Brewsncrabs
Well-Known Member
Anyone have experience with these? Do they really work as advertised or is this just another infomercial? I have an electric smoker and am looking to upgrade.
I have a traeger pro 22. it was ok out of the box, but after multiple flameouts I upgraded it to the savannah stoker control box to replace the stock traeger unit. After the upgrade, I've been very happy with it. all in all, I spent about 900 on the unit, and am pretty happy with it, heck, I just put a 14 pound brisket on right now.
basically, a traeger is fine, just don't expect to get away without monitoring it out of the box, the stock controller is not that great. Aftermarket PID controllers make it a whole lot better
My brother bought a Traeger pellet smoker and returned it. He was hoping for a smoker that would get hot enough to do a steak, and it wouldn't get hot enough for him.
FWIW, I have both a weber coal grill for hot stuff and a weber smoker. If I had to do it all over again (and I probably will when they fall apart), I'd just buy a green egg or equivalent. I think those komodo-style grills are the closest thing to a do-all.
I'm looking at a gasser. I'd go for pellet, but again I want something with sear capability especially since I have a smoker (kamado).
You can have your cake and eat it too! The Mak offers sear capability standard on the two-star and as an option on the one-star. I can't speak for the flamezone (sear) since I got the one-star opted not to get it because I already have a gasser. But, ever since getting the Mak, my gas grill sees very little action. One of the biggest advantages this has over gas is that you never have to worry about flare-ups. You can do your burgers at 400 or slow-smoke some sausages at 200. Walk away, do your thing and come back to perfect, not charred meat. It's also nice to cook over wood vs gas and the fuel source comes out cheaper and more convenient in the long run especially if you order some pellets in bulk.
Brad, I use my Akorn for everything. (A steel insulated egg shaped smoker/grill)
It takes a bit longer than a gas grill to be ready, but probably not as long as a ceramic. And it definitely cooks hotter than a gas grill. (Lawyers you know)
The Akorn is very reasonable too.
I'm a big fan of the Akorn. I hear the double-wall insulated steel is actually *more* efficient re: charcoal usage than even a ceramic kamado. It's an excellent cooker, and the price is right. I certainly recommend it to people considering a kamado.
For me, it's not that it takes too long time-wise to light a kamado (especially the Joe Jr which is much quicker to come up to temp due to its small size). It's more the hassle. When I just want to throw something on after getting home from work, I don't want to:
- Open the grill, removing the grates, etc to access the charcoal.
- Clean out the previous ash.
- Carry a heavy bag of charcoal from the garage to the back patio, pour in new charcoal, arrange it with my hands (including adding in whatever firestarter I'm using), light it, put all the grate components back in, carry the heavy charcoal bag back to the garage.
- Wash my hands 3 times throughout the above process due to all the ash, charcoal dust, etc.
- Monitor the temp and vents while it comes up to the size of fire that I need for whatever I'm cooking..
I don't mind that on the weekends, because frankly I love the way it cooks. But it's a lot of work after a long day, especially if I have my kids around. Especially if I'm just cooking something hot and fast like burgers, kabobs, etc.
Turning on a burner, pressing an ignition button, and walking away for 15 minutes until it's ready is a lot easier on a weekday.
Ha. I don't komado but I do sympathize. The biggest detractor for grilling on a weekday for me is the time wasted waiting for the chimney to fully light before i can get to cooking. It's not enough to make me want to go back to full on gasser but it is enough to make me have want for a gas start charcoal grill.
Weber Performer has gas starter for the coals. Still get messy emptying ash / filling coal, but after that pretty much lights itself (no chimney).
You can have your cake and eat it too! The Mak offers sear capability standard on the two-star and as an option on the one-star. I can't speak for the flamezone (sear) since I got the one-star opted not to get it because I already have a gasser. But, ever since getting the Mak, my gas grill sees very little action. One of the biggest advantages this has over gas is that you never have to worry about flare-ups. You can do your burgers at 400 or slow-smoke some sausages at 200. Walk away, do your thing and come back to perfect, not charred meat. It's also nice to cook over wood vs gas and the fuel source comes out cheaper and more convenient in the long run especially if you order some pellets in bulk.
I'm a big fan of the Akorn. I hear the double-wall insulated steel is actually *more* efficient re: charcoal usage than even a ceramic kamado. It's an excellent cooker, and the price is right. I certainly recommend it to people considering a kamado.
For me, it's not that it takes too long time-wise to light a kamado (especially the Joe Jr which is much quicker to come up to temp due to its small size). It's more the hassle. When I just want to throw something on after getting home from work, I don't want to:
- Open the grill, removing the grates, etc to access the charcoal.
- Clean out the previous ash.
- Carry a heavy bag of charcoal from the garage to the back patio, pour in new charcoal, arrange it with my hands (including adding in whatever firestarter I'm using), light it, put all the grate components back in, carry the heavy charcoal bag back to the garage.
- Wash my hands 3 times throughout the above process due to all the ash, charcoal dust, etc.
- Monitor the temp and vents while it comes up to the size of fire that I need for whatever I'm cooking..
I don't mind that on the weekends, because frankly I love the way it cooks. But it's a lot of work after a long day, especially if I have my kids around. Especially if I'm just cooking something hot and fast like burgers, kabobs, etc.
Turning on a burner, pressing an ignition button, and walking away for 15 minutes until it's ready is a lot easier on a weekday.
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