Time to get a smoker...

[colorider]

I cook ribeyes on my traeger Jr all the time. Big ol thick suckers from Costco. I cook them at 160-180 till they get to about 120. Then I crank up the dial to 400 and watch closely till the center of the meat hits med rare. Then I take them off and let them sit for 10-15 min. The taste is incredible. I have also cooked prime ribs at 160-180 till med rare. Mmmmmmmmmmmm tasty.
Hamburgers cooked at the 220 temp for a while then at 350-400 till done are also really yummy. Slight wood flavor to them. If I need to do high heat searing and want the super grill marks I use my weber genesis. A great forum for the traeger is Pelletheads.com. Tons of very good information there.
One valuable thing I have learned about the traeger is the brand of pellets. The Traeger brand are actually my least favorite. Little flavor and don't burn hot. Last summer I got 3 huge bags of bear mountain pellets from costco. Burned thru them last summer and really liked them although they produce more ash. Not a big problem because I clean out my burnpot every cook. That is KEY. Really get good temp control and good smoke with a clean pot. If the pot fills up too much with ash, the smoke is very thin or non existant. Also the temps are all over the place. I just got a 50# bag of a special blend of pellets from cookingpellets.com. These are fantastic but were too expensive to buy again. Go to Pelletheads and start reading all you can. Vast information and all kind of needed to get the traeger to work its best. I go through about 100# of pellets a year on my Jr. I cook everything on it.

[Scogin]

My MES and AMNPS showed up yesterday. I ran them through the cleaning process and am now ready to start smoking. Not sure what I am going to start with. Maybe some ribs. I really want to cook up a pork butt for pulled pork too. Guess it's time to start experimenting.

[Scogin]

Test number one.

Dont know why that pic came out sideways on my phone.

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Found a traeger jr for $350 including shipping. Do I? Or do I not?

[colorider]

No. Go to Ruffs BBQ in Lakewood. The drive will be worth it. He will match Costco pricing at $300 and throw in some freebies as well. He also registers it and gives you all kinds of service if you get it from him. Will even come out to the house and service it in an emergency. He is the BBQ/smoker genius. Also a great guy.
Tell him you were looking to purchase at Costco but want to deal with a local business if possible. I actually returned my Costco purchased traeger and got one from Ruffs because of his price and service.

[BigDee]

No. Go to Ruffs BBQ in Lakewood. The drive will be worth it. He will match Costco pricing at $300 and throw in some freebies as well. He also registers it and gives you all kinds of service if you get it from him. Will even come out to the house and service it in an emergency. He is the BBQ/smoker genius. Also a great guy.
Tell him you were looking to purchase at Costco but want to deal with a local business if possible. I actually returned my Costco purchased traeger and got one from Ruffs because of his price and service.

Also worth mentioning that the Jr. Doesn't come with a digital thermostat, one must be purchased separately for around $80.

[vossman]

I just got a Traeger Lil Texas Elite from my mom, was curious if it would be worth trading up to Texas Grill for $175 more. 1/3 more cooking space but almost twice the BTU. 20,0000 vs 38,0000 for the Tx Grill.
Thoughts?

[Gman]

I guess it depends on how often you're cooking for a small army. I have the optional rack and have easily done 6 racks of pork loin ribs in my Lil Tex Elite. Feeding 15 folks with grilled chicken is no problem, either. More BTU = More Fuel, so consider that as well.

[vossman]

Curious why the BTU increase were so much greater vs the size. Does it get hotter or greater range of temps or ????? Sounds like you are more than happy with your Elite and its been reliable which is a good sign. I heard Traeger was a great brand.

[Gman]

The larger grill would require more BTUs to give similar BTUs per cubic inch.

Love my Traeger.