Posted: 6/16/2026 12:49:09 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Gatorade96][Edited]
 First pellet smoker! Give me some first timer tips. I have smoked on my Kettle in the past but made the jump to pellet with a probe. Season chicken leg quarters? Right on the grill or in a pan with some water/ juice? Fish? I have a bbq grill basket. Time and temp? Ribs? Season them set to and set to smoke till they hit 160? |
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Chicken always right on the grill. Brined Turkey and whole chcken I will put in one of those cheap aluminum pans to baste it.. Fish is a learning curve, I do more salmon than anything and it goes meat side down first on a hot grill then I flip and finish skin side down. It can be a mess if you are not careful. I do it on a higher temp and cook faster, or it tends to dry out. Whitefish like halibut or other I will do on foil. I like cheap cut pork steak with just S&P or what ever you want. I don't do steaks much anymore as I refuse to spend the money on that, it's f'ing ridiculous! But when I did, I would pull the drip tray all the way forward which makes a gap in the back. Crank it up and throw the meat on back there. Gives it a great sear, but it can cook quick. Ribs I do a few different ways. Good luck with it! |
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Originally Posted By Gatorade96: https://i.postimg.cc/zfHHP5gx/IMG-4740.jpg First pellet smoker! Give me some first timer tips. I have smoked on my Kettle in the past but made the jump to pellet with a probe. Season chicken leg quarters? Right on the grill or in a pan with some water/ juice? Fish? I have a bbq grill basket. Time and temp? Ribs? Season them set to and set to smoke till they hit 160? Chicken, I smoke hotter. If you try to do bird low and slow, it comes out rubbery. 300F+ is better. Chicken wings @ 325F. Time will vary depending on how big they are. some chickens are bigger than others. Fish, I dont bother. Some of these smokers have offset smoke boxes that do fish better. Ribs, use the 321 (or 221) method. Dont bother with a thermometer. Same with a pork shoulder for pulled pork. 7-8 hours, no thermometer needed. |
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Originally Posted By bm3: Buy better temp probes. Treagers suck. An instant read thermometer. The temp probes on all these sort of grills are trash. They stop working and the lines kink. More importantly, even when they're brand new, they are not accurate. Like 10 degrees off. |
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Originally Posted By bm3: Buy better temp probes. Treagers suck. Agreed. I can't get the plug in probe that came with the smoker to work at all and don't get me started on the Meater. That thing will be sitting next to my phone and still says "connection lost". Worthless. |
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Take on longer cooks overnight. Put a pork shoulder or brisket on before you go to bed, set 225, it'll be close to the stall when you wake up. Wrap and get to your temperature, then let it rest for hours in a cooler ("cambro") until dinner. So much less screwing around than tending a fire. |
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Originally Posted By Leadlined: Take on longer cooks overnight. Put a pork shoulder or brisket on before you go to bed, set 225, it'll be close to the stall when you wake up. Wrap and get to your temperature, then let it rest for hours in a cooler ("cambro") until dinner. So much less screwing around than tending a fire. Pork shoulder is a 7-8 hour cook, so it doesn't need to be done overnight unless you want pork for breakfast. I use the method aaron franklin shows on his youtube channel. I roll out of bed around 8. By the time the smoker is warmed up and the meat it on it, its 8:30. By 3:30-4:00pm, you can pull the bone out cleanly. |
 Did Chicken leg quarters. Thought there would be more smoke at 300 degrees than there was. Internal temp was in the 130 range before I switched to smoke setting. An hour at 180 degrees, set for smoke and internal temp was around 165 according to the probe. Instant read was about 10 degrees lower. Finally pulled them and finished in the microwave. Tasted good but a learning experience. Salmon this morning and mullet after the salmon finishes. Did the Traeger recipe for the salmon. Brined with salt, brown sugar and black pepper, 4 hours, then rinsed the brine, let sit in the refrigerator overnight. Will see how long the smoke time is. |
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Originally Posted By bm3: Buy better temp probes. Treagers suck. THERMOWORKS |
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Traeger's website has lots of recipes with times and temps that I have used. Simple Traegers with the dials seem to work the best. Since they have started to complicate things, they are not as reliable. I bought a Pellet Pro when everyone was buying Traeger. The pulse width modulated smoke fan maintained a precise temperature when combined with a the PID loop controller. I have used several Traegers, the Pellet Pro is simply better. I have a Yoder now and really miss the precise control of the Pellet Pro. I had to program in a +20F offset just to get the smoke temperature within a range that I was used to. Do pork ribs and chicken until you figure things out. Brisket is easy if you follow a known recipe, watch temperatures, and keep the lid closed. |
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Originally Posted By giantpune: Pork shoulder is a 7-8 hour cook, so it doesn't need to be done overnight unless you want pork for breakfast. I use the method aaron franklin shows on his youtube channel. I roll out of bed around 8. By the time the smoker is warmed up and the meat it on it, its 8:30. By 3:30-4:00pm, you can pull the bone out cleanly. You must do something different from me. I start a roughly 18lb shoulder from fridge temperature and smoke at 180 for an hour or so, then pop to 225. 8 hours is about when I hit stall. I let it stall for 1-2 hours then wrap. It'll be a few hours yet before it hits 203. I end up somewhere closer to 12-14 hours total. |
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Originally Posted By Leadlined: You must do something different from me. I start a roughly 18lb shoulder from fridge temperature and smoke at 180 for an hour or so, then pop to 225. 8 hours is about when I hit stall. I let it stall for 1-2 hours then wrap. It'll be a few hours yet before it hits 203. I end up somewhere closer to 12-14 hours total. I do pork shoulders at 250F throughout. Start to finish, may increase up to 300F if it's getting late and I need it finished. Usually 8-10 is what it does. |