Pellet Fan
Pit Talk -- Comments and Questions Regarding These Pellet Pits => Memphis => Topic started by: Woody on May 21, 2018, 09:17:35 PM
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I've probably cooked three pork shoulders, five briskets, a few baby backs, chicken, salmon, and some burgers on my new Memphis Pro. Just wondering if most of you start most of your longer cooks at 180 degrees or so for smoke flavor, then ramp the temp up? I've not done this but I will be experimenting with it soon. I'm liking my briskets cooked at 275 lately so the next one I do I'll plan on starting it low for more smoke then bumping it up. I wonder if you all think that makes a noticeable flavor difference...
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some may call this blasphemy, but I only cook on my Elite at 250 or 275 unless it is jerky then it is set as low as it goes at 180
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Very rarely do we start @ 180 anymore. Just like Bar-B-Lew straight to the cook temp.
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I have gone right to 225-275 but now I'm wondering if I'm missing out. Gtsum2, do you think that your butts were better because of extra flavor profile or other reasons?
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I start my Briskets and Butts @ 180 usually for around 8 hours. I tend to start cooking around 10 PM and then at 6 AM or so I turn up the pit.
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For what it's worth; I get plenty of smoke (smoke ring) cooking at 220º to 250º on my Pro. I just set it and forget it. For jerky, as the others, I smoke At 180º.
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I start my Briskets and Butts @ 180 usually for around 8 hours. I tend to start cooking around 10 PM and then at 6 AM or so I turn up the pit.
Ditto, 160-180* to IT of 140* then 225* to IT of 160*. 250* after foil.
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Like Canadian John, I don't think the extra time is worth any perceived extra smoke so I just cook from start to finish at the same temp.
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I usually start at 200 and then bump to 225 for the duration of the cook
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Since I installed an Ortech in my trusty old traeger 070 I can smoke at 140 with no big temp swings verified with my Tappeque.
No more letting my meat get up to room temp, strait to grill from fridge. Never could do that with the Traeger controller.
It does really help getting a better smoke profile no matter what pellets you use.
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I'll chime in here... I was over at Woody's place yesterday, there to bring him some pellets, but spent a lot of time talking to him.
I was telling him that on my pellet grills ( not Memphis ones ), I generally run around 250F these days, rarely go bellow 225F unless it's for jerky, and do bump up towards 275F.
So, anyway, we got to talking about how he's not getting much smoke out of his Memphis, he fired it up for me, set to 180F ( or maybe 150F, not 100% sure ). Wow, I've never seen a pellet grill produce less smoke. Even as it was starting, there was virtually no smoke coming out of it. I went around and put my nose right up to the area where smoke/heat comes out, and I could not really smell any smoke. I'm honestly perplexed by this.
I had advised that there's likely a 'sweet spot', a certain temperature range that might produce more smoke than other temperature ranges.
I believe the pellets he was using were from me, I had previously brought him some 100% Oak and 100% Cherry both from Smoke Ring BBQ, and he also had some 100% Hickory from LumberJack. I don't know what pellets he actually had in there yesterday. The pellets I brought him yesterday were all 100% Hickory from Smoke Ring, but I know he wasn't using those yet. I probably should take him some 100% Mesquite, just to see what those pellets would do in his Memphis.
I generally don't follow the Memphis threads much, always afraid I'll get that urge to buy one, and I know my pocketbook can't really afford one. But I am now extremely curious what it does take to get some smoke rolling out of his grill.
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gtsum2 is comfortable with the smoke profile on his Memphis and sold his Yoder which some same is the closest a pellet grill gets to a stick burner profile.
Here is a pic of mine. Looks like it was getting up to the 250° set temp.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7219/7229586118_94423d8b6c_c.jpg)
I will try to take some pics this weekend when I have jerky on it at 180° to see the smoke.
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gtsum2 is comfortable with the smoke profile on his Memphis and sold his Yoder which some same is the closest a pellet grill gets to a stick burner profile.
Here is a pic of mine. Looks like it was getting up to the 250° set temp.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7219/7229586118_94423d8b6c_c.jpg)
I will try to take some pics this weekend when I have jerky on it at 180° to see the smoke.
Not sure if it makes any difference, but Woody's has the new controller... ( as does gtsum2's )
I know I've seen video of Bently's putting out some good smoke too...
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The longer you go on the cook at 180 the more it will produce smoke I believe. Another reason is the Memphis grills are some of the most efficient for burning pellets so they save on pellet cost. Less pellets burned, less smoke. How does the food taste is probably the real test.
I only use 180 for doing jerky and smoked salmon. Mine does not smoke much either but they both come out with smoke flavor.
Z
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I know this probably sounds crazy, but I wonder what affect the stainless body might have on the visibility of the smoke at times (not questioning LSJ and Woody standing right by it looking specifically for it though). Most other pits are black and many are funneling all the smoke to a 3" smoke stack instead of spreading it across a 2-3 foot long slot too. I feel like there's a ton less smoke visible from my Memphis than the Traegers and GMGs I've had previously. However, when I'm smoking food that I'm tending to more, my clothes smell just as smokey as they did when cooking the same foods on the other. I love my Pro and the food seems to taste the same as my old grills.
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I know this probably sounds crazy, but I wonder what affect the stainless body might have on the visibility of the smoke at times (not questioning LSJ and Woody standing right by it looking specifically for it though). Most other pits are black and many are funneling all the smoke to a 3" smoke stack instead of spreading it across a 2-3 foot long slot too. I feel like there's a ton less smoke visible from my Memphis than the Traegers and GMGs I've had previously. However, when I'm smoking food that I'm tending to more, my clothes smell just as smokey as they did when cooking the same foods on the other. I love my Pro and the food seems to taste the same as my old grills.
All I can say, is he started this up while I was standing there, I saw almost literally no smoke coming out. We stood there talking for a while, you could see the grill was getting warmer, but still no smoke. I walked around near the back and literally put my nose right up to where the exhaust comes out... couldn't really smell any smoke. He left the grill run like that for 10 minutes or so, and then opened the lid, and really virtually no smoke at all was seen as he opened it. I have never seen any of my pellet grills startup , without any smoke. Usually mine are like billowing white smoke as they start, this grill never did anything like that.
Now, it's only the second time I've ever seen any Memphis grill running in person. The first time, was also his, the first time I met him, he was cooking a brisket at the time, it was pretty cool out that day, like maybe 40F. I don't know for sure the details of how hot he was running that day, nor did I go so far as to stick my nose by the exhaust. As I recall that first time I saw his Memphis, it was putting out some 'smoke' out , but then it was a cool day, and it may have also been steam/moisture. But anyway, his is the only Memphis I've seen running in person, and so far I've only seen it run the two different times.
( I haven't had a chance to try any of the food he's cooked either, so I can't comment on how it tasted. )
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Other thing that I still find as odd... he insists ( and I have absolutely no reason to doubt him ) that his Memphis uses like 1.75 pounds of pellets in a hour when running at 275F. This seems kinda high to me. Apparently he's had conversations with Memphis and is told that is in the range of what could be expected. It doesn't concern me that it's using that many pellets , but if that's accurate consumption, I would not guess that is a sign of highly efficient burn.
Just to be clear, I'm personally not concerned about his grill, or trying to be critical of Memphis grills in general. I just find all this quite interesting, way different then I had ever expected, I'm actually kinda fascinated by it all.
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Maybe we can have Woody and gtsum2 post pics of their grill running at 180°, 250°, 350° to show smoke output of each. Something just doesn't seem right about what you experienced on Woody's grill. I say that from performance of the grill standpoint not from the fact that I don't believe what either of you are saying.
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LSJ, maybe Woody's grill has the new smog control system in it? ;)
I agree with your observation that it's strange how little smoke I see out of my Pro at times, I often cannot see it or smell it as well. Burning 1.75 lbs/hour though seems high. I haven't tracked mine that close, but I'm pretty sure I'm no where near that. Though it will burn through a good bit when I run at 400-500 degrees.
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LSJ, maybe Woody's grill has the new smog control system in it? ;)
I agree with your observation that it's strange how little smoke I see out of my Pro at times, I often cannot see it or smell it as well. Burning 1.75 lbs/hour though seems high. I haven't tracked mine that close, but I'm pretty sure I'm no where near that. Though it will burn through pile when I run at 400-500 degrees.
Give Greg at Memphis tech support a call. There are parameters on the old controller that he walked me through to fix some startup temp issues. Perhaps there's something on the new controller that will increase smoke output.
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The pre Wi-Fi Memphis pits "bellowed"( fans on/off) at any setting under 300º, to the point the fans may barely come on...There some conditions that effects the duration of the fans being on: Ambient temperature - If cold, can't give an exact temp, the fans
run 100% no mater what the setting, however the higher the setting, the more likely the fans are to run 100%. The reason is there is limited pellet delivery under 300º and to keep the pit temp up, it's fans on..SO - pay attention to the fan operation when set
under 300º.... It has to be really cold for the fans to stay on when set at 180º.. Re Cold: ~ 50º and under the fans may not cycle w/ the pit set much over 225º.. The less fan operation results in more smoke.. Something else that may help is,"Pre Heat the Pit":
Set to 300º and make sure it gets there. Load the food and set to smoke - anything under 300º..If there is no fan cycling, lower the setting until it does.. Hope this helps.
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Maybe if there is no smoke it is not actually burning pellets? :D :D :D :D :D
Other than that how does the food taste?
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A lot has to do with the meat being cooked and the amount of time I have to cook it in.
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A lot has to do with the meat being cooked and the amount of time I have to cook it in.
That's a big 10-4:The colder and more moist the meat is ,more smoke is absorbed, to a point.. More time spent absorbing smoke = more smoke absorbed; so low pit temps with cool moist meat is optimal. If the smoke ring is your goal, "cherry" is at the top of the list.
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Here is mine at 250. I went up and down the temps when I first got it because it was mentioned to me that there may be a sweet spot. 250 is where I see the most visible smoke. I did however back mine down to 180 after a cooks dn the pot being warm and it was smoking like a Siv so there may be something to the pit getting warmed up and the amount the fan runs....?(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180525/6c3f931eb0b908621d2a53c00fffdaee.jpg)
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Wow....meant to say backed it down to 180 after a cook and it was smoking a lot.....
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I may have to spend some time and do a good test.
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Here is at 225 yesterday. The more I cook on this thing I am thinking that it does well through the whole smoking range if you give the pit time to warm up. Food tastes great anyway.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180528/a7a978e598feaf90dcff8fcc73809595.jpg)
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My 2013 Memphis Pro. Smoking a 4 lb. brisket flat from Costco today. Grill is running at 200.
Hickory pellets.
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Z
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Mine won't even start putting out good smoke for 45 minutes...The unit is just so efficient on consumption it takes that long for mine to get into the groove! But reading these comments, it sounds like there have been a LOT of changes to combustion and air delivery since 2010.
And if the company says 1.75lbs is normal burn for 275° now, so be it, but I would have to be at 500° to burn that may pellets in an hour! At 275°, mine is half that rate, so maybe things have changed a great deal! And my sweet spot is 200°, not 180°!
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One of the reasons I "preheat" my Memphis to 300º then back it down to smoking temperature after it is loaded is, more smoke sooner..If I don't, it's just like Bent said, it takes a while .
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In my picture above it was early afternoon. I started the cook at 5:15 AM. So like Bent & CJ mine takes a while too. But it was smoking like this about 4 hours in.
BTW - hers’s a picture before I put it in a pan & covered with foil. Internal in the thickest part was mid 160’s.
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Z
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This picture was taken this AM about 3.5 hours into the cook.
Running at 190.
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The hill looks pretty green, how long did it take after the blizzard to get to that condition?
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In my picture above it was early afternoon. I started the cook at 5:15 AM. So like Bent & CJ mine takes a while too. But it was smoking like this about 4 hours in.
BTW - hers’s a picture before I put it in a pan & covered with foil. Internal in the thickest part was mid 160’s.
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Z
That think looks delicious!
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The hill looks pretty green, how long did it take after the blizzard to get to that condition?
We had a cool spring. I think it was about a month. Snowstorm was on 4/15/18.
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Here is my Memphis Pro today. I experimented and smoked pork belly(from frozen) at 250 for 6 hours with an ambient temp of about 70-75. It was hard to capture the amount of smoke in a photo but here are a few. It produced a consistent amount of low smoke which increased when the hood was open and pellets were dropping to make up for that. I tested the Memphis probe with two Thermoworks probes and it seems to be pretty accurate. I also have included my starting and finishing pellet supply in the hopper. The pork belly has strips of fat that I cut off the fatty side and draped over the exposed meat on the bottom, so that's what looks weird.