The Pit Boss Pro Series 1100 Pellet and Gas Grill Combo is sold exclusively through Lowes and is an exciting new product for 2020. The grill has a wood pellet fired chamber on the left and a propane gas fired chamber on the right along with a side burner. Let’s take a look at some of the specifications and features of this grill to see if it is right for you.
Pit Boss Pro Series 1100 Combo Grill Overview
Combo grills are great options for people who want the flexibility to do slow cooking with wood smoke and be able to do some quick grilling over an open flame.
Here is the promotional video for this grill from Pit Boss. Give the video a quick watch and then we can look at some of the specifications and features.
Cooking Area
The cooking area on the Combo grill is equally distributed between the pellet and gas fired chambers. Both sides have a primary cooking grate with 352 square inches of space and a secondary cooking grate offering 200 square inches. The combined grilling surface comes up to be just over 1100 square inches inside the main chamber. You also get another 130 square inches of grilling space with the side burner.
While the 1,230 total square inches of grilling space sounds like a massive grill, the fact that it is broken into so many sections makes the effective grilling area much smaller. For example, on the pellet grill side of the smoker you can fit two slabs of baby back ribs on the primary grate and a third slab on the secondary elevated grate. While a capacity to smoke three slabs of baby backs is perfectly fine for most people it is less than one would intuitively expect from a grill with 1,230 square inches of cooking space.
Temperature Control
The temperature control for the pellet side of the grill is controlled by the standard dial in control system and has an advertised range of 180-500F. The standard Pit Boss controller does okay for temperature management but you should expect some significant temperature swings inside the cook chamber.
One feature of the temperature control system for the pellet grill that is not immediately obvious is that it is directly coupled to the gas fired side of the grill. You can see that there is only one smoke stack on this grill and it is on the gas fired side on the right. There is an adjustable baffle between the pellet side and gas side that allows smoke, heat and air to flow from the pellet side and exit out the gas side. Additionally, the smoke stack has an adjustable top damper that can also be used to control air flow.
I have no idea if this coupled arrangement between the two cooking chambers is a good or bad idea but it is something to be aware of. This arrangement raises the possibility that, with a little creativity and careful monitoring, you could use the gas side of the Combo as a cold smoker.
The temperature control on the gas fired side of the grill is manually controlled through the burner knobs for the three independent propane fired burners. Each burner is rated for 12,000 BTU/hr for a combined heat output of 36,000 BTU/hr. This heat is spread across 352 square inches on the primary cooking grate for a specific heating value of 102 BTU/hr per square inch. That is a seriously hot grill!
Pellet Hopper and Ash/Grease Management
The Combo has a pellet hopper with a 22 pound capacity. I like the size of this hopper because when you get down to just a pound or two of pellets then you can dump the full contents of a 20 pound bag of pellets into the hopper.
Each cooking chamber has its own grease management system. The pellet grill drains into a drip bucket underneath the grill while the gas fired side of the grill has a removable grease try that slides out from the side of the grill.
There is no advanced ash management system for this Combo grill so you will need to use a Shop Vac to clean out the fire pot and the body of the chamber after every few uses.
Other Features
I am a huge fan of the Pit Boss Pro Series. I love the heavy cooking grates and beautiful styling.
The grill comes with two stainless steel meat probe thermometers that plug into the control panel so you can monitor the internal temperature of what you are smoking. I do not believe the leads are long enough to use on the gas grill side of the Combo.
The pellet grill side of the Combo has a slidable heat shield that allows you to directly grill your food over an open wood fire if desired.
This grill has dimensions of 66 x 50 x 32 inches and weighs in at 172 pounds after assembly.
The Pro Series 1100 Combo is backed by a five year warranty on all components.
The Pro Series 1100 Combo is a Lowes exclusive product and currently retails for $649.
User Reviews From The Web
I searched the web for the best reviews that I could find and broke them out into two categories. The first category is the 5 through 1 star reviews provided by people who have purchased the grill and the second category are the video reviews on YouTube.
Reviews From Grill Buyers
I compiled all of the reviews left for this grill from the Lowes and Pit Boss websites.
There are several things to note about this data set. The first is that there were only 44 reviews available which I do not consider to be enough to be completely reliable. Several of the reviews on the Lowe’s website had the following note: “Written by a customer while visiting dansons.com” (Danson’s owns Pit Boss) and another note indicated the reviewer had received the grill for free.
The grill has received 68% 5 star and 16% 4 star reviews. These combine to an average positive rating of 84% which is pretty standard for Pit Boss products.
Hands On YouTube Video Reviews
White Bulls BBQ: 23 minute video smoking ribs and making Cowboy nachos.
SvDreamChaser: 14 minute video of the initial burn in.
SvDreamChaser: 16 minute video smoking a brisket.
Pro Series 1100 vs KC Combo Platinum
If you really like the idea of a pellet gill combined with a gas grill then you have another option, also manufactured by Pit Boss. The second choice is the Pit Boss KC Combo Platinum which is sold exclusively at WalMart.
There are some obvious styling differences between the grills as well as a few important details that are not immediately obvious.
On the KC Combo the pellet smoker and gas grill are physically separated. The pellet smoker vents directly out of its own smokestack instead of passing through the gas grill like on the Pro Series 1100.
The KC Combo comes with an upgraded PID controller that can be accessed via Bluetooth. The use of a PID controller means that the smoker ought to be able to maintain temperatures in the +/- 5 degree range. You can expect temperature swings of at least 15 degrees with the Pro Series 1100.
The KC Combo has an easy Ash Clean Out system so you won’t need a shop vac to clean it out. It also comes with a hopper viewing window so you can tell at a glance if you have enough pellets or not.
All of the extra upgrades on the KC Combo results in it costing about $100.
I compared all of the reviews for both of these grills and it looks like people like the KC Combo just a little more than the Pro Series 1100.
