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Grilling, Smoking, And Cooking On One Efficient Grill

18 January 2021

Alexa Brooks

Smoking meat, grilling burgers, or cooking a roast all on the same outdoor appliance seems too good to be true, but modern wood pellet smoker grills can do just that. There are some benefits and some drawbacks to these grills, but if you are looking for one grill to do many things, you may want to consider looking at some wood pellet smoker grills before you buy your next grill.

Pellets as Fuel

The wood pellets on the market for wood pellet smoker grills offer many different flavors and produce different levels of smoke or heat depending on your needs. The pellets are food grade and made from compressed sawdust with no additives in it, so they are safe for you to use. 

The pellets are made using heat and pressure to hold them together, and you can get a twenty-pound bag of pellets in just about any wood option that you prefer for wood pellet smoker grills. If you love cherry wood, you can get it. Apple, oak, maple, hickory, or just about any wood you might want is available for your grill. 

Grill Designs

The most common wood pellet smoker grills use a hopper that holds the pellets and an auger system that feeds them into the firebox. The system also uses an electric igniter that lights the pellets and a controller that feeds pellets in as they are needed.  

Many of these grills use a system of plates in the bottom of the grill that radiates the heat up to the food, and the system evenly spreads the heat throughout the grill so you could cook just about anything without the concern for hot spots that would cause the food to cook unevenly. 

When you're smoking with the grill, the temperature is much lower and the system uses warm smoke to cook and smoke the meat. Like grilling, you can set the temperature and the controller will monitor things for you, feeding more pellets as needed and keeping the environment perfect for the meat you are smoking. 

The consumption rate of the pellets will vary by the way you are using the grill, but in general terms, these wood pellet smoker grills use about a half-pound of pellets an hour for smoking and about two pounds an hour for grilling and cooking. Pellets often come in twenty-pound bags so you can get a few grilling sessions out of a bag, and most manufacturers say it is okay to mix and match pellets, so combining hickory pellets with some bourbon pellets is fine if you want to create a signature flavor for your smoked meats. 

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