Calling all 380-X owners

[C. Keeper]

My Aura just arrived.

Any cautions, tips, warnings, suggestions will be appreciated. I plan to just put it on my 380X and bring it to 650. Please warn me if this is a bad plan.

Going to the grocery store for some 80/20 1/2 pounders.

I will report back later.

v/r r

No issues, keep it oiled to prevent rust.

 

[Jgmantle]

Obviously, I am not afraid to make a thread for myself. If nothing else, it will allow me to capture my lessons learned and may be of some value to others in the future.

I am having a great Florida day for testing my new 380X... Ambient is 73, a light breeze, and low humidity (relatively), Pun intended.

Round one questions in order:

Question 1: Can I just do a burn off to clean out standing grease?
I turned on the grill and set the temp to FULL. At about 600 the grease is vaporizing and burning (but with no grease fire as long as the lid is closed). After 20 minutes, the BD was at 950 degrees (Note: Using Traeger Apple pellets). Turned the temperature back to 700 and checked the grill. All the grease was gone. Only a grey ash that will brush right out.

Answer to question 1: A burn out is the perfect way to remove all residual grease. In less than 20 minutes, my grill was clean, dry, and ready to go again. No down side noted. No grease fire with lid closed.

Question 2: Do I need Grill Grates for the BD 380X? Would Cast Iron be better for searing with the BD 380X?

I don't have an answer yet to Question 2, but I have some observations and test results that prove several things to myself.
1. Based on what I saw when I cooked frozen Costco Burgers at 400 digress,

Up until about 2 hours ago, I was concerned about whether or not the BD 380X was really able to do a measurable amount of Direct Heat cooking. Without a Drip Tray used in the standard pellet grills, in theory the cast iron heat diffuser could become a direct cooking heat source. The issue was whether the "standoff" between the diffuser and the cooking grill was so large that it would not provide effective direct heat.

Answer: After the burn out at 950, I dropped the temperature control to 700. I wanted to see if it would catch itself and stay at 700. It did this perfectly.
At 700,

I went to the kitchen and brought back a split English muffin and a thick (3/8") slice of thanksgiving ham. I put the muffin halves and the ham directly onto the cooking grate (no butters, oils, etc). I basically closed the lid and gave it a couple of minutes.

When I opened the lid, the english muffin was browning nicely, the ham slice was starting to bubble a bit. Closed the lid and gave it about 3 minutes (more or less) and I was smelling charred bread.

The english muffins were charred black on the outer edges, the muffins were well browned and crunchy. At 700 degrees, there is enough direct heat to make very crunch toasted bread.

I flipped the ham and gave it a couple of more minutes. It came out with a good black char (way to dried for a planned recipe item) but crispy like bacon.

My observation is that at 700 dome temperature, the heat diffuser is putting out enough direct heat to char ham and toast bread.

More testing is needed.

Still looking for more real world observations from the community, but I am intrigued by my new BD 380X.

I am on my way to Costco to buy coffee and maybe a piece of beef to grill.

v/r r

I would be very leary of having any standing grease in my 380. I failed to use a drip pan on a brisket. The result was a huge grease fire, a giant lump of char, and damage to my 380. It ruined a couple temp probes as well. So I learned a valuable lesson. It also prompted me to buy a Flagship 1400XL.

 

[Jgmantle]

I have my new bullseye deluxe out of the box, assembled, 1 hour burn completed and a completely boring seasoning cook. 6 frozen 70/30 Costco 1/3 pound burgers at 400 degrees with Traeger Apple Pellets.

The BD cooked the burgers, I do have a fair amount of grease puddled on top of the cast iron heat deflector. No grease fire and no events.

400 degree pellet grill frozen burgers are what they are. I established a base line using the BD at 400.

Ready for today:

Question 1: Do we just fire up the BD and set for Hi to burn off the extra grease now congealed on the deflector? Does anyone Remove the Greasy deflector and take it into the utility sink and scrub it clean (I hate this idea). What is the down side of just doing a controlled burn off. Maybe just set at 700 and let the grease run it to 1000?

Observation 1: There is nothing special about the 400 degree mark in my BD. I don't see much difference between the BD cook at 400 and my BFG cook at 400. I suspect that I am going to cook some things at the 600 degree and 750 degree temps to see what is what.

Question 2: Grill Grates... I have owned them a few times over the years and am not a huge proponent. They ARE much lighter than cast iron but they do not store the heat like a big piece of cast iron for searing. I would appreciate any opinions on the effectiveness of the Grill Grates on the BD Deluxe. The mothership suggests 750 and not HI for the max temp,

Request from me to you guys. I would like ANY observations, comments, quirks, tricks etc that you would be willing to share. I sense that there is a big potential with this thing, I just have to figure it out.

thanks in advance.

v/r r

After destroying a brisket and a couple temp probes via a grease fire on my 380, I did two things. First, I learned that 380 = Drip Pan. Second, I bought a Flagship 1400XL. And I still use a drip pan for fatty meats even on the 1400.

 

[rhouser]

Congratulations on you new XL. Yep, my Bullseye needs the grease pans, but what a great little cooker.

v/r r