Questions re getting a pellet grill.

[bosco]

@keeperovdeflame A few things about your burn in.  When I did my burn in they recommended 500° for 30 minutes.  Is this 350° in their literature now? 
 

did you wipe the grill down after the first burn?

 

Now for the cook part.  Did you put the chicken on and bring to 400° or did you put the chicken on after 400°? I ask because much like your clean smoke from your Kamado, a traeger is very much the same.  Anything over 350 burns very clean with very little smoke.  Using the pellets that you used are mild and I’m a bit surprised to hear that it was too Smokey for you. 
 

A different flavour profile will come out 100%.  But you should be tasting a cleaner flavour overall.  Charcoal tends to dominate all foods for me now when I have it.  Doesn’t matter what temp I cook with it.  

lastly do you foil wrap your deflector? I find creosote will build up quickly on the deflector so I always keep mine wrapped to avoid that taste from getting into the food 

 

[keeperovdeflame]

On the burn The manual says to start at 350 for 20 minutes and then go 500 for30 minutes. I think I stayed at 400 425 for about 45 minutes to an hour. I put the chicken in following the burn in. So I did not wipe down the grill. maybe that was a mistake? Also I have not wrapped the deflector plate with foil, thanks, that sounds like a good idea. I just put one of those custom size  drip pads, that came with the grill, over the deflector. I did wipe everything down, and clean the fire box and bottom of the grill, with my ash vac after my first cook. Thanks for your help. Maybe it was smokey because of the way I dd the burn in. 

[bosco]

1 minute ago, keeperovdeflame said:

On the burn The manual says to start at 350 for 20 minutes and then go 500 for30 minutes. I think I stayed at 400 425 for about 45 minutes to an hour. I put the chicken in following the burn in. So I did not wipe down the grill. maybe that was a mistake? Also I have not wrapped the deflector plate with foil, thanks, that sounds like a good idea. I just put one of those custom size  drip pads, that came with the grill, over the deflector. I did wipe everything down, and clean the fire box and bottom of the grill, with my ash vac after my first cook. Thanks for your help. Maybe it was smokey because of the way I dd the burn in. 

the manual use to recommend a full wet cloth wipe down after burn in.  There is a ton of oil that gets burnt off and it leaves a dry residue that will likely blow around.  
 

The drip liners are ok but personally I find that the edge on them prevents the grease from flowing into the grease trap.  Foil is clean and works great.  
 

next cook to avoid any smoke flavour preheat grill to 375-400 and put the meat in.  You likely tasted the burnt off oil profile in the meat. Almost like a creosote flavour in the meat.  
 

I can honestly say that I have never had better chicken since getting into the traeger.  

[keeperovdeflame]

 The manual I got with my 850 says  after the burn  "when you press and hold the standby button for 3 seconds you start the shutdown cycle and when the shut down cycle has finished, the seasoning of your grill is complete". It doesn't mention a wipe down, but as you describe what happens during the burn, a wipe down seems to be a sensible step. When I used the ash vac on my grill following the cook there was a lot of micro dust ash all over the floor and side walls of the grill. Do you completely wrap the deflector plate top and bottom, or just the top?

[retfr8flyr]

I also use foil on the plate and I just put a sheet covering the top of the plate. I tried the pieces from Traeger when I first got my 1300 and like Bosco, I felt they kept the grease fro draining properly. I have used aluminum foil every since without any problems. I think he nailed your too smokey problem. I love poultry on my 1300 and I don't do it any other way now, I even do Turkey on my 1300 now and it comes out great.

[freddyjbbq]

 

4 hours ago, bosco said:

the manual use to recommend a full wet cloth wipe down after burn in.  There is a ton of oil that gets burnt off and it leaves a dry residue that will likely blow around.  
 

The drip liners are ok but personally I find that the edge on them prevents the grease from flowing into the grease trap.  Foil is clean and works great.  
 

next cook to avoid any smoke flavour preheat grill to 375-400 and put the meat in.  You likely tasted the burnt off oil profile in the meat. Almost like a creosote flavour in the meat.  
 

I can honestly say that I have never had better chicken since getting into the traeger.  

 

Do you still have the Komodo?  those are pretty good, right?

[John Setzler]

 

I have sorta always been on the fence about foiling the heat shield.  I have kept this one foiled the whole time I have had it.  The only advantage I can see in regards to foiling this is that it will keep crud from building up on it.  That has its advantages in the fact that you won't be creating smoke in your cooks from decayed and rancid fat/grease that has collected on the heat shield.  

 

 

I had mine apart today to do a deep cleaning.  I do this after about every other cook.  I have had this grill for about two years now.  Zero failures.  Zero issues of any kind.  No auger jams.  No failures.  

 

 

I have kept a cover on it but I moved it back under my awning today instead of having it on the deck.  I have been doing some space shuffling... the party deck is getting crowded.

 

[pmillen]

11 hours ago, keeperovdeflame said:

When I used the ash vac on my grill following the cook there was a lot of micro dust ash all over the floor and side walls of the grill.

 

This, I believe, is the greatest downside to pellet grills (I still cook on my PG500 that I've had since 2012).

 

You may want to read this post that generated a bit of discussion–