SmokeFire!

[bbqking01]

So I picked up a second hand SmokeFire, for around 600. Lots of bad reviews on this thing. I posted to resell, but priced it high, no bites. Decided to just give it a go, if it bombs I'll just resell cheap. Started a pork shoulder around 2pm Arizona time. There was some pellets in it when I bought it. Fired it up and it was just turning them to powder.  Not cool. Emptied them out. Put in brand new Traeger hickory, fired right up. Set it for 230, and let her go. By 6:30 the pork shoulder had barely turned color, and was only at 115.  The only issue is the internal temp reader was going back and forth between 185-230. Mostly at 230 after a couple hours. At 6:30 I turned it up to 300. It has stayed right at 300, and the shoulder is starting the get some bark. I started also spritzing with lemonade, lemon juice, and water. I will add more picture as it goes. But so far so good, for a first time pellet grilled/smoker. I tried to put pictures in order. The last one is around 6:45


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[Lemans]

That's what I'm saying. With all those returns will weber sell them at a discounted price? They already have a fix.. so if I can get a 36 for $500 I'm there!!


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[bbqking01]

Just a side note. I didn't get this from Weber, but they already sent me a meat probe and the pellet ramp at no charge.


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[Lemans]

I know they r fixing the problem but all those that were retuned what r they going to do with them?


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[Lemans]

I like weber but their pricing is outrageous weber summit $1200 kamado joe , BGE $1000. Really??


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[sonofabutcher]

Curious to see your thoughts on how pronounced the smoke flavor is ? That's definitely a draw back on all pellet grills and the higher the cooking temp even  less. Not sure about the Smokefire , but with my traeger timberline , I have a decent sized heat shield over my fire pot. I'll take 4 smaller pieces of wood chunks and lay them directly on top of the shield . Those chunks with a Amazen tube does a decent job at 275 for me. Enjoy the cook bro


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[bbqking01]

It's taking forever, plus I'm probably going to go through most of a 20lbs bad of pellets! I can say this, once I cranked it up to 300 it's stayed right there, until I open up to spray. I think it's in a stall right now now at 150. It looks to me like it's going to have a decent smoke flavor, but I haven't tasted it yet.


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[bbqking01]

Stalled at 150. So I wrapped it in foil turned it up to 400. In an hour it is at 170 now. Pic is right as we wrapped it.


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[bbqking01]

Ok so there is ash all over inside and out. Will be able to vacuum it up and wipe it down so no great concern there. The other thing is at the end I had to push pellets into the auger because they where caving in and kept dropping temp.


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[bbqking01]

But it turned out well.


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[sonofabutcher]

Ok so there is ash all over inside and out. Will be able to vacuum it up and wipe it down so no great concern there. The other thing is at the end I had to push pellets into the auger because they where caving in and kept dropping temp.


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That's what left from a 20 lb bag ?


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[bamakettles]

Thanks for sharing details on the first cook.  Will be interesting to see how it goes in the future.  From what I've seen and supported with your results is excessive ash when ramping up the temps.  I'd imagine that if the cooker was kept at 250F throughout there wouldn't have been quite the ash blizzard that you experienced.  And if not for cleaning/vacuuming it out after this cook, I'd imagine there would be a grease drain blockage in the future. 

[bbqking01]

That's what was left from a 20lbs bag, but the last 2-3?hours I was at 350-400 degrees. And also there was more ash after turning up the heat. Also I used a pan with a rack in it to avoid grease spills. I added apple juice lemonade mixture to the foil when I wrapped it, and some of that spilled, but very little got down by the ash. Also interested is the shut down process. Basically you push the temp controll button in, hold it, then select shut down. Then leave the lid open, and the fan will blow until it reaches 120 degrees inside. At least that's what mine did. It took about 15 minutes to cool off.
That being my first ever experience with a pellet grill, I was pretty satisfied with results, it just took ALOT longer than expected. Not completely sold on it yet. Results=10 hour cook very yummy pork shoulder, used almost a whole bag of pellets. I used treagar hickory pellets. And didn't have any issues with the pellets not feeding till the end.


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[kettlebb]

10 hours doesn't sound too far off for pork shoulder to get nice and tender.


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[HoosierKettle]

$15-$20 for a bag of pellets gone in one cook?  That would bother me a little bit. Maybe that's normal for a large size pellet grill at those time and temps. I don't know.


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