The Traeger Pro-22 is a mid-sized pellet smoker with straightforward controls but no interface with smart apps that reside on phones and tablets. Traeger calls this older model “Gen 1”. While lacking in some of the fancier features of their contemporary offerings, it nevertheless provides all the functions needed to produce excellent barbecue. Let’s check it out.
Traeger invented and patented the basic pellet smoker design and owned the market for many years. But once the patent expired, other players quickly popped up fostering innovation and a wider range of price points from low entry-level models to pricey stainless steel outdoor kitchen units. Traeger hasn’t been oblivious to the market changes. Hence, the product category constantly evolves.
Ease of Use
A pellet smoker burns extruded pellets made from hardwood sawdust. This allows a choice of many different flavor profiles associated with oak, hickory, mesquite, apple, cherry, maple, and others. Aside from being able to choose the fuel wood, a pellet smoker eliminates the need to babysit the cooker during long smoking sessions. It’s more or less “set it and forget it.” Like your kitchen oven only outdoors with smoke, simply choose the temperature, and the digital control system will do the rest.
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Temperature Controller
Though this control system is an older design, it works just fine. The control panel allows the cook to specify the cooking temperature by automatically controlling the pellet fuel flow and the fan motor. The temperature selection dial is stepped in 25°F increments from 180°F to about 400°F. Above the temperature control knob is a digital readout. It displays the internal cooking temperature. There are two jacks that accept input from external temp probes inserted into the food. A push-button selector allows the readout to display the temperature of the cooker or one of the food probes. The unit supplies one probe and extras are available from Traeger.
Capacity
The Pro-22 weighs 125 lb. (57 kg.) The dimensions are 27″D x 41″W x 49″H (69 cm D x 104 cm W x 125 cm H). It has two porcelain-coated steel rod cooking grates with a total of 572 square inches cooking capacity that are said to accommodate 4 chickens, 5 racks of ribs, or 24 burgers. The exterior finish is durable powder coating. Two of the legs have wheels to make moving it easier. We should note that this is primarily a smoker, not a grill. To get the nice browning we expect from a grill, you need higher temps. Don’t be disappointed if burgers look like they’ve been boiled instead of grilled. The smoker is best-suited for roasting and smoking.
The pellets are added to a container called the hopper that feeds the fuel to the auger.
The hopper on this smoker holds 18 lbs. of pellets. The rate of pellet consumption depends on the cooking and ambient temperatures. It has a trap door on the back that allows you to dump the pellets if you want to use a different type of wood fuel or store it away when not in use. The auger, a rotating screw driven by the controller’s motor, delivers the pellets to the fire pot where they burn. A fan blows the heated air around the cooking chamber where the food is placed, and it exits via the chimney. Please note that you MUST NOT use pellets designed for heating systems. You MUST use food-grade pellets. The former may give off toxic fumes and/or impart noxious flavors.
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Getting Ready
Assembly is relatively easy. All you really must do is mount the legs and screw on a couple of handles. It’s heavy, so two people might make the job easier, but one person can do it alone. The packing materials are voluminous, so be prepared for a trip to the dump. I’ve seen some reviews that said that they received damaged units, but the unit I have arrived without any damage.
Before cooking the first meal, you must season the unit. This was nothing more than cranking the temp up to the maximum and letting it burn off manufacturing residue for an hour. At the end of the seasoning, and after every cooking session, you should turn the control knob to the shutdown cycle. This purges the firepot, preparing it for the next cook.
Features and Specifications
Many newer-model pellet smokers use Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in conjunction with a phone app to control the cooker. There are advantages to having this connectivity, the most important of which is that it makes it simpler to monitor the cook. The unit I’m reviewing here is a basic model that lacks this connectivity, but I used a workaround: a Fireboard 2 Thermometer system that monitors cooker and food temp, and uploads it to the cloud. I monitor my cook via the Fireboard. If you have similar equipment, you can save some money by buying a non-Wi-Fi cooker like Pro 22. The temp vs. time graph was taken from the Fireboard feed.
I had to manually change the temperature settings using the controls on the Traeger, but this was a minor inconvenience. Over the course of a 14-hour cook, I only changed the temperature twice.
Contacting the manufacturer is easy; just visit their website for a range of options. Traeger sells aluminum sheets that fit over the drip tray under the primary cook surface that you can discard if you’d rather not clean the tray by hand.
There are also aluminum foil baskets that you can insert into the grease pail and discard after use.
I bought this cooker from a neighbor who got it as a gift with a new car purchase. He didn’t want it, so he sold it to me in the original shipping box. I’m keeping it!
Chow Time
I have cooked several batches of St. Louis-style pork ribs and a 9.5 lb. pork butt. Everything came out well with nice smokiness and a good smoke ring. There was little to fuss over. Temp control is good as shown in the Fireboard graph. There were a couple of spikes in the temperature graph, but the temp always settled down quickly. Cleanup was simple enough, just brush the grill grate and toss out the drip tray liner. Traeger advises vacuuming the fire pot and bottom of the cooking chamber after 20 hours of use. I prefer to do this after each cook so I don’t have to worry about forgetting it. To protect the smoker, I bought an aftermarket cover from Amazon for $30 – a lot cheaper than the branded Traeger version.
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Conclusion
While not the fanciest, most automated smoker on the market, this basic unit still does the job. If you’re willing to manually pay a little more attention to the cooking process, you can save significant money with a pellet smoker like this one. It’s an attractive price point and a well-made product. I’m giving it a Gold Medal for performance and value.
Warranty
