arod757
Member
As I mentioned before in another thread, I left my Smokefire at Lowe's and came home with an Oklahoma Joe's Rider DLX. Link to check out features: https://www.oklahomajoes.com/rider-dlx-pellet-grill
So far, so good. It doesn't have all the electronic bells and whistles, but it does have a neat searing mechanism that worked really well on some thick pork chops I made last night. I've never tried reverse searing chops before, so I gave it a go with some apple pellets. Chops soaked in smoke for about 50 minutes prior to searing. It was actually pretty dang good.
Prior to that I mesquite smoked some beef finger ribs for two hours with a water pan on the bottom grate and wrapped in paper for another hour. Grill temp set at 200 and temp averaged 235 near the meat. Swing was 10 degrees north and south of 235. (Same for the chops I did later) Ribs had a tremendous smoky flavor for only smoking 2 hours. I was very impressed.
I grilled some chicken legs and sausage at 325 the first day I brought it home, after the burn-in. That went as expected. Nothing spectacular, but no problems either. I did use the sear function to put some char on the sausage. My wife likes the carcinogens. I think it reminds her of her old man's burned food. LOL.
Some notes about the pit:
It is HEAVY.
So far the ash collection cup under the grill has worked well, and there's very little stray ash at the bottom of the barrel. I haven't had any experience with grease accumulation yet. I'll comment on that after I cook a brisket tonight/tomorrow.
As I've mentioned, the searing capability on this pit works really well, and I LOVE the cast iron grill grates... very old-school and awesome.
Emptying and swapping out pellets is an absolute breeze. This is great, as it's best not to leave unused pellets in the hopper after a cook.
Haven't had any mechanical issues with my cooks and tests. The pit does leak smoke a little around the door and where the chimney stacks bolt to the cooking chamber. I'll rectify that with some RTV 650. I imagine that will get the temps even more consistent.
I anticipate cleanup is going to be a PITA, but no more than when you have to thoroughly clean any pellet grill.
So far I'm happy, especially considering the rig was less than $600 out the door. (Lowe's price matched $599 and then added my 10% veteran discount on top of that.)
Anyway, that's it for now. I'll update as I go along.
So far, so good. It doesn't have all the electronic bells and whistles, but it does have a neat searing mechanism that worked really well on some thick pork chops I made last night. I've never tried reverse searing chops before, so I gave it a go with some apple pellets. Chops soaked in smoke for about 50 minutes prior to searing. It was actually pretty dang good.
Prior to that I mesquite smoked some beef finger ribs for two hours with a water pan on the bottom grate and wrapped in paper for another hour. Grill temp set at 200 and temp averaged 235 near the meat. Swing was 10 degrees north and south of 235. (Same for the chops I did later) Ribs had a tremendous smoky flavor for only smoking 2 hours. I was very impressed.
I grilled some chicken legs and sausage at 325 the first day I brought it home, after the burn-in. That went as expected. Nothing spectacular, but no problems either. I did use the sear function to put some char on the sausage. My wife likes the carcinogens. I think it reminds her of her old man's burned food. LOL.
Some notes about the pit:
It is HEAVY.
So far the ash collection cup under the grill has worked well, and there's very little stray ash at the bottom of the barrel. I haven't had any experience with grease accumulation yet. I'll comment on that after I cook a brisket tonight/tomorrow.
As I've mentioned, the searing capability on this pit works really well, and I LOVE the cast iron grill grates... very old-school and awesome.
Emptying and swapping out pellets is an absolute breeze. This is great, as it's best not to leave unused pellets in the hopper after a cook.
Haven't had any mechanical issues with my cooks and tests. The pit does leak smoke a little around the door and where the chimney stacks bolt to the cooking chamber. I'll rectify that with some RTV 650. I imagine that will get the temps even more consistent.
I anticipate cleanup is going to be a PITA, but no more than when you have to thoroughly clean any pellet grill.
So far I'm happy, especially considering the rig was less than $600 out the door. (Lowe's price matched $599 and then added my 10% veteran discount on top of that.)
Anyway, that's it for now. I'll update as I go along.
