Oregon - opening Q restaurant soon.

huckabee,
we are using an fec100. the unit is so well insulated that even though it is being used in an 8 x 18 ft trailer we liked to have froze to death last weekend since there was no heat escaping from the unit. i buy my pellets in small quanitites and my cost is around 34 bucks for 40 pounds freight included (or 85 cents per pound).
when i do ribs for sale i run my fec at 275f and it takes about 4 hours so my pellet cost is around 3.40 or less. the one thing that is nice about the fec is the more you load in the more stable the temp becomes so in essence your pellet use actually goes down.
at 275 20 pounds of pellets would last over 20 hours of burn time in my experience so i think in your case it would take 4 maybe 5 pounds of pellets total.
hope it helps some
jack
ps. we also own two sm150's and use pellets or smoke stixs in them also.

Thank You for the info. If you could only have 1 or the other to start off with which one would it be? The Fast Eddy or the Sm150? When you say you use pellets or stixs do you mean in the little wood box? do you soak them in water or anything?

Mornin' Huckabee,

Do you presently have an FEC,or are you considering one.

If it is the latter you might want to talk to Cookshack sales,about your particular application.

If you still have questions,Eddy would be glad to work with you.

Nothing is soaked that goes into a Cookshack/FEC product.

Like Prisonchef says,unlike Traegar,they are well insulated and efficient.

We don't have either at this time. We had a Sm150 that we sold and it's still going strong.That's a good history for a smoker going on 15 or 16 years of constant use.
The Fast Eddy seems to do a little bit more, in a different way, than the Sm150.
We can only buy one smoker to start off with. My husband isn't as concerned and just wants to get 'er done.
I'll call Cookshack today.
Thanks Tom

SOOOOO glad my husband called CS and talked to John. Good thing we waited. We'll be buying our Fast Eddy in 3 or 4 weeks. We'll just keep checking back with John. Thanks again for your info. 2 Greyhounds and Tom

huckabee,
if i was only limited to one smoker i would chose the fec100. they can reach a higher temp and are somewhat more versatile in that respect only. thankfully when we started we purchased both an fec and a sm150 (which to be honest i looked down my nose at but my wife was comfortable with it).
since i hate to see a piece of cooking equipment that i am not using i started playing with it after peggy showed me how to work the thing. i worked hard and kept good notes and now i can match everything that my fec does (with the exception of biscuits and cornbread and i just haven't tried that yet) with the sm150's.
the pellets i make aluminum bags for and the smoke stixs i love since the bags aren't needed for them. both items just go in the wood box dry and by using the pellets we don't have to have any additional inventory but after 3 cooks with the stixs i like them the best.
the life span on your old sm sure is impressive and it makes me glad that i have them.
good luck to you and i hope this reply helps some
jack

Thank You *2 Greyhounds...Smokin!!!* and *Tom* for the good input. My husband talked with John at CS today and the new *Fast Eddy* will be ready in about 3 or 4 weeks and they aren't taking pre orders, so we'll just keep checking with him. The probe/Controller - sort of like set it and forget it, being a standard piece of equipment,like the Sm150 will make our selection of the FEC perfect for our needs. When you can only get 1 smoker at a time, it makes you wring the towel with worry.

httP://www.bmfp.com Bear Mountain Forest Products they are in Oregon and are far cheaper the Traeger for pellets. I would not be suprised if BMFP is the OEM for Trager pellets. BMFP is what I use. My last shipment was 100 x 20# bags from Oregon to Seattle area cost was $7/20#bag shipping included.

Good Luck

konrad, i just emailed them for a quote. thanks.
i usually buy from traeger. like jack, i pay .75-.85 cents a pound.

hey guys all i use are candy sue's pellets. tragers leave you with that good awful alder taste in your mouth
candy's base wood on fec heat pellets are oak and man what a difference that makes!!!!
sorry for any confusion
jack

Jack,

If all you ever tried was Alder, I agree it sucks. Pure alder on "smoke" setting smells like a house fire, yuck. But BMFP offers many other choices including my favorites of Hickory and Cherry. BMFP does not use a base wood it's 100% pure what's on the label.

Konrad

sorry, jack. my mistake. i use traeger apple with good results. .75/pound shipped. i got my reply from bmfp. and i quote "sorry, but we do not offer mail order shipments". hmm. well how do you get them, konrad...? anyway, i dont find a difference in one brand or another, just in price. for a business, thats what matters.

Coffeebluff,
I got the same email from bmfp. They told me it would be $10.00 a 20# bag which makes it more expensive than Traeger. I will be making a run over to pick up pellets @ Traeger so I might as well stop by BMFP and talk price breaks.

Slow Joe,

Before you spend a bunch on pellets, I'd suggest you run some test batches. The Traeger pellets are NOT 100% wood and have a base wood of alder. Personally, I'd don't use them anymore for that reason.

Try some of the 100% pellets and you should notice a big difference.

Glad we can help, the Pro Forum has some great people with good info to help with everything!

Smokin'

Hello Slow Joe
Where do you pick up your Traeger Pellets?
In Oregon? or do they have other locations?
How much do you have to buy at a time?

coffeebluff,
how the heck you doing???? glad to see you back on and i apologize for not keeping in better contact!!!!

konrad,
thanks for the fyi but i will stay with candy sue for the following reasons;
1- she has taken a lot of time with me fine tuning my fec to perform just where i want it.
2- when our business increased she gave me a lot of technical info which allowed me to make the product from our sm150 match what was coming out of the fec and this includes chicken!!!
3- and i guess this is most important she is a truly nice and honest person just like the cookshack people are and there is no way i would ever leave the very people who have helped us the most.

please do not take it that i am bad mouthing bmfp as i am sure they also make a good product that you are willing to recommend (and i am sure that you are like me and neither one of us would ever recommend a product that we don't love) but i hope you understand my reasons and i do thank you for the heads up.
jack

I buy from BMFP by the Pallet 100 x 20# equals 2000 pounds for $700 although a year latter I've still got pellets from the first shipment.

thanks jack, we are doing fine. hey, how about sending me some info on candy sue. i am always up to try something better.
just tweaked my stew some. "perfection is a work in progress" and "less is more" were my two main influences. i am thinking of "quart jars" of stew on the net... but not sure what people would be willing to pay for it. my first 'gunea pig' has yet to respond...
any opinions out there?

Huckabee,
I'm sorry I haven't got back to you sooner. I skipped Traeger went to Bear Mountain there in Cascade Locks. Their pellet's are $11.00 for 20# but get cheaper the more you buy. I believe a 100 bags run $7.00 per.
I ordered some from Candy Sue at BBQRs Delight and highly recomend them also due to the fact that the product is great and Candy was great to deal with....unfortunatly, I can't just drive over to pick pellets up at her place like I can in Oregon.
I would recommend Bear mountain over Traeger anytime.
Joe