Ribs on a Salvaged Traeger BBQ070

[danpatdav]

Someone in my neighborhood recently put an old Traeger out on the street. I have always wanted to try out a pellet smoker, so I cleaned it out, unjammed the auger, and replaced the controller. Everything works great now. However, my first cook was a brisket and I was really unhappy with the result. Dried out and bad taste. I’m sure it was user error, so I figured I would dial back my ambitions a bit and post a question to the community.

What is a bulletproof method for cooking ribs on a small pellet smoker? I use the standard ribs preparation with Memphis Dust and generally use St. Louis style ribs. But always on an pit barrel (drum) smoker.

Advice for a novice pellet smoker?

[CaptainMike]

That is a great find and worthy of refurbishing. Like my old BBQ 075 it's made of nice rolled steel instead of stamped.

I use my pellet pooper like any other grill as far as temps are concerned. I used to mess around with water pans, crutching, injecting and such, but have really boiled it down to selecting quality, well-marbled meat and do L&S at 250-275 with a rub of choice. I think you're just going to have to use it to find it's idiosyncrasies.

[rwalters]

Not sure about that Traeger, but I have cooked on way to many cookers over the years and IMO pellet cooked ribs are really hard to beat! Personally, I cook them (St. Louis) at 225° for about 7ish hours and I do not wrap. I start spritzing at the 2.5 hour mark and spritz every 45 mins til about the 6 hour mark. At that point I typically glaze and let things tighten up the last hour or so. Sooooo good!

[MBMorgan]

As far as temps go, I'm with CaptainMike ... 250-275 ... probably because I had a PBC before the pellet smoker and always got great results at its "normal" 275ish operating temperature. I always rub with MMD and then spritz with water (don't want any sugary liquid to gunk up the smoker) every 30-45 minutes then glaze about 30-45 minutes before they're ready to pull and serve. I never wrap.





I tend to cut each rack in half before cooking ... partially because a half rack is a full meal (or more) for just the wife and me and partially because they're much easier to arrange on the round Grilla.

[jgreen]

Agree with above. Trial and error, but your usual method is a good start. Have you got a good thermometer like a Smoke or Fireboard to make sure the temps on the controller are reading correctly?

[danpatdav]

Have you got a good thermometer like a Smoke or Fireboard to make sure the temps on the controller are reading correctly?

Yes, I have another digital probe in there to confirm that I am getting accurate temps.

[Troutman]

Great advice all around. I too like the cook at 275* in my pellet cooker. Just let them roll as you normally would.

[danpatdav]

Thanks all!

[rwalters]

They look GREAT! Well? How’d they turn out (taste, texture, moist, etc)? Were you happy with the results?

[bten]

I really like "rescuing" something that others want to discard, or sell at a greatly reduced price. Looks like you got a good one there. I have rescued a charcoal grill, gas grill, and a pellet grill. After a bit of work, they all cooked great food.

[FireMan]

Great find! You’ll do well. 👍👍👍. 🕶

[Chief1232]

Awesome Salvage! I Picked one up like that for $100 and I thought that was a good deal! If you're used to a more robust smoke flavor you may want to add a smoke tube to your arsenal. They are like 15 bucks on amazon.