Apologies if the this has been asked a lot -- I did try a search and didn't see anything. I'm a newbie smoker/griller with a brand new Camp Chef Smoke Pro. For my very first cook I'm going to try the Sweet Georgia Brown's Smoked Chicken recipe. I'm going to do it skin-off, smoking the skin separately as suggested. My pellet grill has a Gen 2 controller that has smoke settings from 1-10. The recipe suggests using a bit less wood than normal. I'm not sure how to translate that to a controller setting. I have a bag of Traeger competition mix pellets to work with. My instinct is to set it at 5, right in the middle. Any suggestions? I like smoke, but I don't want to wreck the chicken.
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Camp Chef SmokePro Pellet Grill Setting for Chicken
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First, welcome to the pit. I cook chicken on pellet grills skin on at 350-400. Using less wood wood apply to other types of smokers. My recommendation would be try it simple first, 375 and not playing with skin, then adjust next cook if needed. This link should take you to the last chicken I halved and cooked at 400 on the MAK. https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...27#post1028527
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If you are used to food being served off charcoal, then pellets do have a lighter profile. In that case, I might try it at 10. Chicken as glitchy notes usually is cooked at 400, and pellet smokers don’t produce a lot of smoke at that temp. You could start the chicken off at 200 for an hour to add more smoke and then finish it at 400 if you want.
I am also not sure if the Traeger blend uses lower quality fillers which might reduce the smoke further. I would see if you can find Lumberjack brand or Cookin pellets brand for next time.
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Lumberjack can be found in stores but Cookin is generally online https://cookinpellets.com/
Traeger pellets are probably good, but they did face a lawsuit a few years ago over pellet quality. Plus, they are suing another manufacturer over WiFi patents that many here regard as frivolous.
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Something that has really helped me over the years is to start a journal so you can document the date, what you cooked, seasoning used, temp cooked at and internal temp when the cook was completed. I separated it by poultry, pork, beef and fish to make it easy. Make sure you have a good instant read thermometer, that is essential. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
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Club Member
- Jul 2019
- 2118
- Central IA
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MAK 2 Star General
KBQ C-60
Weber Summit Charcoal Grillw/ Big Joetisserie, SnS LP, and VortexWeber Genesis II - S-345
Weber Traveler
Fireboard 2 Drive
Anova Precision Sous Vide
All the (pellet) grills I’ve loved before:
Traeger Junior Elite^
GMG DB
Traeger Texas Elite
Memphis Pro§
Traeger Pro 575
CampChef SmokePro STX (ugly grills need love too)
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
Traeger Select
CampChef Woodwind WiFi w/SearBox^
Weber SmokeFire EX4§
^ = Favorites
§ = Love/Hate Relationships
Just as an FYI, CampChefs smoke setting isn’t a magical smoke producer. Basically, the higher you set it, the more the controller lets the temps swing. This does create some more smoke as pellets smolder more. However, your temps could easily swing plus/minus 25 degrees or more on 10. The food will still be fine, but don’t want you to think there’s something wrong with your grill if you have a remote thermometer and watch pit temps and notice the swings. At 300 plus though, smoke is going to be light regardless of the setting.
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Yeah, I read about this in the manual (I actually read those things, it's probably a character flaw). I'm not sure how much of a tradeoff there is between steady temperature and more smoke with a well controlled average temperature. I guess I'll have to figure out what I like!
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DeborahL In my experience the swings mean very little to food. Where it does make a difference is if you are smoking at 275 and getting 50 degree swings you can have issues with sugary rubs and a little more crispy bark. But if you know what it swings you adjust set temp accordingly. I had a CampChef for a while, but don’t remember what I saw for swings at level 10. Seems like plus/minus 30 was highest, but I’ve played with so many pellet grills past 3-4 years I can’t recall for sure.
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