Pellet grill users. Gmg, traeger, etc .....

Thanks to all who gave advice on my pellet grill selection.
Your comments had me looking at more selections, YouTube videos, and other forums.
I followed Great-Kazoo's recommendation and looked at the selections at Sportsman's Warehouse Riverfront.
The folks there were very helpful. They lined up my 3 final choices - Traeger Li'l Texas Elite, Green Mountain Grill Daniel Boone, and the Camp Chef SmokePro DLX.
They use the Camp Chef for their demonstrations.
I went with the Camp Chef mainly because of the ash clean out, dual temperature probes, and heavier construction.
I didn't get a bargain price, but I had a $20 coupon my wife had found, and they added a 5% veteran's discount.
Assembly was a little different than the owner's manual and a YouTube video posted in July, 2016.
Camp Chef made a couple of improvements to the cover over the pellet storage, and the inside of the lid since July.
I picked up Camp Chef Mesquite and GMG Golden Blend pellets to try it out.
So far, I have only done the initial 30 minutes at 350 degrees to burn off the manufacturer's oils, and everything worked as expected.
Looking forward to new adventures.
Thanks again for your help and advice!

[Beer]

Congrats! Enjoy!

I think you will be very happy with your choice. The Camp Chef has been getting very good reviews.
The ash clean out looks to be amazingly easy compared to a Traeger or GMG. I HATE taking out the grates and all the other stuff to clean out my GMG fire box. Also looks like there is a special escape hatch to empty the pellet hopper. That's awesome for when you want to switch flavors. Looks to me like Camp Chef really thought this out compared to the other companies. Being a GMG owner, I am kind of wishing I had looked at the Camp Chef when I was making my decision.

Between this thread and being inspired by a coworker's amazing brisket, I've been researching pellet smokers for the past several weeks. One thing I've read is that the final quality of the meat varies depending on (among many other things) the ambient humidity. Being that it's generally so dry here, do you guys add water pans to your smokers while cooking? If so, do you use a big pan / small pan, refill every X hours, etc? Is there anything else you need to do to adjust things for Colorado smoking?

I use no pans. YMMV

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Originally Posted by Rumline

Between this thread and being inspired by a coworker's amazing brisket, I've been researching pellet smokers for the past several weeks. One thing I've read is that the final quality of the meat varies depending on (among many other things) the ambient humidity. Being that it's generally so dry here, do you guys add water pans to your smokers while cooking? If so, do you use a big pan / small pan, refill every X hours, etc? Is there anything else you need to do to adjust things for Colorado smoking?

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Did you buy one yet? if not Sportsmens (up here) still has these smokers on sale.
https://www.ar-15.co/threads/158977-...in-smoker-sale

As for water or other liquid, it depends what your cooking and how. Having used liquid for most of my smoking (can filled with water or juice) in back. I've changed up my cooking method, any liquids used come in towards end of cooking / temp cycle. Sometimes it's a brine, or salad dressing used.

We use to use olive oil before applying dry rubs. Now it's mustard for beef & pork, depending what cut and recipe used. Another cook turned me on to mayonnaise for poultry. Skeptical at first, mayo, then seasoning gave us a nice crispy skin.

One thing we found, as i'm sure others will chime in. Until you find "that recipe" you'll experiment with flavors, marinades etc.

Go with some tried on line recipes, then adjust from there.

No, I haven't bought one yet. Thanks for the heads up! And the feedback.

For whether or not I use water pans...it depends. If I have poultry that has been brined, I'm less inclined to add external moisture. It also depends on the available fat to keep the meat moist.

...the best thing about smoking and grilling is that there really aren't any rules. Screw the food police. If you want to try it, go for it!

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Originally Posted by Gman

...the best thing about smoking and grilling is that there really aren't any rules. Screw the food police. If you want to try it, go for it!

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I agree. My grill game and smoking game is about zero. Very little experience with either. That said, one of the first things I ever smoked were some lobster tails. I tried looking for recipes on-line and all I found were a bunch of babies saying how lobster was too expensive to try and smoke. What if you screw it up? blah blah blah. Compared to a $40 roast or rack of ribs or something, a couple of $7 lobster tails is nothing. I smoked the tails and thought that they came out great.

Pelletheads.com is a good resource.