Pellet grill vs. charcoal grill: pros? cons?

[Smithy]

My husband and I have decided that it's time to replace our rusted-out, still-sortof-functioning gas grill with a new grill. We don't plan to eliminate gas; it's convenient and quick. However, I've been wishing we also had a charcoal grill for the flame, flavor and smoking possibilities. My reading suggests that a pellet grill can do the same as charcoal, perhaps better, but there are pros and cons. 

 

(Oh, and our electric vertical smoker is also going. We want something that will grill at high heat, do low-and-slow barbecuing or smoke. An offset smoker would be nice, but I don't think we have the room for that element.)

 

We are finding double-duty grills with 2 chambers: one for gas, and one for pellets OR charcoal. We're down to figuring out which will work better for us. We don't have the real estate for individual grills of each type.

 

From what I see so far, here's a breakdown for pros and cons of each:

Charcoal: fuel less expensive, no electicity required, considerably more monitoring and adjustment required for good temperature control, especially for smoking or long cooks.

 

Pellets: fuel more expensive but more compact, requires electricity always, capability to set something up and walk away for hours, with only occasional monitoring. (I have Thermoworks monitoring capability.) More precise, and easier, temperature control. More options for flavor due to choices in pellet (hickory vs. pecan, etc.) Maybe a wider range of temperatures available.

 

Pellet grills have until now put me off due to the number of moving parts, so to speak, and the microelectronics that have so much potential to fail. On the other hand, the precise temperature control sounds nice. The grill we'll be buying will live outside year round, as most grills do, but will be covered and unused approximately 6 months out of the year, in snow country.

 

I'd like some discussion from those of you who've been there: what do you like, or not like, about your pellet grills? What do you like, or not like, about charcoal grills? Which is better at providing a wide range of temperature options?

 

Then there are some specific questions:

1. If we buy a charcoal version, can we add pellets of our choice to adjust flavor? Will mixing pellets with lump charcoal mess up the air flow?

2. Do you have particular brands to select or avoid? In the pellet market I'm considering Traeger or Oklahoma Joe. I know @rotuts and his Woods Hole gang have opted for something considerably heavier and pricier, but that's out of our league. In the charcoal market I'm ogling a Char-Broil brand which, to be fair, has done reasonably well for us in the current gas-only version.

[palo]

With charcoal you can get flavoured wood chips or chunks (mesquite, hickory, apple etc) that can be placed on the the charcoal after it's going to flavour the smoke (can also be done with gas with a "smoker box" or tube

 

p

[Deephaven]

Would help to know what you want to cook on it.

 

I use a Kamado Joe Jr for pretty much everything.  It heats up faster than my 54" Lynx, tastes better and can easily do reverse sears.  Have a larger Kamado as well but it mostly gets used for larger cuts or for feeding more than the 4 of us.  Can smoke on it as well, but trickier than a pellet grill for sure.  

 

If it was primarily for long overnight smoking it may not be logical but if it is a multi-purpose grill it could be.  What do you want to cook on it and how often?

[&roid]

So many variables at play here. will try and give some thoughts on my experience so far. 
 

I’ve had a kamado joe big joe for years now. They are truly great bits of kit. Versatile, very well made and can turn out brilliant food. Buy a fan controller like a ThermoWorks billows or a fireboard and you can keep smoking temperatures for 12+ hours with ease. 
 

I’ve recently joined @rotuts pellet grill club, bought a Yoder 640s on eBay a month or so ago. They are amazing cookers and have a few big pluses over charcoal options - the ease of use, consistency and capacity are impossible to match with a kamado. I recently did a summer party for forty people and it was a doddle - two whole pork butts, a packer brisket and a plate of beef ribs, all at the same time with no drama. 
 

The Yoder has the ability to do direct heat cooking but don’t let anyone tell you it’s as good as charcoal. If this type of cooking is more important to you, and you only have space for one device I’d have to go with a kamado. But if you’re more about smoking and want to turn out bigger quantities a pellet grill would be perfect. 
 

Either way, buy the biggest and best you can possibly get - a Yoder is more expensive than a traeger but is 100% worth the difference. I’d happily get a used 640 over a brand new traeger, you’ll never be replacing it. 
 

As to your question about adding pellets to a charcoal cooker, you can, but I’m not sure you would. Chunks of actual wood are the way to go here, you want different flavour, you add different wood. 
 

Ultimately, there isn’t a single right answer to this question- Tell us a bit more about what you want to use it for and I’m sure we can help you spend some money!

[rotuts]

@Smithy 

 

you certainly have done your homework.  good for you

 

thus will be happy w your purchase  the previous posts have

 

excellent seasoned advice.

 

Yoder's are a cut above anything else on the market

 

and that's reflected w the price and the potential longevity.

 

Id say you get a kettle of some sort , either metal ( Weber ) or Ceramic   GreenEgg or Kamado 

 

and add a PID controller for when you want to do low and slow.

 

the PID controller does not have to stay outside , you attache it when you want

 

to control the air flow for low and slow.  the ceramic style retains more heat than

 

the Weber , thus a longer cook for the amount of initial fuel. it might be difficult to add

 

additional fuel to these mid-cook.

 

they are heavy and more expensive. than Webers.

 

for adding smoke flavor for high heat :  use a pellet tube , light w a blowtorch

 

and you get smoke.   you will not need a lot of pellets.   but will need a closed space for a bit.

 

so :  Weber kettle or ceramic kettle is a very good choice for you

 

along w a separate PID controller , that lives inside unless in use.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@RumandCook/videos

 

has decent reviews of kettles and yoder etc.

 

you will learn a lot from them.  he has become a little commercial 

 

but all Tubes get there eventually.

 

I personally have never had a ceramic kettle 

 

my friend @ WHPS had or still have one , not very large GreenEgg

 

and did some very fine pizza's on an insert designed for that.

 

and has an independent PID controller .  I don't know how long the PID cooks

 

last w an initial fuel allotment.

 

good luck .    im sure you will enjoy your purchase.

 

try not to buy ' cheaper '  but invest in ' better '

 

and for size :  get something that can hold , comfortably 

 

a full sized brisket.   you may never do a brisket , but that's a good size to consider.

 

looking forward to you enjoying your purchase , for a long long time.

[rotuts]

@Smithy  

 

one last idea.

 

Im sure you have thought about this :

 

what item is on the top of your cook list that you 

 

want your purchase to do perfectly , w no over-fussing ?

 

what's the second item ?

 

if your choice does these two items memorably

 

all the other items will fall into pace.

Edited July 31, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Smithy]

Some very good comments and questions here! I'll elaborate.

 

We mostly use a gas-fired grill, for the convenience of having an immediate source of heat for quick cooking. Our usual grilled dishes are simple: burgers, dogs, skewered meats and vegetables, or a vegetable stir-fry in a barbecue basket. I know from experience that an open flame (i.e. campfire, or charcoal) improves the flavor of most of those, but of course that takes more time. (We aren't set up for campfire cooking here in northern Minnesota but we do it sometimes during our winter travels.) I should mention that the gas grill is a requirement also because we need a gas-fired side burner. That gets at least as much use as the grill, for messy projects that are better done outdoors: hash; melting paraffin and making firestarters; canning. For all these reasons, gas is a must.

 

I mentioned above that some or all of the meals benefit from wood or charcoal, if we have the time. and that leads to charcoal vs. pellets. Now we get into things we've tried to do with limited success: long cooks, probably at low temperatures; also smoking. We have made a few hams: that is, brined pork butts and then smoked them by having one end of the current grill maintain high heat (with wood chips, to generate the smoke) and the other end holding the pork over a low flame, using a Thermoworks Smoke system to monitor temperature. The grill has 2 chimneys; the one closest to the high heat was blocked off so the smoke went out through the other one, above the ham. It's worked pretty well. We'd like to try other smoking and Texas-style barbecuing: briskets, chicken, homemade sausages; ribs; pork butt. Some vegetables. (My DIL does wonderful things with smoked corn!) We did all that in our vertical smoker, with limited success, which is why we moved to the gas grill as I've described using it. 

 

We no longer have huge dinner parties (woe is me) so we don't need a huge system. We do need something that will do gas, both with a grill and a side burner. We want something that will do gas in one part and charcoal or pellets in the other, for the sake of the better flavor when we have time, or the flavor and control of the low-and-slow cooks. 

 

As for the memorable "THIS is how we do it!" meals, I'd say that goes to something like beef brisket or ribs, or pork butt. The things we can get during our winter travels, that are not especially memorable here in the Northland.

 

So...with that in mind, is there any more good advice to be had out there? I've appreciated everyone's comments so far!

[rotuts]

@Smithy 

 

''  We do need something that will do gas, both with a grill and a side burner.  ''

 

so , maybe a new Weber ?

 

https://www.weber.com/US/en/gas/genesis/36800001.html

 

Ceramic +  butane portable burner ?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Butane-Burners/s?k=Butane+Burners

 

I have done low cooks on my 3 burner Weber , 

 

one burner on , at it lowest 

 

w a pellet cylinder for smoke  

 

but not overnight etc.

[ElsieD]

This won't answer your question but if you decide to go the non-pellet route, here are what we have had and my impressions of them.  The first item purchased was a Weber Genesis gas bbq.  We liked it a lot but it wasn't too great at smoking stuff so it was joined by a Bradley smoker.  The smoker worked well especially for cold smoking salmon until the pucks stopped automatically dropping.  I got tired of feeding them manually if I was, for example, smoking bacon.  So, a Big Green Egg was added to the collection.  It was a large so we could cook some big pieces of meat on it but I, for some reason had trouble controlling the heat.  We then bought a Weber charcoal kettle and I loved it.  Of the 4 that we had, I liked it best.  I could control the heat so long cooks were possible but I could also cook quick items, like burgs or steaks.  I almost cried when we moved and couldn't take it with us..   if I now want to smoke something I have to do it indoors and i use my stovetop Cameron smoker.  I mainly cook back ribs in it.

[Deephaven]

IMO, you are looking at two different appliances unless you forego the need for "easy" on the gas side.

Not sure what auto-run lump smokers you are looking at, but my brother has the nicest Masterbuilt one (basically a Traeger that uses lump) and it SUCKS for high temp cooking.  It does heat up quickly and is okay as a smoker, but a traditional kamado style makes way better tasting food.  I also live in MN and am somewhat spoiled with outdoor cooking appliances.  I am simplifying my life now.  I started with a gas grill and a weber smoky joe, the smoky joe wore out so I purchased a barrel smoker.  I then had gas, barrel and bought a green egg (actually a viking c4, but same thing) and found myself rarely using the offset smoker.  It only was pulled out for large gatherings.  Even doing a whole brisket was better on the kamado.  To answer a question from above, a single load of charcoal in the C4 will hold 225F for more than 36 hours.  I didn't care to go further, but after doing a brisket once let it go to see.  I am using a BBQ Stoker (PID basically) on that unit.  I then got rid of the offset smoker.

I am now down to a Lynx gas grill, an Ooni pizza oven, a Kamado Joe Jr, a Breeo firepit grill and the C4.  For anything pork butt or smaller I do it on the Joe Jr.  It is ready to smoke or grill in 20min and uses nearly no charcoal as it is  small and insulated.  A full on wok burner is my next add, but when that comes the Lynx is going away.  I haven't grilled anything on it in more than a year and use one of my outdoor devices at least once a week and quite often more.

 

So personally from what I see you ask for, I'd recommend a large green egg for smoking and a cheap nexgrill with side burner for gas.  If you will never do a brisket, the Kamado Joe Jr could surely fit the smoker and charcoal fix.  It is large enough for a whole chicken, a 6lb pork butt, or a small turkey but it is not big.

[Joe Blowe]

I've mentioned this elsewhere, but if you're looking to add some smoke to your gas or charcoal grill a pellet smoke tube is the way to go. Note that they do not generate huge amounts of smoke (you could always run two), but they do produce enough to give a decent smoke ring. I have two A-Maze-N tubes (the 6" and 12" no longer appear to be sold on Amazon) and I've been happy with the results on my Weber Performer and my Camp Chef Smoke Vault smoker.

 

Actually, they work great in the Camp Chef because any wood products that I tried with the chip tray was incinerated in a short amount of time (the burner is right under the chip tray). Switching to pellets and moving the tube off the floor basically prevented me from selling the smoker!

 

[Smithy]

My DIL has now advised me that, although she loves the idea of pellet grills, she's tried two different brands (Traeger and Oklahoma Joe, IIRC) with the same result: creosote buildup leading to fire. I think we'd have heard if there'd been property damage, but the pellet grills have been retired. She's back to a charcoal grill and an electric smoker.

 

Has anyone here had problems with creosote buildup on the pellet smokers? Got any tips for preventing or correcting it? She swears she cleaned the devices diligently but still had problems.

[MaryIsobel]

40 minutes ago, Smithy said:

My DIL has now advised me that, although she loves the idea of pellet grills, she's tried two different brands (Traeger and Oklahoma Joe, IIRC) with the same result: creosote buildup leading to fire. I think we'd have heard if there'd been property damage, but the pellet grills have been retired. She's back to a charcoal grill and an electric smoker.

 

Has anyone here had problems with creosote buildup on the pellet smokers? Got any tips for preventing or correcting it? She swears she cleaned the devices diligently but still had problems.

My husband uses a pellet smoker all the time with no issues. Could it be the brand of pellets? He's sleeping right now but I will ask him in the morning what brand of pellets he buys.

[palo]

Speaking of creosote build up - in my stove (wood) it's usually caused by slow burning ie low heat or green wood- methinks other than a poor grade of pellets, the chimney/exhaust is the source of their creosote build up

 

p

[rotuts]

@Smithy  

 

Id say this is a problem w the quality of the pellets

 

hopefully , on always uses food grade pellets

 

vs heating pellets.   

 

 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

@Smithy  

 

Id say this is a problem w the quality of the pellets

 

hopefully , on always uses food grade pellets

 

vs heating pellets.   

 

 

 

Oh, without a doubt they were using food-grade pellets, probably the Traeger-supplied brand. It may have been mismanagement of the unit, but it happened with 2 different brands of smoker. I think the other was an Oklahoma Joe but I don't remember for sure.

[rotuts]

@Smithy 

 

I haven't heard of this sort of problem w pellet grills.

 

Im not suggesting it can not happen

 

but if they had the problem w two different brands

 

Id think about operator error :

 

not enough oxygen in the set-up ?

 

improper maintenance ?

 

but Im just guessing .    you do have to clean out the impeller from time too time

 

etc.

[Smithy]

5 hours ago, palo said:

Speaking of creosote build up - in my stove (wood) it's usually caused by slow burning ie low heat or green wood- methinks other than a poor grade of pellets, the chimney/exhaust is the source of their creosote build up

 

p

 

Thanks. I agree that it seems the most likely issue; we have a wood-burning fireplace at home and have gotten the same information. I do wonder, if one is trying low temperature cooking, how that's avoided. Maybe the smoker chimney simply has to be cleaned periodically?

[rotuts]

another concern is if there is creosote in your chimney

 

its in your food.

 

what ive seen on reliable videos for the Yoder

 

is you want very light blue smoke or colorless smoke

 

out of the stack  and not white smoke.

 

when you add smoke w a pellet cylinder

 

 its white smoke mostly

 

but you don't do that for very long.

Edited August 2, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

@Smithy 

 

from time to time I get emails from Yoder.

 

not very often , but with ' news '  

 

unbelievable !    the news was this :

 

https://www.yodersmokers.com/pellet/the-ys1500s-outlander/

 

 

 

 

 

Massive pellet hopper !

 

but get this :

 

1 ) pneumatic tires    2 ) a potential ' hitch '  

 

for the PrincessMoblie !

 

you can take it with you !

 

F.D. :  I hace not checked if this model has the ' advanced ' diffuser pale

 

w the ' hatch '  , by removing that , you get very high heat , on grill grates , 

 

or  a conventional grate.

 

maybe you can convince Yoder to make a model 

 

with HighWay Tires , and you are willing to do some testing 

 

This has that smoke stack thing-ey

 

the WHPS unit does not .    Wow . ' Smoke-Stack ' envy 

 

for sure.

 

( actually , they are very useful for this full volume of cooking )

Edited August 2, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Smithy]

@rotuts wouldn't that be a hoot to tow down the road behind the Princessmobile? We'd sure make a lot of friends! 😄

[mgaretz]

I’ve used a pellet grill for many years now (6 or 7) and never had a creosote fire. 

[Smithy]

Thanks, all, for the creosote fire comments. We've suspected that it was more operator error than something built into the equipment, but with two brands of pellet grills involved we weren't sure.

[ElsieD]

This came in my email today.

 

 

https://www.saveur.com/shop/best-smoker/?utm_term=Saveur_Recipes_08.09.2023&utm_campaign=Saveur_Recipes_Active Dynamic&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email

[MArkF]

Not sure what your budget is. After grilling and smoking for 45 years, I bought Weber Kamado E6. It’s a double wall steel construction vs. ceramic. It is by far the best grill I’ve ever used. A couple of my friends have pellet grills and they have have had issues with software, clogs, pellets, etc. No such issues with the E6. Hold temperatures wonderfully, super easy to clean, uses both lump and briquettes. Fire grate has two levels, one for low and slow, the other for grilling.

It’s 24 inches in diameter but I routinely make dinner for two with it. 
At one point, I had 2 kettles, an offset, a gas grill (spare the air days) and an electric smoker. Now I only have the Genesis gas grill and the E6. It gets used 80% of the time.

 

So, if you grill more than anything else, I recommend the E6.

 

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by MArkF (log)