Anyone own a Traeger Smoker?

[Todd Anderson]

I have my gas grill - love it. Use it all of the time. But I do have a real soft spot for smoked meats and that's one realm the gas grille can't touch.

A buddy of mine has a Traeger and says it's a fantastic piece of gear. I have another friend that raves about the Green Egg. Price points between the two are fairly substantial when considering size (although, I think the Traeger can get up above $1K).

Anyhow, anyone?

 

[mechman]

I own a Weber natural gas grill, a Masterbuilt electric smoker and a Kamado Joe grill/smoker. Of the 3, I like the KJ most. I haven’t touched the electric smoker since the KJ showed up. I still us the Weber occasionally but it’s mainly out of convenience.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Is the masterbuilt similar to the Traeger?

 

[mechman]

Does Traeger make an electric smoker? I thought they just make pellet smokers?

Here’s the Masterbuilt I own. I also have the cold smoke attachment but I don’t think that it works that well.

 

[Todd Anderson]

They are pellet smokers that plug-in. So they have an electric element of some kind ;-)

I actually think this discussion might be out of my hands... I think my family is buying me some kind of smoker as a B-day gift.

Anyhow, a buddy of mine has a Traeger and swears by it.

 

[mechman]

Ahh! I thought they were charcoal with a pellet feeder. TBH just about any smoker beats a normal grill in my opinion!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Thanks to a few of you that shot me PMs about this.

Long story short, my suspicions were right and the fam gave me a Traeger for my birthday. We’ve had it just about a month. So far, so good!

First time I used it, my neighbor came banging on our front door - they thought our house was on fire :-)

Just put a pork butt on for a gathering tonight... and am using some new WiFi based meat probes called Tappecue. It communicates to your phone through an App. And unlike Bluetooth, you can receive Alerts even when you’re away from your home.

My grill is off our back deck down a spiral staircase. So running up and down to check meat temperatures using Treager’s onboard probes was a no go after a few times.

 

[mechman]

Nice! I have a ThermPro unit right now but I’m in the process of trying to find a wireless unit that will also keep an eye on my Joe. The one that keeps grabbing my eye is the flame boss.

 

[Todd Anderson]

That Flame Boss looks cool...

I only did a cursory search for the WiFi unit. Once I found the one I bought, it had enough positive user reviews that I pulled the trigger and moved on ;-)

You definitely dont want to cheap out... the lesser ones have a lot of issues.

I will say this, the Tappecue app interface isn’t as intuitive as the Webber i3 interface that I use on my gas grill.

 

[mechman]

I've researched the controllers quite a bit and the problem I run into is that there isn't a lot out there that offer the features I want. There are a ton of them that will control the pit but the majority don't have any remote monitoring type of system - either bluetooth or wireless. And then there's the whole weather proof issue. Almost all of them are not weather proof! Which is kind of shocking considering most everyone smokes outside.

 

[Todd Anderson]

That’s interesting. So, for my situation, the Traeger regulates temperature on its own with onboard sensors. And it’s a smoker that you aren’t supposed to use in the rain.

So, I was only looking for WiFi and the ability to set alerts. Sounds like it’s more basic than why you need.

That one you linked to ain’t cheap. But I’d imagine you get what you pay for

 

[mechman]

So what do you do when there's rain in the forecast? Put it in the garage? That's crazy! I have my electric smoker in the garage but that was because it didn't do a good job holding the heat in the dead of winter. And even with that vented outside it still smokes up the garage some. You're going to have to put your construction skills to work and build a shelter for it!

Yeah the ceramic eggs don't monitor the temp, that has to be done by me (temp gauge on the egg) or via the Thermo Pro. I haven't done a long cook in it yet - like the pork butts you're doing today. My longest smoke so far was prolly around 5 hours. The last pork butt I did took 13. I think when it gets to that point, I'll probably drop the hammer on the Flame Boss or the CyberQ.

 

[Tony V.]

My natural gas BBQ is on its last leg (lasted 20 years so not complaining) but I will be looking at upgrading next year. My question is is there a Smoker combo available that you can do both BBQ and smoke on the same unit? Plus I want natural gas not propane and electric is too expensive to operate.

 

[mechman]

Not that I’m aware of. I have a Weber natural gas grill that I’d highly recommend though. You can put a smoker box in it but it’s nowhere near the same as a true smoker.

 

[Tony V.]

Ok, I will do some research and see what is my best option.

 

[GFOviedo]

There are many pellet smoker companies out there. They pretty much share the same pellet concept idea / equipment. The main difference is the material being used. If I was to buy a pellet smoker, I would look into the RecTec or Gorilla pellet smokers. After all of my research, those are my two main ones. Green Mountain would be my third option.

 

[Todd Anderson]

My natural gas BBQ is on its last leg (lasted 20 years so not complaining) but I will be looking at upgrading next year. My question is is there a Smoker combo available that you can do both BBQ and smoke on the same unit? Plus I want natural gas not propane and electric is too expensive to operate.

Curious what you found?

I have to agree with Steve, you can "fake" a smoker on a gas grill... but it's not the same.

 

[GFOviedo]

You can BBQ and smoke on the pellet smoker. Pellet smokers aren’t smokers per say. They are more like a convection oven. They do an excellent job of keeping the heat constant.

I’ve got a metal drum that I use for smoking. A large brisket usually takes me 12 to 18 hours to smoke.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Thanks to a few of you that shot me PMs about this.

Long story short, my suspicions were right and the fam gave me a Traeger for my birthday. We’ve had it just about a month. So far, so good!

First time I used it, my neighbor came banging on our front door - they thought our house was on fire :-)

Just put a pork butt on for a gathering tonight... and am using some new WiFi based meat probes called Tappecue. It communicates to your phone through an App. And unlike Bluetooth, you can receive Alerts even when you’re away from your home.

My grill is off our back deck down a spiral staircase. So running up and down to check meat temperatures using Treager’s onboard probes was a no go after a few times.

Where's the meat man? No pics??? C'mon man!

Man I can cook a Boston rump on my charcoal grill that will make you slap ya somebody... just ask Wayne.

Of course you gotta have a big ole grill like I got to make it work right... it's almost like smokin' it... charcoal/wood on one end and meat on the other... open the vent pipe below the fire and above the meat. Perfecto!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Totally forgot to take pics!!! Will next time :-)

Your grill setup sounds intense, Sonnie. It’s custom made?

 

[GFOviedo]

Here are some pics of my little smoker barrel.

 

[Todd Anderson]

What time can I come over? That looks DELICIOUS!

 

[GFOviedo]

Some more pics.

 

[GFOviedo]

What time can I come over? That looks DELICIOUS!

Any time. I’m not sure how long the drive or flight will be lol.

I had a coworker a couple years ago who paid me to cook briskets for his son’s graduation party. I did it for him, and he called me back during the party that all of the briskets were eaten and if I had more lol. Needless to say, I didn’t since it takes 12 to 14 hours to smoke a large brisket.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Those pics are a veritable feast for the eyes! Wow