Hello from Colorado

[Huet]

Just introducing myself. I live in Colorado along the front range, southwest of Denver. I’ve been using a BGE for around 10 years and just purchased a new Ironwood, which I really enjoy. The BGE is great but I’ve become frustrated with the difficulty of keeping the temperature set for low and slow smoking. I’ve done a couple of simple cooks on the Ironwood, chicken and salmon, and both turned out great. I can hardly wait to try a brisket.

 

[Shedd]

Welcome to the Forum!
Great group of folks on here willing to help answer questions and provide some useful advice and tips. I’ve had my XL BGE over twenty years and still love it. I have a Traeger 780 pro that I use as well. The Traeger is easier and quicker but doesn’t have the deep smoke flavor like the egg. A friend gave me a Inkbird Controller for my egg and I have to admit that it’s a complete game changer for keeping it steady at low and slow. So don’t kick it to the curb, lol. However you’ll love the Traeger in its own way.

 

[Huet]

Welcome to the Forum!
Great group of folks on here willing to help answer questions and provide some useful advice and tips. I’ve had my XL BGE over twenty years and still love it. I have a Traeger 780 pro that I use as well. The Traeger is easier and quicker but doesn’t have the deep smoke flavor like the egg. A friend gave me a Inkbird Controller for my egg and I have to admit that it’s a complete game changer for keeping it steady at low and slow. So don’t kick it to the curb, lol. However you’ll love the Traeger in its own way.

Thank you. Yea, my BGE is great, I added a BBQ Guru Ultra Q that works good, just thought that the Treager would be easier to control at temperatures around 200 degrees. The other thing is that when we’re having cold weather and snow, I think that the Ironwood will be easier to fire up and start cooking.

 

[Shedd]

Thank you. Yea, my BGE is great, I added a BBQ Guru Ultra Q that works good, just thought that the Treager would be easier to control at temperatures around 200 degrees. The other thing is that when we’re having cold weather and snow, I think that the Ironwood will be easier to fire up and start cooking.

Please share your progress with us. We love seeing pictures of cooks and learning from others as well.

 

[Huet]

Please share your progress with us. We love seeing pictures of cooks and learning from others as well.

Will do.

 

[primeone]

Welcome to the forum @Huet

 

[Manannan]

Welcome to the forum from a fellow new Ironwood owner.

 

[GTHDOOK]

Welcome!

 

[CMTiger]

Welcome!

 

[Huet]

I did my first smoke on the new Traeger. I smoked salmon at 225 for approximately 2 hours and it turned out great. My only problem/concern is that my Ironwood smoker couldn't maintain the 225, it usually hovered around 270 - 275. Not sure if it's me, if that's normal, of if something is wrong that needs to be reported to Traeger.

 

[Manannan]

Ironwood smoker couldn't maintain the 225, it usually hovered around 270 - 275

Most of my cooks are around the 225-250 mark in my Gen 2 Ironwood and I generally get better consistency / less variation and regular occurrences of more than around +/- 15 would hit my radar.

However when I first got my previous 575Pro pure nosiness meant I opened the door too often which did cause temperature variations outside of that quoted, by the time I got my Ironwood I had learnt my lesson!

Before getting too concerned about any underlying issues have a look at this.

https://www.traeger.com/learn/temperature-swings

 

[Huet]

Most of my cooks are around the 225-250 mark in my Gen 2 Ironwood and I generally get better consistency / less variation and regular occurrences of more than around +/- 15 would hit my radar.

However when I first got my previous 575Pro pure nosiness meant I opened the door too often which did cause temperature variations outside of that quoted, by the time I got my Ironwood I had learnt my lesson!

Before getting too concerned about any underlying issues have a look at this.

https://www.traeger.com/learn/temperature-swings

Thank you for the insight and advice, I’ll check out the attached link. I’m going to smoke ribs tomorrow and will see how the temperature settles in.

 

[Manannan]

I’m going to smoke ribs tomorrow and will see how the temperature settles in.

Hope the ribs worked out?

By way of an temp variation example I did a rib roast, shoulder of lamb (boneless) and a whole chicken on the Gen 2 Ironwood yesterday with a preheat to 245. Once the meat went in and the temp had settled back up to 245 the min temp recorded was 229 and the max temp 258. However for the majority of the time the temp range was around 235-255, I was using WiFi and the Traeger app so could keep an eye on things much more closely than I normally would.

I opened the door twice once when the lamb was done and once when the chicken was done (use a Meater block) and each time recorded a temperature drop of < 10% with a 5-10 minute recovery time. Traeger shut down was as soon as the rib roast was done.

Other than the fact I normally use C rather than F to monitor temp I would regard these figures as good and typical of an Ironwood cook, conversely when I had a 575Pro there was slightly more variation presumably mainly due to single versus double insulation. In addition the Ironwood is in a much more wind / rain sheltered spot than the 575Pro ever was.

Maybe this info is useful for others worried about temp variation?

 

[Huet]

Hope the ribs worked out?

By way of an temp variation example I did a rib roast, shoulder of lamb (boneless) and a whole chicken on the Gen 2 Ironwood yesterday with a preheat to 245. Once the meat went in and the temp had settled back up to 245 the min temp recorded was 229 and the max temp 258. However for the majority of the time the temp range was around 235-255, I was using WiFi and the Traeger app so could keep an eye on things much more closely than I normally would.

I opened the door twice once when the lamb was done and once when the chicken was done (use a Meater block) and each time recorded a temperature drop of < 10% with a 5-10 minute recovery time. Traeger shut down was as soon as the rib roast was done.

Other than the fact I normally use C rather than F to monitor temp I would regard these figures as good and typical of an Ironwood cook, conversely when I had a 575Pro there was slightly more variation presumably mainly due to single versus double insulation. In addition the Ironwood is in a much more wind / rain sheltered spot than the 575Pro ever was.

Maybe this info is useful for others worried about temp variation?

Thank you, I appreciate the information you provided - it gives more insight into what to expect. Hopefully today’s rib smoke will go better than the salmon.