Pellet Fan
All Things Considered => General Discussion--Food Related => Topic started by: Quadman750 on August 27, 2017, 12:02:21 PM
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With me it was a total accident, I walked into a hot tub store just killing time looking at barbeques and walked out with the Memphis Elite. That salesman had me sucked in right away. I liked it so much I had to buy a second one for high heat grilling. What's your story?
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I first found 1# bags of pellets in different flavors at Walmart on markdown in Sep/Oct timeframe. Used to use them in tin foil or a smoker box in my Webers. When I ran out, I found them by the 40# bag on samsclub.com. When I ran out of those, I found out they were made by Traeger. I then found out about this thing called a pellet grill. Found a local dealer in Northern IL who let me borrow a Traeger Elite for two weekends over an Easter weekend. I cooked for the whole neighborhood. I bought a Traeger XL from him. Somehow I stumbled on a forum about pellet cooking. They had some performance tests. I then bought a Memphis Elite. Read some more performance tests, and bought a MAK 2 Star. Guess I've been cooking on these things for 6-7 years now.
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I went into a grill and fireplace shop to show a friend an infrared grill that has a thousand tiny flames below the meat. The salesperson showed me a GMG and raved about it. I landed on pelletheads.com by Internet searching.
I read several performance tests and "Tips and Tricks" sections from the oldest to the newest in an attempt to determine which pit best fit what I thought my needs were. I finally settled on my choice and bought it. It was about $1500. If Marcia could have picked it up she would have hit me over the head with it.
The fact that we've been married 53 years is a testament to her willingness to forgive.
I'm about to test it again.
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Just think if Bentley got commissions on all the pits sold because of all the performance tests he did. Bentley I think you would be a very rich dude.
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Just think if Bentley got commissions on all the pits sold because of all the performance tests he did. Bentley I think you would be a very rich dude.
Yeah, instead it was money out of our own pockets for meats, pellets and electricity. Bent even delivered several pits for free to folks that got them using his own gas money. Wish I could say that the meat went to us, but we don't really eat much brisket, pulled pork or even pork ribs any more, so a lot of stuff went to work. I had very happy co-workers though.
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I may just have to apply for a job there. :P
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Well I just covered most of this in the Get Introduced section, so take a jump over there and get caught up with my comments.
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A few years ago we had a give-away at werk for a Traeger Jr. I'd not heard of them till then.
I was getting tired of babysitting my WSM, and started some researching. This was about 4 years ago, and the number of smokers were few (in my price range). I took the plunge on Amazon, and haven't looked back.
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I tried for years to smoke stuff with a gas grill but it wasn't the real deal. One weekend I was invited to a barbecue for pulled pork. The guy had a stick burner and the pork he made was really good. I started talking "Cue" with him and he inquired if I had heard about pellet cookers, since he was tired of tending fires. Came home searched pellets and up came Bentley's PG500 test. I was instantly hooked! Sold a valuable guitar I had, and used some of the money to buy one. Have never looked back and have never been happier with my purchase.
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Sold a valuable guitar I had, and used some of the money to buy one.
Wow! Huge gamble. I've heard of hocing an axe for food, but this...
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I was at a friends wedding in 1997, the caterer was using Traeger 075's If you can imagine. I was still drinking in those days, so I drank instead of ate.
But I had a Buddy that was so impressed with the food he bought one, then another. Well, late that year I had some of Tommy's Dry Rub Baby Back Ribs...Still hard to say, but rigorist honesty and all that. I have been competing for over 15 years, have a few 1st in Ribs and 3 Grand Championships in that time...and to this day, I have never had a better BB Rib! The guy had been cookin BBQ for 2 weeks!
Bought my 1st Traeger in 2002 and here we are!
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I accidentally stumbled onto a site with someone named Bentley and his performance test on a GMG DB, after checking reviews decided it was affordable and had some good features, two years later did my 1st competition with the GMG and haven't looked back since.
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I was designing an outdoor kitchen and really wanted a smoker to be part of it (not just sitting off to the side). Pellet grill seemed like a better fit so I started researching and found the other site. Eventually settled on the Yoder and the rest is history
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As a died in the wool stick burner I was looking for a faster alternative for home use, ate a chicken dinner prepared on a cheap pellet unit from Menards cooked with hickory pellets and it struck me as one of the best tasting half chickens I'd ever had.
I bought a Pit Boss, took it home and quickly learned I loved cooking with pellets but the quality wasn't what I was needing and the research for a serious unit began and I wound up reading Bentley's performance test threads and settled on the PG 500 and we love it!
After 30+ years of stick burning with oak and cherry it was a real treat to be able to start using hickory pellets, there's just something about the flavor profile that takes my favorite recipes to that next level stick burning never did.
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For me, it was at a Traeger road show, at Costco, around 2011 or 12... It had been years since I had cooked with wood, I knew nothing about pellets, or pellet grills. Bought a Junior a few days later, that was all I could afford... Learned a lot since then, with the help of a lot of good folk, like those around here.
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Used to do a lot of smoking on a Weber kettle. Got pretty good at it, but wanted something bigger. So, about 15 years ago I bought a big stick burner. Turned out some pretty good cooks on that thing. But I live in a 2 story house with a walkout lot and as I got older, I got tired of running the stairs down to the ground in the backyard to check on the temp/fire constantly.
Then, one Saturday my wife went to a Kitchen store here in Minneapolis. When she came home, she said "You should see the new grill they have and are demoing!" So, I had to go take a look. It was a Memphis Pro. Needless to say, I was impressed, but not sure I was ready to spend that much $$$. Over the next 2-3 months, I couldn't get it off my mind, trying to figure out a way to justify spending that much money to both myself and my wife.
Then one Saturday, my wife said "Put your shoes on, we're going for a ride." When I asked where we're going, she told me "To Kitchen Window to buy that Memphis Pro!"
I think I'll keep her! :)
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Had a Weber 18 inch bullet and a friend had a Traeger. My first pellet grill was a Royall and in their defense one of their first ones. Had a few issues and returned it for a MAK 2 star based on the review Bentley did. Still have and cook on that one to this day. The Royall sold me on the concept and later ones had none of the issues I had.
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Probably around 2009 or 10, I would see traegers at the ace hardware stores. They had the normal traegers with the old wood handles, and 3 speed controllers. They also had the pink pig, and the steer models. Always loved the concept, but at the time the price seemed way out of whack.
A couple years and xxxxxx purchases later, I got 2nd place in a poker tourney. I didn't feel as bad spending other people's money on a traeger lil Tex. Sold that (not one issue). Got a pg500. No issues, but I had also purchased the whole hog so the pg500 went to my brother in law. Still have the whole hog.
I have personally facilitated the purchase of three pellet grills for other people. All of them have told me every chance they get that they couldn't be happier.
Unfortunately, the pellet world has cost me a boatload of money. On top of the 4500 or so I've spent on pellet pits, they also gave me a taste for quality equipment. I've also bought a Lang, 270 smoker, and hunsaker vortex drum as a result of becoming addicted to the hobby. Makes that 700 dollars I didn't want to spend on the traeger look like pocket change. I guess blame it on the poker game.
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My brother knew I had couple electric smokers and knew I like to piddle around. I went back home for Christmas a couple of years ago and he bought me one for $300 GMG DB non WiFi model. He had a buddy at work whose dad was selling them so a couple others latched onto the same deal. He even got me the cover for it.
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Being in MN back around 2006 ish there was not really any good BBQ places. I had been to a place called Rudolphs as a kid with my parents and recall it being good. After revisiting years later I did not care for it. I started looking for bbq places and recipes and how to cook bbq. I researched for a few years then stumbled upon a pellet smoker site. I did alot of reading / research. I really liked the idea of not having to baby sit Q all day. I started looking on CL and one day saw a Traeger Lil Tex for sale fairly cheap compared to a brand new unit. The kicker was it was brand new, never used. The guy won it in a Papa Johns contest and it just sat in his garage for several years. I promptly called him and said I'd take it. I drove out that day after work and got it. I beleive that was 2008 or 2009. Been pellet smoking ever since. :bbq:
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When we moved back to Spokane after 5 years in Moscow Idaho I needed a new grill. Bought a Chargriller Duo. It was 1/2 gas and 1/2 charcoal. Shortly I was using nothing but charcoal. Then SWIMBO and I saw one of those traveling cooking shows and they showed baby backs. We both looked at each other and said "I want that!"
So I bought a firebox that attached to the charcoal side of the BBQ and got smoking. Lots of really bad white billowing smoke with the added bonus of not being able to maintain temp worth a xxxx.
I saw that I could get a propane insert for the firebox. That didn't work for me either.
I knew there had to be a better way so off to Google I went. I soon discovered pellet grills and bought a Traeger 075. Then I found Larry, Bentley and their friends. Soon I was actually producing some kind of good food. Then I found the review section and really wished I had found that site before I bought my Traeger. It was great for me but not quite what I wanted, still too much babysitting. So I bought a PG500 based largely on the performance testing and I couldn't be happier.
Now if I could just find a few more recipes that fit into our new diet plans!
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Near as I can remember this is how it came about. Started with a little chief smoker for while until it broke then I got a bigger upright gas smoker and it wouldn't produce enough smoke unless it got so hot it cooked rather than put smoke into it. Got rid of that and started researching pellet smoker that somebody had mentioned and a friend of a friend who knew somebody in GMG got me a deal on a DB. Still not sure what his function at GMG is but it was a pretty good deal from what I had found locally so went for it. Then I found Bentley and his posse. Thanks guys and gals.
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My story is kind of like a few others - accidentally got into it. About 15 years ago my wife told me that her dad was cooking on a grill fueled using wood pellets - I my naivete I though she was nuts and must have misunderstood - who would be dumb enough to cook using pellets glued together with who knows what kind of toxic chemicals. I'd never heard of a pellet cooker before that.
Then in 2006 or so (I think), she called me and said "Bring the truck to Costco; I just bought a grill". I'm accustomed to that kind of phone call from her so I didn't even ask what it was, and just went. I was shocked to see her waiting outside Costco with a couple of large boxes and a couple of bags of pellets. Now I was the one that felt dumb :P
She had purchased it for herself, but in the years since, I've gradually taken it over ;D
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I live in Oregon and I really wanted a Traeger. It was back in the 90's and the grills were still made in Oregon. I decided I couldn't afford a Traeger at the time so I planned on getting another cheap gas grill. I went to Home Depot picked out the gas grill I wanted. They didn't have the grill I wanted in a box, the ones they had in stock were already assembled. The box would have fit in the car but the assembled grill would not fit in the car so I left without a grill. Shortly after that there was a sporting goods store called G.I. Joes that had just started as a Traeger dealer and they were cooking that weekend and had a big sale. I went to the store had some of the food they cooked saw the sale price on the grills and went home with an Oregon made Traeger. The grill has an Ortech controller and 3 settings. smoke, medium, and high. Two years ago I purchased my second pellet grill. It is a Blazng Gridiron.
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I was wine tasting, the winery owner was showing me round the machinery involved in making the fantastic Shiraz I was tasting. He noted that he would be having the same wine with with pellet smoked veg and bone in leg of lamb. The way he described his upcoming dinner had me sold. Much googling later as pellet grills are not very common in Australia yet, a GMG DB arrived in my backyard.
Absolutely love the thing, consistently makes outstanding meals, still got lots to learn to really get the best from it, but loving the ride.
Bought the pizza oven for the DB recently, very happy with how that turns out my pizzas too :lick:
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Good topic. Thought I would bump and see if there are some additional answers out there.
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Mine was a logical progression in the smoke life. I went from electric to a Weber Smokey Mountain and that thing required bending and other work that my body didn't like so I starting looking for alternatives. My barber had a pellet grill and raved about it so I sought them out. As near as I can tell there was only one pellet grill dealer in Maine at the time and he carried MAKs so I ended up with a 1-Star #184 and still cook on it.
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Was visiting my cousin in 2013, he had a GMG and this was the first pellet grill I had ever seen. I knew I had to have one. So searching the net and also looking for someone who offered financing I decided on a Rec-Tec. After using it for 3 yrs I knew then what I was looking for in a pellet grill Last year purchased my Cookshack Fast Eddy PG-500 and completely love it!!!
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I come from a fairly large family and about 6 or 7 years ago we were having a large fall party. My boss let me borrow his traeger texas elite is the model i believe it was. I fixed pork loins and pork shoulders for pulled pork and everyone went nuts for it. I was hooked I couldn't afford a new one so the search was on for one of my own. Well my patience finally paid off when I found a same as new Louisiana LG900 for a steal of a price and I haven't looked back. I have it and a big horn pellet grill not a hi tech fancy grill but it had only been used a couple times and was $50 at a garage sale. I am currently scouring craigslist and offer up trying to find a third one to add to the fleet. If anyone in the greater indy area hear's or has a good used one for sale let me know.
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I was building an outdoor kitchen and wanted an attached smoker. I didn't like the design that I kept coming up with for some time of off-set so I started looking at pellet grills. My neighbor had a traeger and loved it. After doing more research on them (and a handful of cooks on my friends unit), I bought a Yoder y640 and have never looked back
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My brother in-law showed up at my house at the beginning of summer with a Treager Pro34 in the back of a truck. He wanted it but isn't a very good cook, but he really wanted to try it out. He dropped it off at my house saying it's "OURS" and to go crazy with it. He keeps showing up out of the blue with meats and recipes for me to try.
Win Win Win situation :bbq:
P.S He is so in love with them now, he's bought 6 of them for his better clients as gifts
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I was channel surfing and ran into the Traeger infomercial. My family really likes barbecue and it seemed to be a better alternative to the gas grill we were currently using. I recalled seeing pellet grill roadshows at my local Costco and it turned out one was starting the next morning. My annual Costco check was also burning a hole in my pocket so here I am. That was around this past Memorial Day weekend. We have gone through a lot of meat since then and the entire family is happy with our pellet grill purchase.
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Here's my story
Moved from central Texas back to Canada in 1998/1999.
After a year or 2 I was driving and all of a sudden BBQ popped into my head - I have not had BBQ in over a year!
I went to every BBQ joint I could find in Ontario and back then they were all xxxx (or at least thats how I felt about it).
Decided I could do it myself - made a smoker - epic failure so I started looking at everything - offset, BGE, Weber, etc.
Then I saw a pellet smoker at a local bbq shop, I used to use pellets to heat my place in Texas and loved the convenience and the heat output.
Went up to same bbq shop on Traeger demo day and went home with a Lil Tex Elite
Love it so much I headed to Ponca City to take FE cooking class and a judging class.
Saw the FEC100 and ordered a custom one once I got home (Stuart told me who my local dealer was, 20 mins from my house).
I saw Loot N' Booty win 1st place chicken at the 2014 American Royal Invitational with a perfect 180 on a GMG DC - got one of those too a year later and use it a ton!
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In Sept 2012 I had just returned from my yearly four month trek to the waters of the great NW and stopped by to visit my brother-in-law before returning to AZ. He had just bought a Traeger and offered me some of his recently smoked jerky. It was by far the best jerky that I'd ever tasted. When I returned to AZ, I did some research and ended up buying a Traeger BBQ-400 (Select) from Costco. Joined Pelletheads.com and have never looked back.
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My son is on a BBQ team, and they also produce Rubs and Sauces. One of them went to work selling Traeger in the local mall. I walked often there and it took about 3 trips before I was sold. Bought a Lil Tex Elite and loved it. Found "Pelletheads" and loved it. Bought another Elite for my son. His team added Traeger to their stick burner for competition. I then saw a Blaz'n ad and read lots about them in PH. So I bought one 2 years ago. Been happy ever since. Sold the Traeger to a friend and he is happy also. It is like a disease. :bbq:
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My son is on a BBQ team, and they also produce Rubs and Sauces. One of them went to work selling Traeger in the local mall. I walked often there and it took about 3 trips before I was sold. Bought a Lil Tex Elite and loved it. Found "Pelletheads" and loved it. Bought another Elite for my son. His team added Traeger to their stick burner for competition. I then saw a Blaz'n ad and read lots about them in PH. So I bought one 2 years ago. Been happy ever since. Sold the Traeger to a friend and he is happy also. It is like a disease. :bbq:
And now you found PelletFan :clap:
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Fellow KCBS Judge mentioned pellet smokers to me when I was looking to replace my Stumps Smokers.
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I had always loved barbecue, ever since I was a kid, but could never understand why I couldn't replicate at home on a Weber the results I tasted in the restaurants. I just resigned myself to a life of eating out, or doing "fauxbecue" by saucing ribs in the oven.
Then, in 2016, we were visiting my M-I-L at her retirement community, and while she and my wife were doing something else, I was flipping through her cable channels when I ran across the now-ubiquitous Traeger infomercial. I had no idea this technology even existed.
It was all I could do to not order one there and then, but I decided to do some research first. That led me to Pelletheads, where I learned of all the other brands. I read every single comment or post I could find, looked at mfr websites, checked prices, you name it. I decided I couldn't justify the cost of the big boys, and was about to order a RecTec Mini when I saw a post on the forum for a gently used one, and it was right on my route to visit family in MI. I reached an agreement on price with the owner, met her and her husband in the parking lot of their local Walmart, and spent the rest of the weekend driving it around MI in my car, before I could get it home. Now, about 16 months later, I'm just super happy.
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As I am an addicted BBQ person I visit every BBQ section of every store I visit. Visiting our local hardware store I encountered "TRAEGER DAVE"(sales person) as I later called him..I got a deal I couldn't refuse..I even tried to ask for just something more to get out of the deal..That never worked so I ended up w/ an other pit. That was over 6 years ago. The rest is history.
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ok I'll play. For 15 years I was a gasser only. I cannot recall much of anything memorable other than kabobs (marinaded beef chunks, chicken breast chunks, onion, peppers ... which I now do on the Traeger). Then I had a year with a Bradley electric puck smoker. I produced some totally dry brisket, sausage and salmon. Went to a local BBQ shop for some "real BBQ equipment" I just knew I needed an offset wood/charcoal smoker. They had none, but they had pellet smokers. This was March 2010. The sales guy really wanted me to get a GMG, I went with the Traeger Texas as a birthday gift to myself (my birthday was two months later.) I've really never looked back. My cooking ability has grown exponentially. This was mostly from knowledge and sharing on PH. Received 3rd place in a just for fun church competition (with three other Traegers). While I'm just a hack cook, I'm considered the BBQ master among my friends and family. Turkey Breast, Pulled Pork, Tri Trip, smoked salmon, chicken, and pulled beef have become the go-to for gatherings at our house. The Texas allows for feeding everyone. One unique item in my journey is that I haven't found justification for an upgrade yet.
DK
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Very new to pellet grills and this is my second post after than my introduction.
I was introduced to smoking last year when I got a great deal on a Masterbuilt electric smoker. This spring I saw the Traeger infomercial and decided to look into getting a pellet grill. That's how I found the PH site. Did some research and bought a Blaz'n Grand Slam.
Just after receiving it the PH site went done. Then I found this site and was thrilled that I had a place to discuss my new hobby.
Thank you B & K!
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
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It was back in first part of 2010. I had a Smokintex electric for some years but just didn't use it that much, but liked smoked meat. Had long ago left behind my trailer Smoker, (now called an ESB (Evil Stick Burner) looking for an simpler way. Somehow from the Cookshack sight i came across an interesting Pelletgrill and best of my memory googled and found a website run by Larry and Bentley. I read and researched every grill they had done testing on and read countless posts by owners of each. After a year of researching and being I had a generous family to pitch in on Fathers Days gifts, I received my PG1000 for Father's Day 2011. You guys will continue to make lives better via the site as well. Thanks you Bentley and Kristin for picking up the ball and continuing on.
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Had a wsm 18 with blower, it was good but a lot of work to setup, take down, watch temps and can't lay ribs flat, briskets are a problem. Starting looking at pellet grills and after lots of research, including the previous site, went mak and have not looked back.
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Watched a infomercial, did a little research and came home with a CC DLX in early July. Only missed one weekend of cooking so far since I got it. Practiced with different brands of pellets, found the one I like best (Lumberjack) and rest is history. My reason for changing is that I got really tired of babysitting my small offset stick burner.
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Had a 15 year old Ducane gasser. Got tired of replacing parts. Was at Costco and saw the Traeger, almost bought one.
Don't usually spend that kind of money without at least some research.
Came home did the google thing, came across pelletheads, got to looking at GMG. Went to dealer that sold me the Ducane and left with GMG Daniel Boone. That was about 4 years ago (maybe 5, times flies when you're having fun).