get caught up in the precise digital age when it comes to good barbecue!

I realize we live in a digital age but that doesn't mean everything in life needs to be digital! :) 

Proper maintenance equals longevity

Boy, it has been awhile since I have posted a blog. My apologies everyone. Life gets in the way I guess. :)

This blog might be more of a rant than anything. I see or hear things in the BBQ world that drive me nuts. They are either blatantly not true or incorrect usage/handling of products.

Here are my top griefs/recommendations:

1. Digital thermometers

• Bluetooth stinks. The range is horrible and it flakes out 80% of the time. Wireless works great but stay away from Bluetooth use thermometers until the technology is better. 
• The probes are almost never water proof. Do NOT clean your probe under water, etc. In fact, do not even wipe your probe wire with a damp cloth. Wipe off the tip that was in the food and store it away. All you need to do. 
• Like everything, you get what you pay for. That $10 wireless thermometer at the big box store is a great deal until it dies half way through your season. 

2. Wood pellet grill digital controllers should hold temperature to the degree. Wood pellet grills are NOT designed to hold their temperatures right to the degree. They are designed to swing in temp anywhere from 5 to 20 degrees. Sometimes more. Unless you have 50 degree swings or more, don't worry about it. Remember that 100 years ago we smoked meat over a fire with no temperate control whatsoever. The auger will feed pellets into the fire pot. The heat will go up. To compensate the auger will slow down feeding less pellets. The fire will die down a bit and the process starts over. When the temp is going up, less smoke. Then the temp is coming down, more smoke. 

3. Your smoker should be air tight. It drives me nuts when people see some smoke coming out from around the lid of the smoker and want to do a bunch of crazy modifications. The analogy I use is to go out in a huge field and light a fire and stand next to it for 15 minutes.  You will smell like smoke. It isn't the smoke leaking you should be worried about. It's the possibility of your temperature not being stable. If your smoker is leaking smoke but your temps are dialed in and do not sway much, leave it. 

4. Tons of smoke equals good flavor. It is possible to over smoke foods. Personally, I prefer my smoked foods to actually be lightly smoked. Some like a heavy smoke and that is great. When you are starting out smoking foods, a little goes a long way. Start with lighter smoke and work up. 

These are just a few of the things that I encourage our customers not to worry about. 

Keep on smoking everyone and keep it simple! 

Dan M. 

Colorado BBQ Outfitters