RT Rob
Member
- Messages
- 5
- Grill(s) owned
- Bullseye
Weekend, of course, and I know I'll get good help from Tony Miles or one of his friends on Monday but I'd like to figure something out to resume tonight's ribs. [edited to correct Tony's name].
Today, I got one of those dense, smokey grease or creosote fires, again. The Bullseye was about a hour into a smoke set at just 225 degrees. Single rack of pork back ribs rubbed and light spray of olive oil over the top. I'm sure I should have removed all flaked grease on center of drip plate which was mostly covered with some flaking-up mess but, over several years with barrel-type pellet smokers, I never had such a fire when the grill was set lower than around 400 degrees.
So I'm wondering whether, unattended, something could have malfunctioned causing the temp to rise much higher than 225 degrees causing this fire to ensue. The temp display showed about 450 when I showed up and felt the need to unplug it sooner than wait for the shutdown cycle. Subsequent inspection showed normal-looking burn chamber, just a bit too much creosote on the drip pan and, maybe, a bit around the bottom of the chamber.
I've had a few more grease fires than I like to admit with previous barrel-style pellet smokers from a popular brand but never at a middle or lower temperature. I will add that the fan was operating whereas, brand-new, this grill had a faulty fan which I had to replace myself. When the fan stopped, the burning pellets kept being overfed to where they spilled out of the burn chamber, also creating dense smoke.
[Editing to add that I found some chat, somewhere online, about how a smoker might be set for 275 degrees but a normal drip pan might be 500 degrees. I'm thinking that the design of the Bullseye, with it's parabolic shaped circular drip pan might be designed to heat even hotter than the drip pan in a normal barrel smoker meaning that it must be cleaned more aggressively.]
[Edited to insert pic of drip pan when I first opened grill after intense smoke incident while showing 450 degrees when set for 225. Was this enough mess to create so much smoke? It had looked flaky like during previous cooks including the previous pork shoulder with foil drip pan underneath.]
Today, I got one of those dense, smokey grease or creosote fires, again. The Bullseye was about a hour into a smoke set at just 225 degrees. Single rack of pork back ribs rubbed and light spray of olive oil over the top. I'm sure I should have removed all flaked grease on center of drip plate which was mostly covered with some flaking-up mess but, over several years with barrel-type pellet smokers, I never had such a fire when the grill was set lower than around 400 degrees.
So I'm wondering whether, unattended, something could have malfunctioned causing the temp to rise much higher than 225 degrees causing this fire to ensue. The temp display showed about 450 when I showed up and felt the need to unplug it sooner than wait for the shutdown cycle. Subsequent inspection showed normal-looking burn chamber, just a bit too much creosote on the drip pan and, maybe, a bit around the bottom of the chamber.
I've had a few more grease fires than I like to admit with previous barrel-style pellet smokers from a popular brand but never at a middle or lower temperature. I will add that the fan was operating whereas, brand-new, this grill had a faulty fan which I had to replace myself. When the fan stopped, the burning pellets kept being overfed to where they spilled out of the burn chamber, also creating dense smoke.
[Editing to add that I found some chat, somewhere online, about how a smoker might be set for 275 degrees but a normal drip pan might be 500 degrees. I'm thinking that the design of the Bullseye, with it's parabolic shaped circular drip pan might be designed to heat even hotter than the drip pan in a normal barrel smoker meaning that it must be cleaned more aggressively.]
[Edited to insert pic of drip pan when I first opened grill after intense smoke incident while showing 450 degrees when set for 225. Was this enough mess to create so much smoke? It had looked flaky like during previous cooks including the previous pork shoulder with foil drip pan underneath.]
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