New to me Pellet Grill

xfire_ATX · April 22

Neighbor was cleaning out his house and dropped his Recteq RT-B380 Pellet Grill on my driveway. I had seen him use it for (Frozen) Pizzas and commented that it did a great job and looked like a great tool. https://www.recteq.com/products/rt-b380-wood-pellet-grill
I think its an older model of that one as it doesnt go past 500 degrees.

Anyway- hauled it into the Backyard and in front of impending rain decided to give it a run.
Had to get some Pellets, got a chicken and a Flank Steak. Took me a minute to get it fired up but once it got going it hit 400 in about 20 minutes.

Chicken came out great- as expected maybe a bit less smoke taste. I ran it at 375 vs 400 but it was nice it came with a probe and I could put that display on the screen. Used another portion to make soup last night which was perfect.

SWMBO sent her steak back to get a bit more done, since I was running the pellets out (it was raining by now and didnt want pellets gumming it up) it was easy to just put back on while burning it out.

Might go back and get two chickens and run simultaneous on Pellet grill and BGE and see the difference. I need to give those to the guy who gave it to me anyway. It didnt take very long for it too cool down so I could cover it before the rain really came in. At 400 it was really eating pellets which could be expected, says 15 hours with a full hopper but that must be at 250 or less.

I see the future of this thing for Pizzas since I can run at 450 pretty easy and not lose too much heat like the Egg and be ready to cook in 30 min vs 60-75 min.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/i4/idm4lkjlkh44.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ae/xc52cb0m75kb.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ly/35xh0ale28k6.jpg

epcotisbest · April 22

I have a recteq RT-340 that I use at least 10-1 over all my other grills, and let's just say I have way too many outdoor cooking devices.
The 340 is an older, smaller version of their entry level smoker and is quite different from the 380. I have kamados, gassers, and griddles and the recteq became my primary device several years ago and still is today. I do use the others ocassionally, mainly to try to justify keeping them, but will always be a pellet smoker guy from now on.
Am looking closely at the 590 just for the heck of it, but if I acquired another grill I think my wife would just pass out. Of course, the aroma of ribs, brisket, pulled pork etc...would revive her fairly quickly.

WeberWho · April 22

Recteq is a good quality pellet grill. Hard to beat the price!

johnmitchell · April 22

As @JohnInCarolina would say. I’d hit it!!

Canugghead · April 22

As @lousubcap would say, better to be lucky than good! When you compare Egg vs. Pellet chicken, compare them the day after as well. @epcotisbest same here, pellet poopers get used most of the time, TBH even the pizza oven is used more than the XL, blasphemy I know.
Edit: General rule of thumb with low and slow is about 1lb/hour. I cover with welding blanket in cold weather when doing low and slow.

DoubleEgger · April 22

Nice! A little of @WeberWho’s luck rubbed off on you.

shtgunal3 · April 22

I have pellet cookers and eggs. Both have their place. I’ll always have both.

Congrats on the new edition!

Ozzie_Isaac · April 22

xfire_ATX said:

Neighbor was cleaning out his house and dropped his Recteq RT-B380 Pellet Grill on my driveway. I had seen him use it for (Frozen) Pizzas and commented that it did a great job and looked like a great tool. https://www.recteq.com/products/rt-b380-wood-pellet-grill
I think its an older model of that one as it doesnt go past 500 degrees.

Anyway- hauled it into the Backyard and in front of impending rain decided to give it a run.
Had to get some Pellets, got a chicken and a Flank Steak. Took me a minute to get it fired up but once it got going it hit 400 in about 20 minutes.

Chicken came out great- as expected maybe a bit less smoke taste. I ran it at 375 vs 400 but it was nice it came with a probe and I could put that display on the screen. Used another portion to make soup last night which was perfect.

SWMBO sent her steak back to get a bit more done, since I was running the pellets out (it was raining by now and didnt want pellets gumming it up) it was easy to just put back on while burning it out.

Might go back and get two chickens and run simultaneous on Pellet grill and BGE and see the difference. I need to give those to the guy who gave it to me anyway. It didnt take very long for it too cool down so I could cover it before the rain really came in. At 400 it was really eating pellets which could be expected, says 15 hours with a full hopper but that must be at 250 or less.

I see the future of this thing for Pizzas since I can run at 450 pretty easy and not lose too much heat like the Egg and be ready to cook in 30 min vs 60-75 min.

Sweet! I have a buddy who has one. He converted it to sit in a Weber Performer cart. He loves it.

bettysnephew · April 23

If you desire more smoke flavor use a lower temperature. Running at low temps is what they do best, no fuss, no muss.

xfire_ATX · April 29

So you know learning a new Grill...... lessons.

I was going to cook w the Egg yesterday but realized I had minimal charcoal (likely would have been fine) and 22# of Pellets. So Pellet Grill cook #2

I had cleaned it out completely last use (this is important later), no pellets to gum it up or anything.. so.

I put in pellets, turn it on, set temp to 350.
20 min later its 85 degrees
25 min later its 96 degrees
WTF
Open up "The Google" start doing some searches, read about probe (ignitor) not being out far enough.
Put internals out while its blowing and realize this hole shown here (from video not actual) was about 1/4 full of pellets and not one of them was near the probe (ignitor), so it was never going to light.
Go grab torch used to light egg and lit the pile of pellets up
350 in 6 min.

This thing was about 5 min from being donated to someone else yesterday.
Looked over troubleshooting guide (yes read the instructions) and it noted to put some pellets in this hole and light them. Which next time I use this Ill just put pellets near the ignitor or just light them w the torch.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ym/ahf94mqxhifw.png

Canugghead · April 29

When you said cleaned out completely, do you mean emptying the hopper and letting the thing run dry until the entire auger is void of pellets? If that was the case, the hot rod probably went out after the preset ignition time before enough pellets travelled through the empty auger to get ignited.

Traeger (probably other brands too) has an auger priming routine - start on high for few minutes to pump pellets, power off, power on as usual again. OTOH you don't want too much pellets, to avoid inferno that leads to so called grease fire.

I use these simple tools to clean up, easier than lugging the shop vac and works better imo. Shop vac can't revmove caked on gunk in the chamber and firepot. I don't let the auger run dry and never needed the priming procedure for ignition.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/dk/o8j0w7aarfc8.jpg

Pellet dust (mostly from bottom of bag especially if the bag was mishandled) is bad for the auger. I use a dollar store colander as scoop and dust remover.

If you still want to donate it, I'll send you my address

New to me Pellet Grill

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