i purchased a camp chep pellet grill. along wth my pk100 it is possible for me to smoke as well as grill. being totally blind i have to set the pk ahead of time or have person or face time someone to set the temp. the pk100 stays at the temperature that was last used. i have that figured out. now withe the camp chef the grill starts at the beginning of the menus . wondering if there is someone out there that has a camp chef 24 that could help me. i need to know the amount of times the controller needs to be pressed to get to the different settings and how many times the controller needs to be turned to access settings. if there is anyone that can assist me it would be totally appreciated.

I have been making sour crout for probably 30 years. shred the cabbage not to fine. place in a crock. pour salt over the cabbage. mix with your hands. add more cabbage and repeat the process until crock is almost full. place a plate over the cabbage to keep the liquid over the cabbage. mixing process takes time so be ready to spend time getting the cabbage and salt time to make liquid. cover with cheese cloth. place crock in a cool place. let sit 7 to 10 days. place in mason jars and seal. we usually get 20 or so quarts out of a crock. we use about a box of n iodined salt. pack cabbage tightly in crock but leave room so it can’t over flow. Excuse misspellings. i can’t post from my pc but can from my iphone

I appreciate all comments about the pk100 and cord. I was able to get the smoker to 250 on both cords and also connected to the wall directly. I agree about the use of the cord and will try to avoid them in the future. I never thought about gauge or length and that all makes since. That is possibly why the smoker wouldn’t climb Saturday. Still leaves me with the question of why the PK temp went up hightr when I opened the dampers, maybe just coincidental. Either way try no cord if possible or if a cord is needed get a heavier guage wire and short as possible. Thanks to all. I’ll post results next time I use the smoker. This group is awesome, thanks to all

ALso fyi written explanations would be great since pics graphs charts are not accessible to me because as the username states No Eyes Processor, for those that are new or have never seen myy posts I am totally blind. Look forward to anything on this one.

On saturday I attempted to make smoked chicken. I placed 2 small friers, about a dozen drum sticks, and about 8 bone in thighs. I also placed a water pan that took up about half a shelf in the pk100. Also a bowl of moist sawdust. I had one of the new hyperion thermometers. 1 probe in the breast of a chicken and the other for ambient temp. I had the pk on full power at 250 degrees. BOth dampers were closed all the way and no matter what after about 3 or so hours I was only at 176 on the ambient temp and like 139 in the breast of the chicken. I then added more sawdust and decided to open both dampers most of the way opened. To my surprise the temp went up to around 196. This made me doubt everything I had learned or tought myself in the past. I ended up putting the chickens in the oven to finish and the skin was tough so it couldn’t be eaten. I emailed Jon about this and the questions that I had were; since this is an electric smoker shouldn’t the temp rise to the 250 regardless of the state of the dampers? If the dampers are left opened how will the product pick up the smoky taste? And lastly did I have to go back to smokin 101? I did use an extension cord and originally thought the cord might be bad. I ran the smoker directly from the wall plug, and with 2 different cords. THe probes are the same ones that I used Saturday and after about 20 minutes directly connected to the wall and to 2 different extensions the temp was at 260. After the last test tonight I placed the drip tray, and all grates and the temp was at 157 when I closed the door and at 202 when I checked after 20 minutes. So that temp even beat my 196 temp from Saturday. Weather was about the same both days. upper 60’s low 70’s. Any thoughts, explanations, ideas. I am totally at a lost with this one.

Why not use the gear on the stuffer not for raising and lowering the plunger quickly. Also, the smaller the casing the harder it will be to fill.

I got to make kielbasa today. It went ok. Jonathan told me of a trick to get the pk to the temp I want. Seems if you press both up and down buttons the temp will go to 60. If you hit down arrow you get to 250 You can then count by detgees down to get where you need to go. Totally works if I don’t have anyone to face time or anything. Also, While making the kielbasa I experienced stall out. The internal temp of the kielbasa was around 134 degrees. It stayed there for a few hours. I took the kielbasa out when the internal temp was 147. The casing was hard in some places. I used the grilleye pro and the meater to track the temp. The grilleye read 10 degrees higher than the meater. Can’t tell what the pk100 temp was but the grilleye went back and forth between like 174 and 161. The meater was roughly 10 degrees lower with its readings.

I am truly touched by the reception of my podcast with Jonathan and Austin. Thanks to all. Not totally sure on how to post and all. I saw a message by Tex77 about the andouille and stuffing it into the casing. I use either the .5 inch or the .75 inch plate to grind the meat. If you perfer you can cube it into 1/4 inch cubes but that takes me for ever. I use larger than normal casing. I think like 42 milimeter casing and a Waltons 11 pound stuffer. I have no problem getting it stuffed and hung. Just working with the temps, smoke schedule, and taking notes to that when I get it right I can duplicate. Boston butt is relatively inexpenssive to experiment with. I’ll get it right one day. Again thanks to all for kind remarks on the podcast.

Ok, I purchased the pk100 about 2 months ago. I made bacon and all went well. I attempted traditional andouille today. First I have a meater thermometer. It just stopped working. Tried pairing with other devices and no luck. Not even the light on the meater plus is working. Next I moved on and used a grilleye pro. I inserted a probe on one of the racks and one in a link of andouille. All was well until I got above 130 or 140. The smoker said the temp was 130 132 133 so I wasn’t to concerned. I then tried to go up to 155 and couldn’t get that to happen unless I switched the wattage to 1250. I still havbe the andouille in the smoker as of 8:12 P.M. Product has been in the smoker since about 11:00 A.M. this morning. Just checked the temp with the switch on low and I am around 150, thats what the grilleye says. Not sure where the wattage should be increased from 625 to 1250 degrees. Then there is the andouille, it should be a sort of dry sausage. Mine seems to be moister than it should be. I obviously have a lot of questions about the pk100 and the product I am trying to make. IF there is anyone out there that can help I would totally appreciate it. I do have difficulties using the meatgistics site with screen reading software and braille. I’d really like to get all of this figured out. A phone call, email exchange would be great. That would illeminate the difficulty in posting to meatgistics. Wouldn’t even mind if the emails and questions were posted, just difficult to navigate to post, read posts and respond.

I am ordering the pk100. It is on back order from what I can find on the Waltons Inc. site. I am not sure how to go about ordering it. There is something about whether a lift gate is needed and if it is business or residential. Which options do I select? It is a residential delivery. Which carrier brings it and do they take it off the truck for you or what? Anyone who has ordered or who knows, any info would be totally appreciated. Thanks!! ALso happy new Year to all.I got the pk100 in last week. My son and I assembled and what a nice smoker it is. DIdn’t get to use it because we were moving my son out of his house. REally well built and neat the way the product screens are held. On the youtube video Jonathan mentions not scrubbing the walls. Jonathan do you take the screen holders and clean them or do you just leave it in and clean the drip pan and bottom of the smoker? I can’t wait to rry the pk100 out if it works as good as it is built I will be totally satisfied.

Well I received my PK100 yesterday. I am hel[ping my son move and won’t get to unpack and assemble for a week or 2. I am reading what ever I can from where ever I can to decide what will be the first thing I smoke. Being totally blind and all I chose the PK100. Every where on youtube I read about stick burnters. That isn’t an option for me since I can’t see to control the fire. Most say it’s the only way to go. I will either try pulled pork or brisket first. Can’t wait to contribute to the community.

lkrfletcher I am by no means an expert. I would have bumped the temp on the pk100 to about 225. I’d spray the butts with apple juice after wrapping them in foil. I use the grill eye pro and set a target temp and drink beer or take a long nap. They should eventually be done and the closed foil with the apple juice will keep them from drying out.

Caught up on reading some of the posts. Burboun is usually my drink of choice. I decided on the pk100 and went to order it. It’s out of stock and won’t be back until January. I waited this long what’s a few more weeks. I figure my first love is smoking and I’ll let the bgqing to others. As said before I totally appreciate everyone helping in the group. This weekend it’s tamales and sausage making. The sausage will be green onion and the second kind will be pickled jalapenos with pepper jack cheese. The second is a big hit with my wife and my nephew. I am also wanting to smoke some chickens for the traditional Christmas Eve gumbo. Any ideas on time and temp? I always seem to take them out way to early and they are ok but could be better. Thanks again to all and here’s to hoping everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

TexLaw So since I’ve never seen, the smoke taste is there, just not the color?

There seems to be a new camp chef that is a vertical smoker. I have read the replies and it seems to me like the pk100 is for me. I like the lower temperature. I will be making my own traditional cajun andouille if I ever get the process correct. Smoke sausage, andouille, snack sticks, ham, jerky and probably smoked chicken from time to time. I like being able to hang sausage and andouille and I also like the fact that the pk100 is what I would consider a premium smoker where the camp chef is considered an economy smoker. Since I can’t see, I much rather low and slow over get it done. That’s why cajun cooking lends itself perfectly to blind people. Chinese cooking as well as others is about cooking fast and usually the faster you cook the hotter the fire. Using an occational finger to check doness is forgiving if the temp is lower. Thanks to all, I do agree with Jonathon. THis is a great group of people. Everyone has been supportive and for that I am very greatful.

I took the opportunity to checkout some reviews and info online about the camp chef smoker that Jonathon mentioned in new products. Seems ok but the differences that stuck out to me is that the camp chef starts at 150 degrees. It does however go up to 350 degrees where the pk stopf at I think 250. The camp chef is not insolated and isn’t stainless steel where the pk is. The use of pellets seems to be easier that the extra fine wood chips and the wifi option on the camp chef is a great idea. Tottom line you have to decide if the camp chef or the pk 100 will meet your specific needs. I for 1 am more unsure as to what I really want to do. At a third of the price I just don’t know. I wish I were like Jonathon and could test both. I’ve been wanting the pk100 for as long as I have been shopping with Walton’s inc.

Got a few comments back on andouille. The first batch I made a few weeks was great. I gave it a shot yesterday. Since I am blind I didn’t know but my wife told me that the andouille wasn’t dark ibn color like the successful one was. This batch didn’t dry out, they stayed soft and there was a large amount of grease on the outsides. I used oak, pecan, and hickory and they really didn’t pick up the smoke taste that well. I misread an email that was sent and didn’t get them to 153 degrees as was suggested in the email. I can’t help but wonder if the extra time and heat wouldn’t fix the problems I had. Maybe I rushed things. Good thing is that it was from some pork that I got for .99 cents a pound. SO nothing but time and wood chips was wasted. I used the grill eye pro to keep track of the temp as I did before. I am learning that you shouldn’t try smoking projects when you are limited on time. I’m also going to purchase the pk100, probably before the week ends.

I smoked andouille Sunday. I used beef middle casing. THe temp was in the 60’s and it was raining. I used sure gel and the amount of water that is used in snack sticks. I started at 120 degrees and went up 10 degrees each hour. I got the internal temp up to 132 and had the temp of the master built smoker at like 180. I waited for over an hour and the temp wouldn’t rise. I took the andouille links out after about 6 hours in the smoker and finished in the oven because the middle of the sausage didn’t seem done enough and my wife said the color wasn’t dark enough. They didn’t look the same as a successful batch I did a few weeks ago. Any ideas on what could have happened?

I viewed the video on youtube for tinder jerky. I noticed that sugar was used to make the jerky tinder. It seems like a lot of sugar. Won’t that change the tasee of the final product? Also, Jonathon says to use a tumbler. I don’t have one so I was thinking about putting the jerky in a vacuum bag over night. Will this help? Just a note, I don’t care how jerky is, tough or not. My wife and others rather it not be tough.

On October 24 I made traditional andouille sausage and smoked it. It came out perfect. On October 31 I tried to duplicate it again. Same process and grind as before but this time shen you slice the andouille the meat falls out of the casing. I used beef middle casing and tried to follow the same smoke schedule. In places andouille is made just as sausage is. The product that you purchase in La. for the most part has chopped boston butt rather than ground. I used the plate that goes on my #32 drinder. The plate has 8 holes. Like I said the first time perfect the last time no so perfect. Still tastes good but just not right. ANy thoughts or ideas for next time?