Bought a Traeger...

[spddmn6]

I was hoping to have some dove this weekend. Our hunt last Saturday (my first) in Moses Lake turned up short.  Wish they were on west side of mountains so I didn't have to travel as far. Hoping for some duck soon as well.

[lokidog]

trying to clean out my freezer, I got hunting season coming up and hogs to butcher and I still got a lot of pork from this spring I butchered a couple non breeders so the roasts are huge

Wish you were closer, I'd offer to trade some spot prawns for pork.   

[KFhunter]

heck ya, I'll keep that in mind.  I sure love fishing the salt, crabbing, and I've never been shrimping. 

[lamrith]

Don't let that smoke leaking out of the crack of the door go to waste! After purchasing a gasket from bbqgaskets.com and installing it, the smoke only comes out the chimney now and the temperature is more consistent on the dial.

Thanks for the tip.

How do you keep it smoking when cooking something at higher temperatures?  It seems that very little smoke is produced at over 150 degrees.

Pellet grills do not produce allot of smoke, they are not like a charcoal, electric or stick burner.  Think blue hard to see is what they do.  Typically they stop producing any smoke at all around 250*.  There are supplemental devices to get more smoke like the Wedgie and Amazin Tube.  Do not be afraid to use the traeger to it max temp, just know that if you have been all low n slow for a while then do high it is going to smoke bigtime from all the grease/drippings.  Also be careful that grease is not under the drip tray as it could start a grease fire.  I like to run my pellet grill high temp after every cook or two at low temp to keep the grease level under control.

[KFhunter]

 

I also run it on high to burn grease off the drip tray, it was taking too long so I got a weed burner torch.  That scared me a bit, big flames, and it peeled the inside paint, so don't do that.

[lokidog]

I also run it on high to burn grease off the drip tray, it was taking too long so I got a weed burner torch.  That scared me a bit, big flames, and it peeled the inside paint, so don't do that.

 

I lined my drip tray with foil....

[lokidog]

I also run it on high to burn grease off the drip tray, it was taking too long so I got a weed burner torch.  That scared me a bit, big flames, and it peeled the inside paint, so don't do that.

 

I lined my drip tray with foil....

Cooked a 5-6 pound pork loin tonight. Did an all day simple rub of brown sugar, seasoning salt and some spices. I smoked for about an hour and a half then roasted at 300, not sure how long.  Had to pick up a thermometer at Ace and it was 135 inside, way too quickly, it hit 160.  So, the flavor was great with a 3/8 inch smoke penetration layer but was a little dry. I'll have to watch that end timing a little more closely next time.

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[lamrith]

Yeah I pull port loins usually at 145*internal.  looks like you had some moisture still in it.  Looks good!!

Make sure to try reverse sear on steaks or pork chops.  I find 1-2" thick steaks/chops turn out best.

[lokidog]

Yeah I pull port loins usually at 145*internal.  looks like you had some moisture still in it.  Looks good!!

Make sure to try reverse sear on steaks or pork chops.  I find 1-2" thick steaks/chops turn out best.

145 was my goal, but we had company come by and it shot to 160 a lit faster than i expected. 

I need to keep a notebook to record times and temps for future reference.

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[ironhead14]

Good luck with it.  My $900 dollar one only lasted a year and it took a *censored* on me.  I will never own another!

[KFhunter]

Good luck with it.  My $900 dollar one only lasted a year and it took a *censored* on me.  I will never own another!

I rebuilt mine several times

It's easy to fix anything wrong with them.   I had the auger seize up on me, the pellets got wet and got swollen up, froze then rusted in.  I fixed all that, replaced the hot rod couple times, put in new electric circuit board, replaced the entire drum (warranty)

Pretty much everything on mine has been fixed/replaced or modified.   

[Boss .300 winmag]

Don't let that smoke leaking out of the crack of the door go to waste! After purchasing a gasket from bbqgaskets.com and installing it, the smoke only comes out the chimney now and the temperature is more consistent on the dial.

Thanks for the tip.

How do you keep it smoking when cooking something at higher temperatures?  It seems that very little smoke is produced at over 150 degrees.

That's exactly it. The high heat just makes it a fancy outdoor oven that uses pellets and puts a hint of smoke on the food. Sealing it up will help a little. Which is better than nothing. When on the smoke setting it is most concentrated. Works great on my pulled pork. Smoke for 3 hours then bump heat up to 250 until done. Very convenient on long cooks if you don't want to add charcoal or wood all the time. Be sure to check the hopper before doing a long cook to save yourself the trouble of running dry.

So far, I'm not super impressed, I haven't used it a lot yet but I miss the browned crunch on the top of my grilled salmon.

Good 'ol Weber kettle and charcoal for me when it comes to grilling. Traeger will never win that competition. Have you tried doing a whole chicken yet?

   When I do whole chickens on the Weber people just can’t believe how juicy and good they are. 

Lokidog next time your up I’ll get you some dry rub for chickens, or anything else, it’s a good all around dry rub.

[lokidog]

Don't let that smoke leaking out of the crack of the door go to waste! After purchasing a gasket from bbqgaskets.com and installing it, the smoke only comes out the chimney now and the temperature is more consistent on the dial.

Thanks for the tip.

How do you keep it smoking when cooking something at higher temperatures?  It seems that very little smoke is produced at over 150 degrees.

That's exactly it. The high heat just makes it a fancy outdoor oven that uses pellets and puts a hint of smoke on the food. Sealing it up will help a little. Which is better than nothing. When on the smoke setting it is most concentrated. Works great on my pulled pork. Smoke for 3 hours then bump heat up to 250 until done. Very convenient on long cooks if you don't want to add charcoal or wood all the time. Be sure to check the hopper before doing a long cook to save yourself the trouble of running dry.

So far, I'm not super impressed, I haven't used it a lot yet but I miss the browned crunch on the top of my grilled salmon.

Good 'ol Weber kettle and charcoal for me when it comes to grilling. Traeger will never win that competition. Have you tried doing a whole chicken yet?

   When I do whole chickens on the Weber people just can’t believe how juicy and good they are. 

Lokidog next time your up I’ll get you some dry rub for chickens, or anything else, it’s a good all around dry rub.

Yum!