Pellet grills are great for preparing your food, but do they work in winter and in the cold weather?
It is hard to stop yourself once you go down the track of thinking about BBQ smoked savory meats- ribs, steaks, etc.- that are pulled fresh off of the grill.
While warm weather creates the perfect opportunity for grilling, you might not want to put your pellet grill away once it gets cold.
Do Pellet Grills Work in Cold Weather? With a few modifications, pellet grills can work in cold weather. The cold weather will likely require double the fuel, higher cooking times, limited opening of the grill, and added heat-resistant insulation materials like a grill cover or welding blanket.
Your friends and family might look at you like you have gone insane when you explain why you are grabbing your parka, but those who love meat and cannot resist its savory delight- even in the colder months of grilling “off-season”- will certainly understand.
How Do Pellet Grills Work in Cold Weather?
Pellet grills have a relatively simple functioning process that can be scaled back to the simplest cooking methods.
Wooden pellets are used for fuel to provide heat for cooking your delicious meats.
In the cold weather, though, the amount of heat that is required goes up, and the levels of oxygen in the air are often reduced.
This can make it rather difficult for grilling to seem like a viable option. But, do not fret. Pellet grills can still work in the cold weather.
They simply require more fuel, insulation, and patience as you attempt not to open the grill- even if there is a higher cooking time required.
Additional Fuel
You will need additional fuel when cooking on a pellet grill in cold weather. This is because more heat will be required to sustain the temperature inside the grill. Since the grill itself will be exposed to the elements, it can transfer this internally.
Additionally, as you open and close the grill, heat will be lost, and you will be required to continue to supply heat.
You can expect to use double the amount of fuel during cold months that you would otherwise use in mild to warmer months.
It is best to consider high-quality wood pellets that will last you longer instead of having to replace low-quality wood pellets more frequently.
When looking for high-quality wood pellets, be sure to check for any chemical fillers or extraneous “wood materials”. These will be found in lower-quality wood pellets that will burn much quicker (and thus cost you in the long-run as you have to use more of them.
Instead, find pure hardwood wood pellets when grilling in the winter to help with the need for additional fuel.
Higher Cooking Times
Because your grill is working extra hard as you crank in the heat during the cold weather, be sure to expect higher cooking times for your food. This is important for two main reasons.
First, you do not want to under plan for the amount of time you will need to prepare your food. Whether you are grilling for yourself, your family or friends, or anyone else, you need to provide accurate cooking times.
Typically, you will be able to grill something up in a reasonable amount of time during the summer.
But, in the winter, your grill will be fighting the cold weather and may have a tough time maintaining a high enough internal heat to grill your food at the pace which you would prefer.
Even just looking at how long it will take the grill to reach the temperature at which you would like to begin grilling can be a challenge.
For some pellet grills, the internal temperature on the cold-absorbing metal grill will take quite a bit to overcome before a temperature high enough to cook with can be maintained.
Second, you will need to ensure patience when grilling in cold months.
When you know ahead of time that you will experience higher cooking times, then you can approach the process with more reasonable expectations.
This should result in a decreased desire to check your meat as frequently (meaning fewer times the grill will be opened – use a temp probe if you have one).
Limited Opening of the Grill
As mentioned above, you will need to practice patience when it comes to opening your pellet grill while grilling in cold weather.
Firstly, you do not want to keep opening the grill and allowing the heat to escape. This will happen extremely quickly, and your grill will have a tough time maintaining a consistent temperature.
Secondly, you will disturb the balance of oxygen within and outside of the grill which will have negative effects on your grill’s ability to function appropriately.
If there is not enough oxygen on the inside of the pellet grill, then food will not cook properly. Plus, there needs to be sufficient oxygen for the fuel to continue to burn.
Instead of opening the grill to check on your food, consider investing in a simple or advanced digital thermometer or meat probe (if the grill doesn’t have one) that can be attended to wirelessly or inserted and then extended outside of the grill.
This will allow the grill to remain shut while you continue to monitor the meat’s cooking temperature.
As an added bonus, purchasing a digital thermometer that can be enabled via WiFi or connected to your phone can help you to remain seated in your cozy indoor environment- away from the cold outdoor weather.
Add Heat-Resistant Insulation
You and I put on additional layers of clothing when we decide to head to the outdoors in the colder weather. We even go so far as to put clothing on our dogs when we take them on walks in the snow. Why would we not do the same for the pellet grill that holds our masterpiece meats!?
Adding heat-resistant insulation is critical for your grill to be able to maintain a consistent temperature that is high enough to thoroughly cook the food inside.
You can choose a few different options here, but just be sure that the layer you are adding to the grill for insulation is heat-resistant. Otherwise, this practice would be extremely unsafe, and your food would be done for.
You can add a pellet grill blanket that is heat-resistant to your specific pellet grill.
This is the top recommendation considering the blanket will likely have been designed for your make and model, so less heat is bound to escape.
Another alternative you could consider is purchasing a welding blanket (usually fiberglass, always heat-resistant), and placing this as insulation over your grill. This option will not be as secure, so you will need to configure this beforehand.
Whichever way you choose to go, just be sure that you add some type of insulation to the pellet grill itself when you are grilling in the cold weather.
Finally, you can even add insulation to the pan that you plan to transfer the meat to and from the grill in. Using cast iron grates will help to lock in the heat while you are grilling your food.
Keeping a dutch oven or a heated cast iron pan ready to place your food in as you transfer it indoors can help to maintain the desired heat.
Conclusion
Comparable to the modifications that you and I would make to our winter layers and other ways of functioning in the cold, you can expect the same for using a pellet grill in cold weather.
But, with a few additional changes, you can rest assured that you can enjoy the grilled steak of your dreams or smokey ribs in your backyard- even in the dead of the winter.