First batch of the season. Almost a loss.

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Steve H

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Feb 18, 2018
11,252
12,599
Newark New York
Morning all. Started my first batch of the season this morning.
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Got her going at 6am. In the mid 40's out.

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Got some course sea salt smoking too.

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On a side note. Finally got my tractor back. Went to check everything out for the coming winter. And it threw the belt for the blower. Dealer wasn't sure why it happened. They tested everything before delivery. Come to find out. The pully on the blower got damaged somehow. Took 3 weeks to get it replaced. All good now.

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Anyway. Back on topic. Around 7:30 it started getting warmer faster than the weathermen predicted. Ambient temp getting a touch over 100 in the smoker.

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Pulled at 8:30. Cheese was starting to sweat. I usually only go to 2.5 hours anyway. The smell! Love this stuff. Now for the rest. Gonna be a long wait!
 
Nice looking cheese Steve.That's gonna taste real good. I hope we get a good base coat of snow to keep the frost line above my water line.
Point for sure

Chris
 
Cheese looks good. I really had to watch mine the other day also as the sun shining on smoker heated it up close to 80° .
Have the JD 380X with that blower. Pretty awesome units. I had to make a winterfront (front and side vents)for it as the sifting snow want's to get into engine compartment and will freeze carb up after shutting down. Not problem if kept inside heated area.
 
Nice looking cheese Steve.That's gonna taste real good. I hope we get a good base coat of snow to keep the frost line above my water line.
Point for sure

Chris
Thanks Chris! The batch of this that I made last year didn't last long.
Cheese looks good. I really had to watch mine the other day also as the sun shining on smoker heated it up close to 80° .
Have the JD 380X with that blower. Pretty awesome units. I had to make a winterfront (front and side vents)for it as the sifting snow want's to get into engine compartment and will freeze carb up after shutting down. Not problem if kept inside heated area.
Thanks! And thanks for the tip. It'll be in a unheated garage. I think I saw a kit from John Deere for this. I'll need to look for it.
 
Nice work Steve, need to do some cheese soon. What type of pellets did you use.

That JD looks like a great unit, reminds me of the Arctic Cat quad I bought last weekend for PA
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Cheese looks good. I really had to watch mine the other day also as the sun shining on smoker heated it up close to 80° .
Have the JD 380X with that blower. Pretty awesome units. I had to make a winterfront (front and side vents)for it as the sifting snow want's to get into engine compartment and will freeze carb up after shutting down. Not problem if kept inside heated area.
Thanks for jogging my memory. I meant to buy one. I just did.
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Sure glad you didn't end up having grilled cheese! Hope you don't have to use it Steve. I use a front wheel assist tractor for moving snow, got lucky last year and only moved snow for about an hour between two farms...doubt I'll be that lucky again!

Ryan
 
Sure glad you didn't end up having grilled cheese! Hope you don't have to use it Steve. I use a front wheel assist tractor for moving snow, got lucky last year and only moved snow for about an hour between two farms...doubt I'll be that lucky again!

Ryan
You can only hope Ryan!
 
More likely we bought a new snowblower for our son last year...think he used it once. But we can hope!

Ryan
Same thing with me, ordered a Dealer Ariens aand had it shipped from the dealer in Chicago to NY. I went almost 2 seasons before there was enough snow to use it...lol
 
I have a Ariens 8526. Strong blower. Used it 3 times last winter. 2 of the times was after getting dumped on by over 10 inches of snow. Didn't use at all two winters before that.
 
I have a Ariens 8526. Strong blower. Used it 3 times last winter. 2 of the times was after getting dumped on by over 10 inches of snow. Didn't use at all two winters before that.
I bought the Deluxe 28 SHO...probably overkill for most times but when you need it.....
 
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I bought the Deluxe 28 SHO...probably overkill for most times but when you need it.....
Hell of a blower there. Mine has a 8.5 HP engine. A touch smaller than yours. They are beasts. How well does the auto turn work? I wondered about that.
 
Hell of a blower there. Mine has a 8.5 HP engine. A touch smaller than yours. They are beasts. How well does the auto turn work? I wondered about that.
Once you get used to it it works great, I got it 2 years prior to Covid and am pretty sure it was about $1200 delivered then....now it would be $2k delivered.
 
I bought the Deluxe 28 SHO...probably overkill for most times but when you need it.....
Nice machine! We bought the Ariens Platinum 28 with tracks...way overkill lol! But that's the way I am, and will never say I should have bought the bigger one. I must be a big kid...kinda wanna get dumped on, I want to go play with it and see what it will do.

Ryan
 
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Nice machine! We bought the Ariens Platinum 28 with tracks...way overkill lol! But that's the way I am, and will never say I should have bought the bigger one. I must be a big kid...kinda wanna get dumped on, I want to go play with it and see what it will do.

Ryan
yeah that would be super overkill for here, but nice rig.
 
Nice machine! We bought the Ariens Platinum 28 with tracks...way overkill lol! But that's the way I am, and will never say I should have bought the bigger one. I must be a big kid...kinda wanna get dumped on, I want to go play with it and see what it will do.

Ryan
No such thing as overkill! Nice rig. But. For that cost. You'd have thought that the drift cutters would be included.
 
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