Flyfish222
New member
Just wanted to provide an update to this. I would really be interested if there are any other Silverton owners that are having the same issues. Mine continue, even with the new pellets I ordered.
Got the Bear Mountain Mesquite pellets last week and wanted to try them out. I tried them with two fairly large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and some boneless, skinless thighs. I also decided I should check my pit temp with my probe to check the accuracy of the display. I have been doing quite a bit of research, and found many people had this issue. So, 1 probe in each chicken breast, and 1 laying on the grill between the two. I didn't put one in the thighs because they are skinny, you can tell when they are done, and it's OK to go over on those a bit, IMO.
Started at 165 for 1 hour to see if I could get some smoke on the chicken. My traeger wouldn't get below 200 on the display, and I also noticed that the probe was reading 10 - 15 degrees lower.
I then turned it up to 350 to finish the chicken. I noticed my probe was reading at 316, about 35 degrees lower.
I wanted to be cooking at 350, so I turned the traeger up to 400 to see if that would raise it enough...that got it there.
I had the probes set to 162, expecting the chicken would raise to temp when I took it off the grill. Then I started thinking, man it sure is taking a long time to cook these things and raise the chicken temp, I don't think it's going to cook much more after removing it. I was right, ended up pulling at 165, and they didn't raise a degree above that.
Now to the chicken. Very little smoke flavor. Maybe a tiny bit more than with the other pellets I have used. Chicken was good, nice and moist, cooked perfectly, but very little smoke flavor. It smells good, like there is going to be some awesome flavor when you take a bite, but then nothing.
Fast forward to tonight. The Lumber Jack Charcoal/Hickory pellets arrived a few days ago, and based on the comments I had received, that maybe I was missing the charcoal flavor, I really wanted to try them. So, I decided on a beer can chicken, and a reverse seared Ribeye.
I meant to take some pictures, but failed to do so as I was doing other things while the food was cooking. Set the traeger to 165 with the Mesquite pellets, and filled my smoker tube with the charcoal/hickory pellets. Traeger hovered at 198, and my probe read 176. "Smoked" the beer can chicken for 1.5 hours, and the steak for 1 hour. Removed the steak, and cranked the traeger up to 375 to finish the chicken. I finished the steak on my Weber propane at 500 when the chicken hit 155.
Steak was delicious, but not as smoky as I was hoping for. There was a little more smoke flavor, than I had been able to achieve previously. I liked it quite a bit, but I still would like to be able to add more smoke, which is discouraging. I had a smoker tube with the "smokiest" pellets, and the firepot with some "smokier" pellets, and that was all I could achieve?!
On to the beer can chicken. Smelled delicious. The smoker tube went through the whole cook (even had a little left after I took the chicken off). Cut into the chicken and it was cooked perfectly. No smoke flavor. The only part of the chicken that had smoke was the skin, which was delicious. But, you can't just eat chicken skin...well you can but...anyways, it just seems like the smoke is really not penetrating into the meat. Wife loved it because "I don't eat the skin anyways and it tastes like a perfectly cooked oven chicken".
I am at a loss, and super bummed. After doing quite a bit of research on here, it seems like guys are able to get a decent amount of smoke on things with the "less smoky" (fruit) pellets. Makes me want to take this thing to the dump and go back to my $65 dollar stack smoker.
I should also add, I don't think it was the charcoal flavor I am missing. The skin tasted great, I liked the flavor, but I liked the flavor on the skin of other stuff that I have done just as well. It's just not getting into the meat.
Got the Bear Mountain Mesquite pellets last week and wanted to try them out. I tried them with two fairly large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and some boneless, skinless thighs. I also decided I should check my pit temp with my probe to check the accuracy of the display. I have been doing quite a bit of research, and found many people had this issue. So, 1 probe in each chicken breast, and 1 laying on the grill between the two. I didn't put one in the thighs because they are skinny, you can tell when they are done, and it's OK to go over on those a bit, IMO.
Started at 165 for 1 hour to see if I could get some smoke on the chicken. My traeger wouldn't get below 200 on the display, and I also noticed that the probe was reading 10 - 15 degrees lower.
I then turned it up to 350 to finish the chicken. I noticed my probe was reading at 316, about 35 degrees lower.
I wanted to be cooking at 350, so I turned the traeger up to 400 to see if that would raise it enough...that got it there.
I had the probes set to 162, expecting the chicken would raise to temp when I took it off the grill. Then I started thinking, man it sure is taking a long time to cook these things and raise the chicken temp, I don't think it's going to cook much more after removing it. I was right, ended up pulling at 165, and they didn't raise a degree above that.
Now to the chicken. Very little smoke flavor. Maybe a tiny bit more than with the other pellets I have used. Chicken was good, nice and moist, cooked perfectly, but very little smoke flavor. It smells good, like there is going to be some awesome flavor when you take a bite, but then nothing.
Fast forward to tonight. The Lumber Jack Charcoal/Hickory pellets arrived a few days ago, and based on the comments I had received, that maybe I was missing the charcoal flavor, I really wanted to try them. So, I decided on a beer can chicken, and a reverse seared Ribeye.
I meant to take some pictures, but failed to do so as I was doing other things while the food was cooking. Set the traeger to 165 with the Mesquite pellets, and filled my smoker tube with the charcoal/hickory pellets. Traeger hovered at 198, and my probe read 176. "Smoked" the beer can chicken for 1.5 hours, and the steak for 1 hour. Removed the steak, and cranked the traeger up to 375 to finish the chicken. I finished the steak on my Weber propane at 500 when the chicken hit 155.
Steak was delicious, but not as smoky as I was hoping for. There was a little more smoke flavor, than I had been able to achieve previously. I liked it quite a bit, but I still would like to be able to add more smoke, which is discouraging. I had a smoker tube with the "smokiest" pellets, and the firepot with some "smokier" pellets, and that was all I could achieve?!
On to the beer can chicken. Smelled delicious. The smoker tube went through the whole cook (even had a little left after I took the chicken off). Cut into the chicken and it was cooked perfectly. No smoke flavor. The only part of the chicken that had smoke was the skin, which was delicious. But, you can't just eat chicken skin...well you can but...anyways, it just seems like the smoke is really not penetrating into the meat. Wife loved it because "I don't eat the skin anyways and it tastes like a perfectly cooked oven chicken".
I am at a loss, and super bummed. After doing quite a bit of research on here, it seems like guys are able to get a decent amount of smoke on things with the "less smoky" (fruit) pellets. Makes me want to take this thing to the dump and go back to my $65 dollar stack smoker.
I should also add, I don't think it was the charcoal flavor I am missing. The skin tasted great, I liked the flavor, but I liked the flavor on the skin of other stuff that I have done just as well. It's just not getting into the meat.
