Confused with new Grill

[Aaplesnbanana]

Hello yall finally bit the bullet and bought a century 885. I was using a small Traeger before hand just your typical turn to smoke then turn to 180 and cook slow and everything always came out great. Now I’ve cooked 3 times on my new century 885 and I find it lack luster and maybe it’s something I’m doing.
Yesterday I had 2 tri tips on was cooking at 185 the probe said it had reached temp however it was super rare even after 2.5 hours of cooking. It was like the temp was off all the way around also as a side note hardly any smoke which Traeger said it’s pellets so your “naturally smoking” anyways…….. now fast forward to today I was cooking some thin chicken breasts and was cooking again at 185 after 2 hours it was still raw so cranked it up to 225 and they started to cook; still took another 35 or so minutes and then it was finally cooked.
I’m hoping I’m just being dumb and not used to THIS Traeger and someone that has this grill can point me in the right direction as I have 2 briskets I’m cooking in the next 2 weeks and need to have this puppy dialed in before if possible.
Thanks

 

[NoGood Traeger]

Similar here. I returned the Century 885 back to Costco. The controller was grossly overstating the temperature. Across the entire operating range the controller displayed temps 25% higher. Set to 225, I was seeing 182. Setting to 350, I was seeing 286. Setting to 500, I was seeing 398. Traeger customer service was useless. Said that's the way they are intended to work. Get yourself a good 3rd party thermocouple and offset your controller to a higher setting to get the temp you want as measured by your 3rd party thermocouple. If you need to cook something higher than 400' cook it somewhere else or for longer. If you like char or sear/grill marks, the Century 885 won't get hot enough to do it.

 

[Aaplesnbanana]

Similar here. I returned the Century 885 back to Costco. The controller was grossly overstating the temperature. Across the entire operating range the controller displayed temps 25% higher. Set to 225, I was seeing 182. Setting to 350, I was seeing 286. Setting to 500, I was seeing 398. Traeger customer service was useless. Said that's the way they are intended to work. Get yourself a good 3rd party thermocouple and offset your controller to a higher setting to get the temp you want as measured by your 3rd party thermocouple. If you need to cook something higher than 400' cook it somewhere else or for longer. If you like char or sear/grill marks, the Century 885 won't get hot enough to do it.

Ya I’m not needing grill marks or anything I bought this to smoke and pretty much smoke only and it’s leaving me in want currently.

 

[tomdav]

Hey, I had a similar issue when I first got my Traeger. It turned out my temp probe was way off, so I got a separate thermometer to double-check. Also, make sure you're using good-quality pellets; cheap ones can affect the smoke and temp. I found that rotating the food helps even things out too. Hopefully, this gets your Century 885 dialed in for those briskets.

 

[BobbyQ]

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Traeger Forum is dedicated to the knowledge and total safety of all it's Traeger owning members --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My New Traeger Does Not Put Out The Smoke I Was Expecting!! My Traeger built in RTD probe is off, it is...

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[Shedd]

Hello yall finally bit the bullet and bought a century 885. I was using a small Traeger before hand just your typical turn to smoke then turn to 180 and cook slow and everything always came out great. Now I’ve cooked 3 times on my new century 885 and I find it lack luster and maybe it’s something I’m doing.
Yesterday I had 2 tri tips on was cooking at 185 the probe said it had reached temp however it was super rare even after 2.5 hours of cooking. It was like the temp was off all the way around also as a side note hardly any smoke which Traeger said it’s pellets so your “naturally smoking” anyways…….. now fast forward to today I was cooking some thin chicken breasts and was cooking again at 185 after 2 hours it was still raw so cranked it up to 225 and they started to cook; still took another 35 or so minutes and then it was finally cooked.
I’m hoping I’m just being dumb and not used to THIS Traeger and someone that has this grill can point me in the right direction as I have 2 briskets I’m cooking in the next 2 weeks and need to have this puppy dialed in before if possible.
Thanks

Welcome to the forum!
I’ve been smoking meats for 50 years, I’ve used pits, offsets, drum smokers, I ended up with a Green Egg for over 20 years and have a 780 Pro. Comparing the Traeger to the Egg , the Traeger isn’t really a true smoker. It’s basically a convection oven that runs off compressed sawdust. I haven’t found any pellets that add a real smoke flavor unless I use a few smoke tubes with wood chip’s and chunks.

However I’ve never smoked any meats at 185, I always smoke at around 225. I also never go by time of cook but I always go by a done temp using a third party probe. I’ve found butts to take 12 hours up to 16 or more for really big ones. My Traeger is off on temp readings, it varies up and down so that’s why I can’t go by time. I never cook on a time frame either, I’ve found that cooking ahead takes the stress out of the cooking process. Butts are the easiest to cook, I can put them on at 9-10 , go to bed without any devices nearby so I get a un interrupted nights sleep, make my coffee in the morning, check the pellet level and enjoy my coffee. When they hit 195-205 (depending on if I'm chopping or pulling) I warp in foil or butcher paper (depending on bark preference) and put in my Yeti until just before guest arrive.
That’s how I cook on my Traeger, at 185 a butt would take 20 hours I would guess.
I find on my 780 Pro setting at 230 put me in a good position because it fluctuates. Hopefully this will help.