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When planning to start your meat smoking journey, one of the first things you need to do is find the best grill for your needs. There are many factors to consider when shopping around for one, including grill type, size, and design, to name a few.
Whether you have limited space in your patio or not, opting for a vertical smoker is a good choice on your part. Not only does it have a more traditional look, but the design also offers some benefits.
One of the best vertical smokers on the market today is the Pit Boss 5 Series. It may have a small footprint, but its cooking space allows you to cook plenty of meats at once. Hence, it’s an excellent option if your patio does not have a lot of space.
In this Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker review, we’ll take a look if this pellet grill is worth the hype. So let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- About Pit Boss Vertical Smokers
- An Overview Of The Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker
- Essential Features
- Should I Buy The Pit Boss 5 Series Pellet Smoker?
About Pit Boss Vertical Smokers
Pit Boss is a brand known for its range of top-notch smokers. Its main goal is to provide consumers with vertical smokers that present unique benefits. On top of that list is a sufficient cooking area packed in a compact unit.
In comparison to a horizontal smoker, a vertical pellet grill does not need as much space. Therefore, you won’t have any issues fitting it on your small garden or tiny porch.
The company recognizes the advantage of smokers with a vertical design. For this reason, they exert a lot of effort and put in plenty of time to bring to the market some of the best grills around.
Every Pit Boss smoker sports ample cooking surface and porcelain-coated cooking racks. Likewise, they offer a maximum temperature of 450F along with a hopper that can hold up to 40 pounds of pellets. Their smoking times are quite impressive as well.
Their line of smokers targets different types of consumers and available in various sizes. The 5-Series is one of the latest models of the company, and it’s somewhere between a small and large bbq smoker.
An Overview Of The Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker
The 5-Series Vertical Pellet Smoker is big enough to accommodate your meats. Nevertheless, it is small enough to fit into almost any spot in your home.
Moreover, it weighs around 127 pounds. That means that it is sturdy enough to take on bad weather conditions and strong winds while still retaining its portability.
In terms of cooking performance, the Pit Boss 5 Series delivers. It produces 40000 BTUs with a hopper capacity of 55 pounds. What’s more, it has 5 racks offering a total of 1,513 square inches of cooking area
The food you’ll cook in this pellet grill will always come out with a great flavor. And the best thing about it is that it’s simple to use and cleanups afterward are quick and easy in comparison to other smokers out there.
Another worth noting is that the 5 Series does not let out loads of smoke. These pellet smokers generate a beautiful, somewhat blue smoke, nearly uniformly in just the right amount. And that’s what the majority of smoking aficionados are after.
The best pellet grill is easy to use and delivers amazing taste. The Pit Boss 5 Series vertical smokers stay true to that. You only need to fill its hopper with the right amount of pellets, turn the unit on, and you’re ready to smoke.
Essential Features
Temperature Range
The smoking temperature of the 5-Series is between 150 to 450 F. This is pretty standard since you can find pellet grills that can go as high as 550F. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to adjust the temps at 25F increments.
Besides, the temperature range of the Pit Boss vertical smoker works well for low and slow smoking. Aside from ribs, briskets, and other meats, you can also use it for cooking pizzas like a wood oven. Basically, you can cook just about anything with it that needs higher temperatures.
Hopper System
The vertical smoker uses wood pellets as its fuel source, where you’ll place in its hopper system. What makes this hopper unique is that it features the patented purge pellet system of Pit Boss. This means that the hopper will remove the pellets every time you want to utilize a different pellet type.
Along with its capacity of 55 pounds, the Pit Boss 5 Series is by far one of the best for its price tag of under a thousand dollars. Additionally, it’s a great grill to get if you like to cook low and slow since you can use it continuously for more than 24 hours.
Adjustable Food Rack
One of the biggest benefits of a vertical smoker is its easy to adjust food rack. The adjustable racks of the 5-Series enable you to space them out with ease in any way you want in the smoker box.
You can create added height if you’re planning to cook a large bird. Likewise, you can pack it in with several slabs of ribs if you desire. This feature makes it a very versatile pellet grill.
Digital LED Display
One of the things that separate the vertical smoker from its competitors is that it combines an electric smoker to a pellet smoker. It comes with a control board that utilizes digital features to monitor its internal temperatures. You can easily see the results on the unit’s LED display, which you can also use to set up its temperature.
Automatic Start-Up and Cool-Down Cycles
This is another vital digital feature of this Pit Boss pellet smoker. What’s more, it has the ability to ignite your wood pellets automatically at 300 watts. That means you don’t have to worry about the excessive burning of your pellet fuel. The unit will automatically turn itself off once it reaches the temperature you set it up with.
Probes
The smoker has a couple of built-in probes. These are the meat and temperature probes. You can find the temperature probe inside the unit’s cabinet and along its bottom section. The control board uses it to determine the temperature inside the pellet smoker, which is pretty useful in terms of temperature control.
On the other hand, the meat probe attached to a dedicated port. You’ll find this component inside the smoke cabinet. The meat probe of this vertical smoker is made of stainless steel. It determines the temperature of your meats and will display it on the control panel. Hence, it’s a convenient feature that eliminates the need for you to go in there to measure it yourself.
Extensive Cooking Guidelines
We think that it’s necessary to mention the user guide of the unit in this Pit Boss 5 Series vertical smoker review. It contains extensive cooking guidelines that detail the cooking time you need for various types of meat and based on its size.
Moreover, it also covers helpful information like the optimal temperature required for different cooking methods. These include smoking, grilling, roasting, and baking. Browsing through the Pit Boss 5 series cooking guideline will make it easier even for newbies to use the smoker.
Build Quality Of The Pit Boss 5 Series
Considering its price tag, Pit Boss 5-Series boasts a reliable build quality. For a pellet grill smoker that will not break your bank account, that’s quite commendable.
This smoker has multiple porcelain-coated cooking racks. You can space them out to meet your food cooking requirements. And since they have a porcelain coating, heat is easily distributed This also allows for even cooking, regardless of whether you want to cook a variety of meat.
But the porcelain-coated water pan of this Pit Boss model is probably its most interesting feature. Aside from the fact that it can resist rusting, it is also more durable in comparison to the usual water pans made of steel that most smokers have.
On the other hand, its grease is not porcelain-coated but it’s also long-lasting. Nonetheless, you may want to care for it more to ensure that rust will not develop and spread throughout your smoker.
Aside from these components, the unit has an effective sealing as well that prevents the smoke from leaking. On top of that, its doors make contact with rubber to help seal in the smoke.
If you want to further its protection, you may consider investing in the Pit Boss 5 Series cover. This additional accessory is made of heavy-duty polyester with PVC support. This will make your vertical smoker virtually weatherproof.
Not to be outdone, both the temperature and meat probes are made of sturdy stainless steel. Therefore, you can expect them not to break any time soon. But, of course, you have to give them proper care as well. Keep in mind that no matter how superb a grill’s quality build is it will break if you’ll use and abuse it.
The bottom line, the build quality of the Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker is excellent, considering its cost. It is highly durable, meaning you can’t go wrong with it.
Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker Pros And Cons
Of course, any Pit Boss 5 Series Review will not be complete without looking at its advantages and drawbacks. Knowing these is just as vital as learning about its core features and build quality. You’ll be able to make an informed decision once you’ve weighed the pros and cons of the smoker.
Advantages:
- The 55-pound hopper capacity allows you to smoke foods continuously for up to 24 hours. Depending on your cooking temperatures, this means that you also don’t need to add more fuel.
- It may be compact, but the 5 Series pellet smoker has a surprising huge cooking area of 1,513 square inches. Plus, you get five adjustable porcelain-coated cooking racks.
- It has an excellent built quality all thanks to the porcelain coating of its water pan and cooking racks.
- This smoker also has digital controls that provide accurate readings.
- The prime button is a nice feature that allows you to boost the smoke temporarily. You can also use it after opening the door to let the internal temp go back up quicker.
- The auto-igniter, as well as the auto start-up and cool-down cycles, are a very good addition also.
Drawbacks:
- The internal temperature of the smoker tends to swing. For instance, if you set the temp control knob to 225F, it is not uncommon to see the internal temperature drop to 215F. Then, it will suddenly rise to 350 to 260F. Nevertheless, the temp swings only happen instantly and may not affect the end result negatively.
- Both the meat and temperature probes are not 100% precise, so you may want to check them at intervals.
- The hopper may last for 24 hours straight, but you may need to fill up the water pan after every 4 hours or less. It can hold as much as a gallon of water. However, after about 4 hours, it’s close to being empty.
- You may find the hopper grate a little annoying. It’s there for safety reasons, but it restricts you from reaching down into the unit’s hopper. This would have been really helpful when you’re cleaning up all those pellets afterward.
Overall, the pros and many attractive features of the Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker outweighs the handful of cons. It may seem like the temp swings are something you need to worry about, but that issue does not see to harm the taste of the meat.
Should I Buy The Pit Boss 5 Series Pellet Smoker?
This Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Smoker Review only shows that it’s one of the best budget-friendly smokers today. It has a lot of fantastic features to boot, including a massive cooking chamber and superb build quality.
On top of that, it’s easy to use and clean and produces an amazing smoky flavor. You can even achieve that wonderful smoke ring appearance on your food that every smoker covets.
So if you want a unique smoking experience and cook mouthwatering foods with minimal effort, then this is the smoker for you.
