Smoky Lonesome
New member
I have a Sawtooth Pellet smoker. Had it just over a year and the paint inside is peeling and the outside is rusting even though I keep it covered??
REALLY disappointed with my Traeger
- Thread starter Wileycat
- Start date
I had a Lil'Tex and was having the same problem of nearly zero smoke flavor. And the Lil Tex is quite a bit bigger than the Junior. I got a full Texas(075) and it's a world of difference. Still not as smokey as I like but I like it pretty darn smokey. But it's been more than good enough for small batches for my wife's catering business.
i have a lil tex and it produces alot of smoke in the foods. i start in the smoke setting and going up from there. someone said meat takes smoke up to 140º or so. true statement there. after so long the meat produces a bark. bark = no smoky. i think?
I hear that the meat stops taking smoke flavor after 140 all the time and I can say that in my experience it's not true. You will keep adding smoke flavor as long as there's smoke. After the bark gets set up real firm, the smoke will just deposit on the outside and you can end up with a tar tasting mess if you aren't careful. What does stop at 140 though is the formation of the visible smoke ring. Has to do with the chemical reactions that are forming it in the first place.
Nite Ryder
New member
Chaz,
If you are interested, Amazon sells a temperature control for the Traeger smokers that seems to make it much easier to control the temperatures, especially the lower temps. My son just got one and has had really good results with it. My #75 still has the three position thermostat/heat control, but one of these days I'm going to buy one of those from Amazon because you can set an actual temp and the smoker will stay close to that setting. I think those thermostats sell for about $79.
TentHunter
Moderator
You are absolutely right that smoke will continue to adhere to the surface, especially if it's sticky from spritzing with apple juice, or glazing with sauce. But, smoke adherence and smoke absorption are very different.
What stops at 140° (as well as the smoke ring formation) is smoke absorption. Moisture is what carries water soluble smoke particulates into the meat through the cell walls. Once the outside meat temp has reached 140°, the myoglobin denatures (which stops the smoke ring) and the cell structure walls up tightly so that water soluble smoke particulates can no longer pass through the cell walls.
Percentage of surface area also plays a huge role in the taste from smoke adherence. Ribs, for example, have a much larger ratio of surface area than a pork shoulder. Therefore the surface smoke taste will have a bigger impact than pork shoulder. When you bite into a rib, you get surface smoke, as well as absorbed smoke, in every bite.
And you hit the nail on the head that if you're not careful (especially with a stick/charcoal burner), and have a dirty burning fire, you can end up with nasty tar or creosote on the outside of your meat that just tastes plain nasty.
That's part of the beauty of pellet burners; unless there's a problem with your unit, they always burn cleanly.
Nite Ryder
New member
Well, I found a digital thermostat for my Traeger at our local Kroger Food Store. It was on closeout for $56 and at the check out it rang up for $44. I installed the new control and tried it on a rack of pork loin ribs last weekend. The results were good. Plenty of smoke ring and I was able to set my Traeger on smoke and not worry about it. What I noticed was more smoke at a lower temp, and with the new temp probe inside the smoker, the smoker stayed close to the exact temp I set the control at. I was surprised, and pleased with the operation, I noticed the smoker now seemed to use fewer pellets. The new digital thermostat makes the smoker much easier to use and makes more smoke at a lower temp, just what I wanted...