Lazy Q'er

[bigal]

I have a lot of meat I need to smoke, new digital thermo on Traeger, and I'm lazy. Today I did a tri-tip(eaten and was awsome), and a brisket for the first time with dig. therm. All I did on both was pull out of plastic(from packer), slap it on the smoker and throw some rub on it.

Tri-tip was fantastic, family fav.

Brisket is resting and has 22min left before I cut it up.........for dessert(my kind of dessert after tri-tip)

Temp on this Traeger w/P.O.S. dig. therm ranged from 170-250*. NOT HAPPY WITH THIS AT ALL. You'd think they'd never looked at a forum to find the "perfect" temp to smoke at. We'll see if it makes much of a difference. I didn't have an alum pan to put brisket in and foil "leaked" out some very valuable juice, but there is some au jus waiting to go over the top to keep moist(if needed, and prob. will). I tried out the fat cap on bottom since the heat comes from bottom and not a SFB. I hope to have pics of the brisket, tri-tip is history.

If Kansas St. U. wins tonight and mama is running around the house naked, then I will have no pics(will be chasing mama). Plan on see'n some pics.

CU later, wish me luck. :^)

 

[Dutch]

BigAl, hope the new digital thermo works out for you. And I hope that Kansas St. U looses big time- I wanna see pics of the brisket!! 8)

 

[bigal]

Here is a try at pics

 

[bigal]

Strike one! here we go with some pics. I messed them up resizing them, but you probably wanted to see alot of the bar/island top anyway. :)
One was two big, I'll get this figured out some day.

 

[bigal]

Found my way back. It was smoked yesterday, pics are my breakfast/sample for wifes g-parents. I wanted to make sure it was good for them.

It was a 10# packer, smoked for 8hrs 10min to internal of 203*. Went too quick, not as tender as before I added this dig. thermostat. Don't like the dig.therm much at all. Too wide of a range of temps, I want 225 range w/in 20*.......not happening. It really has changed the whole thing, now I'm back to sq. 1.

Brisket was tender, but not 205* tender. I could slice it 1/4" thick pretty easy. It was moist and had a good flavor(mesquite).

I gotta say the tri-tip will be smoked much more often than brisket now. Everybody really liked the tri-tip, its easier too.

 

[msmith]

Al that brisket looked pretty darn good, very nice smoke ring. Could have just been the cut of meat if it was a little tough.

 

[cajunsmoker]

Not sure if I understand, does the digital therm turn the smoker temp up or down, or does it just tell you the temp you are at? If it regulates the temp for you, can't you set a certain point in the given range for it to hold the temp? If not I agree with your "POS" statement!!!

 

[bigal]

The digital thermostat(not thermometer) has settings, smoke(auger runs for x amount of time then off y amount of time) then the other settings are 180*, 227.5, 275 and up to 450. I set it on 227.5 and the range is crazy. I just checked it and it is now 260* and its 35* outside(doing a ham right now). Maybe I am too picky, but 20*+/- should be max.

I like the ease of the traeger & the taste, but I'm considering buy'n a chargriller w/sfb and give that a try. Only problem is that I'm limited by the wood I can use(no trees in w. ks). Have to buy the wood from groc. store unless I go out of town and buy some.

Don't get me wrong, the traeger puts out a great product. But for the price they want for one, it should be better.

Keep in mind that I am also a farmer, I'll complain no matter what. :)

 

[cajunsmoker]

Well I'm not a farmer and I would be complaining too. 30* over then 30* under would not be acceptable in my book. I've seen the price for those units and they would have to do better than that.:evil: