For those asking why the Pit Boss was put on the 2nd grate it's because if I put it on the bottom grate, it would burn. I went over this on the first comparison video and how the bottom grate has a very hot spot right in the center of the bottom grate and meat will certainly burn which is why I recommend doing your cooks on the 2nd grate to prevent this from happening. The RecTeq does not have this issue at all period because it comes with a cast iron heat deflector where you do not have to cook meats on the second grate to prevent the meat from getting burned. The recteq can cook on the first grate without issue. Check out the first video of the comparison where I go over this.
After putting a 17lb brisket on my PitBoss KC Combo I have to halve my brisket and put one on the left side and other on the right side. Putting the whole slab across burnt it right in the middle. Even with the sear plate closed.
@@JermainePollard Same issue with my Pittboss 1600. Aluminum foil on the plate makes the temps go crazy they hop all over the place. I did buy a cover from a website and it keeps it from scorching bad over the middle but it is still a little to hot over the middle. I switched to Rectec Back Yard beast. I will stick with Rectec. When I bought my pitboss I had 2 friends buy one also. One has the old 800 and the other has the same model as me. We all had the same issues temps jumping +25 -25. Food dried out. I switch to rectec and one went Traeger the other said he is riding the Pitt until it dies lol.
Got a RecTeq 1200 wonderful pellet smoker after a few years of consistency and great customer service, just purchased a Bullseye 380 Deluxe cant wait to try that one out. Reliability stole my heart with RecTeq!
Hey! I work for recteq and the reason the probe doesn't align with the actual and set temp is because the RTD takes an average of the entire recteq while the meat probe or any type of thermometer is not programmed and calibrated to do the same. It is taking the temp of one spot and not the entire thing.
Hey Drew, I certainly appreciate it! I believe you were the one that sold me the 1250 or assisted me with the cracked heat deflector replacement which I certainly appreciate! That is good info to know!
I'm going to have to call BS on that explanation. It might fly with most people but. There is no magic in an RTD. Recteq might be averaging the readings from the RTD relying on the convection aspect of the grill but location and physical size of the RTD is what determines the accuracy of the measurement. RTD sensors all use either wire or thin film to measure the temperature. The physical properties of the sensor enclosure determine the response time.
BTW, I'm not trying to knock Recteq, I own one and it's a nice smoker with an awesome design. I just don't think that they should spin the operation of the grill. When you do that your credibility suffers.
I have a 3+ year old 820D, and definitely love it more than a gas or charcoal grill. What I learned is the way pit boss works on SMOKE is a auger time on (Trager as well). When the actual temp is below the set point and calls for heat, the auger comes on for a programable number of seconds, then it will stay off for a set number of seconds - this is regardless of if it reaches temp or not. The P setting is what changes the on/off time. I stopped trying to use this setting as it can stall the fire out. I just stick to the lowest Setpoint (200 or 225) instead and get better results. When you have an actual set point selected and not just SMOKE it will run like a true PID, and adjust the auger speed depending on the difference of Actual Temperature vs Set Point Temperature
Well that was a wealth of information for sure haha. I'm glad you are enjoying it my man! Each smoker is a bit different so my best advice is learn your pit and see what it likes in your environment and be good to go!
I really enjoy watching your work, and the attention to detail. So, and not throwing shade, here is what I'd like to see? And for record I'm too lazy, so again, thank you! (1) cook em both at same height/ section of the pit, and (2) dont do the French Boil. I'm from Louisiana and have worked all over Texas and Mississippi for 25 yrs. Those guys just "aint" gonna do the "French Boil". Hahaha. Thanks again, keep it up.
Your ambient probe on the RecTeq is VERY close to your protien. The cooler protien is probobly effecting the ambient probe reading. GREAT review... I'm still deciding what model to buy. I was thinking Traeger but the more research I do, the more I am leaning towards the RecTeq 1250.
The RecTeq is fantastic, I completely love it! Normally I would agree with you with the ambient temp probe because the Meater+ I had did the exact thing, but the probe is about 3 to 4 inches away from the meat. I've talked to another buddy that has a 1250 and he says it does the same for him. I don't worry about it personally so long as it does the job cooking and it does a fantastic job at that.
Recteq’s if you want more smoke flavor you must run the brisket 2-4 hours on LO (extreme smoke) then turn it up. That’s how you get that heavy heavy smoke flavor.
That's exactly how I do it for 4 hours +. The wood chip experiment I made a video of had better results. I think the Pit Boss having those temp swings gave it a bit more smoke than the recteq but then you don't have that steady temperature like the Recteq does.
It aint just for a Recteq. Every pellet cooker I have tried gave nothing if run over 250, no matter what pellets were used. If we ran down around 200-215 for 2-3 hours then raised the temp, we got decent results
@@Trumpetmaster77 also I'm not sure why I seem to be getting folks asking why I didn't put the brisket on the second grate in the recteq. You really don't have to on the RecTeq, the pit boss will burn because of that major hot spot on the bottom grate whereas the recteq you can actually use that cooking space without issue.
@@ElSenorBbq never have to in the recteq. I have the second shelf for my 700 and I always use the bottom shelf. Always fat side up brother. Excellent results. 225 all night long and butcher paper at 6 am then back on the cooker for about another two hours. They’re always done within 14 hours.
I just discovered your 1250 video and can tell you that my 1250 is also off by 20°+ across the grates. It is more pronounced on the min grate vs using the upper shelf. I measured at set temps of 180°, 225° and 350° and my ThermoWorks Signals ambient probe was alway 15° - 20° lower than the built in RTD probe. When I called Recteq Customer Service they fed me some song and dance about it being an “average” temp across the grates/cooking chamber. All I know is that tried and true recipes always took longer to cook. So I now run my set point 15°-20° above what a recipe calls for. If I want 350°, I set it to 370°. I like everything about my 1250 except that. FYI I’m wondering why you didn’t use the upper shelf on the Recteq instead of the main grate. I always use the upper rack if possible when smoking anything.
Thanks for the comparison test. I have the 1150 pit boss and I’m learning a lot from you. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us and I do use a smoke tube whenever I do ribs or brisket. Peace and blessing to you and your family. Great video as always!!!!!!!
I see people commenting on temperature swings. Some PID controllers are set to do this by the factory to get more smoke. For example the Lone Star Grills which is an outstanding pellet smoker factory sets a 15 degree up and down to allow for more smoke on the low end. The trade is more smoke but more a of temp variance. So those pellet grills pushing hardly any temp sway are normally not producing as pronounced of a smoke. The video here shows the larger smoke rings on the Pit Boss, but he mentioned greater temperature sway. SO depending on what you are looking for, you have to decide what you hope to get out of your pellet smoker.
Thank you! I'll say it was a pain in the neck recording this whole video and trying to provide as much info as I could to keep it fair but it turned out well I feel. Thanks again!
Great video!! Pit boss def did its thing!! Love a stronger smile flavor vs a mild one. We are used to mesquite here in south east corpus area Great job
I'm with you on the pit boss that smoke is where it's at..... rectec seems to be fine as well but the fluctuations is to much. The top grate temp was lower because it was at a higher point where as the rec tec was at a lower level and still off. Over all great vid thanks for it thumbs up for sure
Great Video!!! I bought the 1600 in December and I was not happy with the performance. The temp swings were horrible also takes forever to heat up and the lack of smoke flavor. I contacted PB and they sent a new controller and man what a difference. I had the 10 deg increment controller at first but the new one works like it should. I also tried the heat deflector mod to the left side of the pit and it was worse. I removed it when i installed the controller and I am glad I did. I think the PB 1600 will be a good pit overall. The size is great for a large cook.
Second rack on the Pit Boss is higher up so quite a bit hotter and more Smokey than the lower location on the Recteq. That is why the brisket on the Pit Boss got a harder bark, and wasn’t as tender.
Did you ever figure out if you can calibrate the Req Tec ambient temp probe to your Inkbird's ambient temp probe? I run the Inkbird probes as well and they are awesome.
Great comparison video man. Good job!. I have the PB 1150PS2 with the 10 deg incraments. Zero smoke flavor. Even on smoke mode for hours and hours. Have to use a smoke tube to get any at all. Have use all pellets available. Makes me jealous yours is smoking so well! May have to call PB and see if my controller is wonky or something.
Does yours smoke in stages or no? It should be clean for a bit and then it will have constant smoke for about 25 seconds or so, then clean back up and starts the process all over again.
Hey Bro been waiting for this video and got a quick question. Since you had the RecTeq longer than the PitBoss do you think the temp swings on the PitBoss is do to the controller learning process . I am figuring how the controller might be still in its learning stage. As well thanks and keep us well informed ( BRUH ) LOL 😁😂
That bruh always gets me lmao. I'm not sure just yet, I'll give it some more time and do like a 6 month review. I'll probably do sausages next time on the pit boss since it smokes at 160 in the middle rack.
Agreed. The excess fat from the brisket rendered on the side like in a pot or pan is great when coating during wrapping. Makes ut much juicier. Though I am am new to this. Having said that, why did he put the bags in water??
@@Swit70 you rest it in sous vide without drying it out. Basically you continue letting it render fat without drying it out because you are doing so at a much lower temperature. I have a sous vide rest video explaining everything if you'd like!
I think you should have installed the upper shelf in the recteq to have a similar cook. I think the bark difference is one is at the top and one at the bottom.
I've cooked top and bottom, no difference. The only reason why the pit boss was on the top grate was because the fire grate doesn't seal 100% so the grates catching the majority of the drippings would prevent a large grease fire from happening.
@@ElSenorBbq Thanks for the explanation but I still think that your recteq would cook differently on the top vs the bottom, not just comparing to the PB. I am a new subscriber because I really enjoyed watching the way that your present yourself in the videos. Honest and real bro. Keep up the good work and thanks for posting. th-cam.com/users/iROBODUDE
@@iROBODUDE I certainly appreciate it! I can probably do another comparison but I don't think that was the cause for the bark issue but rather the paper itself. You can see where the paper took most of the bark off so it's very hard to compare both of them. The other thing is that the pit boss has very inconsistent temps when in Smoke mode but favors smoldering pellets alot more vs the recteq. Overall, I use my recteq far more and trust it more than I do the Pit Boss but both have their pros and cons. Cheers!
Im wondering if you have tried the new PB1600 pro elite with hits faster/hotter starting ignition? If so, Im wondering if you had to pick only one of these pellet grills to smoke brisket, ribs, and also sear, would you go for the RecTeq 1250 or the PBpro1600 Elite with VST?
I'm not sure if I'll upgrade since the price is up there but personally, I haven't had an issue with startups. What I do is put a handfull of pellets inside the fire pot before turning it on and it reaches temps very fast.
I noticed that on the pit boss you put the brisket on the middle rack and on the rec teq you had it on the bottom rack . I wonder if that had anything to do with the difference between the two?
Just bought the recteq rt2500 BFG Grill... Doing my first burn 🔥 off. The temperature was cold outside. I noticed the temperature fluctuated. Also I only had about three handfuls of pellets in the burn pit. The instructions on ask to place 1/4 cup, but I never reached the 400 °F mark. What did I do wrong. It's my first pellet grill.
Hey my man, not sure but perhaps it needed just a bit more time to get up to temp. I know it can be a bit hard to wait for it but it'll get up there eventually. The neat thing about it is after several cooks, it'll do it much much faster than before.
Love the cook comparisson... but I honestly can't see how you can see it that way when rec tek was cooked grate level and pit boss was cooked elevated!!
Because you don't have to cook it elevated on the RecTeq. On the pit boss you kind of have to because it'll sit direct over the fire pot and that's a very big hot spot. I talked about this on the first comparison video and why if you want to do any long smokes, you'll have to do it on the second grate on the Pit Boss. The RecTeq beats the Pit Boss by a mile when it comes to this because it has a cast iron heat deflector where you can cook at grate level without issue. I do that on the pit boss and the bottom will burn up.
You said the 1250 gives similar smoke flavor to an offset with oak. Man I wish my recteq 700 did that. I get no smoke flavor at all unless I use lumberjack mesquite (no smoke flavor at all on other lumberjack flavors or other brands including knotty) AND do the low temps for 4-5 hours like you said. I am a big proponent of using the top rack for brisket and doing fat up. The fat render and bark are fantastic that way, but I usually don’t wrap until 180 or so. The fat doesn’t seem to keep rendering after it’s wrapped. Foil boat is great because of that too.
Foil boat is my next thing to do! You may want to do fat side down. I did a comparison on fat up vs fat down on my offset stick burner and have a video here. The smoke flavor was more pronounced fat side down. I feel it's because when the fat is dripping down, smoke isn't penetrating the oil (fat) so I'd give that a shot.
@@ElSenorBbq it’s not just brisket that I get no smoke flavor on my recteq, it’s every meat I’ve ever cooked. I get great smoke flavor with fat up or fat down on my old country pecos
That is definitely strange for sure but then again an offset won't be beat. Idk if recteq sells the cast iron deflector but when I added wood chips and it had a kamado style flavor to it.
Do you feel like you get a great smoke flavor with your pellets? I've bought a laredo 1000 and have to run a smoke tube to get any smoke flavor vs my wsm which puts out what I would consider great barbeque.
Hey Seth, the type of smoke that the wsm puts out is the same as my kamado joe. It's great but it doesn't actually burn, it smolders away which creates great smoke flavor. The pellet smokers have an actual combustion but where it falls short is some pellets have fillers which produces no smoke flavor. This is why having a good brand makes all the difference in the world. So far, Lumberjack and Knotty are both up there in what I'd call a legit smoke flavor. Still falls short from my kamado and off set stick burner, but it's at least present whereas with cheaper brands it will not. I don't use a smoke tube but instead, use great pellets and put it at the lowest setting possible for at leat 4-5 hours before ramping it up. This will ensure I get much more smoke flavor than I would running it hotter. Hope this helps!
Hey Mark, there is no reason why the chimney has to be incredibly low or even mid way. I may end up taking it off actually. You want as much airflow as you possibly can. You have a fan that is pushing air up, it has to go out somewhere. This is probably why some folks have a hard time with their temps with their Pit Boss smokers. It pushes air out inefficiently and also creates a very high hot spot on the far right as well. This assists with that. I've tried every single way possible on the 1150 and 1600 and it's the same for both.
So Lil tip. If your using a meat probe to try and read ambient. It's not going to read correctly It's like using a Honda accord to tow a boat it'll do it but not correctly or well
Because experience has taught me that by putting the brisket in the middle and the fire grate not sealing the fire out 100%, it tends to burn the bottom of the brisket. The recteq doesn't have this issue because of the dual heat deflectors, the main one being made out of cast iron.
you put one on a middle rack, where the smoke can circulate all around ... more bark. and one on the bottom ... closer to the heat , less air circulating.. :(
If I put it at the bottom of the rack on the pitboss, it would burn the bottom side since the firepot is right there. On the Recteq, it has a cast iron heat deflector so this isn't an issue on the bottom rack.
I had it raised because if I were to keep it at the bottom grate, the potential for a fire is there with it dripping fat for hours on end and the sear plate not 100% sealing.
Nice video!! I'm beginning to wonder if I should have shopped more before I purchased my 1600 in December. I was taking an hour and 15 minutes to heat up to 250°. When it does finally get to the preset temp, if you open the lid and watch my inkbird shows the temperature drop but my controller on the 1600 doesn't change at all or is lagged way behind like it gets stuck on the preset temp you set it at. Then it shows it finally comes back up to preset temp on the controller but my inkbird then shows it actually up to 70° below what the controller says. Sent me numerous parts that didn't help then sent me a new 1600. They have a gteat warranty but it was not any better really. They sent me an older made smoker yet again, needing me to replace the controller with the one I already replaced from my first smoker that is the newest version. I just wish it did what it was supposed to do and didn't set my sights on all the updates it was supposed to have. It's a decent smoker but I don't think I can trust it and may go back to my 1100 pro. I keep wondering if I'm just being too picky and it's just me. Sorry for my long vent. Lol
The first controller was crap I'll say that 100%. I received the 1600 with the 25* increment. When I did the burn off I used the old pellets from my 1150 on it and the temps were all over the place, not consistent, way below what I was commanding even with the new controller. I thought I received a dud again. I put fresh Lumberjack Oak pellets on it and it took a bit for the PID to relearn but after that it's been pretty solid!
@@ElSenorBbqGood point on the pellets. I've only used Pit Boss in the 1600 so far. There's ALOT of longer pellets in Pit Boss brand that causes alot of clunking in the auger. I've used Bear Mountain in my 1100 pro before and really liked them. I'll se if I can find Lumberjack locally to try them also. Thanks for writing back and your info!
@@markowen7129 Not a problem! I won't post any info that I haven't personally tried. I was a bit bummed big time after doing the burnoff but it just turned out the pellets were just crap. Fresh good pellets in and now we are good to go!
@@ElSenorBbq Wow!! I really hope it's that easy for me and that'll be my fix. It is disappointing when trying to upgrade after looking at many brands. I did switch stores where I got my pellets as they were closer and about $2 /40lb bag cheaper. Who knows, maybe they don't warehouse them properly. Thanks again for your input, I'll give it a try.
The thing is that Pitboss and Treager pellets have fillers and they don't create a good burn. Good fresh pellets will always be great and I think you'll be 100% right after. Just make sure you get all the pellets out of the auger and start with good fresh pellets and I'm sure you'll be good to go as well!
I would have gotten it out a bit sooner but didn't feel like taking it out for breakfast so lunch it was. Some folks have gone over 24 hours resting and didn't have issues so 16 isn't all that much.
You have to learn with pellet grills or any grill controlled by electronics the temp won't be exact. I know you're doing a comparison video but for the average person just stay away from wanting to know the exact temp.
This is the truth! 100%. That's why I mentioned in the video that on any pellet smoker you'll have these swings on any smoker regardless how much you pay for it. It's going to happen but I'll say the recteq is at least a bit more consistent.
Yessir, I enjoy them all personally. On days like these when it was cold as hell, these pellets aren't too bad vs having to tend to a fire only to find out the rain got to the wood -_- . Lmao
@@ElSenorBbq I understand. A lot of times I think I want to cook on the stick burner but end up using the pellet because I want to watch the game or just kick back. Smoke flavor isn't the same but neither is nursing the pit.
Couldn't have said it better! Don't get me wrong, sometimes I get the itch to fire up my LSG and work on real pit master skills but man there are other times where you just want to chill and have some good food without the hassle.
Then the difference in marbling comes into play though. One would be juicier vs the other. Maybe if it came from the same cow but splitting it keeps the marbling the same between the two.
@L&L Ranch BBQ Well, this isn't a fair test, and that's the reason why one of it came out differently. You can't expect a fair test by splitting a brisket in half. Anyways, thanks for doing the test, though lol
I'd say it's a pretty fair test because if you get one brisket and it ends up with more marbling, it'll obviously be more tender and juicy vs the other one and skew the results since no two briskets are the same.
For those asking why the Pit Boss was put on the 2nd grate it's because if I put it on the bottom grate, it would burn. I went over this on the first comparison video and how the bottom grate has a very hot spot right in the center of the bottom grate and meat will certainly burn which is why I recommend doing your cooks on the 2nd grate to prevent this from happening. The RecTeq does not have this issue at all period because it comes with a cast iron heat deflector where you do not have to cook meats on the second grate to prevent the meat from getting burned. The recteq can cook on the first grate without issue. Check out the first video of the comparison where I go over this.
I’ll take the pit boss over the wreck tec 365 out of 365 days of the year!
@@Keepnthem Pit Boss definitely had the better flavor for sure!
After putting a 17lb brisket on my PitBoss KC Combo I have to halve my brisket and put one on the left side and other on the right side. Putting the whole slab across burnt it right in the middle. Even with the sear plate closed.
I put 4 layers of foil over over the heat deflector on my pitboss and it completely got rid of that issue
@@JermainePollard Same issue with my Pittboss 1600. Aluminum foil on the plate makes the temps go crazy they hop all over the place. I did buy a cover from a website and it keeps it from scorching bad over the middle but it is still a little to hot over the middle. I switched to Rectec Back Yard beast. I will stick with Rectec. When I bought my pitboss I had 2 friends buy one also. One has the old 800 and the other has the same model as me. We all had the same issues temps jumping +25 -25. Food dried out. I switch to rectec and one went Traeger the other said he is riding the Pitt until it dies lol.
Got a RecTeq 1200 wonderful pellet smoker after a few years of consistency and great customer service, just purchased a Bullseye 380 Deluxe cant wait to try that one out. Reliability stole my heart with RecTeq!
Great to hear!
Hey! I work for recteq and the reason the probe doesn't align with the actual and set temp is because the RTD takes an average of the entire recteq while the meat probe or any type of thermometer is not programmed and calibrated to do the same. It is taking the temp of one spot and not the entire thing.
Hey Drew, I certainly appreciate it! I believe you were the one that sold me the 1250 or assisted me with the cracked heat deflector replacement which I certainly appreciate! That is good info to know!
I'm going to have to call BS on that explanation. It might fly with most people but. There is no magic in an RTD. Recteq might be averaging the readings from the RTD relying on the convection aspect of the grill but location and physical size of the RTD is what determines the accuracy of the measurement. RTD sensors all use either wire or thin film to measure the temperature. The physical properties of the sensor enclosure determine the response time.
BTW, I'm not trying to knock Recteq, I own one and it's a nice smoker with an awesome design. I just don't think that they should spin the operation of the grill. When you do that your credibility suffers.
@@USA__2023I was thinking about buying the dual fire 1200 would you recommend recteq over other pellet smokers?
I have a 3+ year old 820D, and definitely love it more than a gas or charcoal grill. What I learned is the way pit boss works on SMOKE is a auger time on (Trager as well). When the actual temp is below the set point and calls for heat, the auger comes on for a programable number of seconds, then it will stay off for a set number of seconds - this is regardless of if it reaches temp or not. The P setting is what changes the on/off time. I stopped trying to use this setting as it can stall the fire out. I just stick to the lowest Setpoint (200 or 225) instead and get better results. When you have an actual set point selected and not just SMOKE it will run like a true PID, and adjust the auger speed depending on the difference of Actual Temperature vs Set Point Temperature
Well that was a wealth of information for sure haha. I'm glad you are enjoying it my man! Each smoker is a bit different so my best advice is learn your pit and see what it likes in your environment and be good to go!
I really enjoy watching your work, and the attention to detail. So, and not throwing shade, here is what I'd like to see? And for record I'm too lazy, so again, thank you! (1) cook em both at same height/ section of the pit, and (2) dont do the French Boil. I'm from Louisiana and have worked all over Texas and Mississippi for 25 yrs. Those guys just "aint" gonna do the "French Boil". Hahaha. Thanks again, keep it up.
Thank you! I'll go ahead and revisit this test with different pellets, see how it does!
Your ambient probe on the RecTeq is VERY close to your protien. The cooler protien is probobly effecting the ambient probe reading.
GREAT review... I'm still deciding what model to buy. I was thinking Traeger but the more research I do, the more I am leaning towards the RecTeq 1250.
The RecTeq is fantastic, I completely love it! Normally I would agree with you with the ambient temp probe because the Meater+ I had did the exact thing, but the probe is about 3 to 4 inches away from the meat. I've talked to another buddy that has a 1250 and he says it does the same for him. I don't worry about it personally so long as it does the job cooking and it does a fantastic job at that.
Recteq would be the best option.
this guy seems like someone i went to high school with and would hangout with still. had to sub
Hell yeah, just a bro is all haha
Great comparison Louis…..I’m a smoke flavor lover so probably pit boss flavor for me…..however both awesome smokers!!!! Love them both!!!
Yessir!!
Nice job on these comparisons Louis 👍 🥩
Thank ya!
Recteq’s if you want more smoke flavor you must run the brisket 2-4 hours on LO (extreme smoke) then turn it up. That’s how you get that heavy heavy smoke flavor.
That's exactly how I do it for 4 hours +. The wood chip experiment I made a video of had better results. I think the Pit Boss having those temp swings gave it a bit more smoke than the recteq but then you don't have that steady temperature like the Recteq does.
It aint just for a Recteq. Every pellet cooker I have tried gave nothing if run over 250, no matter what pellets were used. If we ran down around 200-215 for 2-3 hours then raised the temp, we got decent results
Recteq wins brother! You didn’t have to run that test🤣🤣🔥🔥👍👍 great cook brother!
The RecTeq was super easy to just let it do it's thing and still produced a great product!
@@ElSenorBbq I cook my brisket overnight while I’m sleeping bro. My recteq does all the work. Great consistent results every time!
@@Trumpetmaster77 Yessir!
@@Trumpetmaster77 also I'm not sure why I seem to be getting folks asking why I didn't put the brisket on the second grate in the recteq. You really don't have to on the RecTeq, the pit boss will burn because of that major hot spot on the bottom grate whereas the recteq you can actually use that cooking space without issue.
@@ElSenorBbq never have to in the recteq. I have the second shelf for my 700 and I always use the bottom shelf. Always fat side up brother. Excellent results. 225 all night long and butcher paper at 6 am then back on the cooker for about another two hours. They’re always done within 14 hours.
I just discovered your 1250 video and can tell you that my 1250 is also off by 20°+ across the grates. It is more pronounced on the min grate vs using the upper shelf. I measured at set temps of 180°, 225° and 350° and my ThermoWorks Signals ambient probe was alway 15° - 20° lower than the built in RTD probe. When I called Recteq Customer Service they fed me some song and dance about it being an “average” temp across the grates/cooking chamber. All I know is that tried and true recipes always took longer to cook. So I now run my set point 15°-20° above what a recipe calls for. If I want 350°, I set it to 370°. I like everything about my 1250 except that. FYI I’m wondering why you didn’t use the upper shelf on the Recteq instead of the main grate. I always use the upper rack if possible when smoking anything.
@@rpbonnette i made an updated video using the upper rack. Made a woeld of difference!
Thanks for the comparison test. I have the 1150 pit boss and I’m learning a lot from you. Thanks for sharing your wisdom with us and I do use a smoke tube whenever I do ribs or brisket. Peace and blessing to you and your family. Great video as always!!!!!!!
Thank you Tim! I certainly appreciate it my man!
I see people commenting on temperature swings. Some PID controllers are set to do this by the factory to get more smoke. For example the Lone Star Grills which is an outstanding pellet smoker factory sets a 15 degree up and down to allow for more smoke on the low end. The trade is more smoke but more a of temp variance. So those pellet grills pushing hardly any temp sway are normally not producing as pronounced of a smoke. The video here shows the larger smoke rings on the Pit Boss, but he mentioned greater temperature sway. SO depending on what you are looking for, you have to decide what you hope to get out of your pellet smoker.
This is very accurate
Thank you for the comparison! Loved it. Keep doing you!
Thank you! I'll say it was a pain in the neck recording this whole video and trying to provide as much info as I could to keep it fair but it turned out well I feel. Thanks again!
Good job! Great fair review!
Thank you! Much appreciated!
Thanks for the comparison. I really like the Pit Boss. Keep up the videos
Thank you! For the money, the Pit Boss is hard to beat!
Great video!! Pit boss def did its thing!! Love a stronger smile flavor vs a mild one. We are used to mesquite here in south east corpus area Great job
Yessir!
I'm with you on the pit boss that smoke is where it's at..... rectec seems to be fine as well but the fluctuations is to much. The top grate temp was lower because it was at a higher point where as the rec tec was at a lower level and still off. Over all great vid thanks for it thumbs up for sure
Nice video, can't wait to cook a brisket on my 2 week old 1250 :) Just tried ribs and fish so far... ribs were awesome.
Outstanding! I love the 1250 for sure! Be sure to look at the foil boat vs butcher paper brisket I did on the 1250. Very surprising results.
Consistency! RecTeq! Great Video
Great Video!!! I bought the 1600 in December and I was not happy with the performance. The temp swings were horrible also takes forever to heat up and the lack of smoke flavor. I contacted PB and they sent a new controller and man what a difference. I had the 10 deg increment controller at first but the new one works like it should. I also tried the heat deflector mod to the left side of the pit and it was worse. I removed it when i installed the controller and I am glad I did. I think the PB 1600 will be a good pit overall. The size is great for a large cook.
I believe so as well!
Great job brother 👊🏽. I enjoyed the video.
I appreciate it
Second rack on the Pit Boss is higher up so quite a bit hotter and more Smokey than the lower location on the Recteq. That is why the brisket on the Pit Boss got a harder bark, and wasn’t as tender.
I'm going to have to redo it soon!
Did you ever figure out if you can calibrate the Req Tec ambient temp probe to your Inkbird's ambient temp probe? I run the Inkbird probes as well and they are awesome.
I'm sure there is a way but I haven't let that deter me from using it
Great comparison video man. Good job!.
I have the PB 1150PS2 with the 10 deg incraments. Zero smoke flavor. Even on smoke mode for hours and hours. Have to use a smoke tube to get any at all. Have use all pellets available.
Makes me jealous yours is smoking so well! May have to call PB and see if my controller is wonky or something.
Does yours smoke in stages or no? It should be clean for a bit and then it will have constant smoke for about 25 seconds or so, then clean back up and starts the process all over again.
All that is operator error, if you have no idea what smoke flavor is making a claim like that 😂😂😂
Hey Bro been waiting for this video and got a quick question. Since you had the RecTeq longer than the PitBoss do you think the temp swings on the PitBoss is do to the controller learning process . I am figuring how the controller might be still in its learning stage.
As well thanks and keep us well informed ( BRUH ) LOL 😁😂
That bruh always gets me lmao. I'm not sure just yet, I'll give it some more time and do like a 6 month review. I'll probably do sausages next time on the pit boss since it smokes at 160 in the middle rack.
Look into adding wagyu talo in your wrap phase. thanx for the vs's.
I used to do it alot and it works great! It just started to be a bit too rich for me after a while
Cool, glad you know about using it. :)@@ElSenorBbq
Agreed. The excess fat from the brisket rendered on the side like in a pot or pan is great when coating during wrapping. Makes ut much juicier. Though I am am new to this. Having said that, why did he put the bags in water??
@@Swit70 you rest it in sous vide without drying it out. Basically you continue letting it render fat without drying it out because you are doing so at a much lower temperature. I have a sous vide rest video explaining everything if you'd like!
@@ElSenorBbq Interesting. Thank you!
I think you should have installed the upper shelf in the recteq to have a similar cook. I think the bark difference is one is at the top and one at the bottom.
I've cooked top and bottom, no difference. The only reason why the pit boss was on the top grate was because the fire grate doesn't seal 100% so the grates catching the majority of the drippings would prevent a large grease fire from happening.
@@ElSenorBbq Thanks for the explanation but I still think that your recteq would cook differently on the top vs the bottom, not just comparing to the PB. I am a new subscriber because I really enjoyed watching the way that your present yourself in the videos. Honest and real bro. Keep up the good work and thanks for posting. th-cam.com/users/iROBODUDE
@@iROBODUDE I certainly appreciate it! I can probably do another comparison but I don't think that was the cause for the bark issue but rather the paper itself. You can see where the paper took most of the bark off so it's very hard to compare both of them. The other thing is that the pit boss has very inconsistent temps when in Smoke mode but favors smoldering pellets alot more vs the recteq. Overall, I use my recteq far more and trust it more than I do the Pit Boss but both have their pros and cons. Cheers!
Where did you get the cutting board? Nice video😊
Personalizationmall.com you can have them custom make it too!
Im wondering if you have tried the new PB1600 pro elite with hits faster/hotter starting ignition? If so, Im wondering if you had to pick only one of these pellet grills to smoke brisket, ribs, and also sear, would you go for the RecTeq 1250 or the PBpro1600 Elite with VST?
I'm not sure if I'll upgrade since the price is up there but personally, I haven't had an issue with startups. What I do is put a handfull of pellets inside the fire pot before turning it on and it reaches temps very fast.
The recteq probs are not meant for ambient temperature. Where your ink bird I think it was has an ambient temp prob.
It's possible sure so I'll try the inkbird next time to verify.
Nice comparison my man! 👊
Thank you!
I noticed that on the pit boss you put the brisket on the middle rack and on the rec teq you had it on the bottom rack . I wonder if that had anything to do with the difference between the two?
I've done the recteq top or bottom for briskets. It's all the same really. I enjoy both smokers but the recteq has a far superior controller
Just bought the recteq rt2500 BFG Grill... Doing my first burn 🔥 off. The temperature was cold outside. I noticed the temperature fluctuated. Also I only had about three handfuls of pellets in the burn pit. The instructions on ask to place 1/4 cup, but I never reached the 400 °F mark. What did I do wrong. It's my first pellet grill.
Hey my man, not sure but perhaps it needed just a bit more time to get up to temp. I know it can be a bit hard to wait for it but it'll get up there eventually. The neat thing about it is after several cooks, it'll do it much much faster than before.
Maybe you should’ve put the brisket on the top shelf on the recteq also to do a more even comparison
Great video brother 👍
Thank you!
Good stuff brutha!
Great experiment 🍺🍻🍺
Thank you!
Love the cook comparisson... but I honestly can't see how you can see it that way when rec tek was cooked grate level and pit boss was cooked elevated!!
Because you don't have to cook it elevated on the RecTeq. On the pit boss you kind of have to because it'll sit direct over the fire pot and that's a very big hot spot. I talked about this on the first comparison video and why if you want to do any long smokes, you'll have to do it on the second grate on the Pit Boss. The RecTeq beats the Pit Boss by a mile when it comes to this because it has a cast iron heat deflector where you can cook at grate level without issue. I do that on the pit boss and the bottom will burn up.
You said the 1250 gives similar smoke flavor to an offset with oak. Man I wish my recteq 700 did that. I get no smoke flavor at all unless I use lumberjack mesquite (no smoke flavor at all on other lumberjack flavors or other brands including knotty) AND do the low temps for 4-5 hours like you said.
I am a big proponent of using the top rack for brisket and doing fat up. The fat render and bark are fantastic that way, but I usually don’t wrap until 180 or so. The fat doesn’t seem to keep rendering after it’s wrapped. Foil boat is great because of that too.
Foil boat is my next thing to do! You may want to do fat side down. I did a comparison on fat up vs fat down on my offset stick burner and have a video here. The smoke flavor was more pronounced fat side down. I feel it's because when the fat is dripping down, smoke isn't penetrating the oil (fat) so I'd give that a shot.
@@ElSenorBbq it’s not just brisket that I get no smoke flavor on my recteq, it’s every meat I’ve ever cooked. I get great smoke flavor with fat up or fat down on my old country pecos
That is definitely strange for sure but then again an offset won't be beat. Idk if recteq sells the cast iron deflector but when I added wood chips and it had a kamado style flavor to it.
Sorry you lost me when you cut it in half
Do you feel like you get a great smoke flavor with your pellets? I've bought a laredo 1000 and have to run a smoke tube to get any smoke flavor vs my wsm which puts out what I would consider great barbeque.
Hey Seth, the type of smoke that the wsm puts out is the same as my kamado joe. It's great but it doesn't actually burn, it smolders away which creates great smoke flavor. The pellet smokers have an actual combustion but where it falls short is some pellets have fillers which produces no smoke flavor. This is why having a good brand makes all the difference in the world. So far, Lumberjack and Knotty are both up there in what I'd call a legit smoke flavor. Still falls short from my kamado and off set stick burner, but it's at least present whereas with cheaper brands it will not. I don't use a smoke tube but instead, use great pellets and put it at the lowest setting possible for at leat 4-5 hours before ramping it up. This will ensure I get much more smoke flavor than I would running it hotter. Hope this helps!
The 270* you’re reading is the pit temp not the meat temp. The internal meat temp is from the probes.
Thanks but that's what I mentioned in the video.
Looks like you got the chimney cap on that 1600 so high that it’s about ready to fall off losing some heat that way too
Hey Mark, there is no reason why the chimney has to be incredibly low or even mid way. I may end up taking it off actually. You want as much airflow as you possibly can. You have a fan that is pushing air up, it has to go out somewhere. This is probably why some folks have a hard time with their temps with their Pit Boss smokers. It pushes air out inefficiently and also creates a very high hot spot on the far right as well. This assists with that. I've tried every single way possible on the 1150 and 1600 and it's the same for both.
Sir, Have you tried B&B pellets yet?
I have not but it is on my list of pellets to review so stay tuned!
So Lil tip. If your using a meat probe to try and read ambient. It's not going to read correctly
It's like using a Honda accord to tow a boat it'll do it but not correctly or well
Seems to compare fairly well when I compare it to the Inkbird
Why did you do the pit boss on the top great and the recteq on the bottom
Because experience has taught me that by putting the brisket in the middle and the fire grate not sealing the fire out 100%, it tends to burn the bottom of the brisket. The recteq doesn't have this issue because of the dual heat deflectors, the main one being made out of cast iron.
you put one on a middle rack, where the smoke can circulate all around ... more bark. and one on the bottom ... closer to the heat , less air circulating.. :(
If I put it at the bottom of the rack on the pitboss, it would burn the bottom side since the firepot is right there. On the Recteq, it has a cast iron heat deflector so this isn't an issue on the bottom rack.
You can add a smoke tube to get more smoke
I've tried smoke tubes and it's a dash bitter. I did make a video about using wood chips on the 1250 and it had surprising results!
I have found the rec-teq hold temperature alot better than the pitboss
RecTeq is phenomenal with holding temps
What kind of knife is that?
It's a Dalstrong knife, very good, I believe I have it on the description.
you had the pitboss raised and heat rises so it would have been exposed to more heat flow than the recteq
I had it raised because if I were to keep it at the bottom grate, the potential for a fire is there with it dripping fat for hours on end and the sear plate not 100% sealing.
Nice video!! I'm beginning to wonder if I should have shopped more before I purchased my 1600 in December. I was taking an hour and 15 minutes to heat up to 250°. When it does finally get to the preset temp, if you open the lid and watch my inkbird shows the temperature drop but my controller on the 1600 doesn't change at all or is lagged way behind like it gets stuck on the preset temp you set it at. Then it shows it finally comes back up to preset temp on the controller but my inkbird then shows it actually up to 70° below what the controller says. Sent me numerous parts that didn't help then sent me a new 1600. They have a gteat warranty but it was not any better really. They sent me an older made smoker yet again, needing me to replace the controller with the one I already replaced from my first smoker that is the newest version. I just wish it did what it was supposed to do and didn't set my sights on all the updates it was supposed to have. It's a decent smoker but I don't think I can trust it and may go back to my 1100 pro. I keep wondering if I'm just being too picky and it's just me. Sorry for my long vent. Lol
The first controller was crap I'll say that 100%. I received the 1600 with the 25* increment. When I did the burn off I used the old pellets from my 1150 on it and the temps were all over the place, not consistent, way below what I was commanding even with the new controller. I thought I received a dud again. I put fresh Lumberjack Oak pellets on it and it took a bit for the PID to relearn but after that it's been pretty solid!
@@ElSenorBbqGood point on the pellets. I've only used Pit Boss in the 1600 so far. There's ALOT of longer pellets in Pit Boss brand that causes alot of clunking in the auger. I've used Bear Mountain in my 1100 pro before and really liked them. I'll se if I can find Lumberjack locally to try them also. Thanks for writing back and your info!
@@markowen7129 Not a problem! I won't post any info that I haven't personally tried. I was a bit bummed big time after doing the burnoff but it just turned out the pellets were just crap. Fresh good pellets in and now we are good to go!
@@ElSenorBbq Wow!! I really hope it's that easy for me and that'll be my fix. It is disappointing when trying to upgrade after looking at many brands. I did switch stores where I got my pellets as they were closer and about $2 /40lb bag cheaper. Who knows, maybe they don't warehouse them properly. Thanks again for your input, I'll give it a try.
The thing is that Pitboss and Treager pellets have fillers and they don't create a good burn. Good fresh pellets will always be great and I think you'll be 100% right after. Just make sure you get all the pellets out of the auger and start with good fresh pellets and I'm sure you'll be good to go as well!
Pork belly video next sir!!
Why Sous Vide for 16 hours?
I would have gotten it out a bit sooner but didn't feel like taking it out for breakfast so lunch it was. Some folks have gone over 24 hours resting and didn't have issues so 16 isn't all that much.
You have to learn with pellet grills or any grill controlled by electronics the temp won't be exact. I know you're doing a comparison video but for the average person just stay away from wanting to know the exact temp.
This is the truth! 100%. That's why I mentioned in the video that on any pellet smoker you'll have these swings on any smoker regardless how much you pay for it. It's going to happen but I'll say the recteq is at least a bit more consistent.
@@ElSenorBbq I know you know the deal because cook on you're LSG offset.
Yessir, I enjoy them all personally. On days like these when it was cold as hell, these pellets aren't too bad vs having to tend to a fire only to find out the rain got to the wood -_- . Lmao
@@ElSenorBbq I understand. A lot of times I think I want to cook on the stick burner but end up using the pellet because I want to watch the game or just kick back. Smoke flavor isn't the same but neither is nursing the pit.
Couldn't have said it better! Don't get me wrong, sometimes I get the itch to fire up my LSG and work on real pit master skills but man there are other times where you just want to chill and have some good food without the hassle.
The probe temp has nothing to do with the actual temp. It’s the temp that your brisket is at
There is a separate one right in front of the brisket to read the ambient temp.
Not much of a comparison. You can’t just cut a brisket in half. You in up with completely different cuts. Gotta use two briskets.
Then the difference in marbling comes into play though. One would be juicier vs the other. Maybe if it came from the same cow but splitting it keeps the marbling the same between the two.
Come on, That harness is your rub. Not the smoke 😂😂😂
Harness?
You are higher on the rack, heat rises.
I just made a video with a brisket on the top rack on the recteq. Be sure to check it out, I was kinda shocked personally!
Why in the world would you put that beef in that souvi? Sigh 😔
To rest it.
What kind of brisket is this? It looks hella weird 😆 🤣 😂
Lmao, its a full packer but I split it in the middle. I aint buying two briskets for one test.
@L&L Ranch BBQ Well, this isn't a fair test, and that's the reason why one of it came out differently. You can't expect a fair test by splitting a brisket in half. Anyways, thanks for doing the test, though lol
I'd say it's a pretty fair test because if you get one brisket and it ends up with more marbling, it'll obviously be more tender and juicy vs the other one and skew the results since no two briskets are the same.
You put 1 on the top rack
1 on the bottom rack
Unfair test !
It literally makes no difference
Tasteless
Lame