Stampede Considering the RT-590

[Pickleball22]

New member here. Thanks for the add.
Looking to pick your brains here.
I'm looking for a second smoker for our RV lot in Southern California. I've been using a kamado Style charcoal grill for the last 6 years here at our house. Overall I'm very happy with it but I've found that the smoke fades away on Long Cooks like pork butt. It's a pain to add more smoking wood to the coals. My questions:

1). Do these pellet grills actually provide a GOOD smoke for the entire length of a 14-hour butt cook?

2). Do the different types of pellets actually create a different smoke flavor? Apple? Mesquite? Can you tell the difference?

Thanks,
SP

 

[mtoddsolomon]

I use a Kamado as well as the 590. You lose the smoke towards the end of the smoke with a Kamado because the smoking wood gets burned then you go into clean smoke as the fire builds. The 590 actaully has less of a smoke profile than the Kamado from my experience.

However, you really don't add to the smoke flavor after about the first 2 hours. If you continue to add smoke it won't penetrate any deeper in the meat, it's actually bad for the meat flavor.

 

[larlane]

No expert, but as stated above most smoke is done the first few hours. I tend to use the full smoke setting for an hour or two before setting to 225 for butt.

You mention RV lot? If portability is a must, the 590 is a little to big to pack up and carry-at least for me.

 

[Uncle Bob]

I'm in agreement with Todd as I too have a kamado and notice the same things. Now, definitions are also an issue since on persons "just right" smoke flavor is too little or too much for someone else. But in relative terms without playing games the hierarchy is as noted. I also have a small barrel smoker which I can get even more smoke flavor with. And yes, different pellets will produce different results, even with the blends as they don't each follow the same ratios of the multiple species. One of the things you can do to increase the smoke "cling" is to moisten the meat at the beginning when the smoke will set. If you don't go overboard you'll still set good bark too later in the cook. Then there's also the smoke tube method, or smoke box set on the deflector. Those would take some experimentation on your part so figure out which/how meets your desired results.

 

[Dougfresh]

Haven’t tried it yet but I’ve heard a few people suggesting to add a pellet tube to the back or corner of the pellet smoker to add extra smoke flavor. Some even use pellets plus wood chips in the tube. Seems like it would work in theory and pellet tubes are pretty cheap.