I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Traegers, Green Mountain, Smokin Tex and all other Pellet and Wood Chip Smokers

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I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby bondobill » Thu Mar 24, 2016 10:47 pm

:deadhorse:
I just ordered a Rec Tec 680

I never imagined I would ever have a pellet smoker :roll: . But the older I get.......I was in Cub Scouts when the Beatles came out with "I want to hold your hand"........the lazier I get. :mrgreen:
I love BBQ on the week ends but have found myself smoking less and less cause of the time involved baby sitting my stick burners, which consist of a cement block smoker, COS and a barrel offset on a trailer

l let you'll know how it works out

Bill
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby Gator » Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:00 am

Welcome to the world of a good nights sleep. :lol:
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby spacetrucker » Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:33 am

welcome to the set and forget generation, sure you can still go tinker with this or that, but cooking BBQ was never easier, not to mention the acquirement of wood....
my woodman delivers in a brown truck with UPS on the side of it :cheers:
besides like gator said the "dark side" yeah that's where the sleep occurs.... :mrgreen:
Don't count every day, Make every day Count
Good Cue to ya..
Vernon

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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby OldUsedParts » Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:54 am

Please post "Anything" you learn or discover because I recently crossed over to the Dark Side also. I haven't abandoned my ECB or Weber kettle but the longies are now Pelletized. Good Luck :tup:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby Papa Tom » Fri Mar 25, 2016 10:07 am

No reason to be afraid....especially of the dark hit the pillow.
I hit the dark in 1998 and never looked back well except for some commercial stuff I did.

BTW I still have and use my original 1998 Model "T" plus a couple other pellet cookers and Oh Yeah my fire place burns them too.

As for things I've learned along the way.
Put the meat on cold and use the "Smoke" setting for the first hour or so.
Your pellet cooker is not a grill use the Weber kettle for steaks (or get a pellet cooker like Swamp Donkey has that is made for grilling.)
Pellet pits are NOT maintenance free use your shop vac but make sure there are no embers. Make sure the fire box is fully cleaned with no "clinkers" in the bottom.
Grease fires CAN and will occur if you are not careful.
Flameouts Can and will occur if you are not careful. Learn what the "P" settings are for (might be called something other than "P" on your unit) it is the "Pilot" setting that adjusts the maximum time between pellet feeds no matter what the temperature is. Normally you will find a happy setting then never or rarely change it again.
Long pellets burn cooler than short pellets because there are fewer of them fed each auger cycle.
There are fancy "PID" controllers available to "upgrade" your unit but they may also result in less smoke flavor because they solely favor smooth temperature control.
tarde venientibus ossa....
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby Okie Sawbones » Fri Mar 25, 2016 12:15 pm

Sure love mine, but I use an Amaz-N-Smoker maze to get better smoke flavor.
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby Papa Tom » Fri Mar 25, 2016 1:59 pm

Okie Sawbones wrote:Sure love mine, but I use an Amaz-N-Smoker maze to get better smoke flavor.


I have one but don't use it except for cold smoking sausage.
tarde venientibus ossa....
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby Gator » Fri Mar 25, 2016 2:36 pm

+ what Papa said.

Also, I get the best results when I mix pellets, usually Oak and Hickory + a little Cherry mixed in...
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby bondobill » Sat Mar 26, 2016 1:37 pm

Thanks all for the tips :D
I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions once it arrives
I got a call from Harry at RecTec yesterday afternoon saying it was shipped and explaining the shipping process. I was kind of impressed with that

What swayed me on getting a pellet Grill was my son has been talking about getting one .
He's getting married this summer and is in the process of building a 2 story shop with 1600 sq ft of living space on the the upper level. The wife and I where in Costco a month or so ago and Traeger had a display setup with a rep there. We bought a Traeger Century for my son...plan on giving it to him when he moves into his new digs this summer as a surprise house warming gift.
Anyways I got his grille sitting in my shop at home still in the box. The more I looked at that darn box the more intrigued I got. :mrgreen:
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby bondobill » Sat Apr 02, 2016 10:09 pm

Got the grille yesterday. Pretty fast shipping in my estimation from coast to coast. :D
You notice I called it a grille... I ain't ready to call it a smoker till I try it out :lol:
Assembled it this morn.. it went ok..but it took me a lot longer then it should have..my problem not the manufacturer :dont:

Took some measurements and photos of the grille while assembling

Fire pot 3/32" stainless
Image

The pellet hopper is huge
[img]http://i731.photobucket.com/albums/ww317/bondobill/air%20cleaner/A36B69DB-
0AE0-448B-9FA2-B80CB185594C_zpsu6gfhfsm.jpg[/img][/url

[URL=http://s731.photobucket.com/user/bondobill/media/air%20cleaner/0F65FA8F-3121-4C27-BCEB-4900FE044599_zpskcsci2wh.jpg.html]Image[/URL

Cooking chamber is 3/32" steel and the lid is 1/8"

Fire pot lid is 3/32" stainless
Along with the drip pan
[URL=http://s731.photobucket.com/user/bondobill/media/air%20cleaner/B98C7375-1554-4D4C-B770-4B50921814D0_zpsaonlimvm.jpg.html]Image

Image
Cooking grates are 1/4" stainless

After assembly I fired it up according to the directions. It took about 15-20 minutes to bring up to 400 degrees. Ran it for a hour at that temp and then dropped it down to 205 for a half hour.

url=http://s731.photobucket.com/user/bondobill/media/air%20cleaner/2D2E8EB0-FF53-4FCC-B99F-C93280E7DE15_zps15ymk3yl.jpg.html]Image[/url]

Going try some ribs tomorrow :pig: :dont:

Bill
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby Papa Tom » Sun Apr 03, 2016 10:09 am

You gonna fall in love........
tarde venientibus ossa....
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby OldUsedParts » Sun Apr 03, 2016 10:20 am

Papa's right, :salut: I have two center cut pork spare rib racks going on my Pelletizer right now and things are looking good. Decided not to wrap in foil until I see some significant pull back from the bones this time. Doing a BD celebration here for my favorite Stepson so "grub" is the main subject for today. BTW, Papa-Tom, does that "P" setting stand for Papa-T :?: :?: :?: :?: :laughing7: :D :lol:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby spacetrucker » Sun Apr 03, 2016 8:12 pm

I predict a small short learning curve... and many piecefull nights of sleep while your briskets and butts smoke to exquisite tastefulness... :salut:

PS love the GTO in the back round, in my younger years it stood for GET Tools Out...
Don't count every day, Make every day Count
Good Cue to ya..
Vernon

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Webber kettle 22"
Webber genesis
Blackstone pizza oven
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby bondobill » Mon Apr 04, 2016 10:10 pm

My first cook. Nothing special.SL pork ribs.
Set grille to 215 degrees and threw the racks on at noon. I added a 12" smoker tube filled with cherry pellets. Was planning on eating around 6pm.
2 hours in I raised the temp to 225. Checked the ribs at 5pm, they looked to be a ways off from being done at 6. At this point I panned and covered them and raised the temp up to 300.
Checked them about a hour later and they where looking pretty good. Pulled them out of pan applied a glaze and threw them back on the grille for 20 minutes at 225.
We ate at 6:30 :cheers:
[url=http://s731.photobucket.com/user/bondobill/media/air%20cleaner/CC9A894C-B0E8-4F40-A4C4-CE6A065A9E43_zpstgbqjhbt.jpg.html]Image/url]
Got to say they where pretty darn tasty...even tho I felt like I was cheeting :mrgreen:
The one down side to the cook was...I got a way too much yard work down while the ribs where on the smoker...the up side was my beer consumption didn't change :laughing7:

BTW. Went with SBs all the way. Hog Waller for the rub and glaze was Honey BBG sauce with a splash more of honey and a wee bit butter.

Bill
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Re: I'm afraid I went over to the dark side

Postby OldUsedParts » Tue Apr 05, 2016 6:33 am

Looks like you've got a grip on the grill :tup: nice looking bones, BB :cheers:
I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death. William Barret Travis - Lt. Col. comdt "The Alamo"

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