Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Pellet Smoker Review

The majority of pellet grills on the market have the same horizontal design.

Although they seem to be more conventional, the vertical form of the Pit Boss 5 Series Vertical Pellet Smoker has several benefits.

A smaller footprint allows you to incorporate a lot more cooking area. This makes the Pit Boss an excellent choice if you just have a tiny area on your patio.

I wrote this evaluation based on my recent cooking experiences with the Pit Boss.

Pit Boss 5 Series Review Overview

Simply put, this smoker delivers.

The food grilled on the smoker is really flavorful. It is simple to use. Clean up is significantly simpler than with any other smoker I’ve tried.

These pellet smokers are fantastic since they don’t produce a lot of smoke.

They consistently provide a wonderful, slightly blue smoke in exactly the proper quantity.

This is the goal of the majority of smokers.

If you’ve never used a pellet smoker, you should know that they provide two wonderful benefits that consumers appreciate: fantastic flavor and convenience of use.

This smoker is no different. Simply load the hopper with pellets, switch on the machine, and Bam! You’re smoking and on your way to some delicious meal.

Pit Boss also offers the identical Pit Boss Sportsman, which is available in 5-series and 7-series versions.

What I like:

• Capacity You may smoke for up to 24 hours without needing to add extra pellets because to the 40 lb hopper capacity. This, of course, is dependent on the temperature at which you are cooking. With 1,659 square inches of porcelain covered cooking racks and a big cooking chamber, this smoker can accommodate as much animal meat as your heart wants.
• Adjustability There isn’t much you can’t cater for with this smoker, whether it’s the adjustable racks or the vast range of temperature adjustment.
• The Prime Button This button is a useful addition. You may use it to temporarily increase the amount of smoke or immediately after opening the door to increase the indoor temperature.

What I don’t like:

• Internal Temperature Variations If the temperature control knob was set at 225F, it was not uncommon for the interior temperature to dip to 215F and then climb to 250-260F. These oscillations, albeit brief, did not seem to have a detrimental impact on the meat’s result.
• Capacity of the Water Pan While the enormous 40 lb hopper can cook for up to 24 hours continuously, you can only go around 4 hours or less without filling up the water pan. The water pan may hold a gallon of water, however it is usually almost empty by the 4 hour point. Even though it was just 8 hours, it would have been good to have this capacity correspond closer to the hopper size.
• Grateful Hopper This was probably implemented for safety reasons, however it is a little aggravating. It keeps you from putting your arm down into the hopper, which is useful when attempting to clear out all the pellets! I usually use a broom handle to assist me transfer the pellets to the back hopper shot to remove them or to the auger system to burn them.

One last nitpick is the precision of the flesh probe.

The meat probe that came with this smoker was around 12 degrees Fahrenheit off. This is quite frequent with sensors that come with smokers, so I simply use my Thermoworks Smoke to check temperatures instead.

Otherwise, the benefits far exceed the drawbacks. While the temperature variations may seem to be alarming, they do not appear to affect the flavor. The swings are similar to those seen on a manual wood smoker, in my opinion.

The Pit Boss 5 Series is the finest vertical smoker on our list.

Setup & Core Features

The Pit Boss arrived in a tight wrapper with lots of Styrofoam protection, making it a little difficult to remove out of the box.

But I’d prefer them overpack the merchandise than have it arrive broken!

Let’s look through some of the Pit Boss 5 series’ important features to evaluate how well it works.

Temperature Range

This smoker can smoke between 150F and 450F, which is very common.

You can adjust temperatures in 25F increments.

Some pellet grills can reach temperatures of 550°F, but I found the Pit Boss’ temperature range to be enough for cooking low and slow.

Ive made pork butts, briskets, and ribs on this.

You may use it as a wood oven to cook pizzas, casseroles, or almost anything else that requires higher temperatures.

Quick Removal Hopper Shoot

After discussing the difficulties of unjamming the auger system before, it’s wonderful to discover that this smoker has a simple method to empty the enormous 40lb hopper system.

Every time I cook with it, I empty the hopper and burn away the leftover pellets using the auger mechanism.

Adjustable Food Rack Layout

I cant express just how awesome I think this is.

These racks may be arranged in the smoker box anyway you choose. So, if you’re cooking a huge turkey, you may generate extra height, or you can cram in multiple slabs of ribs.

This is without a doubt one of the most significant benefits of vertical smokers.

Digital LED Display

This machine has a single huge basic display that displays the interior temperature of the smoker as well as the temperature of the meat probe directly next to the temperature control knob.

The controls are easy to read and easy to use.

Build Quality

I’d rate the construction quality four out of five stars. I’ve used this smoker a lot and it’s still going strong. The majority of the items seem to be well-made, strong, and a little weighty.

I have two minor complaints about the smoker I received:

1. On the smoker box frame, the door was somewhat misaligned. So the door was not making good contact with the rubber seal on the top right side. It also didn’t look very well. (Could it have been bowed down due to bad transit handling? Possibly). I ended up repairing it by tugging on the door’s outer right bottom edge until the hinges bowed up somewhat.
2. The second meat probe port broke after just a few days of usage, leaving the device unusable. (Perhaps it’s simply poor luck? It’s possible).

Aside from those two concerns, I’ve found the smoker to be of high quality.

As I previously said, it seems to be well-made and has held up nicely.

Alternatives to consider

A Masterbuilt 40 Series electric smoker was another smoker I spent a lot of time with. I was delighted by its convenience, but I found it tedious.

Only approximately 20-30 minutes would the wood chips smoke. As a result, it would always need more wood. It was also incredibly tough to clean since many of the components were permanently fixed in the smoker and cleaning in all of the crevices was impossible.

This Pit Boss pellet smoker is a significant improvement over the electric smoker.

With all of the components simply detachable from the smoker box, the Pit Boss is significantly simpler to clean. Because the hopper retains a significant number of pellets, it does not need continual supervision.

Don’t get me wrong: the Masterbuilt electric smoker has a place, particularly in terms of pricing. Consider the Masterbuilt if you’re just getting started with smoking meals and don’t want to spend a lot of money.

Some of these difficulties, I think, have been fixed in the current versions.

But for the time being, my choice is for the Pit Boss pellet smoker.

Should you buy the Pit Boss 5 Series?

Now for the cold, hard reality. Would I repurchase this smoker?

Dang sure would.

This smoking appeals to me much. It is simple to use. It creates excellent taste (as well as the desired smoke ring look).

It has a high capacity for smoking food. It is easy to use and just slightly more difficult to clean.

If you want to stoke your own flames, methodically impose your will on smoker box temperatures, and relax and sip beer while watching your man versus smoker war, this smoker is probably not for you.

However, if you want a superb smoking experience with no effort and don’t mind spending a little money on pellets for fuel, then this smoker is for you. (And, sure, you can still relax and sip beer while your pellet smoker does all the work. I do!)

A couple of final take points:

Don’t leave your pellets in the smoker for more than a few days if you’re not going to use it! (Have I mentioned how unpleasant it is to unjam the auger?)

I hope you take my advice or you will despise life. Okay, enough with the kidding. Yes, this danger is unpleasant, but don’t let it deter you from purchasing a pellet smoker.

The good news is that if you can figure out how to put this smoker together, you will also be able to unjam the auger mechanism if, God forbid, you leave pellets in there.

When it came to assisting me with this, Pit Boss customer service was outstanding. They’re available seven days a week and sent me thorough instructions on how to unjam the auger.

If you want to learn more about the brand, check out our comparison between Pit Boss and Traeger.

If you decide to purchase a Pit Boss Vertical Smoker, keep in mind that they come in a variety of sizes, not just this one.

They have 3, 5, and 7 series smokers, as well as a new 4 series smoker. Choose one that fits your requirements and budget.

If you cook for a big gathering, a 5 or 7 series may be required. If there are just a few of you, look into the 3 or 4 series. I will admit that I have yet to complete my 5 series.

I’ve cooked 6 pork butts at once, weighing around 48 pounds, and STILL had space for more.