With summer right upon us, many people are breaking out their grills to fire up for backyard parties and events on warm summer days. Many are also looking into getting new setups for many different reasons. As a result, pellet grills are becoming one of the most well known backyard appliances, along with charcoal and propane barbecues. With the benefit of being able to smoke all kinds of food whenever you want, more homeowners are looking to buy one themselves.
However, as it often is with backyard barbecues, pellet grills can pose quite a problem. When your main goal was to simply get a grill for barbecuing and occasionally smoking meat, factors like the size of the grill and how many kinds of pellets you want can often confuse a new buyer. How much you should spend on a grill can change depending on a variety of different features and can be difficult to pinpoint.
As a good foundation to begin your search into buying pellet grills in Canada, read this article. We cover the basics of everything you need to know and any options you may need to consider.
How much does the grill cost?
As it is with many appliances, the larger the pellet grill you buy, the more expensive the final cost will be. This also applies to the grill’s features and any technology it comes with. Due to more recent developments in an effort to make barbecuing more beginner friendly and fun, the overall cost increases as well. At the end of the day, if you want to get a high quality, professional grade pellet grill with all the new technology, you need to be prepared to pay quite a bit of money. You will, though, get what you paid for and occasionally more.
Less can be more
Just because you paid less for your pellet grill doesn’t have to mean that the grill is worse than a larger model of the same kind. What it does come down to is what your own preferences for grilling are.
Cheaper pellet grills are more than likely to be smaller as well, with a smaller surface area to cook as well. Additionally, the smaller size means that the hopper can only carry so many wood pellets at once, typically around five pounds on average. Though this can lead to smaller pellet grills having lower temperature ranges, a small model can still output a temperature as high as 500 degrees fahrenheit or 260 degrees celsius. The lowest cost you can get a decent pellet grill is roughly $310.
Larger grills costs more
The larger the grill is, the more expensive it will be. However, these larger grills often come with more built in technology and – naturally – a much larger surface area to grill and smoke on. These grills also have larger hoppers to hold more pellets, allowing for much longer smoking and cooking sessions. As mentioned, more expensive pellet grills are more likely to also have additional technology built in, much like digital controls to allow you to adjust the heat from anywhere. Some of the largest and most expensive pellet grill brands can come to a whopping cost of $7500 for just the grill alone.
The cost of the pellets
Much like a charcoal grill, pellet grills more than likely need multiple bags of wood pellets to run long sessions of cooking. While a larger hopper size can be more of an advantage, if you frequently run long cooking sessions, you run through pellets that much faster. Even for shorter sessions, it’s recommended that you don’t leave any unused pellets inside the grill, as it can become damp and grow mold.
Depending on the grill itself, the amount of pellets it uses over an hour can vary greatly. This can also change depending on what settings your grill is on. For instance, one grill can use ½ a pound of pellets an hour when smoking meat and two and ½ every hour for high heat cooking. For another, well known brand – Traeger – a single 20 pound bag of pellets can last anywhere between six hours to twenty hours. Taking into consideration that you only use ordinary wood pellets for each session, each bag can cost roughly $20 each, with more high end pellets costing $30 or more.
Cost of the accessories
Chances are that even with the cost being relatively high, some of the most helpful additions aren’t included with the grill itself. If you want to buy some accessories to make smoking easier, you may need to pay more. If you would much rather avoid directly touching an ashy grate, many shops offer lifter tools to do that for you. You can also invest in a laser-type meat thermometer to further reduce how close to the heat you have to get.
Naturally, there are cheaper and more expensive options for these accessories as well. If you don’t mind the heat for a few seconds, you don’t need to spend more than a few dollars to get a functional meat thermometer. In that same way, some grate lifting tools can even cost a single dollar but can pull the grate up just as easily.
The final cost
If you take into consideration how much you need for a bag of pellet and the pellet grill itself, the final price can vary quite greatly. Buying the best grill with multiple different features can easily cost you a significant amount. By adding on four bags of different kinds of wood pellets – since each kind gives different smoky tastes – and a high end, high tech meat thermometer, the end price can get even higher.
On the other hand, cheaper options can work just as well. A cheap but efficient grill can cost less but still get you the functionality you eat with more effort on your part. While you don’t need to spend the least or the most amount of money you can on a pellet grill, you do ultimately need to consider what you want and what features you’d like to see.
