Pre-Smoke the Grill

[DonJ]

I’m going to do my first cook on my Timberline 850 and will be doing a whole chicken. One of the YouTube videos I watched said to pre-smoke the grill before turning it to the desired cook temperature. So, do I just ignite it and press ‘super smoke’ for 10 minutes before turning to the cook temperature? Thanks.

 

[traeger860]

What temp are you planning to start your cook at? Just remember that Super Smoke only works on temps of 225F or less.

 

[RemE]

On an 850, just set temp and go.

An advanced cook would be to set it to 180F with super smoke for 30-60min to smoke the bird. Then pull the chicken, set 450F, and crisp it up until an internal probe temp of 165F.

That would give more smoke flavor.

 

[DonJ]

Thanks so much. I did a super smoke for 10 minutes and then set the temp to 375*. I have the MEATER probe in the breast and the Traeger probe in the thigh. The MEATER is reading much lower than the Traeger, so the probe insertion was probably poorly done. I thought this process would be to set it up and leave it until ready. Ha, appears the idiom of GIGO still applies in my case. I’m learning, so that is what counts. My understanding is that with the temp setting of 375*, the chicken should be ready in 60 - 70 minutes. If that’s the case and neither probe appears to be near the 165*, I guess I’ll pull it off the grill and mark up some experience/lessons learned.

 

[DonJ]

The chicken has been on the grill about 40 minutes. The MEATER indicates an external/internal of 324/157. The Traeger indicates and external/internal of 376/112. So, something is off on one of them.

 

[magoo40]

Search the site there are many many posts about the temp issue, dont trust the traeger probe.

 

[Timmy]

Search the site there are many many posts about the temp issue, dont trust the traeger probe.

X2

 

[Tom S]

I haven’t had any problems with my probe being off, but there is a calibration setting on the menu, not sure if it’s for the probe or the oven, honestly 165 for a whole chicken isn’t bad but meat near the breast bone won’t be cooked well, still pink, if you cook it till 175 it will still be juicy and cooked just fine, I’ve tried several different ways, butterflied beer can etc, 175 is perfect, remember to cook in the center, the heat near the side will be more extreme, I usually cook wings toward the center then rotate to the sides for that extra chare, and I cook wings to about 190, yes still juicy , if you cook less the skin is rubbery! Enjoy