Timberline XL

[Bills Mafia 302]

Hey guys! New to the Forum, old to Traeger, I’ve had Traegers for several years, back when with the front load pellet hoppers…..forget what it was named…. Anywho, Just got my new Timberline XL yesterday, love it for the most part but having more than 20 degree temperature swings on the thing. (Doing ribs at 225) I’m coming off of a Timberline 1300 which I absolutely loved and still own, where the temp swings were very low. Didn’t know if the XL maybe has a learning period with all the new electronics where that will get dialed in as it learns more. Also having some connectivity issues with this one that I never had with my 1300. Grill stays connected but my phone is in and out with the connection to it. Thanks for any help guys.

 

[RustyJake]

Congratulations on the new grill. Look forward to hearing more about the grill and your future cooks on it.
Temperature swings aren't necessarily a bad thing. As long as the overall average temperature is at your desired cook temp, it isn't something I'd be concerned with. Plus you will get more smoke generated from your grill from that type of cycling in temps.
Keep us updated with your cooks and experiences with the new XL.

 

[Bills Mafia 302]

So far I like the new XL, here’s a couple things I’ve done so far, love the burner, have some cool ideas for it!

 

[Superduty]

Congratulations on your new smoker. How does the smoke flavor compare to the timberline 1300?

 

[Bills Mafia 302]

Congratulations on your new smoker. How does the smoke flavor compare to the timberline 1300?

I got a great smoke ring on the ribs I did yesterday, I’ll post pictures when I get home, seemed to produce a little more smoke than my 1300, even at higher temps it still produced some smoke. Unlike the 1300 which seemed to only produce smoke under 275-300 degrees

 

[Superduty]

How does the flavor compare? Did you get more smoke flavor from the Timberline XL?

 

[Bills Mafia 302]

How does the flavor compare? Did you get more smoke flavor from the Timberline XL?

Smoke flavor felt more intense to me, could have been the pellets, I went with hickory where I’m normally an apple or cherry guy, but to me it was much more Smokey than I’m used to. Very happy with it so far

 

[Superduty]

Sounds awesome

 

[Bills Mafia 302]

Here is the smoke ring from the ribs from yesterday….. also a couple pics from the reverse sear I did tonight on a couple dry aged filets using the side induction burner….. very impressed so far, the new wireless probes that come with the XL are very accurate, I hit them with my thermopen a couple times and it was spot on with the wireless probe…… hope this helps guys, thanks for the feedback so far

 

[Bills Mafia 302]

Steak pics haven’t uploaded to my iPad yet, as soon as they do I will post them

 

[Bills Mafia 302]

Here’s the steak pics from last night, came out nice using reverse sear method.

 

[Superduty]

Looks delicious

 

[GrillMeister]

Congrats! Nice pics so far......

Looking forward to more pics of your XL journey!

 

[ARCEE]

I am finding the same temp swings on my XL. Like you I have a 1300 sitting right next to it. I feel that I get more smoke intensity in the XL.

I talked to a Traeger Tech about the temp swings in the XL compared to the 1300. He said the XL should have the superior temp control. Doesn't look like the XL has the stability of the 850 and the 1300. Swings never seem to "settle in". May be nothing more than thermal probe placement. It is now outside the cooking chamber behind the exhaust mesh.

The XL is cooking well, it is just not "logging" as tightly as my 1300 does.

 

[CMTiger]

As I understand it the slight temp swings are by design and helps lead to more smoke