Looking for a pellet grill? Use our interactive Pellet Grill Comparison and make an educated decision. Wood Pellet Grills are one of the greatest barbecue inventions to come around. Wood Pellet Grills can be used to grill the perfect steak, bake the perfect chicken, barbecue, braise, roast or smoke to perfection your favorite meal. Choosing the best Wood Pellet Grill is an important choice because there are numerous models and makers of Wood Pellet Grills, but some of them are better than others. This article will describe what to look for when deciding which is the best Wood Pellet Grill for you and your backyard cooking experience. Choosing the best Wood Pellet Grill can make smoking, roasting, baking, barbecuing, and grilling anything simple. Wood Pellet Grill’s produce a perfectly cooked meat with that authentic smoke flavor you can usually only get from an authentic barbeque joint.
What is a Wood Pellet Grill, How Does It Work, and Where Did It All Start?
Wood Pellet Grills have been around for over a decade but it was not until recently that they became extremely popular due to people figuring out how practical and easy they are for not only grilling a perfect steak but for smoking that perfect brisket. Wood Pellet Grills are exactly what their name implies, a grill that uses wood pellets to heat the grill. Unlike conventional charcoal grills or propane grills, Wood Pellet Grills use small wooden pellets (Approximately 1/4 inch in diameter) that are burned to produce heat. These Wood Pellets are compacted together and are made out of natural wood pellets which come in a variety of flavors depending on the wood type including mesquite, hickory, oak, cherry, and apple just to name a few. Wood Pellets cost around $10-$15 for a 25 pound bag and that bag will usually last the average griller all summer. On average a Wood Pellet Grill will burn between 1/2 pound to 2 pounds and hour depending on the desired heat level.
Photo Courtesy CampChef.com
The wood Pellets are then loaded into the Wood Pellet Grill through a hopper and are automatically fed through an auger which leads the pellets into the heating element. This is where Wood Pellet Grills are a better option over traditional grills because the heating element is not directly feeding fire to your meats. In a Wood Pellet Grill a fan blows the heat from the burning pellets through a chamber to the racks where your meat is cooking. Direct heat and fire is what causes food to be cooked uneven and your steaks and other meat to shrink while being grilled. This does not happen when using a wood pellet grill!
Wood Pellet Grills work off 110v electricity and the best Wood Pellet Grills have a temperature gauge that will keep the temperature your meats are cooking at steady during the complete cooking period. Wood Pellet Grills have a easy to adjust knob where you can set the cooking temperature and adjust the amount of smoke produced while cooking. This enables you to use the Wood Pellet Grill as either a traditional barbecue grill or a smoker for longer cooks such as smoked briskets or pulled pork. The heat of a Wood Pellet Grill surrounds your food with heat and smoke, cooking it evenly on all sides, both top and bottom.
Key Features Of The Best Wood Pellet Grills
Making the decision to buy a Wood Pellet Grill is a big decision. Wood Pellet Grills prices range from $69 (Portable Wood Pellet Grill For Camping) up to $4000 depending on the features and specific model you desire. But realistically you will be able to find a great backyard Wood Pellet Grill to replace your charcoal or propane grill for around $500-$800.
Wood Pellet Grill Controllers
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The Best Wood Pellet Grills will have controllers with several smoke options and an adjustable knob to direct between different heat levels. They will have a digital readout which is attached to an internal temperature probe which will show you at all times what the exact temperature your food is cooking at. This controller also makes sure that the heat is constantly staying at the same temperature and will adjust the feed to the auger to keep your temperature consistent.
The Best Wood Pellet Grills also have a meat probe that can be plugged into the controller which will show you the internal temperature of the meat you are cooking or smoking. The controller will have a button you can push that will display the internal temperature of the meat on the digital readout. This is extremely important when slow cooking briskets, pulled pork, ribs, and other slow smoked meats.
Wood Pellet Grill Hopper Capacity
The Best Wood Pellet Grills have a large hopper capacity. This is important because if plan on smoking overnight you do not want to worry about getting up in the middle of the night to refill the pellet hopper. We suggest at least an 18 pound pellet capacity hopper.
Shutdown Mode
The Best Pellet Grills have a shutdown mode that automatically cleans out your hopper while cooling down your grill. This makes cleanup and storage simple.
Wood Grill Pellets
There are many options for Wood Pellets for your new grill but you should stick with name brands because they are better made and have less a chance of clogging your auger. Most sporting goods stores sell good wood pellets or you can also buy our recommendations which are produced by BBQ’ers Delight.
Wood Pellet Grill Maintenance and Cleanup
The Best Wood Pellet Grills are for the most part maintenance free and cleanup is very easy. Most Pellet Grills contain a drip tray and a drip cup which ultimately gather any grease that may drip from your meats. To make cleanup super-easy we suggest covering the drip tray and lining the drip cup with tinfoil. Once the Wood Pellet Grill cools down you just need to remove and dispose of the tinfoil.
After using the Wood Pellet Grill several times you should remove the ash tray which sits underneath the pellet grill and dispose of the ashes in the trash. The ash tray is a depository that collects the ashes from the burned wooden pellets.
Our Best Wood Pellet Grill Recommendations
1 Choice #1 – Camp Chef PG24 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker
Choice #1 – Camp Chef PG24 Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker
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