@JMack posted:This might be a dumb question, but I'm wondering the best way to swap pellets on the PG 500. I just got mine about a month ago & the pellet drain door isn't really located in the best place. What have other PG 500 owners done to funnel their pellets intoa bucket?
I use one of those bucket top vacuums that I got from home depot. Since I store my pellets in 5 gallon buckets, its easy to get them out and dump them back into a storage bucket. Before that, I would hold the 5 gallon bucket against the bottom edge of the bin and open the hatch, but it seemed to be a three handed job, one to move pellets, one to hold the flap open, and a third to hold a bucket. I was very organized when I first got my PG500 and had all kinds of different types of pellets and put them in and out for practically every cook. However, I found that other than mesquite, almost all the other smoke tasted the more or less the same although they smelled a bit different while cooking. I use alder for smoking fish as that is sort of traditional where I live in the Pacific Northwest, I use hickory for pork, I use oak or mesquite for beef, and for chicken I usually use when ever I left in the grill as I prefer to cook it more of a hot and fast style so the skin is crispy. I try to gage how many pellets that I will use depending on what I'm cooking so that there is not much left in the bottom when I finished. Doing pulled pork or brisket I fill up the hopper, other wise I plan on burning a pound and hour, unless its really cold and/or windy.
I have cooked some great food on mine over the last 10 years. It may look a little grungy, but there is no burnt off paint or rust, I don's see why it wont last another 10 years or longer.
Don't be afraid to experiment, think of the cooker as a wood fire convection oven, anything you can cook inside you can cook out side; add some smoke flavor, keep the heat down in the kitchen, or free up the kitchen oven when cooking for large groups.