Now that you have had your pellet grill a while what do you . . . . . . .

[OldBull]

What do you think of pellet smoking?

My take is this. I have learned that low and slow on a pellet grill ( at least my 340 ) does a very good job at smoking, I get great smoke rings and smoke flavor. Food taste is very good but I am still learning the RT-340 (and smoking in general) and the cuts of meat available locally are not the best, better stuff in,,,, better stuff out. Expense wise I think it is very reasonable, my reqtec has eaten every pellet I have put in it. Some scoff at gas grills, but I get fabulous food off of my weber genesis, but I have been using gas a long time and know it very well. The reqtec is spot on most of the time, preheating to high temperature is a problem if you are going to go low and slow, it takes a while to get back down, understand this and it is not a problem, in other words, cool it off or clean it after you cook so you don't have to use high heat to sanitize before a cook. The bull is a little small, not cooking grate wise but room for air currents to flow, I believe small smokers with close burn pots put out radiant heat, and that is the reason we do fat cap down, to combat radiant heat that reaches the food. Smoker wise it is a great choice, rectec ( temp wise ) is great choice, it is in the middle of cheap and "what the hell" pricing. I need to get better at chicken, and I need to get a third party meat probe. A perfect grill for me would be a little larger, no meat temp probes, buy your own, and resolve the radiant heat. In the end I can say the rectec is a set it and forget it smoker and that is good. The wifi, in my opinion, is the weak point of my grill.

 

[Gonefishin]

Coming from a WSM bullet smoker the pellet burner is pretty much exactly what I was expecting. No more waking up every 2 hours or so to check temps and add charcoal if needed. I did learn a lot with the WSM, temp swing on start up for the 340 is nothing compared to the bullet. The convenience of the pellet smoker more then offsets the loss of the charcoal smokers flavor. I've had no issues whatsoever with the RT so I'm happy.

Buying the RT at the start of the pandemic made it hard to get decent meat to smoke, it's just now getting back to normal at the area grocers where I can now find the brands I prefer at normal prepandemic prices.. Buying from the butcher was buying sight unseen and didn't work out well. I was getting some poor product from them, granted they had to get whatever was available from their supplier.

 

[cookingjnj]

I have had my 680 for four years and love the machine. The only time I had anything bad from it was when I tried to make a calzone which turned out terrible. ALL USER error, not the machine. I also know the 680 limitations. Although it can cook at most any temperature, I have always felt the pit is at it's best when cooking low and slow style cooks. Usually the highest I go with the 680 is 375-400 to finish off chicken wings, chickens, split turkey breast etc. Man, after the first time I smoked the chicken wings, made it very hard to go back and have traditionally cooked wings anymore....hahahaha.
I have the room on my deck for multiple cookers, so I have a couple kettle pits for high heat cooks and a gasser which does not get used very often anymore. The gasser has a side burner which I use to reverse sear steaks coming off the 680 in CI pan. I also have the upgraded controller with the probes and wifi, but it still is sitting in the box, so I really have not missed the wifi aspect of the controller yet. All in all, I love my 680, and all it produces for the family.

 

[DarkStar11]

My experience with the 680 is very similar to cookingjnj - even down to the "upgraded controller still sitting in the box" . I did one prior controller upgrade, moving up from the "pellet prime" button to the "Extreme smoke" button. In 7 years I've never taken it over 325. For me, it's always been a super convenient, consistent, rock-solid reliable, slow-and-low machine. I sear and cook hot on the other tools. When first starting out with it, I almost always added a pellet tube for more smoke. The tube sees far less use these days, typically only when cooking brisket or a chuck. While I still use all my grills fairly regularly, the 680 is the reliable workhorse of the bunch and one that will always have a spot on the concrete.

 

[Uncle Bob]

Perspective, experience and attitude have a lot to do with whatever choices folks make. I choose to use the RT for low and slow as well, just because it does that well. We're not the "heavy smoke" type that seems to prefer what offset smokers do, so the comparatively light smoke profile of a pellet burner works for us. If I want to lay on more smoke flavor I've got several charcoal burners at hand. The gasser gets used for those times when planning wasn't used and the need for quick heat is primary. As an example, the bride bought a different brand hot dog the other day just because supplies continue to be erratic in our neck of the woods and our regular wasn't available. Firing up the gas sear burner was the fastest/easiest way to test taste. The other thing is the rotisserie burner in conjunction with the lower burners has become my preferred pizza oven of the moment yielding better results than any of the other methods tried so far. As for the charcoal stuff, I don't find the fire building to be as onerous as some express (that attitude thing again), and since I'm chronically unemployed I can make time if needed. As a result, most of my outdoor cooking is done with charcoal and wood chunks. I cut my charcoal teeth on a kamado so that was a terrific learning tool for temp management without an electronic aid. There are lots of different ways to reach any destination, it's just a matter of experimenting to find which one(s) work best for your approach.

 

[mqqn]

With the convection oven feature, I cannot do chicken on the grill, and still use my Masterbuilt analog electric smoker with great results.

However, with the computerized interface, I can do overnight smokes with no worries. I love it! Check out my post about the pork butt I did overnight.

best

mqqn

 

[TexasManInCajunLand]

What do you think of pellet smoking?

My take is this. I have learned that low and slow on a pellet grill ( at least my 340 ) does a very good job at smoking, I get great smoke rings and smoke flavor. Food taste is very good but I am still learning the RT-340 (and smoking in general) and the cuts of meat available locally are not the best, better stuff in,,,, better stuff out. Expense wise I think it is very reasonable, my reqtec has eaten every pellet I have put in it. Some scoff at gas grills, but I get fabulous food off of my weber genesis, but I have been using gas a long time and know it very well. The reqtec is spot on most of the time, preheating to high temperature is a problem if you are going to go low and slow, it takes a while to get back down, understand this and it is not a problem, in other words, cool it off or clean it after you cook so you don't have to use high heat to sanitize before a cook. The bull is a little small, not cooking grate wise but room for air currents to flow, I believe small smokers with close burn pots put out radiant heat, and that is the reason we do fat cap down, to combat radiant heat that reaches the food. Smoker wise it is a great choice, rectec ( temp wise ) is great choice, it is in the middle of cheap and "what the hell" pricing. I need to get better at chicken, and I need to get a third party meat probe. A perfect grill for me would be a little larger, no meat temp probes, buy your own, and resolve the radiant heat. In the end I can say the rectec is a set it and forget it smoker and that is good. The wifi, in my opinion, is the weak point of my grill.

I also have the 340, and fortunately for me, I haven't had any of the issues that some have reported (WiFi, flame outs, major temp fluctuations, temp probe issues, etc.) and have had nothing but excellent results with the cooks I've done thus far...minus my first high temp steak cook (last night), but that was just a new learning experience, and they still came out nice & juicy (med. well).

Speaking of high temps. We have a certain user on here that insists that these are incapable of producing a high enough temp to successfully sear a steak...I beg to differ. I was able to maintain a 500 degree temp on my Trailblazer and successfully get a decet sear on just the stock grate, and I'm certain that if I were to have selected the highest temp (Full?), it would've done even better. Again, this was a new experience for me, so it will definitely give me something more to experriment with on my next attempt.

Also, I do believe that for the price, you're not going to find a better pellet grill than what Rec Teq makes. I've been so impressed with the 340 that I will definitely be adding the Bull to my family of grills (I currently own the RT340, Oklahoma Joe's offset burner, and Weber charcoal burner).

Lastly, were you using one of the RT temp probes during your brisket cook? and where did you place it? And for chicken, I usually cook at 300-325 degrees depending on what it is. For leg quarters, I cook them for 20 minutes on one side, then 15 minutes on the other @325 and check for temp. If it needs a little more time I'll leave it on for a bit longer.

 

[flaminiom]

My 700 consistently struggles above 450 and temp recovery sucks when grilling. It works for summer time, but it’s not a good option once temps drop. The BGE will be keep its place on the deck.

Smoking, roasting, and baking where the cover stays closed south of 400-ish is working great.

 

[TomatoBob]

I have owned my RT 340 for a little over a month. My grill arrived with a defective lid that belched smoke from all sides. The replacement that I was sent was even worse. The good news is that I have been able to greatly reduce the smoke leakage by installing a couple Nomex gaskets. I am waiting on another replacement lid. We will see how that works out.

QC problems aside, I love the way this thing cooks. I am still learning the ropes and have not yet tried many of the smoking adventures that folks in the forum rave about. I have had excellent success with thick steaks, spatchcocked chicken, chicken thighs and pork roasts. Thinner cuts of beef and chicken breasts have not turned out as well as I would like. Until I learn why I am getting poor results with these types of meat, I will assign the blame to the cook, not the smoker.

Before ordering my 340, I had never used a pellet smoker. For the maiden voyage, I set the grill up next to my gas grill on the patio where my wife and I spend most of our evenings. She and I were both surprised at how much noise the blower produces. So much that the boss ordered me to move the grill to another location, far enough away that the blower noise was minimal.

This has worked out quite well. The excellent WIFI app allows me to monitor the cooking process from 100 feet away. I did not think that I would even use the WIFI feature when making my purchasing decision. Now, I am certain that I would be disappointed if this feature was not included.

I have read reports that some users have experienced problems with temperature swings. Other than some significant temperature swings during the initial heating cycle, my grill has been spot-on as far as holding the selected temp. If the temp does vary at all, it is usually no more than degree or two, which for me is more than acceptable. My $3000 electric kitchen oven commonly has 40 to 50 degree temperature swings. (Yeah, I am looking into getting that oven repaired or replaced).

Although I am still a rookie when it comes to using a pellet smoker, I can absolutely say that I am a pleased that I made the investment. Except for the defective lids, this device and its performance have exceeded my expectations.

 

[Beavercreek_smoker]

What do you think of pellet smoking?

My take is this. I have learned that low and slow on a pellet grill ( at least my 340 ) does a very good job at smoking, I get great smoke rings and smoke flavor. Food taste is very good but I am still learning the RT-340 (and smoking in general) and the cuts of meat available locally are not the best, better stuff in,,,, better stuff out. Expense wise I think it is very reasonable, my reqtec has eaten every pellet I have put in it. Some scoff at gas grills, but I get fabulous food off of my weber genesis, but I have been using gas a long time and know it very well. The reqtec is spot on most of the time, preheating to high temperature is a problem if you are going to go low and slow, it takes a while to get back down, understand this and it is not a problem, in other words, cool it off or clean it after you cook so you don't have to use high heat to sanitize before a cook. The bull is a little small, not cooking grate wise but room for air currents to flow, I believe small smokers with close burn pots put out radiant heat, and that is the reason we do fat cap down, to combat radiant heat that reaches the food. Smoker wise it is a great choice, rectec ( temp wise ) is great choice, it is in the middle of cheap and "what the hell" pricing. I need to get better at chicken, and I need to get a third party meat probe. A perfect grill for me would be a little larger, no meat temp probes, buy your own, and resolve the radiant heat. In the end I can say the rectec is a set it and forget it smoker and that is good. The wifi, in my opinion, is the weak point of my grill.

I can only speak for my 700 but having big green eggs and now the 700 too, I prefer the 700 for low and slows. My eggs for hot or sear cooks. Although my large egg would usually hold very stable for over 20 hours without the need to add lump, the thought of needing to check it in the middle of the night kept me up. The pellet, I sleep like a baby. Can’t really tell the difference with the flavor personally. Maybe the color is a little lighter but I still get a good smoke ring.

 

[Dan99]

Going from a stick burner & WSM 22. My 590 could use some more smoke flavor . I bought a 12" smoker tube, hoping that will help with the smoke. So far that is the only problem I see with the 590.
What I really love about the 590 it is set & forget, now I can sleep at night knowing that 590 has things under control. Yesterday I fired up the WSM 22 with a fan to control temps,half way thur the cook I almost started up the 590.
Dan

 

[Bytor]

I really haven't had any issues with my 340. I have used it at high temps for a few cooks, but I leave that kind of grilling to my gasser. My grill has a sideburner on it, so I use that a lot for wearing meats. If I have a lot to sear, I will use my Blackstone. My probes have been within a couple of degrees of my Thermapen, so I can't complain there either. It is nice having the cook and temp all in one app. When the cook is getting closer to being done, I will check with the pen. It does run hotter on the right side, but that's not a big deal. My stick burner does too and nothing that a little rotation won't fix.