Englander 21-PG100 Review

Englander’s 21-PG100 Pellet Smoker was designed in conjunction with Fast Eddie Maurin. His award winning pellet smokers are well known on the competition circuit. Indeed the PG100 has many similarities to Fast Eddy’s PG500. Unlike most pellet smokers that are indirect BBQ ovens, both the PG100 and PG500 have one direct and two indirect cooking zones.

Englander 21-PG100 Smoker Design

The direct zone on the left is an open cast iron grate over the firepot. Other pellet manufacturers have copied this design in some form which is intended to provide searing heat, something most pellet smokers cannot achieve. These open firepot set ups can’t sear nearly as well as charcoal grills or powerful gas grills. This is because the relatively small pellet fire just doesn’t radiate across a large area. The searing is accomplished with conduction heat from the grate. In this case the thermal conductivity of cast iron makes it a good choice. The indirect grates are nickel plated rods.

On the right is a typical pellet smoker set up – a large diffuser plate, angled to send grease out to a catch bucket hanging from the side, and a second upper rack for warming and holding. A convenient, slide-out ash tray is located on the left right under the firepot. Overall construction is coated steel, including the drip pan and heat diffuser.