Calibrating the internal temp sensor.

[Switz]

Planning a last chance for Traeger cook Saturday of St Louis Ribs. Two full racks and the third cut in half so positions flipping can be done in two long lines. I am unsure that the Traeger shelf would cook the third rib properly compared to the two on the main grill.

I created Plan B by reserving a definite place in line for the August shipment of Yoder YS 640S grills to the local dealer here in the Phoenix metro area.. The April shipment was sold out months ago....

As an interesting point, the YS 640S is only $200 more expensive than the YS 480S but is the same list price as a Traeger Timberline 1300 of $1,999. The Traeger is made in Chine while Yoder is made in Kansas.

I ordered a Fireboard 2 Drive yesterday and realized I forgot a couple of items. I called to add them to the existing order and was told that the Yoder uses a Fireboard in their grills so my iPhone Yoder app can monitor both the internal board and the external temperature system at the same time switching between displays.

Time will tell....

 

[esmith]

As an interesting point, the YS 640S is only $200 more expensive than the YS 480S but is the same list price as a Traeger Timberline 1300 of $1,999. The Traeger is made in Chine while Yoder is made in Kansas.

I ordered a Fireboard 2 Drive yesterday and realized I forgot a couple of items. I called to add them to the existing order and was told that the Yoder uses a Fireboard in their grills so my iPhone Yoder app can monitor both the internal board and the external temperature system at the same time switching between displays.

Time will tell....

Interesting. I would hate to have to return the grill, but I'm not sure I want to be working around inaccurate sensors for the next 20 years either.

 

[Switz]

The Yoder YS 640S lacks the easy unload feature for the hopper, lacks a pellet level sensor and a coolie hat for the chimney. I can work around those issues.

The engineering is what is important. The pellet hopper is on the left and just inside the grill on the left is the fire box. There is about a six inch auger versus the long one in the Traeger. The chimney is on the right. The heat has to flow across the meat in a natural path. Obviously it will still be warmer over the fire pot, but at least the air is only flowing in just one direction..

The Yoder controller is made by Fireboard just like the incoming external temperature monitoring system I ordered from Fireboard yesterday. Just one Fireboard app can monitor both information sources.

 

[Twist]

I'm doing my first cook on my brand new Traeger Silverton 810 today - 3 racks of pork spare ribs. I normally cook ribs at 270 for 3 hours, wrap and back on for 2 hours, then unwrap, sauce 'em and cook 'em another 10-20 minutes to set the sauce. I open the lid about every hour to spritz them down and they just didn't look right - like not cooking as much as I would have thought. *shrug* maybe this is a pellet cooker thing to not be turning them a darker mahogany colored.

I've been cooking on BGEs for years and have a digital temp probe. It may not be exactly right but it's close and matches the expected cook times I see from "the masters." So I put that probe on the Traeger and it's measuring 30 degrees lower!!! Traeger set at 270, my probe reads 239. OK, I hear what some of you guys on here are saying about outside temps, wind conditions, etc but this kind of calibration is horrible and completely unacceptable and quite frankly those explanations are irrelevant to what's going on here.

I'm calling Traeger customer support to see what they have to say about this.

EDIT: Just got off the phone with Traeger and they're sending me a new temperature probe. There's a video on the Traeger YouTube channel on how to go about replacing the probe.

 

[GrillMeister]

EDIT: Just got off the phone with Traeger and they're sending me a new temperature probe. There's a video on the Traeger YouTube channel on how to go about replacing the probe.

Yep. I have the same problem with my Ironwood. They sent me a new probe. According to the video, should only take less than 3 minutes to swap it out.

 

[Switz]

Traeger replaced both probes as a warranty issue. No change in the accuracy of their probes versus the real world numbers generated by accurate equipment. Maybe their D2 computer needs to be redesigned where it interfaces with therir probes. The meat thermometer test in ice water is definitely not the cooking temperature. I tried putting the the Traeger meat thermometer into boiling water at the same time as my Thermapen Mk4 and cranked in the necessary offset. Not much help. There is no way to calibrate the internal grill probe. They said see if internal probe reflects ambient air temperature when the grill is cold. Agin not relevant to cooking temperatures. The new Traeger air probe was over 25 degrees higher that theThermaworks Signals air probe which was within a quarter inch of the Traeger probe.

The big issue for me was the 40 degree temperature difference across a two foot piece of meat or the length of the rack of ribs in line with the long axis of the Traeger..That meant to me I had to flip the rips left right to even temperature to the meat. In addition I had to cut a rack in half so there was a half and a full rack in each line. So it was musical chairs switching the meat around which was a full time job for the many hours of cooking.

With all my calls to Traeger tech support, I never got to speak to an engineer......

 

[John S.]

I got a new probe for my silverton 810 it took < 5 to swap it out....

 

[Switz]

I spent more time running back and forth to the tool box than the actual "work" takes.

 

[Timmy]

The rtd took about 15 minutes to change on my Pro 780.

 

[Twist]

The big issue for me was the 40 degree temperature difference across a two foot piece of meat or the length of the rack of ribs in line with the long axis of the Traeger..That meant to me I had to flip the rips left right to even temperature to the meat. In addition I had to cut a rack in half so there was a half and a full rack in each line. So it was musical chairs switching the meat around which was a full time job for the many hours of cooking.

I'm obviously new to Traeger Pellet smokers so that's the kind of thing I'll be testing and evaluating on this Silverton 810. It's probably not fair to compare it to cooking on a BGE - the trade-offs are well known - but if it takes the kind of fiddling with a cook that Switz is describing due to big delta T variations across the cooking surface, that'll negate the advantages pretty quick.

They are express shipping a new temp probe to me and I'll wait to do my next cook until I get that installed. I've got a Redi-Check wireless digital temperature probe I've used for hundreds of cooks on my BGE and I can clip that to anywhere on the upper or lower grates. I may go ahead and fire it up again today with no food in it to test if the temps are consistent across the cooking chamber. That should be pretty easy to do.

 

[Switz]

Trying to cook 3 CostCo racks of St Louis ribs right now. I cut one rack in half so there are two halves on the right and the two full racks are on the left. Musical chairs may start in an hour.......

I had to go ahead and cook the ribs on the Traeger as we have a big family dinner tonight including the brisket I cooked on Wednesday. I will be chatting with Costco Monday or Tuesday to take the Traeger back and refund the purchase price plus sales tax.

I called the local Yoder store a few minutes ago to see if they has a competition model (basically the same grill but on a cart with big wheels) coming in. I wanted to upgrade my existing order for a YS 640S that would come in on their August order.

About two weeks from now, they will have a competition model YS 640S coming in with a bright yellow cart. The non-standard yellow paint was an up-charge. It will be delivered to me as soon as they get it.

 

[GrillMeister]

The rtd took about 15 minutes to change on my Pro 780.

C'mon down and help then. Got aged tequila, raspberry chipotle sauce, and H-E-B meats & rubs.

Right now I'm just using the Fireboard for the true temp, but I will get around to doing it sometime.

 

[Twist]

Because of running by pork spare ribs cook 30 degrees cooler than I thought, I didn't get the fat render that I should have. Had I known I might have just left them wrapped on the Traeger for a third hour in the foil. I'm not ready to give up on this thing yet until I've done a couple of cooks with my operating temps calibrated. More testing when the new temp probe arrives.

 

[Switz]

On my over five hour rib cook today, the right air temp was consistently 30+ degrres cooler than the left side. So flipped the meats to try and equalize each piece’s heat exposure. I hope I kept proper track so there no medium rare ribs.

 

[Slimpicker]

C'mon down and help then. Got aged tequila, raspberry chipotle sauce, and H-E-B meats & rubs.

Right now I'm just using the Fireboard for the true temp, but I will get around to doing it sometime.

Timmy can pick me up in KC on the way down.