Cold Weather Smoking

[FireTechMike]

Hey Everyone,
What’s the coldest weather you’ve ever run the Traeger in?
I’m planning a spatchcock turkey for Saturday and the forecast is -28C low -17C high. (-18F to 1.4F). Will it work? I’m running a Bronson 20 with the insulated cover.

 

[Murphy's Law]

I want to say I was in single or very low double digits once or twice last year. I used a welders blanket over my 780. A year later...we'll order pizza before I do that again! I am getting soft I guess.

 

[Timmy]

I’ve cooked overnight at 2f before with my 780. Cold start was a pain but it did light. I put a welding blanket over it all night.

if your are doing several hours during the day IMO you should be fine , especially with the insulation cover.

 

[Spanky]

Silverton 810 - coldest I have smoked full packer briskets overnight with temp range from +10F to +20F for the around 20 hour total smoke. No issues. The times I have smoked during cold temperatures were usually calm air on an uncovered front porch. I wonder if strong winds would cause issue with heat loss.

I would say give it a try and if not working well just be prepared to move into the inside kitchen oven. One suggestion we use for briskets is when we wrap the meat we sometimes move it into the inside oven as the smoke flavor is likely completed and you are just raising the internal temp to the finish value. I believe my son moved a full turkey into the oven when he fell asleep and let the fire go out on the stick smoker.


Side comment we have used an offset "stick burner" down to -5F without issue. The heat from the offset fire box was great as it provided enough heat to keep our front side warm including hands and feet. There was around 6 inches of snow cover in the yard except around the fire box. The stick burners are more labor intensive as the wood needs to be added each 45 to 60 minutes.

enjoy and let us know how it goes.

 

[traeger860]

When I lived in CT, I used a Lil Tex Elite with the insulated cover a few times when it was 10-15 (F) degrees out. I had LavaLock on the lid as well. Definitely need a good remote monitoring probe when cooking in those temps because opening the lid sucks all of the heat right out. It held it's own though. Never got to use my Ironwood in temps that cold. Maybe 25-30 at the lowest. Now that I'm in FL, the coldest I've ever Traeger'd in is about 55 (F).

 

[FireTechMike]

Here we go! So far so good. It got up to temp. Testing it on some wings and jalapeño poppers.

 

[FireTechMike]

Here we go! So far so good. It got up to temp. Testing it on some wings and jalapeño poppers.

Everything worked great. Forgot to take a picture of the appetizers.
The turkey pics will be in what’s for dinner.
Thanks for the input everyone.

 

[Spanky]

Everything worked great. Forgot to take a picture of the appetizers.
The turkey pics will be in what’s for dinner.
Thanks for the input everyone.

FireTechMike

Glad it worked out great. Appreciate the pictures and follow-up information. The picture with the smoke rising with the snow on the ground is great.

You are now our "cold temperature smoking" mentor.

Best regards
Spanky

 

[Murphy's Law]

Nice job! I have some salmon on now and it’s 30 degrees…you put me to shame!

 

[YYCGrizz]

Just did some ribs and pork chops tonight….6 hour smoke at -30c. Wrapped my Timberline 1300 in a welders blanket and she was good to go. Turned out awesome!

 

[Spanky]

YYCGrizz

-30C = -22F Indeed cold. Consider yourself a member of the "cold weather smokers". Nice picture with the snow added.

With the Timberline 1300 dual wall construction and the welder's blanket added was there enough heat given off to even warm your hands.

 

[YYCGrizz]

YYCGrizz

-30C = -22F Indeed cold. Consider yourself a member of the "cold weather smokers". Nice picture with the snow added.

With the Timberline 1300 dual wall construction and the welder's blanket added was there enough heat given off to even warm your hands.

Hahaha…despite having my reservations, it turned out really well. I used about 55% of the pellets over the 6 hours using the 3,2,1 method. They ended up being SUPER juicy and tender. With the blanket it held the temp line a champ the entire time!

Going out to mist them really sucked though as the bottle kept freezing up and my internal temp would drop from 225 to 150 in less than a minute

 

[HARPDOGG Q]

I grill and smoke year round in Minnesota; I’ve had mid-range cooks in temperatures as low as -15 F without an insulation blanket on my previous Traeger. Although the temp can increase cook times since heat is lost, I’ve had limited problems. Best of luck!

 

[ChaddsFordRob]

I have a Timberline - and I did the insulation project. Search in here with this title.

Timberline 850 gets a Covid project, Folding Shelf, on Steroids!​

The shelf was a little bit of a project - but the insulation work was pretty straightforward, and not very expensive.
With the grill running at 350, outside is just nicely warm. On a 30 degree night - you can get the grill to 500 without a problem.
Have fun.

 

[WCBBQ]

Hahaha…despite having my reservations, it turned out really well. I used about 55% of the pellets over the 6 hours using the 3,2,1 method. They ended up being SUPER juicy and tender. With the blanket it held the temp line a champ the entire time!

Going out to mist them really sucked though as the bottle kept freezing up and my internal temp would drop from 225 to 150 in less than a minute

Hence, if your look'n your not cook'n. ;-)