gtblum Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Thanks for the recipes, guys. I'll give them a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHI in AR Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Since this topic has veered off course to some degree anyway, I'll veer further. I love smoked foods and grilled foods in general. So when I found a Traeger grill I thought I'd found the holy grail of outdoor cooking -- a grill that cooked with wood pellets fed by an electric auger. The flavor of cooking with wood but with the convenience of gas. No feeding of charcoal and the subsequent mess and clean-up. If you're not familiar with them, food-grade pellets are available in various wood species, burn clean, and leave little mess. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. It cooked too hot to smoke and too cold to grill no matter how I set the temp controls. So I decided to use the best part of it -- the pellet hopper, electric auger, and fan-forced burning chamber. In short, the auger pushes the pellets into a perforated cylindrical chamber that has air forced into it via a small electric fan. A miniature blast furnace, if you will. So I removed the tambour door from the Traeger, cut out the sides and part of the top surface, and then bolted in/on a surplus offset vertical Bandera smoker. (It cooked well but was an absolute charcoal HOG.) The end result is a smoker with a double-walled fire chamber which I also lined with ceramic tile. Early results are promising, but I need to separate out the auger motor from the fan motor electronically so I can vary their speeds individually. I need more fan speed than auger speed at times. Giving it a proper paint job will come later. I wanted to wait until I found out if it worked worth a damn first. Click to Enlarge 48.4?KB Click to Enlarge 57.14?KB Click to Enlarge 60.76?KB Click to Enlarge 56.9?KB Click to Enlarge 50.71?KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Wow, that's an interesting Frankenstein you made. I wonder if a thermostat could be used to run the fan? And you need a clock on it to record your cooking hours. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Raymond Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 I tried to make bacon a few weeks back, I documented it here: http://www.thedudecooks.com/2011/10/hom ... art-1.html .... because guys like me that always talk about food aren't quite annoying enough, I write about it. -B Interesting blog, but that bacon looks decidedly un-canadian. In the interest of maintaining diplomacy, and because my wife wouldn't let me turn the loin in the fridge into back bacon, I urge you to send that slab Stateside. An appropriate shipping address can be found in my profile.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Fabry Posted November 17, 2011 Report Share Posted November 17, 2011 Since this topic has veered off course to some degree anyway, I'll veer further. I love smoked foods and grilled foods in general. So when I found a Traeger grill I thought I'd found the holy grail of outdoor cooking -- a grill that cooked with wood pellets fed by an electric auger. The flavor of cooking with wood but with the convenience of gas. No feeding of charcoal and the subsequent mess and clean-up. If you're not familiar with them, food-grade pellets are available in various wood species, burn clean, and leave little mess. Unfortunately, it was a big disappointment. It cooked too hot to smoke and too cold to grill no matter how I set the temp controls. So I decided to use the best part of it -- the pellet hopper, electric auger, and fan-forced burning chamber. In short, the auger pushes the pellets into a perforated cylindrical chamber that has air forced into it via a small electric fan. A miniature blast furnace, if you will. So I removed the tambour door from the Traeger, cut out the sides and part of the top surface, and then bolted in/on a surplus offset vertical Bandera smoker. (It cooked well but was an absolute charcoal HOG.) The end result is a smoker with a double-walled fire chamber which I also lined with ceramic tile. Early results are promising, but I need to separate out the auger motor from the fan motor electronically so I can vary their speeds individually. I need more fan speed than auger speed at times. Giving it a proper paint job will come later. I wanted to wait until I found out if it worked worth a damn first. A new level of OC behavior is established. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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