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Just picked up a CB 36 to try out for a couple of weeks. I can cook a great ribeye on our Traeger but have always longed for the grill marks. We are getting some requests for steaks with our catering business and think the CB units will be the answer. It is kind of a different beast than the indirect only heat I am used to. Last night I fired it up for the first time on HIGH heat and let me tell you, it is HOT! We did a couple of 1 1/2 inch think ribeyes for lunch today. About 2 minutes, then turn 90 degrees to mark and flipped after another 2 minutes. Total cook time on high with the lid open was about 7 minutes for a medium rare to medium finish.

I LOVED the appearance. When we ate them there was way to much char taste though. I used a hickory blend pellet and couldn't even taste the wood flavor but that might have been covered up by the char. I like the quick cook time but realize that high on the right burner for a quick sear then finish on the left at medium heat will probably work better.

For those of you that have these CB's, I'd appreciate it if you could give me some examples of how you are running yours, on what kind and thickness of steaks as well as cook times and burner set points. Do you have a lid and do you use it much as well. Any details would be appreciated.

I'm thinking of using a mix of 100% hickory and 100% mesquite pellets this weekend to try and get a little more of that flavor I'm used to off of the Traeger.

I can see now why the PG's are becoming so popular. Indirect and direct on the same unit. That would be great. I need something where I can cook up to 100 thick steaks in about 2 hours for catering though.

I have high hopes for this thing for glazing up ribs and smoked chicken coming off the smoker after we sauce them. We are also considering trying just a "steak night" some Saturday night. People in our area have to drive about 45 miles to the nearest "decent" steak house. We are selling about 70 ribeye steak sandwiches a day when we set our mobile unit up and people are always saying we could cut them thicker and leave them off the bun, serve them with a baked potato and a piece of garlic toast. Now with the extra capacity that might be a possibility???

Thanks in advance....
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quote:
Originally posted by bigwheel:
I have a chum who sells Traegers. He says for a smoker..they make great grills. They can get super hot if a person puts the mind to it.


I've done a little "modification" to my Traeger Lil Tex. I cut the restrictor shaft out of the auger flighting and put a manual controller back on it so it has no reference to actual temp. On high setting I can get about 625-650F out of it. I love the flavor of the steaks that come off of it but still no grill marks. Remember the whole presentation thing...

I replace the fire pot about twice per year now but it puts in a bunch of hours.
Gotcha on that. Have heard the chum bandy around the figure 750 a few times. Not sure which model he has set up to demonstrate. Have two other pals one now deceased who went for the Pink Pigs. After a hard day of cooking they supposedly decided to overdose on brewskis and fall off to sleep with the lid up. Then a rainstorm come up and got the pellets wet. So they just rolled it back into the garage and checked it in a day or two. Yeppers them pellets had turned into Portland cement. Had to send it back to the factory to have it jack hammered out of there. Crazy guys..lol.
Second successful catering event doing ribeyes on the CB 36 under our belt today. This is a lot of fun since it is something different for us.

We cooked about 90 - 14 oz choice ribeyes in about an hour Smiler Around 8 to 9 minutes gave us a nice medium rare to medium. Had a few requests for well done Frowner and those were off in 11 minutes. Ribeyes were 15 and downs so they were a good 1 1/4" thick. Seasoned on one side with Lawry's and butter and the other with some Cavender's Greek seasoning and a little butter. 4 rounds of 20 steaks and then a short round of 10 at the end. With 20 it was clear full so 16 would have gave me a little more room to navigate. Had a couple of steak weights for the ones that wanted to curl up a bit but that doesn't happen very often.

I have been burning a mix of 100% Hickory and 40% mesquite blend Lumberjack pellets and love the flavor.

55 F out today, windy and rainy and both controllers set to medium and the lid open the entire time I was cooking we were running 525 - 560F grate temp using an infrared thermometer. Good enough for nice marks but not so hot we char the crap out of them Smiler

I can't seem to get the pic to download on here so here is a link to our FB page.

Ribeye's on the CB 36
quote:
Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:
That is, would it work ok on a wood or composite deck?


I have a 36" on my 100% wood deck. Nothing drips except water used to file the grease catch drip trays (and that burns off).

Challenge is finding a good cover to keep it dry. If ANY water gets under the lid, it will create pelletcrete... I know, I've had it.
quote:
Originally posted by Chaplain Bill:
those look amazing. Great Grate marks!!!! I've got to get me one, but probably the 24 if I could ever figure a way to leave it outside. I really do need a grill. Does the 36 leave any mess on the ground, like grease, ash or anything? That is, would it work ok on a wood or composite deck?


I think you could eventually see a little build up on the back lid vent that could possibly drip down but this would only be an issue with really heavy use.

There are drip pans that slide in underneath to catch anything inside the unit. Make sure you put some water in the back compartment when doing a full load of 80/20 burgers. Don't ask me how I know Roll Eyes That beef fat burns pretty darn good at 600 F Smiler
Just got my FECB036 a few weeks ago.
One word... AMAZING

I've cooked 1" ribeyes on it twice now.
I turned on right burner to High and left and middle to Low after pre-heating on high.
I put the ribeyes on right side for 2min, flip, 2min, then flip and rotate 45* to the left side for about a min or so, then flip and rotate 45* again for another min or so.
Makes a great med/rare with perfect char marks!
This thing will get HOT!
I am in love!




Last edited by Former Member

Temp - hot as I can get it - dip pre-seasoned steaks in butter bath and drop on hot as heck grill. Rotate 90 degrees after 2 minutes or so and flip, passing by the butter bath again. Steaks are done pretty fast. Sometimes if I have a lot of steaks to do or they are extra thick, I'll turn the second side of the grill on low and let them 'rest' and continue to cook 5 more minutes, they turn out perfect medium rare +.

(skirt steak pictured), a lot shorter for these naturally but same concept.

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