Smoke? Barbecue? Grill?

[doogster]

Okay so I got a Traeger delivered the end of last year, going to put it into action this spring. It's a basic unit with the 3 speed control. The speeds are smoke, medium and high. This roughly translates to smoke, barbecue and grill. What does this actually mean in real terms? Is smoke just producing smoke, like for smoking cheese? Where do I set it to do ribs, or a brisket?

[SmokinQ]

I do not have first hand experience with a Treager but I can tell you that the smoke setting is not just a smoke setting for something like cheese. From what I understand in my research for when I purchased a pellet grill is that the smoke setting will produce heat around 180-200. I can not remember what med. and high will get you.

What I would suggest is the you get a couple of oven thermometers and do some experiments. Put the gauges in and run for a while on low and and note the temperature. raise up to med and high and repeat. Make sure you note the ambient conditions. I would keep a log every time you cook as the unit you have only has three settings and your cooking temperatures and cook times can very significantly depending on the ambient conditions. For sure your cook times will be longer in a cool breezy spring day compared to a hot, muggy August afternoon.

[doogster]

Thanks for the reply mate, IIRC from what I've read smoke is about 200, medium 300 and high 400. Man I need a recipe book, I will keep a log, I got a dual probe Maverick Thermometer on sale from Amazon, with the remote readout.

[dogthebear]

Keep your eyes open for the digital thermostat for the Lil Tex on E-Bay

My buddy picked one up for $80.00

[doogster]

Thanks for the advice mate, I did just that and snagged one for $86. I figured I might as well get it now since the grill is still in the box and just put it together with the thermostat rather than the speed controller right from the get go.

I got the Traeger last fall for a great deal, 400 bones with free shipping, free pellets and a free cover. So I got it even though I couldn't use it until this year, year end sales can be great. I've seen the junior on Ebay for the same price with free shipping, some pellets, but not the cover, and it's a nice cover. I've checked it out, it's the real Traeger cover.