Cold smoking on Traeger

[Hogan]

This may apply to all Traegers, or just the older models like my Pro 22. When using the Smoke setting, does the system simply feed pellets to create smoke, or does it also try to achieve/maintain a certain temp like 180 degrees? I'm hoping the former.

 

[TELLIOTT]

This may apply to all Traegers, or just the older models like my Pro 22. When using the Smoke setting, does the system simply feed pellets to create smoke, or does it also try to achieve/maintain a certain temp like 180 degrees? I'm hoping the former.

My understanding is the latter. To get smoke you get heat. I have cold smoked cheese using a smoke tube and using the Traeger without turning it on as the box.

 

[RustyJake]

It would be nice if Traeger would introduce a "fan only" setting. That way you can add a smoke tube and get the smoke circulating and create a pseudo cold smoke setting. No additinal heat from the firepot running and trying to maintain a specific temperature.
If you use just a smoke tube without circulating the air through the chamber, you can get a situation where there's very little draft exiting rhe grill. That smoke has the potential of being a little harsh.

 

[Phyllis]

On older Traeger models like the Pro 22, the Smoke setting primarily focuses on feeding pellets intermittently to produce smoke rather than maintaining a specific temperature. However, it usually hovers around 160-180°F depending on conditions. If you're aiming for true cold smoking, you might need an external smoke tube or cold smoker attachment to keep temps lower. Hope that helps!

 

[Hogan]

This may apply to all Traegers, or just the older models like my Pro 22. When using the Smoke setting, does the system simply feed pellets to create smoke, or does it also try to achieve/maintain a certain temp like 180 degrees? I'm hoping the former.

In a vaguely controlled experiment, I smoked some pork bellies (about to become bacon) using only the Smoke setting. Outside air temp (OAT) is 6C (41F) and I did not insulate the cook chamber. According to my recently calibrated ThermoPro probe in the cook chamber, the temperature wandered between 143F - 160F. The Traeger controller temp wandered from 163F to 178F.
My unscientific conclusion is that on the Smoke setting (on a Pro 22 at least), the controller just regularly sends pellets to the firebox and does not strive to maintain a specific temperature.
This supports what Phyllis said.

 

[Manannan]

I do a lot of cold smoking using a basic Bradley Smoker, to my mind the later Bradley's which can't use the cold smoke adapter and all Traeger's are not suitable for cold smoking which to my mind is no more than about 8C / 46F to 12C / 54F with a bit of flexibility. For example I am more concerned with temp control when cold smoking fish than cheese.

Which brings me on to a question, what do others use as their guideline temperature range for cold smoking?

 

[RustyJake]

Cold smoking for me would be under 100°F, usually try for 90°F

 

[JamesDufour]

The Smoke setting focuses on creating smoke and generally keeps the temperature around 180°F but it’s not precise.