Choose Wood Pellet Smoker mode if you do NOT want to use the electric heating element at all. This may be appropriate if running off a battery pack with limited power output/capacity, or perhaps during a competition cook where electric heating isn’t permitted.
The heating element is only active in AUTO cooking mode at higher temperatures, so below 135℃ to 275℃ this mode and AUTO are the using the identical wood pellet fire control logic.
How to Use
- With the controller screen awake, press MENU
- Rotate and click control knob to select Pro Modes.
- Click to select Wood Pellet Smoker, then Start Cooking.
- Press MENU at anytime to return to previous screen.
- Set target temperature (rough setting) then fine tune.
- Smoke settings can be chosen for temperature of 110℃ / 230℉ and below.
While firing up and cooking, press the control knob at any time to adjust the temperature and smoke settings again.
Temperature Range
- Temperature range from 70℃ to 260℃ (158℉ to 500℉).
- In AUTO mode the the lowest target temperature the grill can be set at is limited based on the ambient temperature as even the smallest fire can provide a 60℃ temperature rise. However in Wood Pellet Smoker mode this minimum temperature limitation is not enforced, allowing 70℃ / 158℉ to be set even in hot weather.
- While a low temperature can be set, it may not be achievable without opening the lid slightly to release more heat.
- The maximum temperature of 260℃ (500℉) can be reached in ambient temperatures as low as 5℃ / 41℉, thanks to the double wall insulated design of the S1 grill.
Heat Up Time
The heat up time will depend on the target temperature, how cold it is outside and what wood pellets are being used (slower with oak based pellets). The temperature should reach the target within 10-15 minutes, and 20 minutes for high temperatures (220℃ / 428℉).
It is possible for the grill to heat up much faster, but the temperature can overshoot significantly and take a long time to settle back down – so the control logic has been adjusted to get to temperature quickly but not so fast that a huge overshoot occurs.
Smoke Levels
- Smoke levels (LOW, MEDIUM & HIGH) can be set at temperatures of 110℃ / 230℉ and below. At temperature above this there may still be some smoke it, but it will reduce as the fire increases to provide higher temperatures.
- The three smoke setting will ALL still produce smoke as the fire is small to maintain the low temperature.
- HIGH – 26% fan speed and lowest minimum pellet delivery for a smaller fire with maximum smouldering smoke.
- MEDIUM – 27% fan speed
- LOW – 28% fan speed and higher minimum pellet delivery for a slightly larger file with less smoke.
- What smoke setting to use? By default we recommend using the LOW smoke level, but it is great to experiment with the levels to find which works best for your cooking style and the types of pellets being used.
- More smoke is likely to be released once the grill has reached temperature and settled – as at that point the fire size will reduce.
- If the fire sometimes goes out (temperature drops far below target and then spikes back up), try the LOW setting which has higher minimum pellet delivery than MEDIUM or HIGH smoke settings.
Shut Down
At the end of the cook, press and hold the POWER button, then with YES selected press the control knob to confirm.
The fan will run for 10 minutes to put the fire out and then the grill will turn itself off.
Temperature Fluctuations
It is very normal for the temperature to overshoot the target by as much as 10% and then gradually come back down to settle close to the target.
This is actually a good thing as normally once the grill reaches temperature the lid is opened to place food in, at which point the temperature drops a lot – so a small overshoot helps with faster recovery.
During operation the temperature may cycle above and below the target by as much as 5%, which again is very normal operation.
At very low temperatures only a tiny fire is burning and it can sometimes go out resulting in the temperature dropping, the pellet ignitor turning on to relight it and a subsequent spike in temperature. If this is happening frequently try a higher target temperature (slightly larger fire) and also check to see if the wood pellets are very long, or very ashy.
Battery Pack Operation
Before running the grill off a battery pack that may not have enough power to run the heating element, turn it OFF by setting to NO in the Accessories menu.
