Fairly new to Pellet Smoking

[sindian]

New here and glad to be apart of the Recteq community, I have a 590 Deck Boss and thinking of cooking a Boston butt and a Brisket Friday night. Little nervous cause my first 2 cooks I had grease fires, first time I was cooking chicken thighs around 400 and the 2nd time I was again cooking thighs except around 320 and still had a fire. The Boston Butt is about 7.8lbs and the Brisket is only about 7.2lbs. Figured I'd have to do the Boston Butt starting Friday night but not sure if I will need to start the Brisket Friday night or just wait till Early Saturday morning to put it on?

Any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated as this is my first Pellet smoker and even with the grease fires I really like it just a little nervous

 

[TheRicker]

It sounds like your grease drip pan is not in properly. The “tall end” of your drip pan should be hanging over into the grease tray that is on the end where your grease bucket is.

My other thought is you’re on an uneven surface…preventing gravity and the grill’s design from working properly.

Here’s a pic of my RT-700 with everything removed. If you look closely, you’ll see the sunlight coming in through the grease drip tube…that drains into the bucket. But there’s a narrow tray that goes across that entire side wall of the cooking chamber. It’s hard to tell it’s there because the outward flange of the tray is coming straight towards you with the angle of the picture. The bottom edge of your drip pan, the tall end, should be resting in that grease tray. The other end, with the short edge, should be propped up on the metal ledge on the opposite side wall of the cooking chamber.

Bottom line is there’s got to be slope, left to right not front to back, that allows your drip pan to drain to the grease tray (trough) that then drains through the grease tube into the grease bucket.

A good test with your grill off and cooled down is to take the grates out. Pour a cup of water on the drip pan and make sure it’s going into the grease tray and into the bucket. If it isn’t, something is wrong.

Make sure nothing is blocking the drip tube to the bucket.

 

[Jim6820]

Welcome to the forum; lots of good folks here with long experience in grilling and smoking. And, they are more than willing to share their knowledge.

Chicken cooks are notorious for grease fires IME. I don’t think you will have a similar experience with pork butts and brisket, especially since you will likely be cooking them at a lower temperature. Just make sure you don’t have any hold-over chicken grease in the cooking chamber to flare up.

I’m not a big fan of overnight cooks, at least when I can help it. I’d rather get up at 5 am to fire up the grill and then put things on about 5:30 am. I’m guessing with the weights you cited, you’ll only need about 8-9 hours cook time, so putting things on at 5:30 am should get things done in plenty of time for dinner.

I like to rest my cooked proteins at least an hour—and, up to 5 hours—after the cook is finished. Starting early will give enough time for a good rest after the cook is finished. It also allows you some “fudge time’ if things run longer than expected. If the cook finishes early, you just rest the protein longer. Using a good, insulated box or bag will help keep things properly warm for quite a while.

Good luck on your cook.

 

[Waterboy]

Welcome aboard. In addition to checking what @TheRicker and @Jim6820 mentioned I’ll ask the next question. Do you line your drip pan with foil? Sometimes grease will pool on the foil if it isn’t placed real flat. Pooled grease and higher temps make for some awesome grease fires.

 

[TheRicker]

My apologies!!! I addressed your grease fire issue and not your cooking question.

That said, I have done 3 overnight cooks for brisket and pork butt. Two of them went well and one not so much. It wasn’t a failure on that one it was the brisket cooking too fast and I just didn’t get but four hours of sleep. I wasn’t much fun at dinner time. That is now my preference for big proteins. My point is that with an overnight cook you need to plan and prep for any contingency…e.g., rain, having temp probes to alert you if something goes wrong in your cooking chamber or the meat, running out of pellets, having all your gloves and materials ready to wrap the meat, etc should attention is needed in the middle of the night.

But Jim makes very valid points. He’s got a ton more experience than I do. He’s got a good feel for the processes involved…and things that could go wrong. In fact, a long cook starting at O’dark early will still give you more experience. Maybe after several of those, and put several notches in your belt, you’ll be more prepared to take on an overnight cook.

You may want to experiment doing an overnight cook when there’s no pressure to feed a bunch of people at a specific time…a no pressure situation.

I would absolutely discourage you from an overnight cook until you have resolved your grease fire issue. I’m not sure you should cook on it at all until you’ve resolved that issue.

Back to your grease issues…..don’t forget to take your drip tray out and look to see where grease is at in the bottom of the barrel / cooking chamber. Take pictures. That may provide some clue as to the source of the grease fires. Make sure grease isn’t coming out of the grease tray and dripping into the cooking chamber.

 

[TheRicker]

Welcome aboard. In addition to checking what @TheRicker and @Jim6820 mentioned I’ll ask the next question. Do you line your drip pan with foil? Sometimes grease will pool on the foil if it isn’t placed real flat. Pooled grease and higher temps make for some awesome grease fires.

Your response is a good reminder for me to Keep It Simple…

I (too often) jump into the deep end of the pool.

 

[sindian]

Hey ok and thanks to everybody for the answers and responses. I have the drip tray on the right way but I do have it on my parents Gazebo so maybe it isn't as even as it needs to be? Would rather start my cook early anyway so it's good to hear that those cuts should get done with cooking early. So if in fact it's because I have it on uneven ground should I clean out the area the grease goes through into the bucket?

First fire I was using the teflon mat I bought from Recteq, called and the guy said even though it's said to be able to cook at 450 they don't recommend cooking over 300 because grease spots can get higher and catch fire, 2nd fire I had foil on.

 

[SweaT-rex]

It sounds like your fat drippings aren't draining off or is it possible the heat deflector is not installed properly between the firepot and the drip tray?

 

[TheRicker]

Hey ok and thanks to everybody for the answers and responses. I have the drip tray on the right way but I do have it on my parents Gazebo so maybe it isn't as even as it needs to be? Would rather start my cook early anyway so it's good to hear that those cuts should get done with cooking early. So if in fact it's because I have it on uneven ground should I clean out the area the grease goes through into the bucket?

First fire I was using the teflon mat I bought from Recteq, called and the guy said even though it's said to be able to cook at 450 they don't recommend cooking over 300 because grease spots can get higher and catch fire, 2nd fire I had foil on.

An uneven surface is a possibility. I recommend pouring a cup of water on to your drip pan and see if it’s tracking into the grease trough and from there to your grease bucket. you can do it with the grill cold so you can lift up the drip tray and see if the water is making its way from the trough to the bucket.

The key is to make sure that water, or grease during a real cook, isn’t getting into your cooking chamber and/or near the fire pot.

Regarding the teflon mat, I refer back to one of the earlier responses that suggested you check to make sure the fire isn’t actually starting on top of the drip pan. And I’d also suggest making sure the heat deflector is positioned correctly over the firepot. Without the heat deflector, the fire would be coming right up under the drip pan…most likely causing a fire.

I apologize if I’m coming across poorly. I’ve done a lot of technical support in my career and have learned never to assume anything. Maybe you didn’t get a firepot heat deflector in your shipment. And if you didn’t, you might not be aware there’s supposed to be a steel or cast iron heat deflector over your firepot between the firepot and the drip pan/tray. . I’m just trying to cover all the possibilities.

Last thing…it’s good to know about the Teflon mat on the drip tray. I just bought one last Friday. I haven’t put it on yet but will soon. I don’t often do hot & fast cooks on my RT-700. But it’s good to know the limitations of that mat.

 

[TheRicker]

https://support.recteq.com/hc/en-us...y-Happen-How-To-React-and-How-to-Prevent-Them

https://support.recteq.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417639549723-My-Grill-Is-Leaking-Grease

 

[sindian]

Thanks everybody, some very helpful tips, not sure ill get to my parents house and have time to deal with grill this weekend but I'll check it out and if I remember take some pics. thanks again

 

[WooPigFoodie]

It sounds like your grease drip pan is not in properly. The “tall end” of your drip pan should be hanging over into the grease tray that is on the end where your grease bucket is.

My other thought is you’re on an uneven surface…preventing gravity and the grill’s design from working properly.

Here’s a pic of my RT-700 with everything removed. If you look closely, you’ll see the sunlight coming in through the grease drip tube…that drains into the bucket. But there’s a narrow tray that goes across that entire side wall of the cooking chamber. It’s hard to tell it’s there because the outward flange of the tray is coming straight towards you with the angle of the picture. The bottom edge of your drip pan, the tall end, should be resting in that grease tray. The other end, with the short edge, should be propped up on the metal ledge on the opposite side wall of the cooking chamber.

Bottom line is there’s got to be slope, left to right not front to back, that allows your drip pan to drain to the grease tray (trough) that then drains through the grease tube into the grease bucket.

A good test with your grill off and cooled down is to take the grates out. Pour a cup of water on the drip pan and make sure it’s going into the grease tray and into the bucket. If it isn’t, something is wrong.

Make sure nothing is blocking the drip tube to the bucket.

View attachment 22583

Well done. Great explanations.

 

[sindian]

OK took pictures this morning, Grill is level and after I took off the foil from the last cook I poured water and it went down to the bucket like it should. I' assuming that I didn't have the foil pressed out good enough? After 2 cooks of chicken thats all the grease that was in the bucket

 

[Waterboy]

It looks to me like your grease “chute” from the drip tray to the bucket leaks into the bottom of the barrel (pics 3 & 4). The black area in the ash at the bottom of the barrel looks like the grease wicked over near the fire pot then burned back up the chute and on up to your drip tray. You may want to seal that chute up with some high heat sealant. Seams like something recteq should have done. I’d share those pictures with customer service.

 

[sindian]

That would make since cause both times I had fire there was a lot of smoke coming from under the grill where the bucket is.

Edit: Well called and talked to someone and he said everything looks good, said if it was a serious grease fire it would have burned for a lot longer than it did and the temp would have gotten over or around 600 and the 2 cooks I did only got about 30 degrees higher than it was supposed to. Said it looked like I have everything installed correctly.

He said that the fire I had probably happened because I opened the lid and suggested I do the Firmware update and let it run for a hour at 400 and see how it does.

 

[Waterboy]

Well the CS rep can say what he/she wants but when you have grease leaking down by the fire pot you are going to have problems. If it were me I’d seal around the chute.

 

[Jim6820]

Edit: Well called and talked to someone and he said everything looks good, said if it was a serious grease fire it would have burned for a lot longer than it did and the temp would have gotten over or around 600 and the 2 cooks I did only got about 30 degrees higher than it was supposed to. Said it looked like I have everything installed correctly.

He said that the fire I had probably happened because I opened the lid and suggested I do the Firmware update and let it run for a hour at 400 and see how it does.

Really? He said that after seeing the photos? Seems like a “Firmware upgrade” is the solution to just about everything…including grease fires. Can we now refer to it as “the magic firmware upgrade?”

 

[sindian]

Yeah crazy, he said the fire started because I opened the lid during a hot spike, oxygen hitting it and all that... I may try someone else Monday but I'll see how it goes.

 

[RattleR]

Yeah crazy, he said the fire started because I opened the lid during a hot spike, oxygen hitting it and all that... I may try someone else Monday but I'll see how it goes.

Watch out for the short guy.

 

[TheRicker]

In that first picture from above your drip pan, I would say to make sure the drip pan isn't all the way up against the side wall but just over the lip of that grease trough. That said, it clearly looks like the fire is the result of grease working its way back towards the firepot and catching fire there...and burning back to the grease trough...where the drip pan drains.

Suggestion...take the aluminum foil off the drip tray and just use it "naked". Again, make sure the right side is just over the flange to the grease trough. Looking at your picture of the foil on your drip pan I see lots of wrinkles. Grease could be pooling. And don't take offense by that. I still struggle trying to get the foil smooth flat when I put it on. And, I also have had it folded under the bottom edge of the bottom, right end of the drip pan. I think that's a no-no that I may have been lucky to get away with. I'm just starting to use my drip tray naked. I still find grease under the foil when I have been changing it. Kind of defeats the purpose if it's still getting grease on it. I have a 4" wide putty knife / scraper to use on it from now on. Anyway, give that a shot.

Glad you tried the water test. You might want to try it again with like a pint or quart of water. Also, please double-check the drip tube to the grease bucket. That's not a lot of grease in that bucket. Since that grease tube goes "backwards" underneath the grill, I'm not sure you can get a long screwdriver in there. Maybe a bent coat hanger or some sort of flexible, spring-like thingee. (That's technical jargon for "I don't know what to call the object I'm thinking about.) A miniature drain auger? LOL

I have to throw the BS flag at the CSR that said firmware caused that. That doesn't make any sense unless that CSR has never seen or used one of the RecTeq grills with the drip tray. Your pictures are clear (good job on that).