British BBQ Society Forums

Traeger lil Tex

This is a pellet grill so it uses small wood pellets, similar to animal feed, that burner cleanly and efficiently. These wood pellets create all the heat and all the smoke so it is as close to smoking with hardwood as you can get without splitting logs. The Traeger unit uses a controlled feeding mechanism so you won't have to keep too close an eye on this smoker.

Pros
Clean, efficient fuel consumption
Excellent grease management
Easy clean up (as long as you foil the tray!!)

Cons
Unit expensive to buy
Requires specialized fuel, currently expensive
Thermostatic controller not standard

Description
418 square inches of total cooking area
Solid state cooking system with Auger feed pellet burner and Autostart ignition
20,000 BTU burner output
Standard three position setting for the heat indicator

Good little cooker but the retail price £699 excluding delivery lets it down.

7/10

Note, currently on offer from American BBQ Company £495 excluding delivery.

Whilst I think this is a good review, I would suggest that the pellets are not as expensive as you make out when you realise that a 20lb bag of pellets will run the Lil' Tex for anywhere between 20 and 30 hours on Smoke ... if you calculate the cost compared to good charcoal, plus smoking chips then I believe that you won't find much difference, in fact the pellets may well come out on top.

Also, with locally produced oak pellets at £10 for a 10kg bag, it is even cheaper.

Sorry, but sometimes I have to wear my business hat !!

But as we all know the oak pellets do not burn as well or like the imports, I understand a few people are looking into importing pellets in Bulk which will help push the pellet message forward and reduce the running costs. Its not just about smoking but grilling with them too, Then it becomes pretty expensive.

You need to try the new oak pellets ... they are burning much hotter now. We listen and we make changes.

We are now looking for apple and cherry supplies to introduce more UK produced woods.

British BBQ Society wrote:But as we all know the oak pellets do not burn as well or like the imports, I understand a few people are looking into importing pellets in Bulk which will help push the pellet message forward and reduce the running costs. Its not just about smoking but grilling with them too, Then it becomes pretty expensive.

What does a bag of pellets cost?

At the moment its £17.50 approx $26.25 for a 20lb ? bag

That is close to the same price as here. For the Treager pellets. I am a dealer for both BBQ Delight which I sell them for $17/20# and I also sell the GMG pellets for $20/25#

Sorry the price i put up was US$ the equvilant Candaian price is $28.34 for a 20lb bag, do you genuinely think the smokers would be as popular if you were paying that for pellets? I love pellet cookers, but buying the fuel is quite painful.

Note that Jackie's locally produced oak comes in at 10 quid per 10kg - so almost half the price of the imported pellets, unless my arithmetic is wrong. I'm just about to take a few bags of them. Of course, you have delivery on top of that, but that would be the case with anyone, and it is less significant if ordering several bags at a time.

The price point on the locally produced pellets is good. I'm looking forward to trying them and I'm hoping that the manufacturing process is now mature enough to yield good quality pellets.

I've been told that previously you could expect more auger jams with the British pellets as opposed to the Fast Eddy pellets I'm using at the moment. However I'm optimistic that the pellets will be improved now.

I know of another company with a long history of producing softwood pellets are now moving into the hardwood cooking pellet market in this country. So with any luck we might start to see a greater variety of pellets in the UK.