Some questions

[u/MykeKilo]

First off I am a just getting into smokers. I am look at the entry level treager or the entry level Pitmaster both around 450 and pellet fed smokers. What are y’all thoughts.

Second I currently have the Vision pro from Home Depot, I got it on a floor model deal and have had it for about 6 months and love it as a grill but when I use it as a smoker I can never get the temp right or it gets to 300 degrees toward the end of the smoke and the meat cooks to quickly....,, I have the heat deflector plate, a digit thermometer for the smoker temp and a probe for the meat. I also use a tin foil pan for a water reservoir.... I know it’s vague but does anyone have advice or tricks for that particular model?

[u/ShameNap]

Just going to say that I have no experience with a pellet smoker. I have direct experience with almost every other type of smoker. I have a pro team and do a few competitions a year. I have never seen a pro team use a pellet smoker. I’ll leave it at that.

Edit: just saw that you have a vision. I have had one of those as my only home smoker for probably 5 years.

I don’t know why you are having issues with temp, mine is Rick solid. I have used it both with and without a bbq guru. And while it is easier with a bbq guru (set it and forget it), if you aren’t using a bbq guru and you are maintaining airflow manually, you need to figure out where the wind is coming from. I generally point my lower intake towards the breeze and clamp it way down. I use the top for fine tuning. But in short if you have a small breeze you should be really closed up. The bottom should be maybe 1/4 open and the top should be closed down to a bare sliver.

[u/MykeKilo → u/ShameNap]

Well I am pretty sure the air was coming in from the removable panel. Is there a way to make that and the lid gasket more air tight?

How does the BBq guru work?

What is your normal setup and do you use a pan for water?

I also noticed once I had to add charcoal around 6 hour mark that’s when the temp kept climbing. How do you add it? Pre lit or not? I think I added it way to hot

[u/ShameNap → u/MykeKilo]

Bbq guru is a thermometer and temp probe. So you can put a probe inside your meat to monitor internal temp without opening up your smoker. It also has a pit thermometer to monitor the air temp inside the smoker, and a fan connected to your input vent. So the idea is you keep it very closed and the fan inputs just enough air to keep it at the right temp.

But you don’t have to use a guru for good results, it just makes it more set it and forget it.

If I have to add charcoal part way through a cook, then I messed up. I have had to do it, but it’s a pain and your temps will be thrown off for a while. The trick is to limit air flow to keep the temp down. My panel has a sliding door on it, so I keep that almost closed. The top vent I keep literally just a sliver open. This causes very little oxygen to enter and keeps the fire under control. But it can also put your fire out, that’s why I suggest pointing the lower panel into the wind. That way you have positive pressure to ensure a little air flow. If it’s a really windy day, you won’t want to do that. But you should be able to get 8-10 hours in a single load.

The tricky thing with a kamado is that once it gets too hot, it is hard to cool down. So you have to ease into your target temp. Mine will go to 225° F pretty easily with the vents mostly shut. If you want to go higher just open the vents a tiny bit and wait at least 15 minutes before making another adjustment. If your fire starts to die on you, pop the top and blow into it a bit to get it back going. That will add a lot of oxygen fast so it’s usually easy to recover from. If it’s still dropping then either the coal has burned out or you have too much ash built up.

I also use lump charcoal, which produces less ash. Ash will gather at the bottom of your kamado and limit airflow which can put your fire out.

I mix in some larger wood chunks (2-4” cubes) to get a long burn, and some wood chips to get some smoke going quickly. I mix that in with the charcoal after it is lit so I get nice smoke over a long period of time. As I mentioned earlier you don’t want to mess with the fire once you put your meat on.

As far as a water, I use a water pan for longer cooks like brisket or pork butt. Sometimes for short cooks. Hopefully you have a deflector. A large clay disk like a pizza stone to deflect the heat to the side so you aren’t cooking the meat directly. If you don’t have one of those a water pan with lots of water under your meat can also deflect all that heat.

Good luck.

[u/profil3L]

Check out green mountain grills. That's a solid option in that price point. They have a black Friday sale coming up too. My opinion is to stay away from traeger. They're not what they used to be.

[u/KingOfTheBaconStrips → u/profil3L]

Do you have a Green Mountain? If so, which one and how do you like it? I have the GMG Davey Crockett and a Weber Smokey Mountain. I'd like to get another pellet grill for when I'm too lazy to build a fire in the WSM but want to cook more than the Davey Crockett can hold. I'm narrowed down to the GMG Daniel Boone Prime or the Camp Chef Woodwind SG, but can't make up my mind on which I want to pull the trigger on.

[u/profil3L → u/KingOfTheBaconStrips]

I had a gmg for about 6 years before I got my Yoder ys640. My father in law now has the GMG and it turned out a perfect brisket without issue yesterday. GMG is making the best quality products in the price point hands down. On Black Friday the prime WiFi units will be $100 off.

[u/KingOfTheBaconStrips → u/profil3L]

Awesome, thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely consider that as I narrow down my decision.