Any Time is Grillin Time

[olbriar]

I'll test it out next weekend. It's running on wood, let's see what happens. I'm used to the propane grill, it was easy to adjust the temperature, but with the wood grill I'll have to get used to it.

Tell us about your new grill. I'm with Augie, interesting for sure. I've never seen anything like it. I see the port to add the wood and only assume it has some adjustable air ports to help regulate burn rate / heat. I also assume that you burn down the wood into coals to cook on them. I'm only taking wild guesses for it's a cooker that I've never seen... and would love to hear about.

Welcome to Android Forums and the grilling area!

 

[IbrahimXXX]

Haven't tested it yet... A little patience, gentlemen!

 

[treb1797]

No rush amigo, at your leisure.

 

[IbrahimXXX]

I can't wait to do it myself. But I can't do it before Saturday night, unfortunately.

 

[olbriar]

I grocery shopped today and looked for something to smoke. I found some decent looking baby back ribs but they were over twenty bucks a rack. I ended up coming home with a buy one get one packages of boneless skinless chicken breasts. I'll either smoke a package or dice a package up and make a stir fry. I'm leaning towards smoking them so I don't miss very much football.

 

[Unforgiven]

Well, I'll be doing a first this week. 39lbs of pulled pork in one cook. I have the four butts thawing now. I'll trim and season them Wednesday and start them around midnight so they will be ready for lunch(ish) on Thursday. This will put the new grill to the test.

 

[olbriar]

It sounds like a very fun cook. Cooking in volume has it's own set of variables. Like butts will cook at different speeds. If you plan to rest them before pulling, your problem will be solved. I've only smoked two butts at once but they cooked at different rates. You will have fun and I'm jealous. It's so much fun to cook for the masses. And on a new smoker... the ultimate fun!

 

[Unforgiven]

I'll run four temp probes, then FTC them as they get done. I'll have to keep track of which ones get done first so I'll unwrap, pull, and serve in that order.

 

[olbriar]

A man with a plan! I was telling my son about your cook. He's like me.. jealous. He said if he was smoking four butts he would likely make one sweet, two with his traditional rub, and one damn hot. Then clearly label each tub and let the line choose the flavor for the fun of choice. He then went onto say I bet the damn hot real hot tub will go fast if it's a group of guys. It's a guy thing. If I were cooking them I'd stick to my tried and true rub and cook. I know it will please the majority. Anyway, we both would love to be in your shoes. Have fun!

 

[IbrahimXXX]

A few words about my grill: very cool thing, you can grill everything from meat to vegetables or potatoes. There is a hole in the center for throwing wood. There are no holes to regulate the air flow and combustion.
I tried frying steaks in two ways. This is on the disk that is around the hole, just laid out on this metal before putting a little oil. And it also came with a grate that is placed in the center, so also turns out great, but the meat is a little dry.
I'm delighted! At first I thought that it would be difficult to cope with the temperature, but you can move a little away from the center and already the temperature drops.
The best part is the smell of real wood. I used wood from fruit trees and it worked out just fine.

 

[olbriar]

Sounds interesting. I'm somewhat surprised there isn't a vent system but I guess the distance from the source works. It's difficult to beat the flavor real wood puts on a cook. Have fun and thanks for sharing.

 

[Unforgiven]

The big cook is coming along. More pics below in spoiler tags because food p0rn.

Spoiler: Finally Defrosted

Spoiler: Trimmed and Seasoned

Spoiler: Lord of the Smoke Ring is ready

Yes, that is the name of my grill.

Spoiler: On the grill

And I have a lot of room to spare. I like the 36" grill.

Spoiler: 8ish hours in

 

[olbriar]

Love it Love it Love it. LOVE IT!!! What fun and the grill name is excellent! I find the large surface takes a bit more pellets but so what. When the cook area is wanted, it's there. You are having more fun than you deserve, Sir. I bet the group loves your efforts.

 

[olbriar]

After the big smoke out is over, a wrap up story would sure make a fun read. I'd enjoy hearing how your cook was received and your take on the new smoke ring machine.

 

[Unforgiven]

Well, only three of the four butts were consumed at the party, but better to have extra than not enough. I brought the other butt home that was still in the cooler and pulled it. My son is having a hot sandwich from it as we speak.

Spoiler: Pulled pork

As far as how it was received, well, very well, which is surprising. I know I live up North, but it seems most people up here have never had un-doctored pulled pork. I had several recipe requests and folks were awfully surprised to hear it was just salt, pepper, and pork. I even had a "I don't even like pork and I went back for seconds" compliment, so I was humbled to hear all the feedback. I know I cook for my family, but putting it out there to a very large group and collectively getting only positive feedback was great.

The Lord of the Smoke Ring kicked ass. For one, it is double wall insulated, so even though it is nearly double the cooking surface, the pellet use was similar to what I would use smoking a single butt on my old Traeger or the Weber Smokefire. I wound up having to bag them at 180 to ensure they reached temp and have time to rest in time for the cookout,

The Traeger app flaked out on me, and I was monitoring the cook from work, I couldn't tell what happened so I had to run home and check. There were no problems with the grill, just the app. I wound up having to clear data and cache and restart the app and things went back to normal. I think maybe running it for 13 hours may have been a bit much, but I'll see the next time on a long cook. Thankfully, it had zero effect on the cook itself, I was just watching the temps. I probably should try using the app as it will work with cooking parameters and what you are cooking and automagically adjust temps and whatnot. I'm just so used to doing it myself that I don't even think of letting the grill do things.

I'm not ready for competition yet, but I'm not afraid to serve strangers.

 

[treb1797]

I'm just here for the p0rn and probes

 

[olbriar]

I have to go back decades where I cooked for 75 or so people and that was grilling burgers and dog. Most of them I knew and you can't go wrong with burgers and dogs. I have smoked some big meals at the cabin. Again, they were all friend or friends of friends. I've never cooked for people that I didn't know. It has to be very rewarding to receive some compliments on your efforts. Congrats!

The wifi and bt of my GM smoker never worked well enough to trust. I'm almost always close to my cooks so it's not a problem. I often start a cook and leave but never over three or four hours. Long before it needs attention. It's definitely not a selling point for GM smokers.

 

[Unforgiven]

This works similar to the Weber app. When you set up the grill you connect to it directly via Bluetooth, and via that connection is it connects to your Wifi, establishes a secure connection to Traeger's site, so if I am away, the grill and the app connect through the cloud. If I'm near the grill, it connect via bluetooth.

I really haven't taken advantage of it (on the Weber either) except for watching temps, though I will explore more with this grill.

 

[olbriar]

How was the Trager for holding your desired temp? My original Trager, albeit over a decade old tech, let temps vary a lot with the set temp being in middle of the rise and fall.

 

[Unforgiven]

How was the Trager for holding your desired temp? My original Trager, albeit over a decade old tech, let temps vary a lot with the set temp being in middle of the rise and fall.

This keeps it pretty tight. I'd say +-5, though I never really had a problem with my old Traeger on maintaining temp. Just in the cold it would use more fuel to do it.

So to add to my purchase adventure, I paid $2k for the grill, which is the Traeger price. Getting the Big-E deal I got the cover (which is the first legit, quality grill cover I ever had) and the front shelf free, which was a $300 value. On top of that, the local retailer I went through gave me rewards points on the purchase, so I went to cash those in and got some utility hooks, a new grill brush (mine was from my original Traeger about 10 years ago), ash / grease buckets, and a bag of hickory pellets and it was only $20 out of pocket.

I think I'm going to do a chicken on Sunday. I have pulled pork leftovers for today/tomorrow. I'll make a pulled pork enchilada casserole tomorrow for dinner.

 

[olbriar]

My old Trager did not come close to holding a temp but over all it stayed within 50°. I like that they addressed that and might have done so right after my purchase for all that I know. I think you bought a Cadillac smoker my friend. And one that loves to smoke meats should have a great and fun tool to do the job. Good luck with your chicken. I've yet to decide what I'll be smoking. I just hope that the winds die down some. It has been gale force for a couple of days.

 

[olbriar]

I bought a pork butt to smoke Sunday. At $2.89 lb it topped my list. I also bought a rack of BB ribs that were half cheap. @Unforgiven and his multiple mega smuggled smoked butts made me hungry for some.

 

[The_Chief]

The closest thing to a smoking butt I've ever done is Fumoculo 1989... but that was several lifetimes ago, too...

 

[Unforgiven]

I picked up a brisket flat for next weekend. Suggestions welcome.

 

[olbriar]

My brisket flat cook is pretty boring but they usually turn out pretty good. I rub the flat with avocado oil then season with coarse salt and pepper. I smoke it at 225°, wrap it when it reaches 160°, and remove it for a generous rest when it reaches 195°. I slice it across the grain at a 35° to 45° angle from top to bottom, pour the captured juice over the brisket, and serve. Flats are usually pretty lean so I like to keep them wet while smoking. I usually spritz with apple juice and beer or apple cider vinegar and beer. My local smoking buddy swears by his flat cook. He starts and wraps at the same temps but likes to yoyo the last ten degrees. Once the flat reaches 185° he turns the smoker off. When the meat drops ten degrees he fires the smoker back up and continues smoking until he sees 195° He thinks it helps tenderize the flat. I've never tried it. My son smokes his flat the same as I do but smokes at 250° claiming they turn out the same as cooking slower. I tried that once and maybe I just had a tough flat.