Smash Burgers and Residual Burn

PSU-85

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So I tried making smash burgers on the inverted sear grates. They actually turned out really well. Still working on the timing for burgers on the 700. Last ones were a little too rare for some of the family and tonight’s burgers, while still juicy, were over done in my opinion. Have a Thermapen on order so that may help but need to dial in the timing for medium rare.

Shut down the grill when I took the burgers off. After we ate I went out to see if the grill was cool enough to move back into the garage. When I went out I could see smoke coming out of the grill. First thought was a grease fire but once I got closer it was definitely wood smoke. Even though the grill had been off for 15 minutes, it was still smoking. Hadn’t seen this before. Only thing I can’t think of is that since I was running at 500* that it could have filled the burn pot just as I was shutting it down and it took that long for the pellets to burn off. Pulled the racks and grease pan and there was some orange glowing in the pot. Is this unusual or something that should be expected when cranking up the heat?

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Coming down from 500 could of been hot enough that after the cool down cycle (300 seconds) then when it primed the fire pot the pellets kept smoldering.
Just a thought...
 
One of the brags/selling points that RT hits on is how strong the fire pot is. It's comparatively thick steel and that mass will hold heat for some time after the igniter is turned off, not to mention the residual pellets still burning. Fifteen minutes isn't much time for all those factors to subside to being non combustible, especially from 500 degree starting point.
 
There's a good chance the high heat carried over to combust pellets added to the pot during shutdown. It's happened to a number of us. I get RT's design choice to automatically "prime" for the next cook, but they could do that in the start-up cycle instead.
 
There's a good chance the high heat carried over to combust pellets added to the pot during shutdown. It's happened to a number of us. I get RT's design choice to automatically "prime" for the next cook, but they could do that in the start-up cycle instead.
I agree with you, the adding pellets on shut down is stupid they could have done the pellet prime on start up. Makes cleaning the fire pot a PITA.
 
I do not use the pit for very high heat cooks often. When I do cook at a higher temp, after taking the food off the pit I adjust the temp setting down to 225 and leave the lid open while I bring the food inside. I will then go back out, lower the lid and turn the pit off. This usually brings the pit temp down low enough for the cool process to take place and not have the residual pellets still burning in the pot. I am not saying this is perfect, but the times I have used the method it has worked for me.
 
Mine has done this several times and seems to be a combination of residual heat in the fire pot and the pellet prime at the end of the burn down cycle. I agree the prime should happen at the start up, not the shut down, but not even a big deal in my opinion. Smoke on!
 
Which is what you said!
One of the brags/selling points that RT hits on is how strong the fire pot is. It's comparatively thick steel and that mass will hold heat for some time after the igniter is turned off, not to mention the residual pellets still burning. Fifteen minutes isn't much time for all those factors to subside to being non combustible, especially from 500 degree starting point.
is there an echo in here here here here here
 
I do not use the pit for very high heat cooks often. When I do cook at a higher temp, after taking the food off the pit I adjust the temp setting down to 225 and leave the lid open while I bring the food inside. I will then go back out, lower the lid and turn the pit off. This usually brings the pit temp down low enough for the cool process to take place and not have the residual pellets still burning in the pot. I am not saying this is perfect, but the times I have used the method it has worked for me.
Worse thing you can do is to leave the lid open while the grill is still running to try drop the temperature, turn turn the temperature down with the lid closed and then shut the grill off after it gets to a reasonable temperature like the 225 degrees you selected.
 
My stampede will occasionally take a considerable amount of time starting. Almost 10 minutes at times. Investigating one day, I realized my grill would do the smoldering/smoking thing up to 30 minutes after shutdown. Checking the pot, I found all the pellets that had primed after shutdown had smoldered into ash. The worst times it would also smolder up into the auger an inch or so. So combining burned pellets in the auger and a pot filled with ash shrouding the igniter, slow starts resulted.
I called CS. They said this is somewhat normal. They recommended that a clean pot is always a faster starting pot. Didn't say anything about bringing the grill down in temp before shutdown. This picture is after one 375F cook and a 30 smolder session after shutdown. There are zero pellets left in the pot and obvious smoldering headed up the auger.

My grill has never failed to start and it always on temp, so I can't complain too much.
 

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My stampede will occasionally take a considerable amount of time starting. Almost 10 minutes at times. Investigating one day, I realized my grill would do the smoldering/smoking thing up to 30 minutes after shutdown. Checking the pot, I found all the pellets that had primed after shutdown had smoldered into ash. The worst times it would also smolder up into the auger an inch or so. So combining burned pellets in the auger and a pot filled with ash shrouding the igniter, slow starts resulted.
I called CS. They said this is somewhat normal. They recommended that a clean pot is always a faster starting pot. Didn't say anything about bringing the grill down in temp before shutdown. This picture is after one 375F cook and a 30 smolder session after shutdown.

My grill has never failed to start and it always on temp, so I can't complain too much.
I'm still mystified why RecTec does the post fire grill prime the way they do, I would think pre fire would be better and solve issues like this.
 
I've never had this problem. When the cook is ready, 500° or not, I lower the temp setting to low, then open the lid, pull the meat, turn off the grill (shutdown mode)...leave the lid open, go eat, and then return to put the smoker away. It's never been too hot to even put the cover back on.
??
 
I've never had this problem. When the cook is ready, 500° or not, I lower the temp setting to low, then open the lid, pull the meat, turn off the grill (shutdown mode)...leave the lid open, go eat, and then return to put the smoker away. It's never been too hot to even put the cover back on.
??
I think the key here is
" I lower the temp setting to low"
 
I'm still mystified why RecTec does the post fire grill prime the way they do, I would think pre fire would be better and solve issues like this.

I had a Savannah controller on my Traeger. It's shutdown was temperature based. The fan would run until the grill got down to 150F I think. It would also do the auger cycle after shutting the fan off. I believe it was to prime the next start and clear any potential fire that would have been in the end of the auger. It never smoldered after it shut down.
I think Rec Tec should consider this method. It would ensure a depleted fire pot and then properly prime. Obviously they make a damn great grill, what do I really know? I have noticed fewer issues since by cleaning fire pot after every other cook and lower grill temp below 300 prior to shutting down.
 
Interesting notion, to manage it by temperature rather than time (300 second countdown). I still think the prime should be at start-up. It would help cleaning out the pot before a cook to not have extra material in there.
 
Good info! I have noticed that my 700 keeps smoking a good 15-20 minutes after shutdown. I was starting to get worried also. I will lower the temperature before shutdown mode next high heat cook and see if there is any difference.
 
I let mine cool back down and then I turn it off. I wait for the 300 second countdown to end and then I unplug it. Never had a problem after doing this method.
 
The first time I turned my grill off after a higher temp cook, it smoked for about 30 minutes, so now I do what was mentioned above. Turn down temp for a while, then off, then unplug, this also sets my temp back to lo or 225 for next cook...
 

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