Pellet Smokers: How Do They Work?

The pellet smoker turns out to be an excellent way to combine the best of both worlds when it comes to experiencing the lovely aromas of a grill and the set and forget cooking style without putting in the work to get it done.

All you have to worry about is to get the temperature setting of your smoker right and letting the grill take care of the rest.

You can call it the modern way of barbeque but adding the smoker touch to it. A vast array of technologically advanced pellet smokers function as cookers as opposed to the traditional smokers of yesteryear.

The best part is that such devices require minimal maintenance, as you make use of pellets. Not only do these heat your smoker, but they also offer a bountiful choice of different flavors.

Seriously, how do we get these incredible grill cooking units to do their magic?

Let us discuss the nitty-gritty around what makes a pellet smoker work.

You may want to consider the fact that pellet smokers are, in fact, sophisticated grills that handle the entire smoking procedure for you.

Here is how you do it:

  • Firstly, you load it up with your pellet selection
  • Next, you program the preferred temperature that you want your meat to be cooked at as well as how long you want it to grill. The dial that controls the temperature setting range from 180 Fahrenheit to 500 Fahrenheit.
  • From here, the grill takes over by calculating at every stage of the cooking process how many pellets are needed at any given period to ensure the temperature remains constant.

A smoker like this features a gear that will move the pellets along from the hopper into the grill area to ensure the temperature is consistent at all times. During this phase, the hot rod would automatically ignite your pellet while the combustion fan will keep it burning — pretty much a hands-off way to guarantee the perfect grilling experience every time.

Within the furnace itself, there is a special plate in place to ensure the fire is separated from the remainder of the elements to guarantee the perfect condition for cooking.

Immediately above the plate, you’ll find a dripping tray to collect all the food remains and grease that would drain into a dedicated bucket that hangs by the grill. Just above this area, you will see the grill grates that are in place to cook the food.

What are the Benefits of Using a Pellet Smoker?

The cool thing about utilizing a pellet smoker is that you derive various upsides such as:

  • Hardly doing anything as the smoker virtually takes care of the entire cooking process. Your only involvement is to refill your pellet container, throw the excess ash away, start your grill, and set the temperature.
  • The main advantage is the pellet smoker slowly smokes your meat at a set temperature for several hours.
  • Do not forget the rich flavors you will get from your food once it leaves the smoker and finds its way onto your plate. To change the flavor involves a bit of experimenting in that you change the type of pellets.
  • Perfect temperature control as your smoker is designed to take care of this function every step of the way. It does so perfectly with no intervention required except for the fact that the right quantity of pellets must be loaded ahead of time.
  • Ease of cleaning. The ash automatically accumulates into a dedicated container, so you only have to worry about removing it and dumping the ash when all is said and done. To make things even more comfortable, the smoker has a special dripping tray to collect grease.

What people do not like about a pellet smoker is that it does not work when there is no electricity. The brain of the grill needs to be continuously hooked up to a regular power supply for it to work.

Also, you need to settle for food-grade pellets as ordinary heating pellets, or charcoal cannot be used.

Handy Tips When Using a Pellet Smoker

Most of the time, even when we engage in regular barbecues, we want to know if the meat is cooked right. For this, we need a meat probe. If your smoker does not offer the option of just plugging in your meat thermometer, then you may want to consider getting yourself a small device that will ensure you control the temperature inside the meat without having to lift the lid to check it out.

Besides, it is much easier to have the end of the probe sitting in the meat and close the lid.

If you found this post whetted your appetite for a pellet smoker, be sure to check out our guide that will examine the best pellet smokers in more detail.

Resources— Pitboss, Exchange Bar & Grill, Smoker Beat

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