Ooops, sorry the temperature charts didn't work. Need help on how to fix. They loo OK in the editor. Thanks!
Englander Pellet Grill/Smoker PG-100
Thermapen (calibrated)
Maverick Redi-Chek Model ET-732 dual probe wireless thermometer(checked with the Thermapen)
I am new to pellet smokers and have been a stick smoker for many years. This has been a learning process the last few days. I must admit to be totally disappointed by the experience. I the burn in as instructed followed by two runs to check the operation and temperatures. I used the thermometers above and they are both new. There performance was checked at freezing and boiling. It was noted that the Redi-chek was +3° @ freezing and +1° @ boiling (corrected for parametric pressure & altitude).
I ordered the stove from Home Depot which means free shipping from the East coast and it arrived in a very reasonable time. The stove comes pre-assembled except for the legs and two exterior shelves. It went together easily while laying on its back. The exception was the heat shield that goes in the front that was not pictured, shown in the exploded diagram or parts list. I needed a helper to stand it once it was ready. It was noted that the right hand door was not aligned properly. The upper edge of the door sits nearly 1/2 inch above the matching door on the left. More about this later.
The operational instructions are minimal and contain little in the way of guidance. The are no recipes, no videos and although there is a DVD shown in the parts list it does not come with one. The control unit beeps from time to time, they each have meaning, but are not mentioned in the instructions.The volume is very low and you need to be right next to the grill to hear them. The control panel is very simple: ON/OFF buttons, 3 Digit temperature display, INCREASE/DERCEASE buttons, igniter ON light, auger ON light and a DISPLAY button that selects either SET or ACTUAL temperature. The left side cast iron grill for searing is a very rough cast. Lots of small voids. The decryption does not indicate if grill is seasoned so I performed a high temperature, peanut oil seasoning on my gas grill.
Again I am new to all this so just turning it ON to see how it all worked was pretty exciting. I have been studying up on bacon for the last week and I really want to get on with it! Things I learned: The fan runs all the time. The auger runs about every 12 seconds and sounds like it drops 1 to 3 pellets at a time, sometimes none.
The recommended burn in cycle and first two temperature test were run with Lil' Devils blended wood pellets. These are currently available at my Home Depot for $5/bag. They had no particular aroma and I might use them as a mix with other woods or as mulch in the garden.
This is the heat log for my first run. It was started early in the cool morning on a windless day. Note that it was later in the run that I began to look at the smokers own interior temperature. The Maverick probe was set in its holder in the middle of the smoking areas main shelf.
Time Set°F Maverick°F Door °F
7:55 AM 150 79 Open
8:05 AM 150 181 230 Closed
8:10 AM 150 180 200
8:20 AM 150 165 160
8:30 AM 150 156 152
8:40 AM 150 162 162
8:50 AM 150 151 150
9:00 AM 150 163 162
9:00 AM 200 163
9:10 AM 200 165 166
9:20 AM 200 196* 163 170
9:30 AM 200 191 162 162
9:40 AM 200 195 163 168
9:50 AM 200 193 165 162
10:00 AM 200 198 171 170
I found this run to be unimpressive. It actually appears that the analog meter on the door is more accurate then the digital!
So, the next day, another temperature test.
Time Minutes Set°F Internal °F <DIFF°> Maverick °F Door °F
:00 225 NONE 52 Approx.
10:00 225 230 45 185 220
20:00 225 204 32 172 190
30:0 225 222 30 192 208
40:0 225 233 28 205 206
50:0 225 226 23 203 209
60:0 225 230 23 207 211
70:0 225 224 25 199 207
80:0 225 225 24 201 205
90:0 225 231 26 205 211
100:0 225 247 28 219 229
110:0 225 214 20 194 190
120:0 225 215 23 192 191
130:0 END 0
Again unimpressive.
Sooo, the next evening I decided to bite the bullet and smoke a whole beer can stile chicken. Rubbed the bird down with my rub, bagged it up with a bunch of apple juice for the day. Pulled it out of the frig while the smoker was getting hot, dried it off, coated it with a lite coat of mustard to help hold a second rub down with seasonings. Loaded the hopper with 3 lbs of Englanders Hickory Pellets (came with the grill). Here is how it went:
Time Set°F Internal °F Maverick °F Notes
3:50 250 - -
4:15 250 217
4:30 250 268 234 Chicken IN*, no smoke
4:40 250 - - 3 beeps. no smoke
4:45 220 - - Lowered temp/to get smoke
265 Smoked 1 minute
4:50 200 258 219 Lite smoke 1 minute
5:00 225 - 198 3 beeps. little smoke
5:05 240 210 180 Never get done at low temps
5:30 250 244 194 Chicken @ 68°
6:00 300 257 223 Hungry got to boost temp
Chicken @ 82°
6:40 300 309 275 Chicken @ 111°
7:00 300 297 266 Chicken @ 129°
3lbs pellets used
8:40 300 294 264 Chicken DONE!
So, I ate late! T'was tasty but my rub will do that. The bird was browned but not dark like I am used to. When I went to put the chicken in, it was too tall. I had to wiggle the top shelf out to get it to fit.
I don't get it. I thought this was a smoker. I am used to wood and real smoke coming out the chimney. This would puff out some smoke for a minute and then if I looked real close at the chimney I could decree wafts of smoke against the black. Again I don't know what to expect but this sure was not what I was looking fore.
Now back to the warped door. I started e-mailing Englander on Wednesday, got my first repines on Friday. The response was:
"it can be "worked" some , i had to do this with mine a bit, if you look at the side of the door (outer edge) at the hinges, without actually loosening the bolts , slip a flat tip screwdriver into the gap with the door opened just a bit and put pressure on th edoor to close it as the screwdriver is in the gap it pushes the door away at that spot (near the upper hinge) this should cause the inner edge where the door closes to the other side door to lower closer to the correct position."
Note too happy with that! If you purchased a new appliance for $1300, say a refrigerator, and it was delivered with a mis-fit door would you put a screw driver in and try to forces fit it? I even included pictures. The same email had my first heat log, they didn't respond to that at all.
I asked about the beeps and got this response.
"the beeps are when the thermocouper sees the temp as reaching the setting on the CB , the reading will fluctuate smoe while in operation on the digital, im not sure what you are referring to as "maverick" the fan does run the whole time when the unit is in operation. as for the fluctuations , runing at 225 occasionally you may drop enough on the thermocoupler to engage the igniter briefly to ensure the fuel is still lit, now, if the unit does this after it reaches the setpoint it will give the 3 beep signal that its back to temp"
Here I am on a Sunday morning musing about what to do. At this point I am thinking I will load it up on a motor cycle trailer and deliver it back to HD. Then start the search all over again! But now I have all of you to give me a leg up. Got a pile-o-pellets in the garage and no smoker. Bah humbug!
Timan
Now to see if I can actually paste this whole thing into an new thread on the forum.
Englander Pellet Grill/Smoker PG-100
Thermapen (calibrated)
Maverick Redi-Chek Model ET-732 dual probe wireless thermometer(checked with the Thermapen)
I am new to pellet smokers and have been a stick smoker for many years. This has been a learning process the last few days. I must admit to be totally disappointed by the experience. I the burn in as instructed followed by two runs to check the operation and temperatures. I used the thermometers above and they are both new. There performance was checked at freezing and boiling. It was noted that the Redi-chek was +3° @ freezing and +1° @ boiling (corrected for parametric pressure & altitude).
I ordered the stove from Home Depot which means free shipping from the East coast and it arrived in a very reasonable time. The stove comes pre-assembled except for the legs and two exterior shelves. It went together easily while laying on its back. The exception was the heat shield that goes in the front that was not pictured, shown in the exploded diagram or parts list. I needed a helper to stand it once it was ready. It was noted that the right hand door was not aligned properly. The upper edge of the door sits nearly 1/2 inch above the matching door on the left. More about this later.
The operational instructions are minimal and contain little in the way of guidance. The are no recipes, no videos and although there is a DVD shown in the parts list it does not come with one. The control unit beeps from time to time, they each have meaning, but are not mentioned in the instructions.The volume is very low and you need to be right next to the grill to hear them. The control panel is very simple: ON/OFF buttons, 3 Digit temperature display, INCREASE/DERCEASE buttons, igniter ON light, auger ON light and a DISPLAY button that selects either SET or ACTUAL temperature. The left side cast iron grill for searing is a very rough cast. Lots of small voids. The decryption does not indicate if grill is seasoned so I performed a high temperature, peanut oil seasoning on my gas grill.
Again I am new to all this so just turning it ON to see how it all worked was pretty exciting. I have been studying up on bacon for the last week and I really want to get on with it! Things I learned: The fan runs all the time. The auger runs about every 12 seconds and sounds like it drops 1 to 3 pellets at a time, sometimes none.
The recommended burn in cycle and first two temperature test were run with Lil' Devils blended wood pellets. These are currently available at my Home Depot for $5/bag. They had no particular aroma and I might use them as a mix with other woods or as mulch in the garden.
This is the heat log for my first run. It was started early in the cool morning on a windless day. Note that it was later in the run that I began to look at the smokers own interior temperature. The Maverick probe was set in its holder in the middle of the smoking areas main shelf.
Time Set°F Maverick°F Door °F
7:55 AM 150 79 Open
8:05 AM 150 181 230 Closed
8:10 AM 150 180 200
8:20 AM 150 165 160
8:30 AM 150 156 152
8:40 AM 150 162 162
8:50 AM 150 151 150
9:00 AM 150 163 162
9:00 AM 200 163
9:10 AM 200 165 166
9:20 AM 200 196* 163 170
9:30 AM 200 191 162 162
9:40 AM 200 195 163 168
9:50 AM 200 193 165 162
10:00 AM 200 198 171 170
I found this run to be unimpressive. It actually appears that the analog meter on the door is more accurate then the digital!
So, the next day, another temperature test.
Time Minutes Set°F Internal °F <DIFF°> Maverick °F Door °F
:00 225 NONE 52 Approx.
10:00 225 230 45 185 220
20:00 225 204 32 172 190
30:0 225 222 30 192 208
40:0 225 233 28 205 206
50:0 225 226 23 203 209
60:0 225 230 23 207 211
70:0 225 224 25 199 207
80:0 225 225 24 201 205
90:0 225 231 26 205 211
100:0 225 247 28 219 229
110:0 225 214 20 194 190
120:0 225 215 23 192 191
130:0 END 0
Again unimpressive.
Sooo, the next evening I decided to bite the bullet and smoke a whole beer can stile chicken. Rubbed the bird down with my rub, bagged it up with a bunch of apple juice for the day. Pulled it out of the frig while the smoker was getting hot, dried it off, coated it with a lite coat of mustard to help hold a second rub down with seasonings. Loaded the hopper with 3 lbs of Englanders Hickory Pellets (came with the grill). Here is how it went:
Time Set°F Internal °F Maverick °F Notes
3:50 250 - -
4:15 250 217
4:30 250 268 234 Chicken IN*, no smoke
4:40 250 - - 3 beeps. no smoke
4:45 220 - - Lowered temp/to get smoke
265 Smoked 1 minute
4:50 200 258 219 Lite smoke 1 minute
5:00 225 - 198 3 beeps. little smoke
5:05 240 210 180 Never get done at low temps
5:30 250 244 194 Chicken @ 68°
6:00 300 257 223 Hungry got to boost temp
Chicken @ 82°
6:40 300 309 275 Chicken @ 111°
7:00 300 297 266 Chicken @ 129°
3lbs pellets used
8:40 300 294 264 Chicken DONE!
So, I ate late! T'was tasty but my rub will do that. The bird was browned but not dark like I am used to. When I went to put the chicken in, it was too tall. I had to wiggle the top shelf out to get it to fit.
I don't get it. I thought this was a smoker. I am used to wood and real smoke coming out the chimney. This would puff out some smoke for a minute and then if I looked real close at the chimney I could decree wafts of smoke against the black. Again I don't know what to expect but this sure was not what I was looking fore.
Now back to the warped door. I started e-mailing Englander on Wednesday, got my first repines on Friday. The response was:
"it can be "worked" some , i had to do this with mine a bit, if you look at the side of the door (outer edge) at the hinges, without actually loosening the bolts , slip a flat tip screwdriver into the gap with the door opened just a bit and put pressure on th edoor to close it as the screwdriver is in the gap it pushes the door away at that spot (near the upper hinge) this should cause the inner edge where the door closes to the other side door to lower closer to the correct position."
Note too happy with that! If you purchased a new appliance for $1300, say a refrigerator, and it was delivered with a mis-fit door would you put a screw driver in and try to forces fit it? I even included pictures. The same email had my first heat log, they didn't respond to that at all.
I asked about the beeps and got this response.
"the beeps are when the thermocouper sees the temp as reaching the setting on the CB , the reading will fluctuate smoe while in operation on the digital, im not sure what you are referring to as "maverick" the fan does run the whole time when the unit is in operation. as for the fluctuations , runing at 225 occasionally you may drop enough on the thermocoupler to engage the igniter briefly to ensure the fuel is still lit, now, if the unit does this after it reaches the setpoint it will give the 3 beep signal that its back to temp"
Here I am on a Sunday morning musing about what to do. At this point I am thinking I will load it up on a motor cycle trailer and deliver it back to HD. Then start the search all over again! But now I have all of you to give me a leg up. Got a pile-o-pellets in the garage and no smoker. Bah humbug!
Timan
Now to see if I can actually paste this whole thing into an new thread on the forum.
Last edited:
