Traeger Jr Brisket

[plakers]

Long story long, father-in-law finds an open box Traeger at a garage sale.
Before my UDS build I had dreamt of a Traeger. I joked I would buy it off him for 20 bucks more then he paid.
I think he was afraid to put it together, and I found a couple of pieces missing so he sold it to me.

I told him he had one week to return the money and I would return to him the Jr. That way I'd get to try it out.

Then I found this marked down packer at WallyWorld


So I test fired the Traeger, found it to be in working order, trimmed the brisky the night before and tossed the 11 pounder, by now, onto the Jr at 5am, prior to leaving for work.

A giant leap of faith, I took off to work. Left behind instructions for wife to deal with it after she got home.


Well she found it 7.5 hours later, brisket IT at 168, so she foiled it and put it back on until IT at 195.
She then coolered it until I got home.
I cleaned up, found a coworker had stuffed a Guinness in my lunch box, and sliced the flat




Sliced great, pulled with little or no give, plated up nicely




A few things I learned.
Wife loves the Traeger("That I can do")
Best brisket(out of five) I have ever done
I don't need it in my arsenal, but I do want it
I'm splurging for the digital controller if I get to keep it

[Garrett]

Looks like she done good. Cooker and the wife.

[K-JUN]

In the infamous words of Ron Popeil "set it and forget it." Nice of the wifey to pitch in. Good luck to her dad trying to get it back now. The brisket looks great.

[plakers]

Originally Posted by K-JUN

In the infamous words of Ron Popeil "set it and forget it." Nice of the wifey to pitch in. Good luck to her dad trying to get it back now. The brisket looks great.

In laws don't have much and I've been searching for a good used gasser for them(last one deteriorated). I thought the Traeger would be great for them until I cooked burgers on them. No complaints from the crowd but every other apparatus I have would have done burgers and dogs better. As stingy as the Jr is on pellets for the "smoke" setting it devours them on the higher settings.

Either way that's my story. FIL was shocked by the price of pellets. Maybe he forgets that I usually fill his gas bottle for him.

[Johnny_Crunch]

Nice pr0n!

[Faston]

Very nice brisket, looks great!

[Pole D]

I want to hear more about this coworker that stuffs Guinness i your lunch box.

[plakers]

Originally Posted by Pole D

I want to hear more about this coworker that stuffs Guinness i your lunch box.

Our shifts complement each other, we rotate night and days, and at the end of our second day week(which falls on Friday) we often reward the other guy for putting up with all the companies BS and surviving for another day. He's a Guinness man, I usually give out some local IPA. Its really a fun tradition.

Yes we're breaking some rule somewhere but nothing gets drank on company property. That's the beauty of working for a smaller company.

[Richard_]

looks good , nice to see another Oregonian on here

[MS2SB]

Originally Posted by plakers

I'm splurging for the digital controller if I get to keep it

I highly recommend the digital controller. I put one on my lil' Tex a couple of months ago and am really happy with its performance.

[ajstrider]

I know us pellet smokers catch crap from the bbq crowd, but it is argue with the results sometimes. I have the Texas and I really enjoy burgers and dogs on it. The fat that falls off the burgers and sizzles on the grease tray leaves a very nice flavor on the burgers that I enjoy. The digital controller really amps up the use of the Traeger. I have tried one of the more expensive and better built pellet smokers, and I went back to the Traeger. I think it does a better job on the cooking.

[Richard_]

I have a UDS and use the treager exclusively , it cooks so nice and holds temp with the digi controller , so I can sleep through the night , burgers and dogs get cooked on charcoal , or in a pinch the weber gas , its so nice having options

[SteelSmokin]

I had the Treager lil tex for years loved it just gave it to my brother inlaw and bought a Green Mountain Jim Bowie love my pellet poopers!!!!!!!

[deguerre]

Originally Posted by ajstrider

I know us pellet smokers catch crap from the bbq crowd, but it is argue with the results sometimes. I have the Texas and I really enjoy burgers and dogs on it. The fat that falls off the burgers and sizzles on the grease tray leaves a very nice flavor on the burgers that I enjoy. The digital controller really amps up the use of the Traeger. I have tried one of the more expensive and better built pellet smokers, and I went back to the Traeger. I think it does a better job on the cooking.

I've never had a pellet pooper, but I would never disparage one either. I can make good Que with my kettle, I can make good que with my Cajun Bandit, I can make good Que with Redhot's Akorn and I can make good Que on my el cheapo modded GOSM. If I had a PP I'm sure I could make good Que with that too.


Question for the OP. Does that thing have an exhaust vent? Hard to tell from the pics. Nice briskie!

[jmoney7269]

Nice score! I too found my traeger @ garage sale. Paid $20 for it, cleared the pelletcrete from the auger tube, replace the hot rod and controller with spares I had, runs like a champ. My dad cooks on it like every weekend.