Smoking fish with a Traeger??

King Kong · 10-15-2008, 03:12 PM

Guy's and gal's,
has anyone smoked salmon with their traeger?? It seems to be quite a bit warmer than I would like it for slow smoking jerky and or salmon fillets. Any advise on this other than breaking out the old Brinkmann smoker??

Thanks.

PayDay · 10-15-2008, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin king

Guy's and gal's,
has anyone smoked salmon with their traeger?? It seems to be quite a bit warmer than I would like it for slow smoking jerky and or salmon fillets. Any advise on this other than breaking out the old Brinkmann smoker??

Thanks.

I'm doing my first Traeger batch today. When I put it on the smoke setting it's around 130 degrees. Been in for about 3 hours now.
I'll let you know.

yankemnbankem · 10-15-2008, 05:46 PM

Leave the hatch open a skosh it will do wonders! I usually leave a piece of metal in the corner of the lid to keep it open. Stays nice and juicey and can smoke longer.

King Kong · 10-15-2008, 05:50 PM

Thanks. I will keep the lid cracked a bit. Just put it on the smoker. Results to follow!

King Kong · 10-16-2008, 08:42 AM

Ok......I took the advice of yankemnbankem and left the lid open about 2 inches, I ahve the big daddy commercial traeger. This worked well and kept the temp down to around 150-160. I can say that it is kind of an expensive way to smoke fish considering the amount of pellets that I used over 5 hours!!!!!!!!!!!

My advice is to put it on smoke for 2 hours and then crank up the heat a bit and get it done. Otherwise you are spending $20+ dollars on pellets for one batch of fish!! Make sure that the grill is full if you are going to smoke a batch. You may have to give some to family and or friends but that is why we do it.....right?

Ultimately they enjoy it more than we do!

Iwish · 10-16-2008, 08:51 AM

Kevin King,

If you have the big daddy commercial Traeger as I do it has 3 firepots vs. 1 on all the residential units. It will burn more pellets for obvious reasons. That having been said, I can also cook about 250 chicken quarters on that grill vs. anywhere from 15-30 on the residential models. There should be a burn rate of about 1/2 pound per hour on smoke and about 2 pounds per hour on high.

If you are having problems with your grill smoking too hot there is a way to fix that without propping the lid open. Assuming you have a digital thermostat, there is a setting on the back that can be adjusted to lower or raise the temperature. If your unit is not smoking at a temperature you desire, please feel free to give me a call and I'd be happy to walk you through adjusting it more to your liking. That goes for anybody that is having issues with temps at smoke.

Hope this helps.

Ron

King Kong · 10-16-2008, 12:38 PM

Thanks IWISH..........I have the COM150. I love it! I guess I should read my manual closer to get all of the little features though. I didnt realize that I could adjust the temp. I will check it out and call you anyway as I need to get some pellets. I hear great things about your service!

Thanks again!

Kevin.

esoj · 10-16-2008, 12:58 PM

use golden fire pelletts @4.75 for 40#'s

esoj · 10-16-2008, 01:00 PM

I've smoked fish fo 15yrs with those pelletts!!

Iwish · 10-16-2008, 03:18 PM

This is not in your owners manual. It's not something they really want to publish. Problem with it is that if you dial it down too far then it burns out. If this happens and the general public goes out to restart it without looking at what pellets have built up then you have potential for fires. If you need help with it, feel free to give me a call.

Ron

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevin king

Thanks IWISH..........I have the COM150. I love it! I guess I should read my manual closer to get all of the little features though. I didnt realize that I could adjust the temp. I will check it out and call you anyway as I need to get some pellets. I hear great things about your service!

Thanks again!

Kevin.

yankemnbankem · 10-16-2008, 03:29 PM

Whoa..... you got a big smoker. Mine is the 125 model and I thought that was big. I can see why you went through the pellets!
Iwish, good mention about the dial on the back of the control panel. Last fall I put a turkey on the smoker and went to bed. Woke up the next morning to check on turkey and the fire pot went out and the turkey was cold. Called Traeger and we figured out that the auger was to fast and snuffed out the smoking fire. It continued to auger pellets into the fire pot and over the sides filling up the box. Anyways, we dialed that control down a notch and it works perfect. The rep from Traeger said some batches of controls came with too fast setting at one time. I was the lucky one. the cat ate a decent turkey.

King Kong · 10-17-2008, 05:39 AM

Great information IWISH.......thanks! I will call you if I have any difficulty adjusting the temp. At first I thought that I missed something in the manual and felt a little foolish. Thanks for clarifying that it is not really in the manual.
As far as the performance of the smoker and overall flavor of the salmon....I give it a solid 10!
Moist and smoky. Gave some to one of my friends and it didnt make it past the driveway! Gone.
Now I have some all ready to go with me to T-Bay tomorrow a.m. for the crew to enjoy.

Thanks again to Yankemnbankem as well as the Traeger Zen Master...IWISH.