New FEC 100 Arrived today !!!

Congradulations on your new cooker! I'm a newbie myself (Fe100 is 3 wks old) so some of the long time owners will probably have more detailed information but mine seems to use a little less than one pound of pellets per hour on the 250* and lower settings. This is just an estimate and higher temps will use more pellets. The brand might make a difference as well. So you should be in good shape for your New Years cook, but you"ll want to order a good supply soon! Let us know how the butts and ribs turn out! Happy New Year!

Catfish

Congratulations. Depending on who's pellets you are using, you should get a minimum of a pound per hour. I use Eddys hickory pellets, and swear they never burn down. I can load the hopper, put in a couple whole briskets and cook all night. I get up in the morning and after the briskets are done, and I still have the hopper 2/3 to 3/4 full. The unit is amazing. I was talking to Eddy the other night and told him I sampled some tri tip cooked on a Tucker. I said I haven't tasted creosote in my meat since getting my FEC two years ago.
Happy New Year!!

How low does your FEC100 go on smoke and how high on can you get them?

I'm at 70-80F on smoke; but haven't been able to hit 300F yet.

The outdoor temp hasn't hit 40F, nor have we seen much of the sun since I got it. I'm thinking that's running a little cool.

Thanks, Roger

Freddy, you are right, these things use very few pellets. They are amazing.

Hey Rog...are you wondering how high it will go on smoke or the highest setting? Had mine hot enough to learn it has a thermal shut off. Outside temp was in the low 30s.

Oh yeah, the thermal shut off. I remember hearing it is better to be a bit cooler than have it kick off.

Currently it's 31F and calm winds, and it's running 90F on smoke with Eddy's pecan pellets. I'm smoking another batch of sharp cheddar to replace the batch thats going to tonights party.

I was wondering how low yours runs on smoke, and how high it goes when set high.

My FEC 750 will go incredibly high.

Roger

I've not paid much attention to temp. range on the smoke setting. Think it sort of cycles from 80* to somwhere around 100-115*,but could be wrong. I am finding that outside temp. has very little effect on the cooker temp. but will maybe effect the pellet consumption,but I bet it's not enough to notice. As far as the high setting,the thermal cut off on mine shut down just over 450*,but the pizza still turned out O.K. Tell us about smoking cheese ( how long etc)

Catfish

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mnhogfarmer:
[QB] How low does your FEC100 go on smoke and how high on can you get them?

I use to use the smoke setting a lot. During the winter it is around 150*. During the summer it is around 200* Now, I just put the meat on and cook. The only exceptions are when I do a fully cooked ham to heat it up, I use the smoke setting or the next setting, which ever is burning around 200*. I do this for 4-6 hours. I also smoke salmon on the smoke setting or the next notch, again depending on the temperature in the pit. I use to brine my salmon, but found out I don't need to on the FEC.
I crank mine up to 450* to cook my chicken. I do mostly marinated chicken thighs. At this temperarure, they take about 30-35 minutes. They have a crispy skin and are very juicy.
We wish everyone a safe and prosperous New Year.
Fred & Colleen

Catfish, As for smoking cheese, it's very easy.

I bought a whole block of Hoffman House Super Sharp Cheddar and had the butcher cryvac it into 1 1/2# packs. Smoke it for 2-3 hrs on the top rack, on the smoke cycle of course. Mine smoke cycle ran at 75-90F yesterday.

Wrap in wax paper and rubber band to store in fridge, serve at room temp.

My son gave me a tabletop cheese slicer for Christmas, a Prodyne 805-B, which is wonderful. At last nights party, I just put the chunk of cheese out on the slicer and let everyone slice their own. It was a hit; the curiosity of how the slicer works, and the flavor of the cheese.

Good luck! Roger

Jim,

Smoked 4 bone-in butts on the 250 setting for 13 hours to the pulling stage and later in the week smoked 1 full brisket for New Years for 10 hours (about an hour too much)and used Candy Sue's Hickory pellets. Still have a quarter of a bag left. The temp was 40s at night.

Good use of the tragers is to season the pit after a thorough cleaning. Just my 2 cents.

Mack