How To Use Pellet Grills
Pellet grills are as simple to use as cooking on a regular propane grill. Unlike charcoal or wood fire smokers, close maintenance is not needed to keep the fire and smoke going.
Heres how to use a Traeger pellet grill:
Traeger pellet grills make smoking as easy as cooking something on a propane grill. The only difference is that smoking takes a few hours instead of a few minutes.
However, smoking can transform a thick cut of meat into a juicy, fall of the bone cut that has a crispy bark on the outside. It really does take all of the hard work out of smoking.
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Traeger Grills Vs Traeger Timeline
1935 Traeger family moves to Mt. Angel
1959 Joe Traeger goes to work for uncles company, which will become Traeger Heating
1980 Joe Traeger develops heater using wood pellets
1982 Joe Traeger purchases what would become the Traeger Barn from the Mt. Angel Abbey
1985 Joe Traeger builds first wood pellet grill after a gas grill burns the family Fourth of July chicken
1988 Traeger Grills sells first commercial wood pellet grill
2006 Joe Traeger and sons Mark, Randy and Brian Traeger sell Traeger Industries to a Florida venture capitalist for $12.4 million
2014 Traeger Grills is sold to Jeremy Andrus and private equity firm Trilantic Capital Partners
2015 Traeger Grills moves its headquarters to Utah and brings five of 140 employees
2018 Joe and Brian Traeger take jobs with rival Dansons and are used in marketing
Traeger Grills sues Joe and Brian Traeger and Dansons over the use of their images
Other business news:
Everything You Need To Know About Z Grills
Z Grills was only established recently in 2017. However, because of the companys massive successful campaigning, they were able to earn a place in the market pretty quickly.
Despite being a recently established company, Z Grills has successfully competed with its rival companies in the market, as their designs are both durable and accommodating.
This is also because the founders of the company have been the brain behind the designs for many bigger companies for grills, before entering the competition independently.
From the very start, the brand has focused on making grills and smokers that are budget-friendly yet provide you all the benefits of a good smoker. So far, they have kept their promise and not forgotten their goal.
The company is based in the US, and even has a warehouse in California. But they manufacture their products in China.
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How Does A Pellet Smoker Work
The storage container is filled with small hardwood pellets, which are the heat source. Then, an auger motor feeds the small pellets into the cooking chamber, where they burn to cook the food and create smoke.
This process is called combustion and what happens is that the pellets burn at the bottom of the cooking chamber as theyre ignited by air. Special intake fans bring the air inside to aid the pellet-burning process.
The heat and smoke are then evenly dispersed, and meat is cooked perfectly!
When you want to start smoking or grilling, you set the temperature on the digital panel.
The motor then adjusts how much air goes in to control the temperature inside the cooking chamber. Thats done by controlling the number of pellets going in and how fast or slow they burn.
How Does A Traeger Grill Work
Traeger pellet grills use a hopper that stores pellets and an auger to draw pellets into a burn box where the fuel is ignited. This provides the means to control how much fuel is fed in at a time and easily control temperatures. One key to using a Traeger is that you must have a power source.
Even the smallest smoker from Traeger requires electricity to ignite and control the flame. A fan forces smoke and heated air to circulate through the cooking area. Traeger uses several advanced high-tech features on many of their grill models to make smoking even easier.
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It seems that every appliance review has nothing but glowing comments about almost every product, yet you read customer reviews and they are almost universally bad.
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Steve Sheinkopf
Steve is the third-generation CEO of Yale and a lifelong Bostonian. He currently resides in Boston, one mile from where he was born. Despite being one of the worst goalies of all time, he is a huge hockey fan of college hockey and the Boston Bruins. The love of his life is his daughter Sophie.
A Note About Pricing
Pricing on this blog is for reference only and may include time sensitive rebates. We make every attempt to provide accurate pricing at time of publishing. Please call the stores for most accurate price.
Traeger Grills Tailgater 20
One word is best used to describe the Tailgater series from Traeger- portability.
If you want to enjoy the comfort and flavor of pellet smoking from a portable grill, then Traeger Grills Tailgater 20 is a smart choice.
The 300 square inches cooking space isnt large. I was able to cook up to 4 racks of ribs. And some other time, I also cooked 2 chickens.
At 62lbs, the weight is minimal, making it easy to transport. The hopper can hold a weight of up to 8lbs. That way, you can cook up to 6 hours without the need to refill.
It features foldable legs that let you transport your grill from to your desired location. However, with its portable feature, you have some other features to lose. For example, Traeger Grills Tailgater 20 has no WIFI feature or more advanced features that you can find in the Ironwood, pro, or Timberline pellet grills.
Even with that, I love the excellent performance of the grill and its capacity to smoke anywhere between 180-450°F.
It also comes with a digital controller that helps you maintain a steady cooking temperature with 20 degrees accuracy.
Although, when camping, grilling with charcoal sounds pretty nice, the versatile nature of a pellet grill is top-notch. That you can grill, smoke, and bake, is the incredible advantages of using pellet smokers.
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Traeger Pellet Grill Models
There are four models of pellet grills on the market today. Each model has different sub-models that allow you to get the smoker that has the features you want and is the appropriate size for your cooking.
- Timberline Series: The Timberline is the top-of-the-line model. This line features three-tier cooking surfaces, a fully-insulated cooking area, and a built-in bamboo cutting board shelf. This range includes WiFire app technology, the D2 controller, a pellet sensor in the hopper, the exclusive Traeger downdraft exhaust, and super smoke mode to get the optimal flavor.
- Ironwood Series: The Ironwood is a two-tier smoker and pellet grill that is ideal the ideal size for most people. It has all of the same features as the Timberline grills.
- Pro Series: The Pro series hits the sweet spot between a high-tech smoker and a classic cooking tool. These grills feature precision temperature control, WiFire app control, and a built-in probe to check the internal temperature of your meat. This series uses an exhaust stack rather than the downdraft exhaust.
- Town & Travel Series: These are the smallest grills Traeger makes. The series includes a model designed for tailgating and another that rests on a tabletop. While still requiring electricity, these smokers make off-grid smoking possible.
How Can You Tell When A Burger Is Done
The best way to tell if a burger is done is by using a thermometer. This is going to give you the most accurate assurance that your burger is cooked. You want the internal temperature to read no less than 155°F. Let the burgers rest for about 10 minutes and the internal temperature will rise to the 160°F mark.
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From An Idea To A Brand
Joe Traeger started working in an uncles heating business, and he took over in 1962 at age 23, eventually bringing sons Randy, Mark and Brian into what became Traeger Heating.
The Traeger family purchased a long-dormant dairy farm in Mt. Angel, including a barn, silo and feed houses in 1982 from the Mt. Angel Abbey and converted the buildings into space for manufacturing and offices.
During a family Fourth of July barbecue in 1985, Joe Traegers gas grill caught fire while cooking chicken. Joe was so angry he kicked the grill off the deck, according to the Traeger Grills website.
The next day he started work on a barbecue for the home market that would use wood pellets.
When completed, it resembled the offset barrel smokers popular in Texas, but its heating element and gauges allowed cooks to regulate heat and smoke to cook. Traeger Grills sold its first commercial grill in 1988.
Smokestack Vs No Smokestack
During my research on which pellet grill to buy, I spend hours in online forums and BBQing websites reading peoples opinions and complaints about the smokestack vs no smokestack.
Here are some of the things that I discovered about choosing one with or without a smokestack.
- Aesthetics: Most people say that a pellet grill with a smokestack looks way cooler than one without.
- Airflow: A pellet grill with a smoke stack is naturally going to have a better airflow, because of the chimney.
- Weather: While colder temperatures can mess with the cook times for a pellet grill with or without a smoke stack, youll notice its harder to grill with a grill that has vent holes the air can enter. Regardless of what type of pellet grill you have, you should have a great meat thermometer to help you know when your food is properly cooked.
- Expensive: You should expect to pay more for a pellet grill with a smokestack than one without.
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Maintenance Tips For Your Traeger
Besides cleaning your grill after each use, and spring cleaning it every grilling season, you also need to focus on maintaining it. This will prevent serious issues from taking over your Traeger and even slow down rusting, corrosion, and exposure.
- Invest in a grill cover, and use it to cover the Traeger whenever it isnt in use.
- Keep your grill grates clean by removing grease and debris after each use. Once in a while, fire up the grill and keep it going on high for 10 to 15 minutes, burning out any bits of food and debris. Once it has cooled down again, vacuum the ash out from the grill.
- Store your grill in a cool and dry place during the winter. Make sure it isnt kept in humidity or damp conditions.
- Use a grill mat to minimize mess and simplify cleanup.
- Periodically get rid of old foil lining the drip trays and other components.
- To keep your grill looking new and shiny wipe down the exterior of your grill after each cooking session.
- Make sure the wiring isnt frayed and that the plug has all the screws attached. Replace worn-out wiring as soon as possible.
- Avoid using bleach, steel wool, wire brushes, and other harsh and abrasive materials when cleaning your Traeger.
Why Traeger Smoker Or Grill Is Your Best Bet
In this best Traeger smoker review, you will notice that these smokers function as a smoker and grill together. Because of this, we cannot determine which is better between a smoker or a grill. So if youre planning to both grill and smoke, Ill recommend going for an excellent quality Traeger pellet smoker.
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Traeger Pro Series 575 & 780
The New Grills are Larger
The new Pro Series is a bigger grill than its predecessor, its two inches higher for a more comfortable grilling height and has a larger barrel which increases the cooking space.
Wi-Fi Controller
One of the biggest differences is WIFIRE, the built-in Wi-Fi digital controller that allows you to monitor and adjust the temperature from your mobile device. The controller allows you to adjust the temperature in 5 degree increments.
Traeger App and Cloud
The digital controller operates through the Traeger App. The Traeger App contains hundreds of recipes through GRILLGUIDE which gives you the ability to download recipes directly to the WIFIRE grill controller so your grill can walk you through the entire cook with step-by-step guides.
More Powerful
The old and the new Pro Series have the same temperature range, however, the new Pro Series is more powerful and able to reach the maximum temperature faster than the old model.
Temperature Probes
The 1st Gen Pro Series comes with two temperature probes that allow you to monitor the grill temperature and the meat internal temperature. The new Pro Series comes with a single probe for measuring meat, while you can monitor the grill temperature through the Traeger App.
Wood Pellet Hopper Capacity
More Expensive
Expect to pay $200- $300 more for the new 575 and 780 models. Check the latest price on the Traeger Amazon Store or go directly to the Traeger website.
Troubleshooting Problem #: Clearing A Jammed Auger
Let’s say that you have an auger on the grill that has stopped spinning. First, you will have to take a screwdriver and remove four screws. In addition, you need to remove the screws on the controller. This lets you see inside the grill’s inner mechanics so that you can work on them.
Next, you will remove the pellets from inside the grill before you begin with any kind of disassembly. You need a couple of different tools to get rid of the jam. First, you need a 7/64th Allen key, a pipe wrench, Philips and flat screwdriver, pliers and hammer.
First, you remove the shear pin that holds the auger to the auger shaft. Then you can remove the motor and remove the bushing. Then you try to move it. If you can’t move, you will use a pipe wrench to remove the auger from the auger shaft.
Next, you will use a hammer to clear it, and you spin the auger and push it in and out to help clear it. Finally, use a shop vacuum to clean out the pellets. Then you put everything back together in the same way.
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What Temperature Do You Cook Hamburgers On A Traeger Grill
What temperature do you cook hamburgers on a Traeger grill? When ready to cook, start the Traeger grill on Smoke with the lid open until the fire is established . Set the temperature to 275 and preheat, lid closed, for 10 to 15 minutes. 6. Place on the Traeger at 275°F for 30-45 minutes for a 1½ patty until 130°F internal temperature.
How long do you grill burgers at 375? Quick overview: Cook these at 375 ° for 25 minutes, and then build burgers with buns and wrap in foil and bake another 2-3 minutes for the ULTIMATE, best burger at home!
What temperature do you cook hamburgers at? What temperature should burgers be cooked to? For ground meat, the USDA recommends a temperature of between 160 to 165 as the minimum. This will give you a well-done beef burger, meaning there arent any signs of pink in the center.
How long do you grill burgers at 450? Step Three: Once your grill is pre-heated and clean, place your burger patties over direct heat for 3 minutes a side for medium rare center.
Portable Power Stations For Pellet Grills
If a car, truck, RV or boat battery isnt an option, or just too far away from your grill, how about a portable power station? Portable power has come a long way. Were no longer limited to loud gas generators turning a tranquil campout into a noisy excursion with trees.
Todays portable options allow you to use, collect and store power for later and do it quietly.
Heavy duty power stations with solar recharging capability offer amazing flexibility and unlimited backup power. Todays portable power stations can power almost anything from a phone or laptop to a fridge or yes, even a pellet grill.
Goal Zero, one of the leaders in portable power stations, moved away from using heavy lead-acid batteries in 2017 to lighter lithium power cells. This means longer lasting power at about half the weight. Check out the latest prices and availability here.
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How Hot Does A Traeger Get
All of their pellet-fired grills can be used for smoking, grilling, roasting, braising, baking, and barbecuing using hardwood pellets rather than charcoal or gas. Traeger produces their own line of pellets and blends to make it easy for you to find the perfect flavor.
You’ll find models from the portable Ranger model up to the premiere Timberline range. They operate from 150 degrees or so up to 500 degrees. The temperature for smoking meat is usually kept around 225 degrees.
