Once again another butt..

[HighOnSmoke]

I have used Kerns peach nectar for injecting butts and it is nice.....I really like Kerns apricot or pear nectar as well.....not quite as sweet but really good

Great call on the Fine Swine and Bovine......it is one of my most favorite rubs......in fact I gotta get a hold of Tee for another jumbo size bottle 

I have to do the same thing actually. Lol running low.

Also before I left for getting my vehicle serviced the internal temp was 140° after only being 4.5 hrs. Yet my trager is giving me extremely high temps when set to 225°.  But when I put it to 180° it stays closer to that temp. The struggle is real.

Update just got home from doing some things in town and the but is currently at 167°. Cooking a little bit faster than I want. Hopefully the stall period is a long one

My Traeger Junior does the same at 225. If I want to smoke at 225 then I cook at 180.  I don't worry about that now since I "loaned" it to my son in the Coast Guard
and I know I won't be getting it back.  I did pass on that info to him before he took it off my deck.   

[dane2992]

No bark. I thought they would be mushy but they weren't.

I guess I'm not worried about the bark. Just don't want mushy meat. Lol

I have used Kerns peach nectar for injecting butts and it is nice.....I really like Kerns apricot or pear nectar as well.....not quite as sweet but really good

Great call on the Fine Swine and Bovine......it is one of my most favorite rubs......in fact I gotta get a hold of Tee for another jumbo size bottle 

I have to do the same thing actually. Lol running low.

Also before I left for getting my vehicle serviced the internal temp was 140° after only being 4.5 hrs. Yet my trager is giving me extremely high temps when set to 225°.  But when I put it to 180° it stays closer to that temp. The struggle is real.

Update just got home from doing some things in town and the but is currently at 167°. Cooking a little bit faster than I want. Hopefully the stall period is a long one

My Traeger Junior does the same at 225. If I want to smoke at 225 then I cook at 180.  I don't worry about that now since I "loaned" it to my son in the Coast Guard
and I know I won't be getting it back.  I did pass on that info to him before he took it off my deck.   

It drove me nuts this time. Worst I've dealt with. It was going back and forth on temps. The far side was 25-35° hotter which ended up cooking one side quicker so i had to rotate the butt to have the other side cooked all the way. Towards the end it wanted to get stupid over temp in the smoker. Far side reached 340° when on 225 setting.. Could my controller be going bad or the temp sensor in the barrel?

[dane2992]

No bark. I thought they would be mushy but they weren't.

So I pulled the butt apart around 8. Had some bark on some sections. Tasted great just wish I can get the temps better. So here's a thought. Would I be sble to do (hypothetically speaking) extended my junior? I have a spare barrel that I had sent to me from some shipping damage. I brain stormed a little and was wondering if I could utilize the original hopper but say cut the  edge of both junior barrels and have them welded together? Thoughts. Probably a dumb idea but wth right? Lol

[TentHunteR]

Peach nectar is a GREAT flavor for pork, as is apple.

Could my controller be going bad or the temp sensor in the barrel?

When did you last clean your temp sensor?  Not cleaning your temp sensors regularly can cause a layer of gunk to build up and keep it from sensing the temperature properly.  It' kind of like putting a glove on and trying to tell how hot your grill is.

I use a Scotch-Brite to clean ours.

[muebe]

Struggling keeping low temps is normal for the Junior. I used to own one.

Same size firepot and heat output as it's larger brother but obviously a smaller barrel.

The factory controller is not great at regulating temps because of how it operates. It is not smart. It does not try to anticipate fluctuations like a PID controller does.

In smoke mode(180F) it does not even take the temp measurement reading into use. It runs a on/off timing cycle. This is where the P setting makes a difference.

[dane2992]

Peach nectar is a GREAT flavor for pork, as is apple.

Could my controller be going bad or the temp sensor in the barrel?

When did you last clean your temp sensor?  Not cleaning your temp sensors regularly can cause a layer of gunk to build up and keep it from sensing the temperature properly.  It' kind of like putting a glove on and trying to tell how hot your grill is.

I use a Scotch-Brite to clean ours.

I haven't cleaned it since a few cooks. Next use I'll go and get it cleaned.

But can anyone chim in about welding two junior barrels together? Would it work?

[tlg4942]

  I think Cliff and Mike are on to better fixes...  First, keep the sensors clean. Every cook.  A little grease on the  sensor might cause it to run hot vs dry smoke residue cause it to be erratic.
   Upgrade to a PID controller if you can and plan to keep the grill long enough to warrant it.   

 I don't expect the second barrel will help control temps enough to fix the issue if at all.  It would slow down the fluctuation and it might(most likely) lower the over all temp.
It will use more fuel overall, may cause early burner failure. who knows for sure?  but you gain cooking space. 
 And some of us do love modifying things.... So if you do it please post it!  Think about having controllable vents between the two barrels....

This was just my humble opinion ...
 

[dane2992]

  I think Cliff and Mike are on to better fixes...  First, keep the sensors clean. Every cook.  A little grease on the  sensor might cause it to run hot vs dry smoke residue cause it to be erratic.
   Upgrade to a PID controller if you can and plan to keep the grill long enough to warrant it.   

 I don't expect the second barrel will help control temps enough to fix the issue if at all.  It would slow down the fluctuation and it might(most likely) lower the over all temp.
It will use more fuel overall, may cause early burner failure. who knows for sure?  but you gain cooking space. 
 And some of us do love modifying things.... So if you do it please post it!  Think about having controllable vents between the two barrels....

This was just my humble opinion ...

I think it's a gamble on combining the two. I was thinking of only making it as big as the bigger model above the junior that uses the same fire pot and auger setup. I'm going to due some research and get in contact with my welder. I'm going to be smoking ribs on Wednesday or Thursday so I'm going to clean the sensor, vacuum the fire pot out and see what temps I get during the 6hr cook.