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12 replies

225 -- is it real or is it not?

FM Former Member
Decided to put my comments about 225 in a new post since the comments were buried in another thread.

We haven't had a good "controversy" in a while and as your moderator, I've got opinions too. Don't mean to offend anyone, so these are my thoughts.

What are yours?

My opinion, and it's not just in the Pellethead forum, but other forums too, is that too many try to make cooking BBQ like an oven in your kitchen. Too much emphasis on a SET time and SET temp. You know it doesn't take much to make an FE work, but to make good Q, it does take a little work.

We've had a lot of discussion about the lack of a 225 setting.

I've got to agree with FE on this one.

WHY all the issues about 225. 225 is a fairly recent "internet" temp. For the last 5 to 10 years it seems to be the temp that people talk about. Before that, and I've been smoking for 30 years, 225 wasn't the temp most used. 200 and 250 were. Even a few 175 and 180's.

On my "middle" setting I get 240. Let's see, 240 - 225 is 15 degrees? Are we really making a deal about 15 degrees?

Look at your temp fluctuations, up and down as the burner cycles. It's more than 15 degrees.

So, what's in your wallet Big Grin
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FM Former Member
I said much the same thing, Smokin' in another thread having nothing to do with temps and times. I deleted it there and included it here so it's where it belongs:

I wonder if the guys who are making all the fuss about 225 realize:

That the difference between that and 240 is 6%.

That one can barbecue anywhere between 180 and 300 and STILL be low and slow.

That no God I know of decreed that 225 was the only way to cook good barbecue.

That most stick burners vary up AND down much more than 6% many times during a single cook.

And that all this hoopla over an extra 15 degrees in a smoker full of 225 other ones is pretty much just blowing smoke? About 6% more smoke than usual.

At least that's my take.
B bspitmeisterMember
Hey again ya'll,
I would say that the people that are fixed on the 225 thing are not well rounded cooks.
Part of the art of bbq cookery is being able to adapt and flex because the temps are seldom stable to the point of being able to pinpoint
the finish. Even if they were the size of the meat cuts varies so much that the temp kind of becomes a mute point. The temp is just a very small part of it.
My .02 worth,
Charles
FM Former Member
What is the high point of the 240 setting? Does sugar turn black above 265? I traded the 180 setting for a 225 setting. I still have the 240 setting. I will run a test in the next few weeks with the 240 setting and plot the highs and lows. I suspect I will go above temp for sugar to turn black.

Even though the 240 is only 6 percent more than 225 if you turn your rubs black perhaps it is to high.
FF Fast Freddie/Love Shack BBQ (Guest)
I learned to bbq on a NBBD. The temperature would go from 150* to over 300*. I would have to watch it all the time. I still turned out better Que than any restaurant around here. The FE cooks great at just about any temperature. I use mine six to seven days a week. Even my wife turns out great Que on it. Put the meat on, sit back and relax, and enjoy the food when it's done. You don't have to worry about the temp. Cool
FM Former Member
I don't think anyone's saying that wanting to cook at 225 or any other temperature, for that matter, is a bad thing or wrong in any way.

I think what some folks, and I, are saying is if you can't achieve exactly what you want you might first determine if what you want is really absolutely necessary, and if you think it is but you can't get what you want, just get as close as you can and you'll probably be just fine.

BBQ is not an exact science by any stretch of the imagination. And there are plenty of Q bad boys out there who turn out contest-winning meat cooking at temperatures that seem to "go against the rules" of many others. BBQing isn't baking. Everyone can and does do it differently, and as long as what comes out of the cooker is delicious, who's to argue?

I don't have 225 on my FE, even though I'd like to. Oh well. Looks like I cook at some other temperature and learn how to do that really well. That's what I hear most folks, like Fast Freddie here, are doing with their FE's and lovin' it.
FM Former Member
When the Fast Eddy and Treagers came out they had the 3 postion switch as Eddy mentioned above...being that as it is, why did Treager decide to comeout with more temperature positions as an option ? Parhaps there were enough folks that requested it or they decided it was a better cooking feature or whatever, but then I ask why?!? Instead of asking why I ordered mine FE100 from Eddy with that option. Because Eddy didn't have the item in stock I had to wait for the delaying of the FE100 shipment. And you know that was difficult! I was like a kid waiting for Christmas.
FM Former Member
BS Pitmeister -

Not a well rounded cook because you want to Q at 225? LOL! At least on a logburner you can get to 225 if you want it. With the FE100 with the default temperature settings, you have 180 and the straight to 240, no in-between.

The concept of the the FE100 is that you get wood burning cooking with "OVEN" - like settings. Sorry to bust your bubble. If you look at every product Cookshack sells - they are OVENS!

I guess to achieve artisan status and be a "well-rounded" cook I guess I could yank the temperature controll and auger off of the FE100 and hand feed the wood pellets. Would that make me a good cook in your book? Just being flippant here. Please understand that nobody is asking to take away anything, just asking for a little more control in the 180-240 range....like you naturally get with a log burner. Those of you who are happy to run out in the middle of the night and flip your temperature control from 180 to 240 to finish it off can still do so. Those of us who want to set it on 225 and sleep can do so as well. We both are satisfied customers..whats wrong with that?

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