So after much consideration and research I finally opted for and ordered a Traeger Ironwood XL.
- Do I still think a Pellet Smoker is kind of cheating compared to an offset?
- Yes.
- Do I have small children and there is no chance I would get away with spending an entire day managing a fire, drinking beer and making Brisket?
- Also yes
- Do I still want to be able to make and eat Pulled Pork, Brisket, Pastrami etc?
- Hell yes.
I think you know where this is going...
So anyway, I ordered it and after the usual annoyance with the delivery company it arrived on a Pallet. The thing is huge. Luckily I had some help to unpack all the poxes in the carport where it was delivered to and then finally carry the main barrel into the house where I assembled it.
Sadly it was too late to do the setup and seasoning so that had to wait.
Impressions about the grill after building it:
- Building it was easy, really easy. Everything was coded and all tools included. I obviously used my own tools, but the ones that came with seems serviceable.
- Build construction is solid! It is heavy and seems like it will last forever.
- Did I mention it is huge? Absolutely massive. I knew it was the XL and it was big, but this is even bigger than I thought. The 8 Pork Butts may not be an exaggeration.
Turning it on:
I rolled it out of the outside room and connected it. All was fine, it was connected to the WiFi network and did a system update (always worrying). Once the system update was done it rebooted and had lost everything. It then refused to pair again. So I tried turning it off and on again, and that is when the display didn't turn back on. Slight panic and some googling led me to powercycling the grill (turn off, unplug, turn on (while unplugged), leave 30 seconds, turn off, plug in, turn on). 3 powercycles later it turned back on.
Re-did the Wifi setup and this time the app let me name it and everything. Both App and Grill said "success". So I started the seasoning. It is going as I type this.
So is everything solved? Nope... App is telling me the Grill is offline and the grill is not using the name I gave it. So not all setup kinks have been resolved, but at least the grill is now seasoning. Hopefully it will be solved with restarting the Grill, but we will have to see if I have to forget and re-add the grill yet again.
To be continued...
Continued...
So once the seasoning was done it all worked, the name updated, the Wifi works etc.
Now I am doing my first cook on it and will refer to the Show Us What You're Cooking thread once I have created it.
- Do I still think a Pellet Smoker is kind of cheating compared to an offset?
- Yes.
- Do I have small children and there is no chance I would get away with spending an entire day managing a fire, drinking beer and making Brisket?
- Also yes
- Do I still want to be able to make and eat Pulled Pork, Brisket, Pastrami etc?
- Hell yes.
I think you know where this is going...
So anyway, I ordered it and after the usual annoyance with the delivery company it arrived on a Pallet. The thing is huge. Luckily I had some help to unpack all the poxes in the carport where it was delivered to and then finally carry the main barrel into the house where I assembled it.
Sadly it was too late to do the setup and seasoning so that had to wait.
Impressions about the grill after building it:
- Building it was easy, really easy. Everything was coded and all tools included. I obviously used my own tools, but the ones that came with seems serviceable.
- Build construction is solid! It is heavy and seems like it will last forever.
- Did I mention it is huge? Absolutely massive. I knew it was the XL and it was big, but this is even bigger than I thought. The 8 Pork Butts may not be an exaggeration.
Turning it on:
I rolled it out of the outside room and connected it. All was fine, it was connected to the WiFi network and did a system update (always worrying). Once the system update was done it rebooted and had lost everything. It then refused to pair again. So I tried turning it off and on again, and that is when the display didn't turn back on. Slight panic and some googling led me to powercycling the grill (turn off, unplug, turn on (while unplugged), leave 30 seconds, turn off, plug in, turn on). 3 powercycles later it turned back on.
Re-did the Wifi setup and this time the app let me name it and everything. Both App and Grill said "success". So I started the seasoning. It is going as I type this.
So is everything solved? Nope... App is telling me the Grill is offline and the grill is not using the name I gave it. So not all setup kinks have been resolved, but at least the grill is now seasoning. Hopefully it will be solved with restarting the Grill, but we will have to see if I have to forget and re-add the grill yet again.
To be continued...
Continued...
So once the seasoning was done it all worked, the name updated, the Wifi works etc.
Now I am doing my first cook on it and will refer to the Show Us What You're Cooking thread once I have created it.
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