What Should I Look for When Buying a Pellet Grill?

The best way to make the most out of a warm, sunny day is to spend it outdoors with family and friends. No, you don’t always have to go to the park or travel miles to do this. Instead, you can simply gather everyone together for a barbecue and enjoy a lovely afternoon full of good food and laughter.

Of course, you’ll need the right equipment for this, and you can visit the Wood Pellet Grill site to find out what the best grills in the market are. If you’re not quite sure how to pick the right one yet, we’ve got your back.

How To Choose a Pellet Grill

When it comes to cooking flavorful meat, you can never go wrong with a pellet grill. Yet, similar to other grilling techniques, the quality of your experience will depend on your grill’s specific features.

Freestanding Vs. Built-In

Generally speaking, you have two options in terms of a pellet grill’s configuration: freestanding and built-in. To help you choose the correct model, here’s how they differ:

Freestanding

The most common pellet grill configuration is freestanding. They usually have two wheels on one end and two legs on the other. It offers mobility, as it allows you to move your cooking space from one area to another.

Other freestanding pellet grills have extra spaces for storage and preparation. However, one disadvantage is that it requires storage space. Additionally, they may not be able to tolerate harsh weather conditions.

Built-In

Built-in pellet grills do not have wheels. Instead, they are integrated into your outdoor kitchen, so you cannot move them around your backyard. While that may present as an inconvenience, they excel in one specific aspect—durability.

Built-in pellet grills are the most durable grills on the market. They can last for years, maybe even decades, and they steer you away from the risk of accidentally toppling your grill that may cause a fire.

Pellet Cooking

You can also decide whether you want your grill to actually roast the meat over direct heat or let the smoke cook it. Both of these pellet cooking methods are available in different grills. However, there are quite a few differences between these two techniques.

Grill

A pellet grill that roasts your meat can reach temperatures of up to 700 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand, they also allow you to cook low and slow. While they might work fine for smoking and baking, grills are best used for roasting. As such, you’re most likely to use them for roasting at high temperatures.

Vertical Smoker

A vertical smoker specializes in one thing—smoking. You may be able to roast meats with it, but its highest temperature often only reaches 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

What vertical smokers really offer is low-and-slow cooking. Pellet grills can do that, but vertical smokers can cook at temperatures as low as 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Hence, you wouldn’t have any problem cooking salmon and other delicate meats with this method of pellet cooking.

Controllers

Most of these features would be practically useless if your pellet grill does not have a convenient way of adjusting the heat. More often than not, you will come across three controller options: PID, non-PID, and PID-plus.

Non-PID

The oldest type of controller you’ll see in today’s grills is non-PID. People in the barbecue community call them the LMH controllers because of their present options, which are low, medium, and high.

What you’ll like about non-PID pellet grills is that they can have up to 10 temperature settings. Compared to others, though, these are only entry-level grills. You might find the temperature settings quite inaccurate, usually around 30 to 40 degrees off.

Those who use grills with this type of controller often require a separate grill thermometer. This way, they can get an accurate temperature reading of the grilling chamber.

PID

PID stands for proportional, integral, derivative. Grills with this type of controller are more technologically advanced. Basically, it has a built-in program that constantly monitors the grill’s fan speed and the rate at which the pellets are cooking.

One advantage of this is that PID controller grills are only five degrees higher or lower than your intended temperature. As you can imagine, this level of accuracy can make a huge difference in your overall grilling experience.

PID-Plus

When it comes to temperature control, the PID system is perhaps the best you could get. So, what then does the PID-plus offer? More than anything, it guarantees convenience.

Grills with a PID-plus controller allow you to link your grill to your smartphone. As a result, you can constantly monitor the status of your grill. Additionally, PID-plus controllers can send alerts to your smartphone to let you know that the meat is done cooking.

The Key to Better BBQ Parties

Nothing elevates a dull mood than a spread of perfectly grilled or smoked meat on the table. Some even prefer eating theirs straight from the fire. If you like having your friends and family over during weekends, there’s no denying the huge impact a reliable pellet grill will have on your BBQ parties.