EasyBakeDad
New member
I just got an ironwood 885 a couple days ago. On the first day I assembled it and followed the seasoning instructions from the traeger website. After the seasoning I let the grill run the shutdown sequence then I put it in my garage and did not clean out the ash.
Two days later, this morning, I pulled the grill back out and checked the firepot. There was a small amount of ash and some pellets. The bottom of the grill had a light coating of ash outside of the firepot. I didn't think it was anywhere near the point of needing to be cleaned out.
I decided to use one of the rib recipies from the app that automatically set the grill to 180 with super smoke until the ribs reached 160.
So I put the drip pan liner in place and started the grill with a setting of 180 with super smoke on. It came up to temp as I figured it should and all seemed well.
I put the ribs on and I waited for them to come up to temp. I was a little surprised that the grill automatically set itself to 350. So I had to work fast, so I thought.
I opened the grill and started pulling the slabs off one at a time, with the lid open the whole time, to wrap them with foil and sauce.
I noticed that there were flames visible along the back edge of the cooking chamber, I figured this is just how it works.
Once I put the last rack back on the grill I closed the lid.
Then I started to notice some fairly thick smoke, so I opened it back up to find that there was a fire on top of the drip pan cover.
When I saw this I closed the lid and unplugged the grill to allow the fire to smother itself. After the fire was out I cleaned the drip pan line with some paper towel, figuring that was the issue. Even though I didn't think just 3 racks of ribs on a brand new grill should create a grease fire.
Then I plugged the grill back in and set it back to 350. After a short time I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the pellet hopper. So, I pulled the ribs off to finish them in the oven in the house.
I unplugged the grill and left it to deal with its emotions until after dinner. By that point the grill had cooled enough that I could take the grate and drip pan out to inspect it. I ran the auger on prime to clear the tub and found that it was full of ash and burned pellets.
So, what did I do wrong? Did I do everything right? Is my grill defective? Am I defective?
Thanks for any advice! I am really hoping this is operator error. I was very excited to have some easy smoking after years of smoking in a Weber kettle.
Two days later, this morning, I pulled the grill back out and checked the firepot. There was a small amount of ash and some pellets. The bottom of the grill had a light coating of ash outside of the firepot. I didn't think it was anywhere near the point of needing to be cleaned out.
I decided to use one of the rib recipies from the app that automatically set the grill to 180 with super smoke until the ribs reached 160.
So I put the drip pan liner in place and started the grill with a setting of 180 with super smoke on. It came up to temp as I figured it should and all seemed well.
I put the ribs on and I waited for them to come up to temp. I was a little surprised that the grill automatically set itself to 350. So I had to work fast, so I thought.
I opened the grill and started pulling the slabs off one at a time, with the lid open the whole time, to wrap them with foil and sauce.
I noticed that there were flames visible along the back edge of the cooking chamber, I figured this is just how it works.
Once I put the last rack back on the grill I closed the lid.
Then I started to notice some fairly thick smoke, so I opened it back up to find that there was a fire on top of the drip pan cover.
When I saw this I closed the lid and unplugged the grill to allow the fire to smother itself. After the fire was out I cleaned the drip pan line with some paper towel, figuring that was the issue. Even though I didn't think just 3 racks of ribs on a brand new grill should create a grease fire.
Then I plugged the grill back in and set it back to 350. After a short time I noticed a lot of smoke coming from the pellet hopper. So, I pulled the ribs off to finish them in the oven in the house.
I unplugged the grill and left it to deal with its emotions until after dinner. By that point the grill had cooled enough that I could take the grate and drip pan out to inspect it. I ran the auger on prime to clear the tub and found that it was full of ash and burned pellets.
So, what did I do wrong? Did I do everything right? Is my grill defective? Am I defective?
Thanks for any advice! I am really hoping this is operator error. I was very excited to have some easy smoking after years of smoking in a Weber kettle.
