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HELP! Can't get temps up in Pellet Pooper

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BBQSamYesIam

Knows what a fatty is.
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I need some help! I've got a CS680 pellet pooper. I was planning on doing a brisket today, but can't seem to get the grill up to temp. The ambient air temp is pretty chilly this morning, probably around 40 degrees. Do cold outdoor temps render the poopers useless? I've got the digital control board on my country smoker, and in three start cycles I've only been able to hit a max temp of 130, and it wouldn't even hold that. I cleaned out the burn box prior to starting.
Am I going to have to beg my neighbor to let me use his BGE for my cook in cold weather? Not only is it demoralizing, but can you imagine the embarrassment?!?!?!
Thanks!
 
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I'm not an expert on the CS smokers, but that sounds like more than a weather problem to me. I can see where the weather would cause it to use more pellets to hold temp, but not keep it from getting to temp at all. You could try putting a blanket over it to see what happens. If it does get to temp with the blanket just make sure that the blanket doesn't start on fire! A welding blanket would be best.
 
I agree with Ron. 40 degrees isn't cold enough to keep any pellet grill at 130. Something else is wrong. Are new pellets making it into the fire box?
 
Life is good again. Not exactly sure what was going on, but I started over from scratch, including doing a full cleaning. Grill is now performing as expected and brisket is on board!
 
Plug it in? I thought that plug was for a rotisserie or something! HAHA! Here are some preliminary pics.....I've never posted pics before, so be patient!!

Here's what I've got to work with....using the CS680 on the right today
BBQs.jpg


And here's the brisket after hour 1
Brisket1.jpg
 
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Curious why you raised a grate like that for the brisket?

Ron
 
rcubed3r said:
Curious why you raised a grate like that for the brisket?

Ron
Click to expand...


On previous brisket cooks, I was noticing that the bottom of the brisket was getting "a little crunchy"! On the left side of the grill, the normal grate is pretty close to the heat shield just below it. So, I thought I would try a raised grate to put some more air between the heat shield and the meat. We'll see if it makes a difference.
 
I don't know how you're getting the ash out of the firepot, but I suspect that your problem was ash build up blocking air flow. Or, funky pellets. I had a fire problem at the contest in Kennedale last month. Fire just wouldn't burn clean. Ended up putting the fire out and cleaning it hot before cooking chicken. It worked, but I won't use mesquite in my mix anymore!
 
Glad u gotter figured out! I use my traeger in sub-zero temps and it will only hit 170'ish unless I put a large, thick bath towel over it, then it pops up into the 200's.

I've got a buddy in Plano, should I have him stop by to taste test for me?? =)

Also curious why you insert you thermo probe vertically and not horizontally? I always push mine through into the thicker part from the end...

Canday Sue, what do you run in your pellet pooper? I find that unless I run mesq in my lil tex, I can hardly even tell it was smoked! In contrast, when cookin on charcoal, I usually use a mix of apple, alder & a bit of hickory and that smokey flavor is WAY stronger than the maesq in the pellet... even on chicken, even the color is way different! Of the other woods I have tried (all traeger brand) the only other one that makes a difference is the cherry, and I HATE that flavor!! regular cherry is good, pellet cherry tates like chit to me!
Just curious what everyone else is rockin in their pellet cookers...
 
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I use Chris's mix from cookinpellets.com. I love the taste of those pellets compared to the traeger brand.
 
Well, I went out to the warehouse and made my own blend with some cherry, pecan, sugar maple and mesquite all out of broken bags in one of Chris' jugs. Only pellets that I know of which will drop temps on any cooker are our apple blend. They tend to cook 10-15 degrees cooler (course with the fancy controllers, that just means they'll burn more pellets to keep the temp up). Working at a pellet plant has some advantages...I'll not hi-jack the thread any more than this!
 
Candy Sue said:
I don't know how you're getting the ash out of the firepot, but I suspect that your problem was ash build up blocking air flow. Or, funky pellets. I had a fire problem at the contest in Kennedale last month. Fire just wouldn't burn clean. Ended up putting the fire out and cleaning it hot before cooking chicken. It worked, but I won't use mesquite in my mix anymore!
Click to expand...
It's a drag You don't want to use mesquite pellets. If I had to stop using mesquite pellets I'd just get a WSM. Gotta have that mesquite taste.
 
MillerTime said:
I use Chris's mix from cookinpellets.com. I love the taste of those pellets compared to the traeger brand.
Click to expand...


For long cooks like brisket, I use Chris' mix for the first couple of hours and then go with oak pellets for the balance. Chris' are great for the initial flavoring, and at about $5/40lb for the oak, I think that they do the trick well for the rest of the cook.

By the way, here was a pic at about the six hour mark......sorry it's so dark!
IMG00008-20091205-2006.jpg
 
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