Meat Smokers

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I got out of smoking and eat meat in moderation.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/04/17/hea...www.cnn.com%2F

Well...bye.

[Todd.K]

A word of caution, though, is that any smoker can catch on fire if you are not diligent about cleaning it.

I'll go a step further and say Traeger should just limit the temperature to 325 deg. Mine never goes over 325, not because it's common for them to catch fire but because that is where any built up grease starts to smoke and cause a terrible flavor. It's crap for high temp grilling anyway. It does BBQ and 90 percent of my grilling but not steak. Well I sometimes smoke a steak before grilling...

Things I like:

Any chicken. Teriyaki marinated thighs are a regular.

Tri-tip

Pulled pork

Peaches

Dino ribs are my favorite so far.

[Arik]

A word of caution, though, is that any smoker can catch on fire if you are not diligent about cleaning it. On Thanksgiving I smoked a brisket the day before, five racks of ribs in the early morning, then put the turkey in at around 10am without cleaning out the smoker. I crank the temp to 350 for the last 1/2 hour of smoking the turkey to really crisp the skin. Luckily my son and I were standing there when the whole thing went up in flames and we saved the turkey. The fire quickly spread to the grease bucket and the son and I just grabbed the whole smoker and moved it out on the lawn in the snow. A quick douse of baking soda put out the fire after that.

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I have this issue with my grill. It ALWAYS catches fire in the back. No matter how much I clean it, if I have more than a few things on its almost guaranteed to catch fire. I used to come out with a box of baking soda as my grilling EDC. And since the grill is propane and on the second floor deck I can't just move it away from the house. Last year I just didn't bother grilling

[Todd.K]

A regular propane grill has all the fat you cook out dripping onto the flame. A pellet grill has a tray between the firebox and the food. If you clean it once in a while and don't go over 325 a pellet grill never catches fire.

[Arik]

A regular propane grill has all the fat you cook out dripping onto the flame. A pellet grill has a tray between the firebox and the food. If you clean it once in a while and don't go over 325 a pellet grill never catches fire.

This one has burners right under grills but the fire is always on the bottom left

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I always had flare ups on my propane grill too. The buildup of grease, combined with open flame, and dripping oils makes for big fires.

Something I have been doing with the Traeger is keeping it vacuumed out after three or four cooks to cut down on soot and the possibility of flare ups. I also started prepping the interior with foil today, covering the drip pan and the drip chute to the bucket. This will make for super easy clean up, and cut down on the risk of fire.

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

A regular propane grill has all the fat you cook out dripping onto the flame. A pellet grill has a tray between the firebox and the food. If you clean it once in a while and don't go over 325 a pellet grill never catches fire.

Basically true, but not exactly. The GMG over-fed pellets into the firebox, and eventually spilled almost 5 lbs of pellets into the bottom of the grill while running. This caught fire at a low temp, spread it to the overflowed pellets, which caught the pellets in the auger tuber, which burnt the wiring up and almost spread to the hopper. I don't know if that was a freak occurrence or what, but it did happen to me.

[AKDoug]

Basically true, but not exactly. The GMG over-fed pellets into the firebox, and eventually spilled almost 5 lbs of pellets into the bottom of the grill while running. This caught fire at a low temp, spread it to the overflowed pellets, which caught the pellets in the auger tuber, which burnt the wiring up and almost spread to the hopper. I don't know if that was a freak occurrence or what, but it did happen to me.

I've had over-feed with my Traeger, but only at extremely cold temps 0 to -20F.. (yes I smoke at those temps ) Anyhow.. back to smoking.. I have a batch of jerky going in mine right now. The local grocer gives me his out of date beef in exchange for a 50/50 split of whatever sausage or jerky I make out of it. If he's willing to eat it, I am too

[LowSpeed_HighDrag]

I've had over-feed with my Traeger, but only at extremely cold temps 0 to -20F.. (yes I smoke at those temps ) Anyhow.. back to smoking.. I have a batch of jerky going in mine right now. The local grocer gives me his out of date beef in exchange for a 50/50 split of whatever sausage or jerky I make out of it. If he's willing to eat it, I am too

That's not a bad little arrangement. I'd really like to try jerky soon.

Ive had some pheasant chukar in my freezer for 1.5 years now, you guys think it's too old to eat?

[OldState]

I messed around for years with off set bbqs and found myself only using it a few times a year because of how labor intensive it was.
Eyed up a ceramic cooker for a couple years, specifically the Primo because it’s oval, because of the efficiency and ease. Ended up getting one and also a Flameboss temperature control which isn’t really needed on a ceramic but nice to have. There is a decent learning curve because they behave so differently than transitional bbqs but once I figured it out I was getting good product with ease. Literally it’s like cheating and practically like using your indoor oven. With the Flameboss I even raised the temp on my iPhone from 40 miles away on an errand during a 9 hour cook. The thing is so efficient I literally use 1/5 of the fuel I used to. You can cook at 275 on a small wash bucket worth of lump charcoal and a few large wood chunks for 12 hours and still have some unburned coal!

I also am interested in pellets as they offer the same ease and some feel better bbq flavor.