John H. wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2018 10:41:45 -0800 (PST), Its Me wrote:

On Tuesday, December 4, 2018 at 11:24:00 AM UTC-5, John H wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2018 16:12:53 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Mon, 3 Dec 2018 23:09:20 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Mon, 3 Dec 2018 20:16:08 -0000 (UTC), Bill wrote:

Tim wrote:
Bill
Its Me wrote:
On Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 5:49:39 PM UTC-5, John H wrote:
On Sat, 1 Dec 2018 12:54:46 -0800 (PST), Its Me wrote:

On Saturday, December 1, 2018 at 12:27:31 PM UTC-5, John H wrote:
Do I want to give this a shot? Looks damn good, and I'd bet all the
fat from the pork belly would
turn that otherwise dry pork loin into a connoisseur's dream:

https://www.traegergrills.com/recipe...oked-porchetta

Wife brought a loin home yesterday, and I just checked with the local
Lowes Foods and they have pork belly. I'll be cooking one of these
tomorrow. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Please do! Our Costco carries both also.

Tim, John... I wanted to like it, but I just don't like the pork belly
that much. I followed their directions, and the loin is certainly moist
and tender, but the belly didn't render as much as I'd like. I've had
belly before and the fattiness of it just turns me off.

Trimmed of the excess fat and sliced up, it makes a pretty good sandwich.


John?s recipe probably requires a long, low slow cook, to render the fat.
I have had pork belly topped pizza and loved it. Did not seem greasy.
That was in New Zealand. So there has to be great ways to cook he big junk
of pork belly, instead of making it in to bacon. Admittedly the pork belly
I had several different ways in NZ and Australia was not big chunks.

......


Bill, I?d probably agree with you. I might be too impatient because I?m
not the type to watch a slow roast all day.

I do enjoy delicious and simple recipes. I just can?t spent all day
prepping and working an oven...


The nice thing about a pellet smoker is make sure there is a hopper full of
pellets and set the temperature. Go do other things for 6 hours or so.

I don't trust my Traeger that long. Had it shut down too many times. I
check it about once an hour
or so and give the pellets a stir every couple hours so they don't 'bridge'.


Contact Treager. Mine had the controller do some funky stuff and they sent
me a new one. Couple screws and plugs and easy replacement.

I'm on my third controller. Am thinking of switching controllers, but
this one seems to work - most
of the time.


Sounds more like the auger drive is bad.

It rotates at exactly the rpm called for by Traeger.

It seems that the problem isn't how fast (or slow) it turns, but rather
it's not turning at all. If your burn cup is going out due to lack of
pellets, it seems that there are only two primary reasons that would happen.

1. The controller fails to turn on the auger.
2. The auger fails to turn when told to.

I'm assuming that you've verified with a separate thermometer that the
grill is dropping below the set temp and then auger does turn? Does the
temp "run away", and then there is no need for pellets and the fire
burns out before more heat is needed? You mention bridging... do the
pellets have a tendency to bridge and the auger just runs out of pellets
and then the grill goes out? Could the auger motor have a bad spot on
the armature and it just doesn't start when it lands on that spot?

Just thinking out loud with some troubleshooting steps.


In order for it to be turning at the proper rpm, it has to be turning. I
can measure that by setting
a temp and having no pellets in the bin.

Traeger mentioned that the pellets may be 'bridging' and therefore
recommends stirring the pellets
every couple hours to prevent same.

No, I've not verified anything with a separate thermometer, except that
the grill thermometer
accurately reads the ambient temp when I start the grill. That's the
first check on the whole
system.

This latest controller seems to be doing the job - so far. Traeger
controllers catch a lot of flak,
even on their Facebook page.


Maybe the Hotrod is failing. You can buy spares on amazon. I bought a two
pack, but have never needed a new one.