Pellets grill or kamado?

[Mofassah]

I am drooling over two different grills, the Primo Oval XL kamado and a totally different one, the Memphis Pro, which is a pellet grill They can both do much the same and they are both pretty darn expensive, but I definately want to save up to one, but which one should I choose? Any input and experience is most welcome.

[mgaretz]

I'm a new owner of the smallest Traeger pellet grill (so quite a bit different than the one you are considering), but I love it. The Primo will allow direct heat for charring - pellet grills don't do that. You can get to a max temp of about 450f on the pellet grill (mine anyway) and you can get the Primo much hotter than that, if you care. (I just looked at the Memphis specs and they say you can get to 650f on it and that it can do a direct heat mode with an insert. I would check to see if you can go easily from indirect to direct in the same cook on either choice.)

I upgraded my Traeger to the digital controller and I love that I can set and forget it, especially for long cooks.

Edited June 6, 2013 by mgaretz (log)

[rotuts]

pellet grills are really starting to take off:

http://www.pelletcan.com/Wood-Pellet-Grills.htm

Im on my way to get a lottery ticket for this:

http://www.cookshack.com/store/Smokers_4/Fast-Eddys-by-Cookshack-Model-FEC100

but probably this:

http://www.cookshack.com/store/Smokers_4/Fast-Eddys-by-Cookshack-Model-FEC120

[HungryC]

Count me as a kamado fan. It can do everything a pellet grill does, plus more. Can't do a near-neapolitan pizza w/a pellet grill, or use it as a wok stove.

[Keith_W]

I would vote for the Kamado as a more versatile cooking instrument. As others have said, you can reach much higher temperatures in a Kamado AND you can use it to sear meat. A Kamado can not go as low as a pellet grille, which means that it is not suitable for cold smoking. If you really do want to try cold smoking, there are tricks that you can use - e.g light a single BBQ briquette and lay it on a mound of sawdust to smoulder. You could also jerry rig a metal barrel and some air conditioning duct to feed smoke into the lower vent of the Kamado.

My Kamado is outfitted with a Rocks BBQ Stoker PID controller. This setup allows me to dial up a temperature and the machine simply blows air into the charcoal or cuts off the air supply to maintain the temperature. It works very well, there is even an app for your Android phone that allows you to observe the cook remotely.

[rotuts]

if you use a controller as mentioned above on the Kamado, you almost have the best of both worlds.

here is another controller:

http://pitmasteriq.com/

[Mofassah]

Thanks guys. Just the answers I needed to do the right choice. I will go for the Primo.

Cold smoking is interesting, but I have a plan on that I will update you on in a later post. I am Norwegian and fish my own salmon in summers, and hopefully I will be able to smoke one of my own catch this summer ... if I'm lucky.

[rotuts]

excellent choice. we look forward to seeing your results!

[dcarch]

I have modifier a 4.5 cubic feet working refrigerator to be a smoker.

I can smoke (PID controlled) from 32F to 200F, which makes it possible to cold/hot smoke year round.

Also, it is an indoor smoker.

dcarch