Pellet Smoker

[ms_deer_hunter]

Anyone use these ?

Do you like them ? What brand do you use?

[randywallace]

Ain't doing it. Coal and seasoned wood for me.

[randywallace]

Dang double post

[hillhunter03]

Got a traeger and love it. I still use the egg for grilling and the jambo pit for comps but for backyard smoking I use the traeger. Fill it up set it to temp and leave it. Taste just like cooking on wood

[Wildfowler]

I happen to have to have two of them. A fast eddies and a traeger. I like to cook on them but have personally concluded that they are best suited to a really fast high temp searing type of cook. I just have not been successful getting them to regulate the cooking temps when set on low temps for long periods of time. I do like to be able to flip on the switch and come out 15-20 minutes later to begin cooking on. For what you would normally do with a gas grill these will do better.

However, I have ruined ribs on both machines by leaving them unattended for short periods of time. For me, I have not been able to leave them on a low temp setting without the temp running away. I suppose that if you are willing to babysit them, raising the hood when needed if the temp runs away on you they would be great. I just don't trust them for slow cooking.

There is a circuit board that is supposed to adjust the regulate how fast the pellets are fed into the smoke pot which is ultimately what controls the cooking temp. Both of mine seem to be capable of running away with themselves.

Having said this, for what I use mine for (fast cooks like steaks, hamburgers, etc) I think they are the cat's meow. I personally like the fast eddies better. I can crank it up to 550-600 degrees and cook a great ribeye. The traeger temp control doesn't go that high, but trust me it will, and maybe when you're not ready for it. The fast eddies has a little more built in temp control (pellet rate) settings.

Regarding the pellets, there are a variety of flavors. I have only tried hickory. The pellets do get dusty in the hopper and you need to shop vac out the auger feed mechanism between re-fillings. The auger can get gummed up with saw dust and not feed pellets properly. Dont just keep refilling the hopper.

If you can beleive it, there is a webforum called "pelletheads" or something like that. I had to go there to get a better understanding of the pettet settings. These settings seem to be affected by outside temps too. What setting works in winter may not work as well in summer when its hot out. This may have something to do with my botched efforts at cooking ribs on them. I have not tried to use them for slow cooking when it was not hot outside. Also, high temp cooks do not produce as much smoke.

I would probably make you a good deal on the traeger if youre interested?

[Lazy Drake]

I got a traeger junior that I really like. Really versatile little cooker and imparts a nice smoke flavor on food. If you are into high temp searing this is not for you.

I really like the pellet cookers and will spring for a nicer model one day. I bought the traeger junior for 299 to see if I liked it. You can tell the thing is made in China but so far I have not had any problems. Will probably spring for a Rec-Tec in the future.

[ms_deer_hunter]

Thanks for the information!

[sevenhead]

Got a traeger and love it. I still use the egg for grilling and the jambo pit for comps but for backyard smoking I use the traeger. Fill it up set it to temp and leave it. Taste just like cooking on wood

How do like that Jambo. I heard they the bees knees.

[hillhunter03]

Love it. I got one custom built. It's smaller than a full size but bigger than the backyard. I had it on casters at first but it was just to heavy and had it put on a trailer like the big ones. I can cook the same thing using same seasoning and everything and it all comes out tasting better on the jambo.

[ms_deer_hunter]

Anybody got a pellet smoker they want to sell ......Cheap ?

[Wildfowler]

I stand corrected on my Traeger. Diddled around with the settings a little more and moved it to an area that was out of the sunlight this morning and cleaned off the temperature probe. As a result I cooked three really good slabs of ribs. I had to use the 180 temperature setting but it never did allow the temperature to run away from me when I wasn't looking either. I suspect the grate temperature may be hotter than what is in the reading anyway?

The wife said those were the best ribs I've ever cooked her. I am still gunshy against leaving the Traeger unattended but I will definitely use it again for smoking.