What's in your smoker?

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by cort

Did you hang it or grate it? Pics?

I cooked it on the grate.
Sorry, no pics.

[Chainsaw13]

Both the flat/point of a corned beef brisket that'll be used for sliders tomorrow. Using some whiskey oak pucks for my Bradley.

[E.J.]

Carne Asada and Pollo Asado tacos. Add in some homemade Pico and a few cervezas and I’m all smiles on my 5th of May.

[E.J.]

My son just bought a house and didn’t have a grill, so I gave him my little Traeger and picked up a Yoder YS640.

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by E.J.

My son just bought a house and didn’t have a grill, so I gave him my little Traeger and picked up a Yoder YS640.

[CigarNut]

This might be of interest...

Reynolds Wrap Will Pay You $10,000 to Travel the U.S. and Eat Barbecue...

[T.G]

Four racks of spares for a private thing at a friend's brewery yesterday evening. As pork ribs go, these racks were big, 13 or 14 bone and over 5 lbs each (that's a full size chafer tray in the second photo - the ends were only about 2 inches from the coals during the cook) That and a half-chafer of hog apple beans w/ extra bacon on the side and there were a lot of happy people... (although that could have been the free beer)

[E.J.]

^^^Looks tasty!

[E.J.]

Have a pork butt in brine for the last 5 hours, will pull it around 9:00 AM and throw it on the Yoder. Assume around 5:00 PM, going to have some pulled pork sandwiches. My better half is making coleslaw.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by E.J.

Have a pork butt in brine for the last 5 hours, will pull it around 9:00 AM and throw it on the Yoder. Assume around 5:00 PM, going to have some pulled pork sandwiches. My better half is making coleslaw.

Have you noticed any difference in cooking or relative performance with the short throw auger pits vs the long throw? Yeah, comparing a Traeger to a Yoder is like going from a Mustang to a Braubus, but I'm asking more about he technique and style than the cooked itself.

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by T.G

Have you noticed any difference in cooking or relative performance with the short throw auger pits vs the long throw? Yeah, comparing a Traeger to a Yoder is like going from a Mustang to a Braubus, but I'm asking more about he technique and style than the cooked itself.

Adam, can you enlighten me on the cooking benefits of a short throw?
My understanding is that the short throw is to alleviate jams inside the auger tube.
My new Memphis Elite has a short throw, and vastly outperforms my old Traeger, but I just assumed that was based on build quality and the far superior ITC temperature control.
Curious to learn more.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by T.G

Have you noticed any difference in cooking or relative performance with the short throw auger pits vs the long throw? Yeah, comparing a Traeger to a Yoder is like going from a Mustang to a Braubus, but I'm asking more about he technique and style than the cooked itself.

I’m not even sure what that means (short throw vs long throw) ? I’m a novice at best with this stuff.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

Adam, can you enlighten me on the cooking benefits of a short throw?
My understanding is that the short throw is to alleviate jams inside the auger tube.
My new Memphis Elite has a short throw, and vastly outperforms my old Traeger, but I just assumed that was based on build quality and the far superior ITC temperature control.
Curious to learn more.

Originally Posted by E.J.

I’m not even sure what that means (short throw vs long throw) ? I’m a novice at best with this stuff.

E.J. - it's just the length of the tube. The Traeger has the firepot in the center and the Yoder has it on the left side. The term is very literal. One has a long auger one has a short auger for feeding pellets.

I probably should have asked the question differently and that is if there is any difference that you noticed in having the firepot on the side rather than centered.

Dom, you're probably right, it's just better build and better controllers. Where I live it's dry and I've never had a jam, but if that's all that short throw gets you, then it's a non issue to me. I have had a burn back or two partially through the auger on mine, but I think that is a problem with shutdown programming or components.

The reason I'm asking about the short throws is that I'm debating about picking up a Louisiana Grills LG-700 that is 50% off on clearance at a local store. I just replaced the fan, auger motor and ignitor on my camp chef, but the controller is acting odd at times. I suppose I could get a new controller, but for $150 more, I can just get a second grill.

Like I need another smoker...

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by T.G

Like I need another smoker...

Yes, yes you do!

The rephrasing of the question is definitely clearer.
My Memphis has the firepot in the center, so I can't comment on any difference in the locations.
However, my guess is that the location of the pot shouldn't matter based on the fans for convection cooking that all pellet grills (that I know of) use.
I would guess that any uneven cooking on a pellet grill is from heat escaping, not where it is being generated.
Of course, I have no evidence or science to back this up. But what good is talking BBQ if you cant bull$hit a little?
The lid on the Memphis is gasketed, so it cooks like a true convection oven.
With the firebox in the center, the short throw is made possible by dropping pellets onto a ramp and having them slide down into the firepot.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by T.G

I probably should have asked the question differently and that is if there is any difference that you noticed in having the firepot on the side rather than centered.

Actually, fire pot on my Traeger was on far left as well.

Biggest different is temp control. Can cook lower, far hotter and holds temps like a rock. It’s just a far better unit, but honestly, it should be for the cost difference.

The single thing that is worse(if you can call it that), I have to vacuum out the fire box ever other cook and every cook if I go long, like Saturday. If I don’t, there is too much ash buildup and the pellets won’t start.

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by E.J.

Actually, fire pot on my Traeger was on far left as well.

Biggest different is temp control. Can cook lower, far hotter and holds temps like a rock. It’s just a far better unit, but honestly, it should be for the cost difference.

The single thing that is worse(if you can call it that), I have to vacuum out the fire box ever other cook and every cook if I go long, like Saturday. If I don’t, there is too much ash buildup and the pellets won’t start.

I'm curious, what brand of pellets are you using?
I usually had to vacuum out the traeger after about 5 cooks. The Memphis is even less, since it holds temp better I'm burning less pellets.

[E.J.]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

I'm curious, what brand of pellets are you using?
I usually had to vacuum out the traeger after about 5 cooks. The Memphis is even less, since it holds temp better I'm burning less pellets.

With the Traeger I always used Traeger pellets. Usually Traeger Gourmet blend from Costco or Pecan.

With the Yoder, I have only used BBQ Delight, which was recommended by the place I bought my grill(they also sell Traeger).

[E.J.]

What pellets are you using, Dom?

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by E.J.

What pellets are you using, Dom?

I've used BBQr's delight for about the last three years.
This season I've been burning Memphis and Traeger pellets.
I was curios if your pellets were causing the ash issue, but I never experienced that issue with the BBQr's delight pellets, so that must not be it.
The fan from my Traeger used to blow some the ash out of the pot as it cooked.
If you opened the lid in the right light you could see all the ash particles swirling around the cook chamber.
Maybe the fan in the Yoder is designed to keep more ash in the pot and less in the cook chamber?
Just brainstorming here.

[T.G]

I've been 'round and 'round and 'round again on the pellet brands and manufacture.

What I've found is that Traeger is meh. They use 70% alder and 30% of what the bag says it is. Unless it's mesquite or hickory. Then it's 100% and 0% but they use flavor oils. Alder has one of the lowest BTU/weight rating (how much heat it can produce per given weight), so in order for alder to get to and maintain temperature "X", you will need to burn more alder than other woods.

More wood burned = more ash.

A few companies use less, but most other companies use more or even 100% of what it says on the label. With most woods having a higher potential stored energy than alder,
anything all hardwood will produce less ash.

Take BBQ'er Delight or LumberJack. A hickory pellet is a hickory pellet. Hickory is about 24 million BTU/cord. Alder, ehh, around 14 million. That's like 45% more for hickory. Oak is 22M, Beech is 23M, apple is 21.5M, even cherry is 19M. Alder is 14M, even pine has more stored energy than that, in fact, when I look at the chart, nothing around alder is anything I would want to eat off of.

So, better, more honest fuel, = less needed = less ash.

Of course there is a combustion quality factor and what part of the tree the pellet was made from. Is it sawdust and bark? This means lower BTU. Or is it a whole tree shoved into a chipper? In which case it's about what you see on the chart.

Sample chart
https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm


Firepot efficiency and airflow make a difference too. I strongly suspect that, based on the near identical sizes and hole patterns, my Camp Chef, Dom's old Traeger, Green Mountain Grills, Pit Boss, Char Griller, even Rec-Tec and a few others are all buying fire pots from the same factory in China.

Back to pellets.... I use LumberJack. They cut me a break on pricing when I buy a ton and split it up. I've talked to the owners, they are very open. The pellets are hardwood, what it says on the tag. Whole trees. I've gotten friends hooked on their pellets and the first comment is always "The flavor was so much better" followed by "I was burning Traeger pellets, there is so much less ash now" OR "My grill gets to over 500F now. It never could before..."

I've used BBQ'rs Delight, Cookin' Pellets, Vintners Pellets (don't think these are made anymore - they were 100% old wine grape vines - amazing flavor) and one or two other 100% hardwood pellets. Aside from the unique offering of Vintners, they were all about the same quality. Pick a brand that offers you the flavor you want. I might be buying someone else if anyone could beat Seth's pricing on 2000# (50 bag) orders.

Traeger, Camp Chef, Luv, Char-Griller, all the blended less-than-truthful box store pellets... meh. Yeah, they work, but less flavor.

Never tried or researched Memphis - so no comment.