Traeger owners: likes, dislikes

[Professor Salt]

I roasted a tri tip tonight. I thought I'd start @ 325F and then bring it up to High toward the end. It felt like it took longer than I'd usually spend on my Weber 22" kettle.

My usual technique on the kettle is to get a full chimney blazing and pile it all to one half of the kettle. I'll start the meat on the indirect side. 10 minutes, then flip, and 10 more minutes indirect. Then I'll flip and move to the direct coal side. 5 minutes to char a little, flip and 5 minutes on the other side.

Anyway, this first Traeger session took a little longer than usual I guess because it's more of a convection oven type of heat rather than the blazing coals type of heat that I'd get from the kettle. Not that one is better or worse, just different. Having fun learning new equipment.

 

[imfree2q]

I like my Traeger for a butt or two.. Can sleep through the night with no worrys.. But I like my stick burner better.

 

[beerguy]

Professor, I've had my Traeger since March and I can truely say the smoke flavor is great, but indeed lighter than what i experience on my WSM. My bride doesn't like the smoke flavor from the WSM or weber kettle, but likes the way the Traeger just flavors everything, especially salmon and tuna. My only concern is the availability of pellets and their cost. Im like Kickass, most of my wood is free, and charcoal is only about 1/3 of the cost of pellets. I usually mix cherry and hickory pellets for heavy meats, butts and briskets. I use alder for chicken and seafood. Havent tried pecan yet, but thaats because i havent found a local source that carrys pecan. I refuse to pay shipping on 20 lb bags that double the cost. BBQ delight is cheaper, but the shipping will kill the deal. I saw where Poohbah ordered several hundred pounds on a order and it worked out, especially if you can share with other users. I would guess that in your location pellets would be readily available. Around central Va, Ace hardware is the major supplier, but by now the snow blowers and winter gear has replaced the grills and such till spring. most stores only carry about 10 bags inventory here all year.

I have the BBQ100 with the digital controller. i fixed a pizza on it last night and got the temp to 420 in about 15 mins. Pizza was great, and when I finished eating, the smoker was cooled, and I rolled it back inside the garage. NO CLEANUP! A definite plus.

 

[grossepellets]

what is a stick burner?

 

[Brooks BBQ]

I've been using a small-mid-sized Traeger for about 1.5 yrs now.
Been using it exclusively.

It's just too easy to use. I used a Coleman bullet-style cooker for a couple of yrs. On the Coleman charcoal starting took about an hour, temp regulating and water pan refilling were minor chores.

Traeger will fire in less than 5 minutes and you can be slow cooking in 15. I suppose if you waited for it to get to temp it might run 20 or 30 mins.

I agree that the smoke flavor is milder, but it suites me. I think most of my best cooks have come from the T.

I think that in the first 2 months I had used the Traeger more times than the Coleman.

Good machine, convenient.

 

[leanza]

what is a stick burner?

A flavor enhancer.

 

[SkySaw]

If I can't cook, grill or smoke it on a kettle or a stick burner then it doesn't need to be cooked, grilled or smoked - but that is my very narrow opinion.

Fact remains though: I challenge anyone to show me something they can do on a traeger or a BGE i can't do (as good or better) with my modest , albeit, old fashioned equipment.

I know what you mean - it's the cook, not the cooker. However, while it's possible to cook just about anything on a kettle or a stick burner, it is not always the best tool. So, I would accept your challenge for the following circumstances:

1) Pizza. A pizza oven that cooks the kind of pizza you get from your favourite joint cooks the pie using an oven that puts a lot of radiant heat on the top of the pie as well as the bottom. Those ovens are also anywhere from 575 degrees to 650 degrees depending on how much pizza is going out the door. A ceramic cooker will easily get to that temp range, and the ceramic holds a lot of heat, to give that radiant heat. This cooks the top ingredients, without making the pie spend too much time on the hot pizza stone to burn the crust. All else equal, pizza off a ceramic cooker will be vastly superior to pizza off a kettle. This becomes more true as you get to those fancy thin crust pizzas that cook in 90 seconds.

2) Ever try cooking in really cold or windy weather? A ceramic cooker just doesn't care if it's windy. I really struggle with my Weber Kettle out at the lake when it gets very windy. When it's cold, the Egg does not care about the temperature, and will happily cook for 20 hours on a single load of lump, even when it's an ice storm.

3) Got little kids? I spend as much time being a goal-keeper around my Kettle as I do tending to the food. If the kids/dog/drunk neighbor crash into your Egg (even when your searing a steak at 700 degrees), it's not a worry. On a kettle or a stick burner, it's a hospital trip.

4) Phone rings/kids get into something that needs your attention while you are cooking. On my kettle, the chicken turns Cajun. On the Egg, hey, it's ok!

There's lots of situations under which a different tool works better. I love my Egg, but I would also like to have a stick burner, and a Traeger for that matter. I bet they are fun too.

Mark

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Ok,
I agree.

I should have mentioned it's a personal preference for me.

Traegers & BGEs have a lot of convenience factors to them, and my stick burner and my kettle both are fuel hogs, and take quite a bit of "hands-on" attention.

I however enjoy the time by the grill/smoker. I like throwing logs in the stick burner, and I enjoy "playing" with my kettle.

I spend all day/night hanging out by the grill/smoker messing with it, keeping the temps "just right", and to me that is part of the satisfaction.

I am not a "set it & forget" kind of guy. If i want to do that i will use the oven [gasp].

I don't cater, i don't cook for large groups (most of the time), I cook for myself and my small family, but mostly i cook for enjoyment.

I can say the same about my harley. I don't own it for transportation, (there are a lot better methods to use for transportation) I own it for enjoyment.

As the saying goes "it is not the destination, it is the journey" same principal applies to grilling/smoking for me - it is not the end product, it is the method of getting to the end product that is the real turn on for me.

 

[NorthwestBBQ]

Word.

 

[markbet]

Let me preface this by saying - I am not qualified to answer this question as I do not own a pellet pooper.

I challenge anyone to show me something they can do on a traeger or a BGE i can't do (as good or better) with my modest , albeit, old fashioned equipment.

:

Bring it on!! I am always up for a "Challenge"!

And besides that, I believe the person that started this thread wanted the "likes and dislikes" from "TRAEGER OWNERS". You know, someone that already OWNS one.

 

[rcubed3r]

Fact remains though: I challenge anyone to show me something they can do on a traeger or a BGE i can't do (as good or better) with my modest , albeit, old fashioned equipment.

With my Traeger and digital controller, I can cook for 24 hours or more without touching the cooker for any reason at all. I could cook for an unlimited amount of time by only adding pellets every day or so.
I don't have to worry about wind, rain or ambient temperatures.
I don't have to worry about the perfect settings on the dampers, vents, etc. when I get the Traeger going.
I always wonder about the posts that say even a Traeger is not 'set it and forget it'. Mine is.
It is easy for me, call me lazy!
I can cook during the day and still get set up a for a get together, mow the lawn, go play golf, run to the store, whatever, and not worry about my cooker 'getting away from me'.
I absolutely understand the sense of accomplishment for the stick burners, and I would like to try my luck with one at some point. As for now, I just want to turn out good food and still sleep, or do other things!

and, as for swamprb, Can't we all just get along ? :mrgreen:

 

[leanza]

With my Traeger and digital controller, I can cook for 24 hours or more without touching the cooker for any reason at all. I could cook for an unlimited amount of time by only adding pellets every day or so.
I don't have to worry about wind, rain or ambient temperatures.
I don't have to worry about the perfect settings on the dampers, vents, etc. when I get the Traeger going.
I always wonder about the posts that say even a Traeger is not 'set it and forget it'. Mine is.
It is easy for me, call me lazy!
I can cook during the day and still get set up a for a get together, mow the lawn, go play golf, run to the store, whatever, and not worry about my cooker 'getting away from me'.
I absolutely understand the sense of accomplishment for the stick burners, and I would like to try my luck with one at some point. As for now, I just want to turn out good food and still sleep, or do other things!

and, as for swamprb, Can't we all just get along ? :mrgreen:

I think that's well said.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

I am one of those old fashioned purists.

Condensed composite pellets replacing wood? Not in my book.
Ceramic faux grill/smokers replacing my trusty weber kettle? - not gonna happen

with that being said, i am very interested in other people's opinions on this subject, so i thank you for asking :mrgreen:

Me too! :twisted:

I don't think anyone is saying there is anything they can do better on a pellet grill. In my experience however, you can do it with less effort on a pellet grill. That is very important to me at this stage in my life as I'm constantly chasing my little ones around.

I can do it all with less effort in my electric oven. I could easily throw a foil pouch full of chips in there for smoke. What would be the point of that? That wouldn't be BBQ anymore. :wink:

Anyway, this first Traeger session took a little longer than usual I guess because it's more of a convection oven type of heat rather than the blazing coals type of heat that I'd get from the kettle. Not that one is better or worse, just different. Having fun learning new equipment.

Exactly. :eusa_clap

what is a stick burner?

A wood fired roasting oven.

 

[Brauma]

what is a stick burner?

A Lang

Klose

Bandera

Or any smoker that can burn real wood.

 

[Yambor44]

How does the traeger work so "hands off"? Is there something that dumps pellets in as it needs it (temp controller) for the heat as well as the smoke?

 

[SirPorkaLot]

How does the traeger work so "hands off"? Is there something that dumps pellets in as it needs it (temp controller) for the heat as well as the smoke?

Yup, a little pellet conveyor (actually a screw conveyor), that feeds the unit, based on the temperature control unit that is built-in.

 

[rcubed3r]

How does the traeger work so "hands off"? Is there something that dumps pellets in as it needs it (temp controller) for the heat as well as the smoke?

Some come standard with a lo/med/hi selector and it dumps pellets in the fire pot on a timed program.
You can also upgrade to a digital controller that has a temp probe and feeds pellets as needed to hold a user selected temp.
Pellets smoke when they smolder, just like sticks.
Ron

 

[Yambor44]

That sounds like a pretty smart way to do it to me.

 

[Savannahsmoker]

I have Traeger 070 and it works great for smoking. For grilling I use a grill. The name should be change from Traeger Grill to Traeger Smoker.

 

[MillerTime]

Me too! :twisted:



I can do it all with less effort in my electric oven. I could easily throw a foil pouch full of chips in there for smoke. What would be the point of that? That wouldn't be BBQ anymore. :wink:



Exactly. :eusa_clap



A wood fired roasting oven.

I think this comment shows how much you know about pellet grills. Laughable comparison.