I'm just curious. I've been thinking about this for awhile. I'm removing any brand names. I can't recall if that was appropriate or not.
I hear a lot about temperature control with pellet cookers and how some brands didn't have tight enough control. I'm wondering what you consider acceptable.
I could be WAY off on my theory, but here it is:
I think Pellet cookers that have very tight variances in temperature swing produce less smoke. I'm wondering if they produce less smoke flavor. On the other hand, I've seen some popular (and some expensive) brands that seem to do a better job of putting smoke flavor onto the meat. I also hear some folks say that these same brands seem to have greater temp swings.
I remember seeing a certain high end pellet cooker at the Royal in 2015 (with PH.com). It seemed to put out a lot more smoke than other pellet cookers.
On the other hand, my pellet cooker did not have any temp swings. It was usually within 5 degrees of the setting. I didn't think it put much smoke flavor out. And it certainly didn't have smoke coming out of the stack, outside of start up.
Is it possible (and this is my theory), that temp swings create more smoke flavor in the world of pellet cookers? The firing and smoldering of pellets in the pot produce more smoke than a constant, clean burn?
I know smoke flavor is subjective. Some folks love it. Others hate heavy smoke. I consider myself some where in the middle and leaning to the LIGHT Smoke flavor.
Your thoughts? I would love to hear from those that have used multiple brands of pellet cookers.