Time to get serious about a new smoker.

[ERCougar]

I always assumed that Lon tried to expand too fast and went under. His meat was good, but the fried cauliflower was the reason I kept going back. Does his son have it at his place?

Yeah, I think I've seen that on the menu. I'll have to try it.

That's interesting what you say about expanding too fast. I hope he's not doing the same thing. He's a good guy and makes good food.

[kccougar]

I always assumed that Lon tried to expand too fast and went under. His meat was good, but the fried cauliflower was the reason I kept going back. Does his son have it at his place?

Yes, cauliflower is still my favorite menu item at Sonny's.

[kccougar]

And for the record I've cleaned the ash out my smoker one time in the 2+ years I've owned it. I also never prime anything. I've never had a malfunction.

[ewth8tr]

Yeah, I think I've seen that on the menu. I'll have to try it.

That's interesting what you say about expanding too fast. I hope he's not doing the same thing. He's a good guy and makes good food.

His original place on canyon road was usually packed when I went in, but the one on state (I think that's where it was) wasn't very busy. Then he opened another in Spanish fork, iirc, shortly before he closed up.

[Drunk Tank]

Has anyone replaced the auger on their Traeger? Apparently I had some pellets get wet on my last smoke and then they dissolved and turned into a hard glue that has seized the auger and I can't get it all out.

Total pain in the arse to unstick an auger. Need to remove the access panel over the auger motor. Remove the motor and try to get a wrench on the end of the auger and see if you can get it to rotate. Go counter clockwise. You may be able to spin the auger out while leaving the cement pellet mix in place. If that happens, a hammer and a long screwdriver work well for chipping it out. Shouldn't have to replace the auger, just remove, clean and replace. Don't try to run the motor with the auger stuck as you can burn it out.

[TripletDaddy]

Tank, if you get a second scroll back up and see my post. Interested if you have any experience with those issues.

[mtnbiker]

Tank, if you get a second scroll back up and see my post. Interested if you have any experience with those issues.

Have you called Traeger and asked them about it? They would be the most likely to have heard of similar experiences, if any, and help you get it working to spec. I've called them before, and their customer support was pretty decent.

[TripletDaddy]

Have you called Traeger and asked them about it? They would be the most likely to have heard of similar experiences, if any, and help you get it working to spec. I've called them before, and their customer support was pretty decent.

I did once and the guys first suggestion was to buy new pellets to make sure there was enough moisture in them

You are right though, I'm going to call again this week and try to get a better response this time.

[Jeff Lebowski]

And for the record I've cleaned the ash out my smoker one time in the 2+ years I've owned it. I also never prime anything. I've never had a malfunction.

No way. Take a picture next time you clean it and post it. I would be curious to see what that looks like. I can't imagine how that keeps lighting for you.

One malfunction is too many. You ever wake up in the morning to find that your smoker went out at 2 am? No thanks.

[FMCoug]

That's great. Sounds like a fun job.

ive cooked for a couple of gatherings ranging from 45 or so to around 120. The 120 was my SILs wedding reception and I did pulled pork. Seemed like I was up all night, running around everywhere, and when it was done I was exhausted. When I hear about guys who do this for hundreds and hundreds of people, and on a regular basis, it blows my mind. But it still sounds like a fun gig!

Speaking of these large rigs, I wish utah would develop a bigger presence with KCBS. There are a lot of smokers in this state and, at the very least, a lot of hicks hayseeds rednecks beer swillers and overweight people who love to eat cue. Imagine one annual KCBS event with good prize money..host at the SL Fairgrounds or something over the course of a weekend. What a party. I would love to just walk around and ask questions all day, sampling stuff as I went.would also be fun to see the different pits people use. Heck even put together a CS comp team to try our hand at it. You live pretty close to Vegas and could get to some of these things more regularly, at least. You should take advantage of that. I know I would.

I've had the same thoughts, wondering why there isn't anything organized here in Utah. I would think you could put something together, get some sponsors, etc around the 24th of July. It's the perfect Holiday. Definitely too late this year, but it's only a matter of time before someone actually does this.

There is.

Utahbbq.org

This year's schedule:

http://www.utahbbq.org/showthread.ph...42711184066267

[kccougar]

No way. Take a picture next time you clean it and post it. I would be curious to see what that looks like. I can't imagine how that keeps lighting for you.

One malfunction is too many. You ever wake up in the morning to find that your smoker went out at 2 am? No thanks.

I'm going to clean it before I haul it home from the cabin. I'll post pics.

[Drunk Tank]

Since this has turned into a Traeger Q&A, a Q for my fellow pelletheads: a couple of months ago I had my first smoke out ...ran out of pellets and when I discovered it and replaced the hopper with more, the auger overloaded the firepot and it was instant Mordor.

i let it cool, vacuumed out the firepot, and have since been able to return to normal for the most part with a few exceptions.

one, I can't really use the smoke setting effectively. If I put something in and leave it on smoke setting for a couple of hours, that's it, I can't change the temp otherwise I get Mordor. Similarly, if I turn it to smoke to start it and then immediately crank it to my desired temp, runs fine. But if I try to crank it back down to smoke during the same cook, I get Mordor. Finally, if i try to get to 300 or above, I get Mordor. None of this was ever a problem prior to my smoke out.

second, since the smoke out, I have detected a dirty almost creosote scent and even flavor that bugs me. My wife and in laws say they can't notice but I can and it is annoying. Do I reseason the smoker? Do I clean it out? What do I do?

DDD, first the bad taste. Deep clean everything, then re-season. Thats really the only thing I can think of.

As to the other issue, it sounds like it may be temp probe related or the controller is faulty, but that is just a guess. When you say Mordor, I am assuming you had a large fire. Is that correct? Was it contained to the fire pot? How hot did it get? Any damage to the hot rod? Is the auger feeding properly? P-Setting changed at all? The smoke setting is directly controlled by the P-setting. When you are trying to cook at a certain temp, the auger should run continuously until that temp is reached (+/- 3 degrees) and then switch to smoke mode. Sounds like it may not be switching back to smoke mode. Anyways, a call to Traeger may help and maybe they will send you a new probe/controller.

As a side note, if you do need to end up replacing the controller, i'd suggest buying one from Blazin Grill Works. Since I put that controller on my FEC, and got the start up issues fixed, I have had no problems.

[FN Phat]

Lebowski and DDD stepping up their game! I am green with envy fellas. Makes my Vision Kamado seem that much more pedestrian.

[CJF]

I am smoker free now and it is killing me. I could ship the Memphis over, but finding pellets here will be next to impossible. I'm looking for anything that might work. I have thought about designing my own and having it made here as materials and labor is inexpensive. If I do go that route, I'm not sure what I should do. A barrel cooker would probably be easiest, but I have a nice budget in my contract to ship things home when we move back, so going a little crazy is also an option. Pellets are out, so what would you do?

[TripletDaddy]

I am smoker free now and it is killing me. I could ship the Memphis over, but finding pellets here will be next to impossible. I'm looking for anything that might work. I have thought about designing my own and having it made here as materials and labor is inexpensive. If I do go that route, I'm not sure what I should do. A barrel cooker would probably be easiest, but I have a nice budget in my contract to ship things home when we move back, so going a little crazy is also an option. Pellets are out, so what would you do?

just by an inexpensive WSM and have it sent over. seems like a pretty simple solution and you can find charcoal and wood there to fire it up. the WSM is only a few hundred bucks. At worst, you can sell it when you get home and make most of your money back.