Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[okie smokie]

Ordered Friday at 4 PM. Shipped on Monday and received on Wednesday (1000 miles!), and assembled same day. Easy assembly, and a structurally sound pit. My son had told me that the new recteq wifi app was a great improvement. It was a no brainer to download and install. Just a few clicks and it did all the previously required entry of data. I then did the 400* 1 hour burn in, and was a perfect performance. The "actual" overshot 17* in the first 12 minute and then settled back to 400 at 16 minutes. From then on the "actual" drifted down 1* and up 1* once for the whole hour. Shutdown without a hitch. I may test with my personal probes tomorrow, but if it is like the 590, the temps will be close enough not to require adjustment. But with the RT you can adjust so that it reads out accurately +- 25*.  I like the new cast iron heat diffuser and the second shelf will be handy as well. The SS lid fits better than the lid on my 590. RT goes out of the way to advise not using any lid insulation, and confirms that the leaking lids do not affect cooking results. Really stout cover that fits well. Will see how well it works for me. The upper grate, stores as a shelf in the cabinet, but prevents me from storing my spare pellet box below but lots of other junk will go there.

[Bar-B-Lew]

Nice looking grill and a great price.  Anxious to hear more about it.

[okie smokie]

Had some concern about the heat loss thru the bottom, but when I pulled the grease drawer out and looked inside, the bottom of the barrel is heavily insulated with a thick foil lined insulation pad. Also, access to the control, auger motor and fan looks to be similar to the the Beale Street but I won't open it unless a need arrises. I suspect that the whole front panel either comes off or swings down. For sure the sheet metal at 16 gauge is much more rigid than the 18 gauge on the BS was. Even without the side shelves, the pit is heavier than the BS also. The top of the hopper makes a nice work shelf, and has a cute way of opening to load 30 lbs of pellets (as compared with 12lbs).  I think the wheels are a bit bigger also and all four can be locked so if one lock is not protruding on one side, you can use the one on the other side. Surely can't reach all four at the same position.? Standard 4 inch bread pan, disposable fits right into the grease drawer, so no mess to empty. In the past I have been a drip tray foil guy, but I think leaving the drip pan naked, and using a large putty knife to scrape it down after drippy cooks will be easier. The cabinet seems stout enough to me, but the magnets that keep the doors closed are too weak. Will see if I can correct that. I like the narrower appearance and space requirements. The front shelf is more than adequate. There are no tool hooks, but will find some elsewhere.

[ScottE]

Very nice! I love my RT-1250, they are great, well built pits with an excellent controller.

[02ebz06]

Nice looking grill.  Congrats!!!

[pmillen]

From your description and the photographs, it looks as though it belongs on anyone's short list.

[okie smokie]

Ran the 225* test today with 3 personal probes. My favorite smoking temp.  I know that 3 probes left, center, right are not technically enough samples but should be reasonably accurate.  At 0 offset (factory preset), and after an hour, at set temperature, all the probes were about 12* to 16* hotter, with swings above and below.  So I reset the offset to +10, and also changed the square D (in the center) to "average" which is a continuing 15 minute average. After about another hour, the square D was averaging 225* plus or minus 1*. and both sides were mostly in the 217-235* range (up and down). I had just picked +10 as a guess, since the numbers are not exact degrees. Lucky! I'm sure on different days it might vary, today its 88*ambient. Not sure how the adjustment will effect high temps but plan to do a steak tonight on High, with GrillGrates installed and will see how it goes. My 590 was adjusted +7 on Offset as I recall and was always very accurate after. RT says changing the offset is not nec, as they claim that all controls are accurately set at factory. To do that with my pit they would have to have burned some pellets and taken some temps. Hard to do with an unused and unassembled pit. And in fairness, the error was not much.  More importantly, the temp swings were much less than on the Memphis BS and less frequent. I think I'm good to go and happy to be here.

[BigDave83]

Be curious to see if you taste a difference in smoke flavors. If the BS had bigger temp swing it probably produced a better smoke profile.

I liked my RT even with the issues it was built nice, but for smoke flavor, liquid smoke and the oven could have beat it. When I bought my GMG is when I really noticed the lack of smoke.

[okie smokie]

Be curious to see if you taste a difference in smoke flavors. If the BS had bigger temp swing it probably produced a better smoke profile.

I liked my RT even with the issues it was built nice, but for smoke flavor, liquid smoke and the oven could have beat it. When I bought my GMG is when I really noticed the lack of smoke.

Did not really notice much difference, but I did notice a significant amount of soot deposited everywhere on the Beale Street after all cooks, even after testing with no food inside. Had to wipe the soot off the grates, every time. Eventually soot will gather on all pits, but this was a bit surprising. After my burn in yesterday on 1070 for an hour at 400 and then 2 hrs today at 225*, almost no soot anywhere. Just a trace around the exhaust vents. Just ran that down on the web and it is the result of incomplete combustion or so called black smoke. I wonder if the other models of Memphis do this? or was it unique to mine. Yuck! Not good for you.

[BigDave83]

Yes soot would come from not enough air usually.

[okie smokie]

Can't get much air when the fan is off almost all the time below 300*. Anyhow its history. Did ribeye tonight. Turned it up to High and when it hit 650* did the steak on the 1070 grates until steak temp was 120* then onto the upside down GrillGrate for almost 2 minutes each side. Temp was 138* so off, buttered and rested 5 minutes or more.  No pics, looked great and ate even better. Lowered temp to 300* and when it got there turned it off. Shutdown was normal.  Cleaned and ready to go.  No avoiding discoloration of the barrel from the high heat. Now its officially broken in!

[hughver]

Ca. Turned it up to High and when it hit 650* did the steak on the 1070 grates until steak temp was 220*

I'm sure that you meant 120°.

[okie smokie]

Ca. Turned it up to High and when it hit 650* did the steak on the 1070 grates until steak temp was 220*

I'm sure that you meant 120°.

You are correct! Will correct it.

[smokymtnjonny]

Looks like an awesome cooker!

[okie smokie]

Did a 350* test today and found the readout to be accurate so the +10 added to the OFS is correct for low/slow and mid/heat temps. And once stabilized, it stayed there +- 4-5*. Please note that it takes about 30 minutes for the temps to stabilize, and the center takes the longest to get there using real temps. I think the cast iron diffuser is a big heat sink and takes a while to build up and radiate. Once it arrives to the set temp it stays very close. So for those who own them I would suggest to start it up 30 minutes before you plan to cook if you are picky. If not picky, probably ok to start sooner, as it will even out on long cooks. Main thing is that there are no wild swings! Time to get down to some real Q! Probably ribs tomorrow.