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Welcome to the CS forum!

You'll not see too much on the PG500, because it was just put into production at the 1st of the year. I have one that I use for home smoking/grilling and also at comps.

I've been very happy with most aspects of it, It's biggest down fall would be that the outside gets real hot, so be careful around children.

Are you buying it for the grilling or smoking part? and what questions do you have about it?
quote:
Originally posted by cal:
Welcome to the CS forum!

You'll not see too much on the PG500, because it was just put into production at the 1st of the year. I have one that I use for home smoking/grilling and also at comps.

I've been very happy with most aspects of it, It's biggest down fall would be that the outside gets real hot, so be careful around children.

Are you buying it for the grilling or smoking part? and what questions do you have about it?



I'd be getting one for smoking, but I like the fact that you can grill also. Friend has both an FE100 and a PG500, and I really like the whole concept of the 500. I'm learning from him, so right now I don't have a lot of questions. Probably will have after I'd get one. Just wondering what people thought of them. I've got 4 different charcoal smokers right now, but would like to move to a pellet machine to do my main cooking on. I don't need a large capacity unit to cook on, and this one seems to be the right size. I've looked at others, but this one seems a lot better suited for my use.
So I'm sure your friend has told you that they use about twice as many pellets as the FEC? With two of you it will make bulk buying pellets easier, my wife has given me a small place on her side of the garage to store pellets.

I use mine a whole lot more for grilling or smoking ribs than smoking large cuts of meat, but if you are smoking a large cut, it makes awesome bark and smoke rings.

I've not had any issues with mine and I've run over 300#s of pellets through it, it just is starting to get seasoned nice.

Leaks a little grease around the chimney and the corners of the legs, oh well! I'd sure recommend it to a friend.
quote:
Originally posted by cal:
So I'm sure your friend has told you that they use about twice as many pellets as the FEC? With two of you it will make bulk buying pellets easier, my wife has given me a small place on her side of the garage to store pellets.

I use mine a whole lot more for grilling or smoking ribs than smoking large cuts of meat, but if you are smoking a large cut, it makes awesome bark and smoke rings.

I've not had any issues with mine and I've run over 300#s of pellets through it, it just is starting to get seasoned nice.

Leaks a little grease around the chimney and the corners of the legs, oh well! I'd sure recommend it to a friend.


Thanks a lot for the info. Santa may come early this year if I can get rid of a couple of my others.
quote:
Originally posted by cal:

Leaks a little grease around the chimney and the corners of the legs, oh well! I'd sure recommend it to a friend.


mine was weeping a little grease down one of the legs. turns out there was a wee hole that wasn't quite all closed up by RTV where the thermocouple went thru. a little dab of high temp RTV and leveling the PG500 stopped that!
quote:
Originally posted by cal:
So I'm sure your friend has told you that they use about twice as many pellets as the FEC? With two of you it will make bulk buying pellets easier, my wife has given me a small place on her side of the garage to store pellets.

I use mine a whole lot more for grilling or smoking ribs than smoking large cuts of meat, but if you are smoking a large cut, it makes awesome bark and smoke rings.

I've not had any issues with mine and I've run over 300#s of pellets through it, it just is starting to get seasoned nice.

Leaks a little grease around the chimney and the corners of the legs, oh well! I'd sure recommend it to a friend.


I did think of a couple of questions. Is the left bottom shelf (grill) always "hot"? I wondered if you are doing smoking only if you have to stay off of the grill side, or if there is a way to have that at the same temp as the rest of the pit. I've seen some of your pics and it appears there is plently of room for stuff. I also wondered if there was enough room on the top shelf to place half pans.

Thanks again for the input.
quote:
Originally posted by VMacBBQ:
I did think of a couple of questions. Is the left bottom shelf (grill) always "hot"? I wondered if you are doing smoking only if you have to stay off of the grill side, or if there is a way to have that at the same temp as the rest of the pit. I've seen some of your pics and it appears there is plently of room for stuff. I also wondered if there was enough room on the top shelf to place half pans.

Thanks again for the input.


There is a solid piece of metal that is between the two sides, it extends up about 1/2" past the grill...yes, you will grill anything that is smoking on the direct side.

You can fit half pans on the top shelf, one on the direct side and one on the indirect side. The indirect will be about 25* more than set temp, while the top shelve on direct side will be around 50* over set temp( these temps will vary on what your set temp is, I'm assuming smoking at about 240*-50*)

I set the sauce on chicken on the indirect side and it will hold a bakers half sheet pan with about 2" of space in front and back.

Your welcome!

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