Pellet Smoking For Beginners - Tips and Tricks for your Pellet Smoker

[@charlesSimmons-km7ky]

Great video. I have the Z-Grill zpg-700d, I always take my top rack out when I smoke unless I am needing it for smaller items. I have had this since December 2022. I'm guessing a burn off is going to be needed soon. I already vacume the pot and drum after every long smoke, clean the temp probe and wipe the drip and outside edges of the grill. I use a drip pan in the drip tray depending on the size of the items.

[@johnnyblackringo]

When you forgot to open the zip and the pellets all fell in with the bag was hilarious

[@optionstraderman]

Great tips, but the instructions for ZGrills and most other grills tell you to OPEN THE GRILL LID during startup to prevent possible explosion during the first 10 minutes of startup while all of the white "Dirty" smoke is being created. Also to prevent the interior of your grill from getting covered in "Dirty White Smoke" which has a very bitter taste to it and can make your grill and food taste funny if you get a large buildup of that smoke on the interior surfaces. Also, from my testing, I found that the temp displayed on the ZGrills digital red numbers are only measuring the temp at the tip of the interior probe and have really nothing to do with the actual controlling of the temp of the cooking area. Setting the grill at say 250 degrees is controlled by an algorithm built into the control board only. It's based on timing and the quantity of pellets the unit dumps into the fire burn pot cup each time, but it never monitors the interior temp of the grill. I have had my grill run up to +125 Degrees above the set point on the controller shortly after raising the temp only one notch on the controller. This happened because the unit had just finished dumping a bunch of pellets into the fire cup right before I made the temp change. Immediately after the temp change, the unit dumped a bunch more pellets into the cup to bring the grill temp up to the new setting, but it forgot it had just dumped a bunch of pellets into the fire cup right before I made the change! The result was a blazing hot fire for about 30 minutes until everything equalized and the temp came back down to a reasonable level. I didn't realize this when I first bought mine, and I discovered that when I actually measured the temp in the center of the grill surface, it was averaging about 20 to 40 degrees HOTTER than what the grill temp was set for, and about 25-40 degrees hotter than what was displayed on the red digital readout. The new grills with PID Controllers DO USE the probe temp to help adjust the grills heat and control of the fans and addition of the pellets to the burn pot. I guess that's why they are over a hundred dollars more money when you purchase the grills. Anyway, now that I know that, I usually set my temp to 180 and find that the resulting temp inside the grill at the cooking surface is about 225 or so. Much better for slow cooking brisket or pork shoulder / butt. Hope this helps.

[@marianclanton3723]

Your video was very informative and nice I just got me a pellet smoker same brand got it put together today and I love it. One thing that I noticed sitting on top of your grill you're getting ready to clean and you have the wire brushes that is used for coming the grill racks. Please get rid of those they are dangerous the wire will break off you can end up getting it stuck in food someone swallows and you will be going to the hospital those wire scrapers are trash please throw them away just knowing that you have those I would be worried about eating something that you make because they are not safe

[@TC10394]

Awesome advice. Thank you and go LSU!

[@thomastommy9864]

At 2:10, I've seen another guy warn about leaving the lid closed while it's heating up. They've shown many explosions, where it ignites inside and pushes the lid up after it pops. I guess you've never had that happen then.

[@FasterthanSpeed414]

He’s a newb

[@MoombaMakai]

I’m new to this and this is the 2nd time I’m hearing this. Can someone tell me what the true answer is???? Thanks!

[@harrygoldsmith6792]

@@MoombaMakai load the pellets, open the lid, set to smoke, when you hear the fire roaring and the white smoke has settled, close the lid and set to your cooking temperature. If you don’t open the lid during startup you risk trapped gas exploding.

[@kayleechristensen2787]

This is great Don, I’m basically as new as they come and my dad gifted me a smoker. All the other videos were super long and only set up the grill then didn’t show how to start it or anything. My only question so far though is when do I know how to use the feed option?

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

The pellets feed automatically when the temperature is not hot enough.

[@jerryhare934]

Greetings from Chicago. Fantastic video. Thank you.

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

Thanks for watching!

[@nevarez44]

Thank you sir! :)

[@Enzo87325]

Great video, thank you!

[@PatriciaMckay-d3x]

when smoking do the pellets automatically feed into the burner?

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

Yes, they should

[@denniskerns889]

This video told me nothing about smoking wow what about the p setting? And how it works

[@antoniosannicandro4945]

I have a brand new smoker and have excess smoke coming from the hopper what causes that?

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

It could be wet pellets, or maybe the fan electrical connections are not seated.

[@brianstann1498]

can you take out the heat shield to get more of a direct heat… will it mess up anything if you only have the drip plate attached?

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

It is not recommended. The heat shield distributes the heat with the drip tray so there is not a lot of hot spots.

[@grea8437]

Hi Don, thanks for the video as I'm still a newbie when it comes to pellet smoking with the Z Grill I recently purchased. I bought some Pit Boss fruitwood pellets recently and I was disappointed with the "no" smoke flavor they produced on the chickens and burgers I made. Any suggestions for wood pellets that will give a good flavor to burgers and chicken?

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

I do not like the Pit Boss Pellet. I have a video in which I rated the pellets that are available in my are. I liked the Bear Mountain brand best.

[@DiegoCruzing]

How do we know how many pellets to add for the smoker?

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

It all depends on the temp and how long you are going to cook.

[@ryanjohns7700]

Awesome thanks mate

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

Happy to help

[@lucyschussolin4556]

Thank you

[@santossingleterry2621]

Thanks for the great video. Very Helpful. You might consider wearing some maroon next time. You will appear classier. Gig'em!

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

Thanks for the tip! I just had my logo printed on some shirts, i will be wearing those from now on.

[@markymark6918]

Great video. 👍🏾

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

Thanks for watching!

[@ragincajuns2101]

Great videos! Geaux Tigers!

[@SouthernBackyardCooking]

Thanks!

[@allenwillett1013]

Let's all thank Ted Cruz for this video...

[@howdyags5149]

😅

[@brendadavis223]

hahaha

[@pitbull8509]

Great video btw need to take that shirt off and put on a real shirt 🤣jk ROLL TIDE🎉🎊🤣

[@AbeAlaric]

Lmao teaching people about pellet smokers while you have the lid closed when starting up ??

[@walkingnyc1]

I did catch this tip in another video to leave it open...

[@genekshdhd2902]

Tim Sheehy the man!