Normal?


 
LMichaels

LMichaels

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
Different question set so started a diff thread
So after the initial "burn in" on the new MM grill, and first cook of a while cut up chicken, I decided to pull it apart and do a vacuum and scrape down to see how it "behaved". When I took out the diffuser plate and was vacuuming out the ashes I noticed that when I looked into the auger area the pellets right at the "mouth" of the auger were burned a bit. Is that normal after a shut down? (I did follow directions BTW) of holding the set dial until it went into shut down function (whatever that is) and did not unplug it until the fan and control panel fully shut down.
 
I don't think that is anything to worry about, Larry. I would say that Recteq recommends that you clean the firepot and "prime" with a small handful of pellets for the next cook. If you do that, I might discard the pellets that are charred.
 
Thanks all. BTW, I just got off the phone with Sam's tech support because I could not figure out how to set the grill "down" to under 200 deg for "smoking". They finally explained there is no setting for "under 200 as a number". It will simply light up the "smoke" icon on the panel and when doing so will maintain 160 to 180 deg. Sure enough I just got in from trying it and yep, it did just what they said it would
 
LMichaels said:
Different question set so started a diff thread
So after the initial "burn in" on the new MM grill, and first cook of a while cut up chicken, I decided to pull it apart and do a vacuum and scrape down to see how it "behaved". When I took out the diffuser plate and was vacuuming out the ashes I noticed that when I looked into the auger area the pellets right at the "mouth" of the auger were burned a bit. Is that normal after a shut down? (I did follow directions BTW) of holding the set dial until it went into shut down function (whatever that is) and did not unplug it until the fan and control panel fully shut down.
Click to expand...
Perfectly normal. Shutdown mode maintains air flow to keep the pellets in the auger tube from acting like a fuse. and snaking all the way to the hopper.
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
Curious what would you smoke under 200?
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I don't have a clue....................yet, but I'm likely to figure something out. heck tonight I am going to cook up catfish on it. Again, just to taste test this "grilling?" method. I'll be using very simple seasoning on it. I don't want the seasoning to get in the way of the "cook". I'll post tomorrow my results
 
when I had my pellet, I would slow smoke tri tip at 180, and put the meat into the smoker super cold right out of the garage fridge.

There wasn't anything magic about 180F, it was just the lowest smoke setting the smoker would hold without flaming out.

180 F gave the tri tip a good long time to come up to 120F internal, and then I took it to another grill to reverse sear.

180F was too low of a temp for pork because it didn't render off the fat.
 
Just FYI. The PID controllers can have a harder time maintaining a fire below 200° and that can buy you a flameout. As closely as you're monitoring your cooks you';ll notice that the pit temp is falling. Raising the set temp usually regains your fire. Also, you will probably get bigger pit temp swings when in the "smoke" setting. I would say "have fun", but it sounds like you are.
 
Yeah they have different "program" settings to adjust feed rate when in smoke mode to help maintain fire. Now I finally understand.
 
I was having trouble with temp swings and not being able to get the sub-200F smoke temps as advertised, right out of the box. I took the sensor off and cleaned it and also mounted a Smoke probe for remote monitoring...I want to see what the controller sees, not what grill temp is, although I am going to switch to the 4-probe Inkbird soon...anyway, problem solved, rock solid now. Cleaning the probe is something that needs to be done often for best performance.
 

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Actually temp swings have not been an issue. While I am not 100% certain that the indicated temp on the control panel is the actual grate level temp, it does hold rock solid. IOW if I set it to 225 deg it will reach 225 and hold + or - 5 perfectly. Might swing as wide as 10 deg but that's it. Unless I open the lid. Than of course it will swing lower than higher until it's stabilized. But, I gotta say it's a rock solid performer. Now I'm kinda sorry I didn't order 2 of them :D
 
I ran through these settings, giving 30 minutes to stabilize between changes, thinking I would need to call CS. My temps were as follows:

P2 (default) = 258F
P3 = 233F
P1 = 291F
200 = 321F
500 = 551F

I was all set to make the call when it dawned on me...what's the first thing CS is going to ask? Did you clean the probe? So I cleaned the probe, even though it looked spotless to me, and connected the second probe to verify the first.

I cooked two dinners, burgers and ribeye, prior to cleaning the sensor and my biggest critic (my wife) ate both with gusto, so that's a win for me. We did a 5.5# dry-brined beer-can chicken after I cleaned the probe and it was completely eaten within 24 hours (we had the daughter and grandson over). Can't ask for a better accolade than that.
 
DanHoo said:
when I had my pellet, I would slow smoke tri tip at 180, and put the meat into the smoker super cold right out of the garage fridge.

There wasn't anything magic about 180F, it was just the lowest smoke setting the smoker would hold without flaming out.

180 F gave the tri tip a good long time to come up to 120F internal, and then I took it to another grill to reverse sear.

180F was too low of a temp for pork because it didn't render off the fat.
Click to expand...
Same 2 grill method but with a different twist. I was never impressed by the low level of smoke flavor using my pellet pooper (an early Traeger model), so for a decent smoke presence, I'd use my Big Chief for the smoke and then finish on the Traeger. Now that I have a Kettle, it's a one grill process.
Ed P said:
I was having trouble with temp swings and not being able to get the sub-200F smoke temps as advertised, right out of the box. I took the sensor off and cleaned it and also mounted a Smoke probe for remote monitoring...I want to see what the controller sees, not what grill temp is, although I am going to switch to the 4-probe Inkbird soon...anyway, problem solved, rock solid now. Cleaning the probe is something that needs to be done often for best performance.
Click to expand...
Amen to that! If the temp sensor is dirty, it will report slowly, and the controller will respond in kind. Not a good thing for a tight rein on temperature.
 
Ed P said:
I ran through these settings, giving 30 minutes to stabilize between changes, thinking I would need to call CS. My temps were as follows:

P2 (default) = 258F
P3 = 233F
P1 = 291F
200 = 321F
500 = 551F

I was all set to make the call when it dawned on me...what's the first thing CS is going to ask? Did you clean the probe? So I cleaned the probe, even though it looked spotless to me, and connected the second probe to verify the first.

I cooked two dinners, burgers and ribeye, prior to cleaning the sensor and my biggest critic (my wife) ate both with gusto, so that's a win for me. We did a 5.5# dry-brined beer-can chicken after I cleaned the probe and it was completely eaten within 24 hours (we had the daughter and grandson over). Can't ask for a better accolade than that.
Click to expand...
So you have a Member's Mark?
 
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