Added Pellet Pro to grill

[PeterB123]

My brother gave me his grill he built. I'm not sure what gauge of steel he used, but I swear this thing is 300 lbs plus, lol.

I purchased the Pellet Pro hopper assembly with the 18" auger. With the 18" auger, the pellet burn chamber is almost centered. After looking at photos of heat deflector plates, I decided to go relatively narrow, but if it looks like it needs to be larger, I'll change brackets and go with a larger plate. My thought process is to put in about 4 temperature probes (for testing) to make sure the heat doesn't vary too much within the pit.

I've also decided to just use aluminum pans in the bottom for grease drippings instead of channeling it to a drain. I have the auger just high enough to be able to place a tray under it.

I'll line the bottom with foil and do a foil wrap around the auger box as well just to try to keep it easy to clean. I don't mind paying for a few foil trays and wrap. I might change my mind after a few cooks.

Although the Pellet Pro has a pit probe and meat probe, I'm probably going to get the SmokeBlog wi-fi thermometer to monitor the pit and meats remotely.

I still have to sand and repaint it, but it's basically ready to go. Once I get it cleaned up more, painted and I do my first cook with it, I'll post more pics and results.

I'm sure it will take me a while to figure out the way it cooks and probably have to make some modifications, but even that provides some fun.

Oh, I've ordered a pellet smoke tube in order to make sure I have plenty of smoke for briskets (briskets are the primary goal of this pit).

My original plan was to convert this to an offset pit and put on a guru, but after cooking with a couple of different friends on their Traegers, I decided that I'd rather be a little bit lazy. If I decide I just don't like pellet, I can still change it to offset by putting box in place of the pellet assembly.

Here are a couple of quick pics, if I can figure out how to add them. That bracket on the shelf is coming off.

AtShaunsWholePitSM.jpg (152.57 KiB) Viewed 3760 times

AtShaunsWholePitSM.jpg (152.57 KiB) Viewed 3760 times

[PeterB123]

Hmmm, not sure why the first photo duplicated.

BTW, the wheels are only temp for moving it around. Once placed, wheels come off.

[Papa Tom]

Gonna make some suggestions now that I see pix.
You might want to rethink the grease drain thing. My original 1997 Traeger (it still works) did not have a grease drain but pans up on top to catch, it was a mess and had a few grease fires. The last thing you want to do after smoking a brisket is to clean out the bottom of the pit. Actually you don't want to do it b4 you can put the next meal on either......OK let's be real we don't like doing clean out at all so let's make it as easy as possible.

As for the heat deflector you definitely want bigger, someplace on the forum I have a mod for putting a cast iron griddle in a pellet cooker to spread the heat & help eliminate the hot spot and also to retain heat to even out the high/low cycle.
Basically mount the griddle above the firebox to spread the heat out towards the edges.

If you see some of my other advice posts on the forum you will see I am not a fan of add-on smoke tubes/boxes because properly set the controller will provide sufficient smoke flavor. Some folks equate the lack of a heavy bark (which you will not get on a pellet pit) to lack of smoke.
I do have and use smoke devices but only for cold smoking cheese and such.

[PeterB123]

Gonna make some suggestions now that I see pix.
You might want to rethink the grease drain thing. My original 1997 Traeger (it still works) did not have a grease drain but pans up on top to catch, it was a mess and had a few grease fires. The last thing you want to do after smoking a brisket is to clean out the bottom of the pit. Actually you don't want to do it b4 you can put the next meal on either......OK let's be real we don't like doing clean out at all so let's make it as easy as possible.

As for the heat deflector you definitely want bigger, someplace on the forum I have a mod for putting a cast iron griddle in a pellet cooker to spread the heat & help eliminate the hot spot and also to retain heat to even out the high/low cycle.
Basically mount the griddle above the firebox to spread the heat out towards the edges.

If you see some of my other advice posts on the forum you will see I am not a fan of add-on smoke tubes/boxes because properly set the controller will provide sufficient smoke flavor. Some folks equate the lack of a heavy bark (which you will not get on a pellet pit) to lack of smoke.
I do have and use smoke devices but only for cold smoking cheese and such.

Thank you very much for this advise.

Using a cast iron griddle is a great idea. I'll definitely make that change.

I'll try a few cooks without the pellet tube to see how it works out. I just made the assumption because I've read it so many times about pellet smokers - which is probably just based off of a false premise.

I'll also reconsider going to a grease drain after I use it for a while.

Thank you again for the input.

[PeterB123]

Just purchased the Lodge 10 x 10 cast iron griddle. I'll just place that directly on the deflector plate I have there. Since the Lodge is just 8 pounds, it should hold it without issue.

[Rambo]

[PeterB123]

:happ:

Why the popcorn?

Do pellet setups that involve brisket lead to heated offset vs pellet debates?

[Rambo]

:happ:

Why the popcorn?

Do pellet setups that involve brisket lead to heated offset vs pellet debates?

No; just a great topic

[k.a.m.]

Very nice. Once you get it lined out you should have a great setup.

[PeterB123]

:happ:

Why the popcorn?

Do pellet setups that involve brisket lead to heated offset vs pellet debates?

No; just a great topic

Gotcha.

Forums have their different eccentricities, so I wasn't sure.

[PeterB123]

Very nice. Once you get it lined out you should have a great setup.

Thank you, and if you have any suggestions, please make them.

I'm here to learn.

[k.a.m.]

Very nice. Once you get it lined out you should have a great setup.

Thank you, and if you have any suggestions, please make them.

I'm here to learn.

I wish I could but I am not really up on pellet cookers and their functions.

[spacetrucker]

following this,
the pop corn is a nice way for saying or indicating the same thing...
I do that a lot, rather than typing an insertion, just hit the popcorn button, there are a lot of us that will read a thread and just "check in"
once you do the heat defuser dont forget you can do a biscuit test to check for the hot spots that way you know where to place your meats

[PeterB123]

following this,
the pop corn is a nice way for saying or indicating the same thing...
I do that a lot, rather than typing an insertion, just hit the popcorn button, there are a lot of us that will read a thread and just "check in"
once you do the heat defuser dont forget you can do a biscuit test to check for the hot spots that way you know where to place your meats

Thank you for mentioning the biscuit test.

I had never heard of it or thought of it until I saw it on another thread on this forum.

What a great way to see the heat difference without having to use a bunch of probes.

I'll definitely be giving that a try to see where my variations are and how much the variations are.

Do most people just use it to figure out meat placement, or do people make custom diffusion plates to try to even the heat?

[spacetrucker]

biscuits used to be $.07 a can but now a days I cut them is 1/4 the effects are still the same after about 15 minutes and they tell the tale...(I sure do feel old)
I would say once the plates are set or you know where the hot spots are then you know where to place the meat for more or less doneness...