How did I screw this up?

[zoid]

A few weeks ago, I bought a new Traeger Lil Tex. Assembled it, seasoned it, and planned my first smoke. Bought a pork loin-about 10 lbs-brined it overnight, rinsed it, dried it, rubbed it, and got the smoker ready.

Got the temp up to about 275 and put the loin on. I was using hickory pellets. Turned it to the smoke setting hoping to get a good smoke flavor in it and then planned on turning the heat back up. After an hour, I checked it and the temp was only about 85. I should add that the outside temp was around 7 to 10 degrees with a fair wind. The smoker is inside an enclosed porch and fairly sheltered from the wind.

Anyway, I turned the heat up and got the chamber temp up to 180 or so and checked the meat temperature after another hour. The temp of the meat was only about 110. I turned up the chamber heat to 225-250 and rechecked it in another hour and a half. About 140. Held it in that range for another hour and a half getting the meat temp up to 165. Let it rest while the sweet potatoes cooked-45 minutes- and then cut it.

Almost no smoke flavor to it. How did I screw this up?

[Fishawn]

Is your smoker "smoking"?... Producing smoke?... My buddy bought a Traeger about 4 months ago and on his first smoke (Brisket) it quit on him overnight in the middle... Traeger replaced the faulty part, but he was out a 12# brisket... Traegers are an auger feed pellet device that produces the smoke correct? Is this functioning correctly? I would think you would at least get a hint of some smoke flavor?

[WALLE]

Zoid,
I don't know much about Traeger's, just used there design to build my smoker. Could it be that you had a bad/old batch of pellets?

I'm with Fish - if all you did was essentially cold smoke for one hour, then it was hot enough not to smoke for the remainder of the cook, the smoke flavor/ring will be fairly insignificant. On the other hand, can you "smell" the hickory while it is smoking at 225*?

I've used a lot of the pellets in a smoke box on my BBQ grill and that seems to be the case - not a lot of "smoke", but you can definitely smell it.

?? some body will be along shortly to help ya!

[PitRow]

As others asked, was the unit actually producing smoke? Even on the high setting my brothers produces a fair amount of smoke, and you can definitely see/smell/taste it. It's possible your pellet auger is messed up or plugged and not feeding pellets or enough of them to produce enough smoke.

how many pellets did you go through? On my brothers I'd guess for a smoke of that duration he'd probably use at least half the hopper, maybe more with the temps being that low.

[rbranstner]

Yea it sounds like there wasn't much smoke being produced. You don't need very much smoke (a nice thin blue amount) and it should produce a noticeable smoke flavor. Like they said if you can smell the smoke that will usually do it but then again it depends on how long the smoke was applied. Too much smoke especially thick white smoke will produce some foul tasting meat. Trust me I know as I have made a few of those back in the day. When your meat tastes like a burnt stick you know it was some bad thick white creosote smoke being applied.

[Squirrel]

That has happened to me before. It's been a while though, but when I researched it there was something about when you turn it up, then down and want to go back up again you have to shut it completely off for 15-20 seconds. It worked for me.

[zoid]

Thanks for all of the quick replies so far. I'll address them one at a time.

Fishawn-yes it was definitely smoking. On smoke, it was a thick whitish smoke. On the higher temps, much lighter. Even in the 225-250 range, there was still a small amount of smoke.

Walle-good question. I'll check to see if the pellets are too old. I could smell smoke even at the higher heat settings. Oddly enough, it had a respectable enough smoke ring-1/4 inch at least.

PitRow-the auger was definitely working. It doesn't seem to be a continuous feed, just feeds when required. I also noticed when the auger would cycle, there was a short period of increased smoke. And I'm guessing I went through about 1/3 to 1/2 of a hopper load. I added pellets once, not knowing how much it would take.

rbranster-I was worried for awhile that I was getting too much smoke at first. That's why I am so puzzled by the almost complete lack of smoke taste.

Squirrel-first let me say that I just finished reading the thread about your snakes head fatty. The reason that I originally turned the heat up to 275 and then lowered it is I believe that was the recommendation in the Traeger owner's manual. Of course, with my usual dyslexic diligence, I may have been reading from bottom to top again.

Thanks again everybody for the advice. As Yoda said, "Ponder it, I will".

[BBQ Engineer]

Zoid,

If it is in an enclosed porch like you mentioned, you should have been smoked out and you would know if it was throwing some smoke. Try some new pellets or the reset like squirrel mentioned.

good luck

[zoid]

BBQ Engineeer-I should describe the enclosed porch a bit better. It has two windows on the north side, one each on east and west sides, and the south side is screend in. So as windy as it was, it was pulling the smoke out of there.

I think the suggestion to check the age of the pellets is good. Even though they were good and smoky and the smoke had a wonderful smell, they could still be the problem. I'm also never going to try turning the heat in the chamber down almost 200 degrees again!!

Thanks again, Dan

[SMOKE FREAK]

Zoid...obviously you have the digital controller...you want to cook/smoke your meat in the 220 to 250 range....roughly...If turning it to "smoke" drops temps to less than that...well then I wouldnt do it...

Try again and let us know how it works for you

[aczeller]

well, your number one problem was that you didn't have me build you a smoker. for the same price, you could have had a bigger smoker that would hold temps, would never need a "reset", and would keep your hard earned cash in the state of NE. lol

later,
Andy

[Savannahsmoker]

I have been using a Traeger Little Tex for over three years so let’s see if I can give y’all some help. First of all I would recommend you start with an easier cut of meat. A pork loin is very lean and until you learn your Pit I would start with butts, ribs and work your way to a loin.
Based on you post you do have a Digital Controller so I need to know which on. Can you adust the P Setting from the front of your controller?
More smoke is produce in the smoke setting because, based on the P Setting, the auger runs 15 seconds and is off for 45 seconds to give you smoke and if you increase the P setting you get more smoke. When you set it at higher temps you get less smoke. Most pellet smoker users use the smoke setting first and turn up the heat if the want smoke.

[zoid]

well, your number one problem was that you didn't have me build you a smoker. for the same price, you could have had a bigger smoker that would hold temps, would never need a "reset", and would keep your hard earned cash in the state of NE. lol

later,
Andy

That's great Andy. Thanks. I just toasted a homebrew to you. I'll keep you in mind if I ever decide on an additional smoker.

Savannahsmoker, I'm not sure what you mean by the "P" setting. I'm gonna smoke some moink balls (never knew they were called that until I came here) for a food day at work. Planning on doing them at about 200-225.

On my old cheapy Brinkman, I had done numerous loins and always had good luck with them. I thought with fully automated and computerized, everything would be easier. Probably will be when "I" get broken in. Thanks for the idea on the smoke and heat settings.

[curious aardvark]

sounds like you were trying to rush it. All the temperature changing because it wasn't cooking quickly enough just looked wrong to me.

One of the smokers maxims is: cook to temp NOT time :-)

Set it at 225 and just leave it there for the whole smoke.
Also did you eat it directly after smoking or did you leave some to try the next day ?

I always find that after a day's smoking I just can't smell or taste smoke at all. Plus the smoke flavour on any food intensifies and mellows over night.
So maybe that was a factor as well.

[zoid]

curious aardvark- Actually I was trying to cook to temp. After 2 &1/2 hours, I only had the temp of the meat up to 110 and figured that for that amount of time, that was not enough of a temperature climb. I had read that you need to have poultry up to 140 by the 4 hour mark and thought that the same rule probably applied to pork.

On Sunday, I cook for a week's worth of lunches at work. Admittedly, the following day, the smoke flavor was more evident, but hardly where I think it should be.

I smoked for two years on my Brinkman and have learned more on this forum in a month or so than I learned by accident the previous two years. I appreciate the advice I have been getting. I think I will read up on food safety and a few other things.