T850 Grease Tray Installation

[Robert Gray]

I bought my Timberline 850 in June of 2021. Since using it, both for slow cooking and regular grilling, I have never accumulated much grease in the trap. Instead, the grease accumulates right on the tray liner, where it eventually causes a fire. Customer Support says a full cleaning every 3 cooks is normal. I find this hard to believe.

I see that newer models have a redesigned drip tray and suspect the original never worked correctly. Either that, or mine is not installed correctly. There is little or no back to front angle.

Anybody know if it's possible to upgrade to the newer design drip tray?

Attached pictures are of the tray installed and a liner after cooking burgers 3 times.

 

[GrillGuyMilwaukee]

I recently purchased an IW885, my first pellet grill. Was just doing a simple recipe from Traeger for some smoked burgers were you smoke for a bit at a low temp, and then turn up to 450 for a few minutes to finish off. Experienced my first grease fire. Was especially frustrating as I had just cleaned the grill, new liner, etc. I agree, all the grease just seems to hit the liner and sit there, just waiting for the opportunity to flare up.

 

[JPSBBQ]

There is no way that alll the grease can possibly make it off the surface of the tray and into a bucket or pan. Just think about it. No matter what, some grease will adhere and it will combust if you get the unit hot enough. I don’t care what brand or even what type of cooker. You really have to cook a lot of fatty BBQ to get the grease flowing and not adhering to the surface. My friend does tons of butts and briskets and has overflowed his grease tray on his Timberlines. He will still get a grease fire if he neglects to clean up the remnants from the greasy cook and wants to cook at high temps. I don’t do enough high volume greasy cooks to get much in my pans and rarely even check them and even more rarely have to dump them. It’s basically common sense and operator error. I think there is a false sense of the “foolproof” nature of pellet cooking. It does a great job of delivering on that idea, but it’s not .

FYI the combustion point of animal fat is 375. Generally, you have to set the grill a ways above that to get a fire but not necessarily. So, use liners and pay attention when doing higher temp cooks. You can clean off the liners or swap out a clean one for grilling and put the cruddy one back in for low and slows.

 

[GrillGuyMilwaukee]

There is no way that alll the grease can possibly make it off the surface of the tray and into a bucket or pan. Just think about it. No matter what, some grease will adhere and it will combust if you get the unit hot enough. I don’t care what brand or even what type of cooker. You really have to cook a lot of fatty BBQ to get the grease flowing and not adhering to the surface. My friend does tons of butts and briskets and has overflowed his grease tray on his Timberlines. He will still get a grease fire if he neglects to clean up the remnants from the greasy cook and wants to cook at high temps. I don’t do enough high volume greasy cooks to get much in my pans and rarely even check them and even more rarely have to dump them. It’s basically common sense and operator error. I think there is a false sense of the “foolproof” nature of pellet cooking. It does a great job of delivering on that idea, but it’s not .

FYI the combustion point of animal fat is 375. Generally, you have to set the grill a ways above that to get a fire but not necessarily. So, use liners and pay attention when doing higher temp cooks. You can clean off the liners or swap out a clean one for grilling and put the cruddy one back in for low and slows.

You're absolutely right, just caught me off guard doing 6 burgers! lol. And I had started with a clean grill and new tray. It mainly was on the tray liner, but caught a little of the grease in the trough.

Lesson learned!

 

[JPSBBQ]

You're absolutely right, just caught me off guard doing 6 burgers! lol. And I had started with a clean grill and new tray. It mainly was on the tray liner, but caught a little of the grease in the trough.

Lesson learned!

It’s probably happened to everyone at some point. Get in a hurry and not thinking about the big picture. It’s happened to me.