Not impressed with my Pro 780 "Smoker" / Wood Burning Oven

[EverettSmoke]

I got this overpriced "smoker" on Father's Day and so far I am not impressed. In fact I a little pissed. I have cooked about 8 items and nothing has more than a light smokiness. I cooked a pork shoulder, salmon, "grilled" burgers, chicken parts, etc. For Labor Day I am "smoking" a whole turkey and a couple of baby backs. Unfortunately for me, I did not know that certain models have a "Super Smoke" feature, but this one definitely does not. Dude at the hardware store did not mention that (why do the sell these things next to lawnmowers). Not sure what to do with this quote Smoker/Grill. It's an oven period. Any suggestions?

 

[Slimpicker]

You can add more smoke buy using one of these... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IAB398...olid=3EFH89G46Y0ME&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Or something just like it... there are tons on the market...

PLUS you should read this:

https://www.traegergrills.com/support/not-enough-smoke

The smoke taste is still there, you may just be misled because you don't SEE tons of smoke...
you can also use different pellets that are known to be stronger in smoke and flavor...

Your reaction is quite normal for guys who come from wood/charcoal smokers but the Traeger can still produce some SERIOUSLY good BBQ

You don't NEED the super smoke setting to get great smoker results...

 

[EverettSmoke]

First off, thanks for the reply and suggestions. My reply is not to be a jerk. I just wrote the original thread 10 mins ago and I'm still upset. Thanks again.

The suggestion that I augment my "Smoker" with and additional Smoker is laughable. If my car didn't work, would I buy a tow truck and tow the car around. How will that affect the temperature control? Would that void any warranty?

Yes. I have been using charcoal with large and small woods. I do understand that I do not need a cloud to attain smokiness. On the contrary, too much smoke produces an unfavorable taste. You can hype the Thin Blue as a good thing but first it has to be there.

If my turkey comes out and Rocks my guest flavor pallet. I will gladly recant and praise this Oven on this thread.

 

[RustyJake]

I sympathize with you. When I first got my Traeger I was missing that smoked flavor I got from my Kamado and even felt it lacked flavor over my Weber kettle. After a summer of using it I have come to like the Traeger and its smoked flavor imparted in foods. I just did a side by side cook with a brisket on the Kamado and the Traeger. I guess I must be fully converted, I preferred the flavor off the Traeger a bit more. My mom was never a huge fan of things I have cooked on the Kamado, but she loves things off the Traeger.
For me, I finally realize that different isn't bad after all.
Hopefully your friends and family will enjoy your meal and give you that feedback which may help you in giving the Traeger some time to adjust to its differences

 

[primeone]

Welcome to the forum @rubinjackson - Lots of Pellet Grill owners of other brands will add the smoke tube, not just Traeger.

Also, change up the brand of pellets. That can make a big difference and half the fun trying to get that perfect combination.

B&B Pellets, Lumberjack are some good brands to try. I also just ordered some Bear Mountain pellets to test soon.

Another popular smoke tube:

Amazon.com : A-MAZE-N AMNTS12PF Pellet Tube Smoker Prefilled with 100% Wood Pitmasters Choice BBQ Pellets 12 Inch : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : A-MAZE-N AMNTS12PF Pellet Tube Smoker Prefilled with 100% Wood Pitmasters Choice BBQ Pellets 12 Inch : Garden & Outdoor

www.amazon.com

 

[StillinICT]

Before I found some local, kind of, pellets, I would, and still do somewhat, start my cooks at 180 and allow for an extra hour or two. Low setting and you'll smoke the neighborhood out. Then crank it up and have a normal cook. With the app, you can adjust the heat on the fly. Heck, you can go fishing or shopping and have complete control.

Just put a 5 pound turkey breast on at 180. Normal cook time at 325 is about 2 hours. It'l smoke for an hour or so then I'll, pop a cold one open and move up the temp. Just have to decide in what sequence I'll be doing that in.

 

[EverettSmoke]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions. The Turkey and Ribs were good. The ribs had a greater smokiness than the whole turkey. I have a pretty good brine recipe so it's hard to F that up. Overall It was lacking the smokiness I am looking for. My guest liked it so that was good and the cooking was less of a task that my old Wood/Charcoal smoker or Weber Grill.
Still, I'm not feeling the love with the Pro 780, not like my old school offset firebox New Brunsworth Smoker/Grill. Maybe there's a better model for me or maybe mine is stuck on stupid. I really don't want to buy a "smoker" for my Smoker/Wood Oven and I can't toss this one and buy a new one.

 

[Slimpicker]

I owned 2 of these:

1 of these:

and 1 of these:

And now own:

So I know a little about SMOKE... Use the tips on here, especially the one where you can SMOKE your food first at temps 200 and below (180) for about an hour... then go to regular cooking... SHOP for some BOLD pellets and you will come pretty close. Add one of those pellet tubes and you might actually start to like your new "oven"

 

[GrillMeister]

If you really want to see some smoke, try setting the temp at 165 or 170 for the beginning of your cook.

I noticed that my Ironwood 885 did not smoke much either, but then one day I tried out the "Keep Warm" feature (it just sets the temp to 165) and boy did those burgers get a dose of smoke. They were already cooked, but you could still taste the smoke flavor.

Next time I do ribs, brisket, or pork butts, I'm starting out at 170 for a couple hours.

Fire it up and try it and I think you will see some smoke signals.

 

[JDMiller]

I’ve had a pro 780 for about 10 months and as.the poster above stated.... start your cooks at 165F for a time period and you will get plenty of smoke. Which the lower the temp =more smoke. Higher temp = less smoke.

If I’m doing a butt or brisket... large chunk of meat in general. I’ll set it at 165F put the meat on and leave it for a couple hours at this setting before turning it up to a higher temp. This allows for a good set of the smoke flavor. Which if I’m doing burgers, chicken or smaller cuts....i may leave it at 165F for 35-40 minutes to get a little extra smoke flavor.

Ill also add that there’s several articles and thought processes concerning thin blue smoke... which our Traegers produce. It’s really hard to screw up cooking on a Traeger. Which I came from smoking on a Masterbuilt that if your not careful... you will get the bitter effect of too much smoke.

Good luck.

 

[REDOC]

Tibmerline 850 overpriced POS also with NO customer support. Third controller and for the love of god a pellet hopper fire the other night??? Are you kidding me. I feel for yaz. You want customer support you have to come to this site. Great minds here. Yea funny I have a smoker tube but it for my GAS GRILL. Please need it for this $$$$ smoker then things are really bad.

 

[RemE]

Tibmerline 850 overpriced POS also with NO customer support. Third controller and for the love of god a pellet hopper fire the other night??? Are you kidding me. I feel for yaz. You want customer support you have to come to this site. Great minds here. Yea funny I have a smoker tube but it for my GAS GRILL. Please need it for this $$$$ smoker then things are really bad.

Man, I feel for you. My Timberline was expensive, and now that it's dialed in and with current software I could not be happier with how it performs so I know that they can work very well.

If I were you I would demand satisfaction, get to a manager at Traeger and calmly run thru the issues and demand a working solution.

 

[REDOC]

Before I found some local, kind of, pellets, I would, and still do somewhat, start my cooks at 180 and allow for an extra hour or two. Low setting and you'll smoke the neighborhood out. Then crank it up and have a normal cook. With the app, you can adjust the heat on the fly. Heck, you can go fishing or shopping and have complete control.

Just put a 5 pound turkey breast on at 180. Normal cook time at 325 is about 2 hours. It'l smoke for an hour or so then I'll, pop a cold one open and move up the temp. Just have to decide in what sequence I'll be doing that in.

Well not complete control. Had a flare up I guess was next door, "high Temp Alarm" did a restart that is the only thing that would clear it and heat the food, well next I have beautiful smoke and no heat. The smoke was coming out the hopper from burning down the auger tube. Joke.

 

[RemE]

Ranting is good, gets things off your chest, now if we can try to sort what happened it might be helpful.

If the hopper smoke occurred right after your re-start that can be explained, and could happen with any grill. I've no idea what conditions caused your over temp, and yes only a shut down is the way out. I've only had one over-temp alarm and it shutdown the grill. The only way to immediately re-start would be to clear the firepot and prime the auger until there were fresh pellets coming out.

If you un-plug / power off a pellet grill with a big fire going, it's easy for fire to go up the auger, it behaves just like a smoke tube. Powered shutdowns keep airflow thru and around the auger until the firepot is burned out, to prevent backfire up the auger tube.

Just trying to be logical and hopefully helpful,
Cheers

 

[EverettSmoke]

I owned 2 of these: View attachment 2437



1 of these: View attachment 2438


and 1 of these: View attachment 2439

And now own:

View attachment 2441

So I know a little about SMOKE... Use the tips on here, especially the one where you can SMOKE your food first at temps 200 and below (180) for about an hour... then go to regular cooking... SHOP for some BOLD pellets and you will come pretty close. Add one of those pellet tubes and you might actually start to like your new "oven"

Yup. I had the 3rd one down. I break down and buy a smoker for my oven. Thanks for the honest feed back everyone.