Backstory:
I've been using my $25 used offset stick burner for a few seasons. (https://thehotpepper.com/threads/smoked-pork-butt.65342/page-9)
Had a chance to cook some 3-2-1 ribs on my dad's camp chef over the holiday weekend. Some of the best ribs I've done. And I didn't have to manage a fire! I was hooked on this pellet cheater grill.
I'm cheap. I really didn't want to spend Recteq, Traeger, Camp Chef dollars $$$$ for a similar size grill. I couldn't find anything decent used.
I noticed Walmart of all places had the Pit Boss Austin XL on sale for $397 + tax. The build quality seems just as good as the $1k pro version at Lowes next door except the controller isn't great. Coming from a rusty stick burner - I figured I could make it work for a $600 price difference. Plus for $200 I could swap in a PID controller if I really need it.
Link: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pit-Boss-Austin-XL-1000-Sq-In-Pellet-Grill-with-Flame-Broiler-and-Cooking-Probe/793230399?athbdg=L1300
So I picked it up with some pit boss brand pellets. (with the help of a friend, it's heavy!) Along with a pork shoulder, some bacon, and some spare ribs that were on sale at Meijer.
Only time will tell if it was worth it - or if I should have just spent the $$$$.
Assembly:
The grill is very well packaged. Better than the Camp Chef I put together with Dad. I didn't find any scuffs/dents putting it together.
There are a bunch of parts. It took me 2~ish hours taking my time. Call it a 3 beer job. Everything fit together fine.
It was frustrating that at the very end I had to undo 6x screws to remove the hopper grate to get the drip bucket out of the hopper.
Love the color, very pretty grill. Would rather have stainless but... oh well.
Mods:
I removed lowest heat shield around the firebox. It causes the right side to be 50-100F hotter than left. You can feel the difference with your hand. It's absurd it is sold this way.
I added grill gasket around lid before I broke it in. Easiest to do it when it's clean.
I added a strip of leftover gasket to the metal lid stop so it wouldn't scuff the paint (old trick).
I added aluminum foil heat deflectors to the ends of the drip tray to keep hot air from directly hitting the temp probe. Plan to machine something more permanent.
The grill grates are too wide which will make veggies/bacon difficult. Those will need to be replaced with some X pattern.
Break in:
After a priming, it fired up on the first try.
As I expected - even with mods, the temp settings on my controller aren't accurate. But it appears to be consistent, which I care about more. I consider it more low / medium / high than the temperature face values on the dial.
For example:
The 225F setting on mine cooks at 250F grate temp (checked with included thermometers and my wireless one). My thermometer had slipped off the rest in the pic below. Please ignore. The lid reads 300F something.
Up around 400F setting you see 475F grate temp.
Maybe there is a setting to adjust to calibrate. I'm not too worried.
I wiped the grill down with cooking oil. Then cooked the fat I trimmed off of the shoulder at 250F grate for 2 hours. Then cranked it up to 475F for 2 hours. Put some bacon on at the very end. Neighborhood smelled great at 11PM.
First cook:
Today I woke up at 5:30 to put a pork shoulder on. Then I realized I ran out of mustard and had to go to the store. Rookie mistake. So the shoulder didn't go on until 7! Yikes!!
I set the controller to 225 (250F grate temp). Grill came up to temp pretty quickly considering the barrel size (58F ambient). Put the shoulder on and took a nap on the sofa. (No fire to manage, yay!)
Around 10AM grate temp was hovering around 250F. The shoulder crossed the 140F mark somewhere around then (3 ish hours). Did a mop/sprinkle and put some eggs on for a late breakfast.
3-2-1 ribs are going on a little later today.
More soon... so far so good. Questions?
I've been using my $25 used offset stick burner for a few seasons. (https://thehotpepper.com/threads/smoked-pork-butt.65342/page-9)
Had a chance to cook some 3-2-1 ribs on my dad's camp chef over the holiday weekend. Some of the best ribs I've done. And I didn't have to manage a fire! I was hooked on this pellet cheater grill.
I'm cheap. I really didn't want to spend Recteq, Traeger, Camp Chef dollars $$$$ for a similar size grill. I couldn't find anything decent used.
I noticed Walmart of all places had the Pit Boss Austin XL on sale for $397 + tax. The build quality seems just as good as the $1k pro version at Lowes next door except the controller isn't great. Coming from a rusty stick burner - I figured I could make it work for a $600 price difference. Plus for $200 I could swap in a PID controller if I really need it.
Link: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pit-Boss-Austin-XL-1000-Sq-In-Pellet-Grill-with-Flame-Broiler-and-Cooking-Probe/793230399?athbdg=L1300
So I picked it up with some pit boss brand pellets. (with the help of a friend, it's heavy!) Along with a pork shoulder, some bacon, and some spare ribs that were on sale at Meijer.
Only time will tell if it was worth it - or if I should have just spent the $$$$.
Assembly:
The grill is very well packaged. Better than the Camp Chef I put together with Dad. I didn't find any scuffs/dents putting it together.
There are a bunch of parts. It took me 2~ish hours taking my time. Call it a 3 beer job. Everything fit together fine.
It was frustrating that at the very end I had to undo 6x screws to remove the hopper grate to get the drip bucket out of the hopper.
Love the color, very pretty grill. Would rather have stainless but... oh well.
Mods:
I removed lowest heat shield around the firebox. It causes the right side to be 50-100F hotter than left. You can feel the difference with your hand. It's absurd it is sold this way.
I added grill gasket around lid before I broke it in. Easiest to do it when it's clean.
I added a strip of leftover gasket to the metal lid stop so it wouldn't scuff the paint (old trick).
I added aluminum foil heat deflectors to the ends of the drip tray to keep hot air from directly hitting the temp probe. Plan to machine something more permanent.
The grill grates are too wide which will make veggies/bacon difficult. Those will need to be replaced with some X pattern.
Break in:
After a priming, it fired up on the first try.
As I expected - even with mods, the temp settings on my controller aren't accurate. But it appears to be consistent, which I care about more. I consider it more low / medium / high than the temperature face values on the dial.
For example:
The 225F setting on mine cooks at 250F grate temp (checked with included thermometers and my wireless one). My thermometer had slipped off the rest in the pic below. Please ignore. The lid reads 300F something.
Up around 400F setting you see 475F grate temp.
Maybe there is a setting to adjust to calibrate. I'm not too worried.
I wiped the grill down with cooking oil. Then cooked the fat I trimmed off of the shoulder at 250F grate for 2 hours. Then cranked it up to 475F for 2 hours. Put some bacon on at the very end. Neighborhood smelled great at 11PM.
First cook:
Today I woke up at 5:30 to put a pork shoulder on. Then I realized I ran out of mustard and had to go to the store. Rookie mistake. So the shoulder didn't go on until 7! Yikes!!
I set the controller to 225 (250F grate temp). Grill came up to temp pretty quickly considering the barrel size (58F ambient). Put the shoulder on and took a nap on the sofa. (No fire to manage, yay!)
Around 10AM grate temp was hovering around 250F. The shoulder crossed the 140F mark somewhere around then (3 ish hours). Did a mop/sprinkle and put some eggs on for a late breakfast.
3-2-1 ribs are going on a little later today.
More soon... so far so good. Questions?
