Pellet Newbe Question

[PLG]

I have always used offset smokers for smoking and decided to jump into the pellet world with the purchase of the XL 600 which will be delivered on March 3rd. My question is this, can you control the amount of smoke with the XL 600? ie....can you control from no smoke to heavy smoke?

 

[BeardedRetroGuy]

Not directly. You control the temperature settings and you can control how hot it goes in Manual mode. There's something called "SmokeBoost Mode" but that just sets the temperature to 180F and leaves it there.
Some people say you get more smoke as you increase temperatures, so they like to move it up and down between 180 and 225 repeatedly for the first couple of hours to try to get more smoke. I haven't tried that. But I when I do a long cook like a brisket or ribs, I like to set it to 180 for at least the first hour or two, then bring it up to 250 for the low-n-slow cook, just to try to get some extra smoke into the meat. I usually get really good color out of it.
You kinda develop your own ways of doing things over time anyway. I've had my SearWood 600 since November and have only done a few cooks on it so far, but enough to know I like it.
I put the brisket on around 8PM Friday at 180 SmokeBoost for 2 hours (I put a timer on the Weber app on my phone).
Went and did other stuff around the house.
Turned it up to 250 when the timer went off (remotely via my phone).
Went to bed.
Woke up around 4AM to go to the bathroom and saw my phone telling me to go take it out and wrap it in paper and put it back on, so I did that.
Went back to bed.
Woke up - checked the app.
Went and did other things.
App dinged around noon -Took the brisket off the grill (and then shut off the grill) and rested it in an empty ice chest/cooler for 4 hours before being pulled out for the first cut.
Very little of that entire nearly 20 hours of cooking did I have to actually pay attention to the unit. I only had to get notifications from the app, so I had to keep it in my pocket with me. I could have gone shopping across town and been able to change the temperatures from the app, or even shut the unit down if need be.
Basically, what I mean is, I'm sacrificing total smoke for convenience and control. A pellet smoker, according to all the reviews online, will never replicate stick-burning and offset smoking, but I don't have to sit out there next to the pit for 20 hours babysitting it either. And I can also crank the heat up to 600F for actual grilling, though burning wood for grilling is more expensive than having a propane grill. And if you're grilling, you're not going to get any real smoke flavor either. The food is cooked too fast.

 

[MJ_SFEX6GEN2]

My opinion if you are trying to control levels of smoke you can do it with temperature. The hotter the temperature the less smoke wood pellets produce, and not all pellets are the same. Simple science is most pellets contain very small amounts of lignin. Lignin is the big contributor in wood splits for smoke aroma & flavor. This is why smoke boost fluctuates between 180 - 200 degrees.

Now the other item is meat will stop absorbing smoke around 140 internal temperature. So when people discuss using smoke boost for a certain amount of time is really missing the point. Example: put on your brisket at an internal temperature of 65 degrees, put it in the smoker on smoke boost for two hours, and at that point the brisket is around 105 internal temperature, then you raise the smoker’s temperature to 250 degrees, the smoke level produced by the pellets decreases, and the next 35 degree window of the brisket absorbing smoke will absorb less.

It works both ways. If you want more smoke absorbed take the brisket straight out of the fridge (40 ish degrees) and put it on smoke boost until it reaches 140 internal temperature (100 degrees of smoke absorption). Less smoke flavor, put brisket on at room temperature and set the smoker’s temperature to 275 degrees. The pellets will produce less smoke at that temperature, and the brisket’s window of absorption will be less.

No matter what technique you chose for smoke absorption, use a water pan. All pellet smokers use a fan, and have the fire box right under the meat. The water pan serves at least three great benefits: catches drippings for easy clean up, adds needed moisture (which helps develop bark), and stabilizes the cook chamber temperature by acting as a heat sink (less fluctuating temperatures). It will also help the bottom of the meat by deflecting the heat, redistributing it around the meat.

So my techniques for long cooks: use second shelf for meat, water pan underneath, 180 - 200 degrees with the meat coming straight out of the fridge. Keep the smoker at that temperature until the meat reaches internal temperature of 140. Foil boat the meat, raise the smoker’s temperature to 285 (will most likely have to dump the rendered fat out of the foil boat, but the water pan can catch it), take the meat up to 195 internal temperature, re-wrap it in foil and place in a food warmer (150 degrees) for 12 - 16 hours.

If you don’t have a food warmer, take meat up to probe tender, and then re-wrap in foil, hold in a warmed cooler for at least 4 hours.

Lastly, try Smokin Pecan SHELL Pellets for long cooks. They have way more lignin in them than wood pellets, burn longer, and have a nice flavor.

If you are grilling use Royal Oak Charcoal Pellets.

Here is my guide:
450 - 600 degrees Royal Oak Charcoal Pellets
325 - 450 degrees Blend (Charcoal+Pecan)
180 - 325 degrees Smokin Pecan Shell Pellets

Cheers!