Dab_Smoke_810
Member
Do you ever cook in smoke/p setting ? I like using the smoke for the first few hours around 200 depending on weather
For those with a smoke mode-P setting
- Thread starter Dab_Smoke_810
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brewersfan73
Well-known member
I do the exact same thing. SMOKE setting for a couple of hours and then set it to a temperature for the rest of the cook. I couldn't do this in the dead of winter in WI since it couldn't keep at a high enough temp. I guess I could have changed the P-setting to compensate, but I didn't bother.
I've never done a full cook using just the SMOKE setting.
I've never done a full cook using just the SMOKE setting.
Freedbyjc
Well-known member
I use mine on the smoke dial until the meats IT reaches the controller temperature and then turn it up to finish it.
Getting awesome smoke flavor in your food is not how much smoke the meat sits in, or what brand of pellet is burning but in how long your meat sits in the Smoke.
Why buy a smoke tube? If you turn the dial down, You can enjoy the real smoke flavor. Turn your dial down... Lower temperature =Longer time to cook= longer exposure to
Smoke and more time to absorb that smoke= More Smoke flavor.
You get just as much smoke production at 200-250° as you do on the Smoke setting. But the difference is that at the lower temperature setting (Smoke) the meat sits in the smoke longer to reach the desired IT and absorbs more smoke flavor.
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On the Smoke dial setting you want a temp around 170-180°, +/- 10 degrees. Smoke your food for 60-75% of your cook then, if necessary to achieve your desired finish IT, turn up the temp to 225/250° to finish.
When I’m smoking on the smoke dial setting (170-180°) and the meats Internal Temperature (IT) reaches or gets close to the dial setting temperature as what’s on the smoker’s controller, I’ll turn the dial to 250° so the meats IT continues to rise.
The meats IT is the only temperature
Tim W
Well-known member
How long does that allow the meat to be in the danger zone?
Freedbyjc
Well-known member
There’s absolutely no DANGER Zone WHILE cooking meats. It’s AFTER it’s cooked that the issue occurs.
Don’t just wonder or take our word … Read it for yourself … knowledge is power.
Leaving food out too long at room temperature can cause bacteria (such as Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella Enteritidis, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Campylobacter) to grow to dangerous levels that can cause illness. Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 °F and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often called the "Danger Zone."
You’re not leaving it out, you’re actively heating it to eat. So, as the minimal smoking environment is normally 180-190° (and usually much higher) hence the heated smoker is a sterile environment. The surface of the grates and the meat surfaces reach higher than 140° in a reasonable amount of time. Bacteria live on the surface of the meat. Any bacteria that may have entered the interior of the meat due to injection or other invasive procedures will be killed by smoking it through to the USDA recommended safe temperatures.
Tim W
Well-known member
Still sounds like injected meats need to reach 140 in 4 hrs internally?
Freedbyjc
Well-known member
No sir …. Because at 140° internally all bacteria dies. If it’s introduced through the injection it’ll die if take to a safe temperature and kept above that prior to consumption or refrigeration.
djsams
Member
I've read and heard that by the time the bark forms no more smoke flavor will penetrate the meat. For most cooks (typically 225-250 degrees) this is stated to be about 2 hours, so after that it's generally just cooking. True? False? Too dependent on meat and temperature to predict?
Mozella
New member
You say "
You get just as much smoke production at 200-250° as you do on the Smoke setting. But the difference is that at the lower temperature setting (Smoke) the meat sits in the smoke longer to reach the desired IT and absorbs more smoke flavor."
Please elaborate for a complete rookie when it comes to pellet grills. I'm not new to grilling or BBQ cooking but I'm brand new to the world of pellets.
I just got my PB1000 a couple of days ago. The first cook was a flank steak done at the highest temperature and to my relief it did a fine job searing the steak, something I was worried about after reading some of the mis-information on Al Gore's wonderful Internet. Other than at start up, the smoke production was almost non existent.
Next I tried a low/slow 7 hour cook on a rack of ribs. At a setting of 200 degrees I had to look very closely at the chimney to see any action at all, certainly it didn't look like the kind of smoke I regularly get from my big ceramic cooker when I add wood chunks to the charcoal or even my gas grill when I use a foil pouch full of wood chips. In other words, my PB was holding temperature steady at 200F but without producing smoke that I could detect by just glancing at the chimney.
That prompted me to switch to P mode, which was quite impressive. In P mode I got a significant puff of light blue smoke out of the chimney as well as leaking out around the lid for around 30 seconds or more, then it diminished for two minutes or so until the next P cycle at which time it produced a another very noticeable puff of smoke.
To be clear, in P mode the smoke production I got was no where near as prolific as the rather thick white smoke I get at start up, but it is definitely a significant amount of smoke on a regular 2 to 3 minute cycle, the kind of light blue smoke you would associate with "smoking" as opposed to just operating as a clean burning wood fired oven. At 200F the smoke was not ever noticable and hardly detectable without looking very closely at the chimney. I left it in P mode and it continued the same cycle for nearly 7 hours.
I was very happy with the results; i.e. nice smokey flavor without being over smoked.
Question: If, as you say, a 200F setting produces as much smoke as the Smoke setting why am I seeing such a difference in what comes out of the chimney when I switch from one mode to the other? Does your grill produce obviously noticeable smoke when set to 200F or 250F? Any guidance or tips from an Old Salt would be appreciated.
Freedbyjc
Well-known member
Does meat stop taking on smoke?
Another Popular misconception proved myth. I used to wrap and now I don’t because I know for a fact from my smoking experiences that meat WILL continue to take on Smoke as long as the surface is moist. I’ve tasted the difference....
"There is a popular myth that at some point the meat stops taking on smoke. Sorry, but meat does not have doors that it shuts at some time during a cook. There is a lot of smoke moving through the cooking chamber although sometimes it is not very visible. If the surface is cold or wet, more of it sticks. Usually, late in the cook, the bark gets pretty warm and dry, and by then the coals are not producing a lot of smoke. Smoke bounces off warm dry surfaces so we are fooled into thinking the meat is somehow saturated with smoke. Throw on a log and baste the meat and it will start taking on smoke again. Just don't baste so often that you wash off the smoke and rub.”
The reasons that this myth is so widely perpetuated is that people needed another reason to justify their use of the Texas Crutch.
https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...iring/what-you-need-know-about-wood-smoke-and
https://amazingribs.com/more-techni...nce/mythbusting-smoke-ring-no-smoke-necessary
Jimsmokes
Well-known member
False. As long as smoke is present it will stick to the surface and a moist surface helps it stick better. Which is why people spritz when cooking plus you can add flavor too.
It is true that once you past 140-160 IT temp it stops forming a smoke ring. Also having charcoal in your burn helps form a smoke ring.
I've been very curious how that whole P-mode works. Can you elaborate?
Smokeyholler
Well-known member
On my competition the P mode is manually timed auger run rather than holding a temp. 8 p settings each with a different runtime and off time. P0 feeds the most pellets so it has more smoke AND a higher temp associated with it. P0 will run at about 220. If I change to say P1 that feeds fewer pellets the temp will run about 215ish.
brewersfan73
Well-known member
Exactly. I will expand on this though. Since it is just a timed setting, the outside temperature plays a role in what temperature the grill will hold. P4 on an 80° day will run hotter than P4 on a 40° day.
Also, think of P as "pause", as in the pause in between the auger running. So the higher the P setting, the longer time between cycles, and therefore lower temps.
So on colder days it's beneficial to lower your P? Is the P more for smoke or temp?
