Convince me?

[CSG]

My name is CSG, and I am NOT a pellet smoker as of yet. My beloved Webber Genesis is finally giving up the ghost after 18 years, it is literally falling apart at the joints, but the grill is still going strong. I have questions about do I stay the course or go with a Traeger, about a horse apiece as far as price… but I need to be convinced.

Usage is almost daily, but with two of us and an occasional deluge of grand kids, we mainly use the grill for a few burgers, steaks, chicken breasts, chops and intestine tubed what-ever.

My bro in law has the Traeger, and swears by it, but I need to be convinced regarding the cost of running and time to preheat, cook and shut down. We are on a fixed budget and need to be aware of operating costs…. I am sure you can realize I don’t want to dump 7 - 8 bills into a device to be disappointed.

So convince me, ….what I am used to >>>

1. I rarely clean the unit, but the grills only are burned off to dust and cleaned every few uses…
2. It usually gets a pretty good scrub in the spring…
2. Unit gets covered after every use stays outside 24/7…
3. Every usage it needs to be pulled away from a vinyl sided garage wall, thus the wheels and struts do get flexed daily…
4. I am in a Minnesota location, so no matter what the Norwegian weather rock says, it gets used…
5. I value a quick start up frugal use of propane.

If someone needs to get a hold of me outside of this forum [I rarely have time to get on here too often] please feel free to gmail… [email protected]

 

[muebe]

First off welcome to the forum!

Now let me address you concerns the best I can and then others smarter than me will be along...

1. Clean up in a pellet grill is simple depending on how you do it. You can foil the drip pan and then throw away after you are done. Or run the grill on high for 10 minutes after cooking to burn off the grease and then scrap the tray when done.
2. You can do the same thing with your pellet grill in the spring. A tear down and complete clean up.
2. Can be covered and stay outside 24/7 also.
3. Pellet grills have wheels and can be moved in and out with out a problem.
4. You will not have a problem with the grill obtaining temps in cold weather. It will consume more pellets though.
5. Most pellet grills can reach full temp in under 15 minutes from start-up. They take around 4 minutes to fire.

Now onto the meat and potatoes of the Traeger. They are the economy pellet grill and do a good job. They are not geared for high temp grilling. Although they can grill they will not perform as well as your gasser in that aspect. There are other model pellet grills that can obtain high temps for grilling.


What you do get is fantastic wood fired convection cooking. Very moist chicken. Outstanding ribs. Even great pizza. All cooked with wood fire, indirectly, and convection air using a fan. If you are looking for something to replace you gasser for direct flame grilling than the Traeger might not be your first choice. But if you want to open up your pallete to a world of great wood fire food than a pellet grill is your answer. Just take a look at the gallery segment of this forum. You will see all the great food that people make on their pellet grills

 

[MossyMO]

#1 reason to get a pellet grill - You will find yourself using a pellet grill at least twice as often as you use you propane grill, the food is that much better.

 

[scooter]

Welcome to PelletSmoking!

What research have you done? There is plenty of material on PelletSmoking that will convince you that pellet cookers will give you a better product.

 

[Chokma]

Welcome CSG. There are so many excellent pellet grills out there, I would suggest you look around awhile before you chose one.