No Smoke Complaints

[BigDogg]

Hello,

New to this site, new to electric smoking, but not new to smoking meat. I have seen a lot of threads about having difficulty getting enough smoke for your taste. I recently bought the Pro 34 series and what I have discovered in my trial trial runs is that it is a damper issue.

When I first bought my unit the damper hood was wide open. I was thinking the same thing a lot of others are saying and thinking. Why is this grill not giving me the smoke I need? I got to thinking and remembered that on my wood burning smoker I leave the damper almost all the way closed. So I was thinking about replacing the hood with a different damper.

After seeing how to remove the hood I noticed that it was screwed into a center cap. I then turned it clockwise to see if it would lower and it did. I screwed the damper hood all the way down until I heard it metal to metal and left it there. Problem solved. Now it smokes like a gem and maintains heat better.

Just an idea to try.

 

[JamesB]

It will also smoke much better at lower temperatures. 170-200. At temps above 250, the fire burns so efficiently that it won’t produce much visible smoke

 

[BigDogg]

Another thing I did was I got a piece of wood board and cut it 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" and cut a small slit in the middle about an 1/8" wide by an 1/8" tall and plugged the drip spout. That forces smoke to and through the top rather than having an exhaust at the bottom.

 

[BigDogg]

The picture you see is smoking at 225°

 

[JamesB]

Don’t let that grease accumulate in the bottom. It can definitely cause a grease fire.

 

[BigDogg]

10-4, I will definitely watch it. There's still an outlet, but I'm getting Hella smoke in the cool down cycle. We'll see tomorrow when I put a brisket on it how it really does. That will be the big test. I'm just working with pork country style ribs and chicken right now.

 

[JamesB]

10-4, I will definitely watch it. There's still an outlet, but I'm getting Hella smoke in the cool down cycle. We'll see tomorrow when I put a brisket on it how it really does. That will be the big test. I'm just working with pork country style ribs and chicken right now.

I usually place brisket on the middle shelf with an aluminum pan below to catch the grease. Brisket is gonna have a LOT of grease. Oh, and don’t rely on the Traeger probe...none of them are accurate, no matter how many times you calibrate it

 

[BigDogg]

Oh that's beautiful. Gorgeous piece of meat. Thanks for the tip with Traeger. This electric this is new to me and I am experimenting. So the tips are appreciated

 

[JamesB]

Oh that's beautiful. Gorgeous piece of meat. Thanks for the tip with Traeger. This electric this is new to me and I am experimenting. So the tips are appreciated

 

[JamesB]

Here is today’s cook!
https://share.fireboard.io/E9B795

 

[BigDogg]

She is delicious! Loving this new grill. Cooked this 13 lb beast for 19 hours. Tender, juicy, and georgous!

 

[BigDogg]

Baby back pork ribs with a North Carolina rub

 

[JamesB]

Baby back pork ribs with a North Carolina rub

Ribs look awesome. How did you prepare them?

 

[BigDogg]

Sorry, got busy. I did a North Carolina rub which consists of brown sugar, thyme, basil, kosher salt, cracked pepper, roasted garlic, onion powder and cayenne pepper. They were awesome! My kids love them. Perfectly sweet and spicy with no sauce. You can use sauce, but it isn't really needed. Roasted garlic or garlic powder. Either works fine.

 

[BigDogg]

After I rubbed them I let them sit for an hour and then cooked them 5 hours on 180. After I wrapped in foil and cooked an additional 2.5 to 3 hours on 180. I put them on around 7 pm and pulled them off at 3 am. At midnight I wrapped them.