Little smoke with the Platinum Laredo 1000

Phired-up

New member
Joined
Oct 24, 2021
Messages
3
Reaction score
2
Location
Northeast WA
I have had this grill for about a month now. Done several cooks. Did a 10 pound boston butt a couple days ago. Did 23 hours at 225 degrees. Stall lasted for what seemed like 6 hours at 165 degrees. The end result was very good. My only complaint was there was very little smoke flavor. I used cherry pellets for the most part but the there was a couple hours of apple, hickory and mesquit pellets in the hopper when I started. These were Pit Boss and Kingsford pellets. What does a person do to get more smoke? I really don't want to mess with a smoke tube or smoke generator, but maybe that's the only way? I tried usins the "prime" button several times to get smoke, but that didn't do much if anything to help. Anyone else have this problem?
 
I have had this grill for about a month now. Done several cooks. Did a 10 pound boston butt a couple days ago. Did 23 hours at 225 degrees. Stall lasted for what seemed like 6 hours at 165 degrees. The end result was very good. My only complaint was there was very little smoke flavor. I used cherry pellets for the most part but the there was a couple hours of apple, hickory and mesquit pellets in the hopper when I started. These were Pit Boss and Kingsford pellets. What does a person do to get more smoke? I really don't want to mess with a smoke tube or smoke generator, but maybe that's the only way? I tried usins the "prime" button several times to get smoke, but that didn't do much if anything to help. Anyone else have this problem?
I agree, I've had the same issue with my Platinum Laredo 1000 and by adding 1 to 2 smoke tubes makes a HUGE improvement.

 
In addition to he tips given, I might suggest running the Laredo at 180 or 200 when the cook calls for 250 or 300. I've found this helpful with generating more smoke (granted it's a bit dirtier smoke, but then so are smoke tubes.) I've found this also helps keep things from overcooking, which is important because I think the Laredo runs hot anyway (I suppose this could be partly due to the size of the grill and temp fluctuations too.)

In addition, I have gone to using wood chunks mixed with some pellets in my smoke tube, which I think may help the flavor. I'm planning on experimenting with charcoal in the tube too and see if that increases the flavor. In fact as I'm saying this, I am now thinking that I may toss a second tube with charcoal lumps and wood chunks down onto the heat deflector at the front edge of the grill. During the winter especially I know that a good deal of heat escapes through the seams where the lid meets the grill, so a bit of added head along that surface probably isn't the worst thing in the world anyway.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top