The Mayans' Lost Guide To Pit Boss Austin Xl Review

The Pit Boss Austin XL is a pellet grill made especially for Walmart stores. With a market
price of simply under $500, is it a worthwhile rival to the Traeger and Rec Tec pellet grills?
We're going to dive deep into our experience with this grill and reveal if you can get a terrific
pellet grill for under $500.

Pit Boss Austin XL Size and Measurements

The Austin XL is 53.5 inches large and 49.25 inches high. https://kitchen-
reviews.medium.com/pit-boss-austin-xl-reviews-dont-buy-until-you-read-this-27616f711ae8 is
27.75 inches, which means that you can lay a rack of ribs from front to back and have lots of
area.
An Austin XL weighs right at 179 pounds and feels strong when you're working with it. I do
not like lightweight when it pertains to grills, and there are weight and heft to the grill that
makes me delighted.

Cooking Space
The first thing that I noticed about the Austin XL is that there are 1,000 sq. inches of cooking
surface area. This is immediately what caused me to consider this unit as quickly as I heard
about it. 1,000 sq. in. of cooking space suffices room for much food, and because we like to
captivate friends and family, we required sufficient space to cook for parties and our family.
About 930 sq. in. of cooking area are readily available on the main grate. There's a
secondary rack that's much smaller, adding some additional room, and we left it off the unit
for much of our usage.

To explain the large amount of meat you can cook on this grill, we easily fit 8 Boston butts in
one cook. We've had the ability to cook three full packer briskets at a time in addition to
adequate burgers and pets to feed a party of 25 without having to prepare several batches.
Said, there's a load of cooking surface area on the Austin XL.

Last Thanksgiving, we quickly fit 2 20 lb. turkeys in our Austin XL.

Construction & Toughness

The Austin XL is made of much heavier steel than what you'll find in most of the competitors.
There's not much paperwork about the density of the steel, but if you have an opportunity to
see one in person and raise the lid, you'll experience the difference.

We have our hands on a lot of grills here at The Barbecue Lab, and when you lift the cover
on a lot of pellet grills, you can tell they're built of thin metal. On the GMG grills that we have
actually used, the lid seems like it's half the weight of the Austin XL I don't understand about
you, however I want my grill to have a heavy construction so that it lasts longer and keeps
the smoke inside.

The cart is made from angular steel and connects to rollerblade type wheels in the back and
360-degree casters in the front. There's a stainless-steel side shelf that connects to the
system's side, and the interior of the shelf is detachable. This can be found in useful when
you're out at the grill and require something to move things back and forth.

Longevity-- The length of time will the Austin XL Last?

While this grill is made from pretty heavy steel, it's still made of steel, which is prone to rust.
The longevity of this grill will depend on how you take care of it. There's an optional cover for
the grill that we advise if you're going to save the Pit Boss outdoors.

We keep our Austin XL in the garage when it's not in use, which will extend the unit's life for
many years. If proper upkeep is performed on the grill, we can easily see this being a 7-10
year grill with typical usage.

There is a 5-year warranty from Pit Boss on this unit, which means that they'll be right there
to help if you have problems.

How Well Does the Door Seal on the Austin XL?

In the world of smoker grills, there's constantly the concern of how well the door seals to
keep smoke from dripping out. We have checked numerous grills where smoke leakages out
all over the cooking chamber, and the Austin XL holds up pretty well in this area.

There's an excess of smoke during start-up mode as the pellets spark, and it wasn't unusual
to see smoke leak out through the door during this time. As soon as the pellet grill came near
temperature, though, we rarely saw smoke leaking out where it wasn't expected to.

Some bbq cooks will motivate gasket seal and high-temperature Permatex to lock all smoke
inside the cooking chamber. We don't feel the requirement to advise this for the Austin XL.
As mentioned, after the startup process, we only see smoke coming out of the exhaust stack.
It's an expense we recommend in numerous other systems, but the Pit Boss is acceptable in
this area.

Functions on the Pit Boss Austin XL.

The lowest temperature setting on this system is the smoke setting, which is believed to be
set to about 180 degrees. The most affordable real numbered of temperature level settings is
200 degrees, and the greatest is 450 degrees.

There is a "high" setting that is believed to be targeted in the 500 degree range, and we have
seen temperature levels as high as 550 in our system at that setting.

Direct searing is something that not all pellet grills stand out at, however this system was
made with direct barbecuing in mind. The diverter plate that sits over the fire pot has a flame
broiler alternative that can be triggered by moving the broiler plate out of the way.
You can expose the fire pot for direct grilling straight over the flame with the Austin XL. The
vented flame broiler panel permits the flame from the pellets to reach the porcelain coated
grill racks. We love using the flame broiler for reverse searing everything from steaks to
burgers.

The Austin XL comes with two temperature probes that link directly to the control board.
Place these probes in any food that you would like to track the internal temperature level of,
and the probe will report your temperature level on the front of the unit.

Portability: How Easy Is It To Move?

The Austin XL has 2 6" rollerblade style wheels on the back of the grill that make it
exceptionally simple to move. There are 2 360 degree swivel casters on the front of the grill
that make it simple to turn while moving.

We move numerous grills here at The Barbecue Lab, and this grill is among the most
convenient to move and secure location. Comparable Traeger grills just have 2 wheels and
two legs on the other side. This makes it hard to walk around due to the fact that you have to
hold one end of the grill in the air.

In case we have not pointed it out, these grills are all heavy, and having to bring one side in
the air to move it around practically sucks. I like that the Austin XL has wheels on all 4 legs
and is simple to move and place.

That being stated, we haven't discussed how portable the Austin XL would be on yard or
irregular surface areas. I wouldn't intend on taking this grill offroad as the smaller swivel
casters aren't made for the yard or unequal dirt surface areas. The casters are just too little
to browse turf, but on a deck, patio, or driveway, they're the feline's meow.

Getting My Austin XL (i.e., ship it ...).

I had actually read forums and social posts for a while that the Austin XL was the value
leader in pellet grill technology. I heard that the metal was heavier than the competitors, and
it was a terrific pellet grill to start with. I knew it was time to put it to the test. I drove across
the city to Walmart and got my Austin XL.

Picking up the Austin XL pellet smoker wasn't easy. I managed to get to the garden section
of my regional Walmart and didn't see anybody around to help me get it packed onto a cart.
After a few minutes of looking for a blue vest, a radio call eventually found somebody who
might assist pack this leviathan into a cart.

When I say the box for this grill is heavy, I imply you can't select it up without two individuals.
The team lift stickers on the outside of the box aren't just for show.
By the time I got the grill through checkout, I had needed another employee to assist me get
it packed into the SUV. Hindsight being 20/20, I would much instead have actually bought
this grill online and had FedEx deliver it to my doorstep. The grill wound up stuck in the back
of the automobile for a couple of days due to the fact that I didn't help discharge it, so FedEx
began sounding clever after battling the grill for a few days.

Putting Together the Austin XL Pellet Grill.

Once the grill was in the garage, it was time for assembly. It took right around 45 minutes to
an hour to get the grill assembled. I found that putting together the legs and haul portion on
my workbench made things far more manageable. There's nothing like rolling around on the
ground with a screwdriver to remind you that you're not 30 any longer.

With the grill fully assembled, it was time to take the stickers off and set the grill for the initial
burn-in. Getting the stickers off was a pain in the butt, to be sincere. The sticker came off
pretty rapidly, however the residue left behind was a massive discomfort to leave the grill.

Preliminary Burn-In with the Austin XL.

For the burn-in duration, I recommend covering the within the grill with some spray cooking
oil. Spray down any interior surface areas with grease and set the grill to 450 for 45 minutes.
The grease spray isn't mentioned in the manual, however it's what we finish with all of our
smokers here at The Barbecue Lab.

Our objective with the grease spray is to coat the interior surfaces with oil so that the smoke
has something to stay with as we continue to prepare with it. The high heat will burn off any
of the production components that we don't desire in the grill.

The surface should turn a good black color where smoke has stuck to the surface area after
the initial burn-in. This makes certain that any condensation that collects inside the cooking
chamber rolls off the metal and into the drip pan instead of sticking around and causing rust.
We're really looking to develop a barrier between the metal of the smoker and water to
ensure that our smoker will last longer. Simply a little bit of grease, heat, and smoke does the
trick.

Priming the Austin XL Grill.

Prior to your very first cook, you'll need to prime the auger with pellets. The grill is designed
to have pellets already in the auger during the startup phase, and if you have not primed the
auger to fill it with pellets, the igniter will time-out before any pellets reach the igniter while it's
hot.

To prime the grill for the first time, fill the tank with pellets, start the Austin XL in smoke mode,
and hold down the prime button. This will turn the auger and start feeding pellets from the
pellet reservoir to the firepot.
Once you hear the very first pellets fall into the firepot, you can power the grill off, and the
grill is primed.

Starting the Austin XL.

Pellet grills aren't that complex to prepare with, and the Austin XL is no exception. Set the
temperature level dial to the temperature that you want, and the grill will roar to life.
It takes about 10 minutes for the grill to come approximately temperature, and here's what
you'll hear and see throughout the start-up phase.

You'll start by setting the temperature dial to your preferred temp and press the power button.
You'll hear the fan come to life as soon as you push power, and this is merely the fan
pushing air through the auger to supply oxygen for the fire. This fan runs a constant speed as
long as your grill is powered on and will not differ from when you turn it on to the time you
turn it off.

Next, you might start hearing pellets drop into the firepot from the auger, however you won't
see smoke for a couple of minutes. The auger will drop pellets into the firepot for a minute or
two before the igniter lights up to start the pellets.

Once the igniter starts to heat up, you'll begin seeing smoke coming out of the smokestack.
As all of the pellets start to burn, the smoke will be much thicker than what you'll see for the
remainder of the cook. This is normal. During the startup stage, it prevails to see 5x the
quantity of smoke that you'll see throughout a cook.

If you're 10 minutes into the startup phase and you still see substantial smoke, examine the
hood thermometer to see if the grill is coming near temperature level. If there's heavy smoke
and the temperature level isn't increasing, it could be that you have too much pellet residue
from previous cooks obstructing the igniter from lighting the brand-new pellets.

If the pellets aren't sparking, it's time to let the grill cool off and sweep out the pellet residue
from prior cooks.

Rivals to the Austin XL Pellet Grill.

Many people searching for a pellet grill have become aware of the Rec-Tec Bull, Traeger Pro
780, and the Green Mountain Grill Jim Bowie. They're all rivals in the mid-range pellet
market, and the Rec Tec Bull is the most expensive of the group. At more than double the Pit
Boss Austin XL Pellet Grill price, the Rec-Tec isn't playing around.
Is the Rec Tec Bull worth 2 and a half Austin XL's? There are many bells and whistles on the
Bull that the Austin XL doesn't have, however is it worth over $700 more?

Charcoal vs. Gas vs. Pellet Grills.

If you've done any barbecuing or smoking on charcoal grills, you know they're much less
expensive than pellet grills. The same opts for gas grills, and while each grill type has its
function, the pellet grill is a best combination of both grill and smoker in a single system.
I do not know numerous gas grills that are terrific smokers. You require to set them up for
two-zone cooking and add some wood chip box for the smoke. Charcoal grills also need to
use two-zone cooking to be utilized as a smoker. While charcoal can give a little a smokey
taste to food, it's still absolutely nothing like good old wood.

Frequently Asked Questions:.

What pellets should I use with the Austin XL?

Wood pellets fuel the Austin XL. You can utilize any pellets from any producer in this grill. I've
used Traeger, Pit Boss, Camp Chef, and more, and they all work simply great. We love
utilizing apple, hickory, a timeless blend, fruit mix, and the competitors mix when we fire up
the pellet grill.

How do you put together a pit boss Austin XL?

The Austin XL comes primarily pre-assembled except for the cart and a few handles. You'll
require another individual to assist you raise the pre-assembled grill onto the cart once put
together, however with just a screwdriver and the supplied parts, you'll have it together in no
time.

Does the Pit Boss Austin XL have WIFI?

The Pit Boss Austin XL does not have actually WIFI developed into the grill. There are
numerous alternatives to monitor your grill wirelessly utilizing 3rd party wireless
thermometers, but no other way to manage the temperature from a cordless device at this
time.

What is the biggest Pit Boss Grill?

The Pit Boss Austin XL is the largest Pit Boss grill. There are likewise two other grills of the
similar size called the Pit Boss Pro Series at Lowes and the PB1000T2 at Tractor Supply,
which provides cooking surfaces over 1,000 sq. in.

Can you grill on a pit boss smoker?

Yes, utilizing the flame broiling slide plate grilling is possible on Pit Boss grills. Considering
that pellet smokers are created to cook indirectly, the diverter plate has a slide plate that can
be moved to expose the flames directly to the cooking surface.

Are Louisiana Grills and Pit Boss the same?

Louisiana grills and Pit Boss are both owned by the parent business Dansons, but their grills
are rather various. Louisiana Grills has a lot more elaborate grills and smokers than Pit Boss,
but there are definite similarities between the building and materials in between the two
brand names.

How do you smoke ribs on a Pit Boss?

To smoke ribs on a Pit Boss pellet grill, provide the 3-2-1 method a shot. Set the Pit Boss to
225 degrees and place the ribs straight on the cooking grate for 3 hours. After 3 hours of
direct cooking, get rid of the ribs, cover them in butcher paper or aluminum foil and location
them back on the grill for 2 additional hours. Once the ribs have actually reached an internal
temperature level of 200 degrees, get rid of from the grill and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

How does the Pit Boss carry out in cold weather?

We live in Indiana, where it can get great and cold in the winter season, and we did utilize the
Pit Boss Austin XL throughout the season last year. I discovered that my cooks took longer
than expected because the grill struggled to keep heat, mainly if it was windy. For future
winter season barbecuing on this smoker, I prepare to benefit from the insulated blanket to
attain more consistent cooks year-round.

A few of the terrific devices for this grill consist of:.

Grease Container.
Foil Bucket Liners.
Grill Cover.
Insulated Blanket.
Replacement Meat Probe.

The Verdict on the Pit Boss Austin XL.

Pit Boss has actually done a terrific task handling value and features in the Austin XL pellet
grill. For under $500, there's 180lbs of grill here with a computer-controlled pellet system that
maintains temperature for you. It's unbelievable to us that a pellet grill this big at this cost
point when the competition costs almost double for the same size cooking chamber.

We like the Austin XL for its flexibility and cost point, where numerous functions are provided
when competitors appear to disrobe their systems at the exact same price. You could do
much worse than an Austin XL as your primary pellet grill. Pellet grills are costing three times
more with just about the very same amount of functions and cooking surface, so don't
neglect this low priced charm when looking for your next pellet smoker.