Outdoor grills advice: pellet vs. gas vs. charcoal

you have to use lump with a Kamado. My cabinet smoker uses briquets and wood chunks

 

I only use lump and hate the taste of briquettes, but why would a kamado be exclusive to only lump?

 

Burns hotter. Burns more efficiently (consistent temp longer), burns with better flavor and produces significantly less ash which can block up a ceramic and mess up your airflow due to the way the Kamados are set up. A few ceramic manufacturers will void a warranty if you use briquets.

 

I knew everything but the tidbit that some companies void their warranty. How the hell would they even know?

I can understand for long smoke sessions but for quick grilling, airflow isnt that big of a deal. The ash is another reason I hate briquettes, along with the chemically flavor it gives off.

 

My brother and I have been tempted to start raising meat rabbits instead of chickens. Everybody's got chickens.

 

I have a Traeger Pro 575 and love it. WiFire is pretty great because you can check on the status of your cook on your phone.

I wasn’t a fan of the temp probe that came with the Traeger and ended up buying a Meater+ which is wireless and works great.

 

I've recently gotten a Weber Smokey Mountain. I can smoke or grill on it. I've smoked a brisket, a pork butt and beef and pork ribs. I screwed up the ribs big time. The Weber supposedly holds a temperature really well, but doesn't build a great smoke ring but that doesn't effect the taste. I love it. It uses wood chunks.

My belief from just research not personal experience is that an offset smoker might be even better but would require a lot more work to get wood and maintain a steady temp.

 

How big is the cooking surface compared to other Traegers?

 

I have raised and slaughtered them for years. It is worth it if you are eating rabbit at least once a week. They are extremely easy to breed IF you have a solid set of 4 with good genetics to start off with... this is so important because rabbit traits very a lot. Many rabbits are disgustingly filthy, mean and poor mothers or produce crappy off spring.

Get a pair of large males that are healthy and docile but not entirely stupid.

The females you choose are far more important. You want females that come from a rabbit line where they have large litters and are very good parents.My rabbits are all litter box trained by their mothers. They also are taught to be clean and not knock over bowls etc. it gets passed down to future generations.

I have had blood lines that were not well mannered. They were sent to the rabbit popper and turned into broth. A rabbit popper will kill them in seconds... I strongly suggest getting one. I now can rip their heads off but it took years of slaughter to get that skilled.

The poop is excellent fertilizer but gross because of pee.

I have gotten to the point where I no longer slaughter. I have only 6 left and they are essentially pets. My breeding female is incredible and other than my family and dog, would be off the chopping block before anyone else... she is special to me.

If you have the time I suggest you take it up. A lot of stuff you can cook and make. Rabbit soup is vastly superior to chicken noodle soup. Rabbit tacos are good too.

 

Yeah to a point but it is too lean meat for mass consumption long term... you can starve to death from only eating rabbit.

 

Gotta know when they're in heat, and gotta pull the bull (male rabbit...ram? buck?) out. They're cannibals if you let them, so I've been told.

What you said earlier was "from a good line...". I don't know what that means down here, they gotta be heat resistant, which may be different that what you guys raise in Illinois.

 

What I mean is try to get rabbits from a breeder that is reputable or from people that have clean cages and the rabbits look large and healthy. Ideally from someone you know to start. Once you get going it is fun because you can self select which rabbits have the traits you like and breed them.

As far as mating goes. I have never had to wait until they were in heat. You will learn that some males are really good at ******* and others just are not. There are some male rabbits that all females will gladly lift for.... since males have limited involvement you want to breed the ones that are liked by the females and are really large and hardy.

All I have to do is take a good breeder, stick him in the cage with a female and watch. Within 5-10 seconds he will approach and she will lift. He will do his job and literally fall over. Let him do it twice. Then immediately take him out. She will be pregnant with like a 99.9% certainty as long as the male isn’t old.

You have to take the male out because they sometimes will not stop and after 2-3 times the females will fight back. My two breeder males can stay in the cage with the females but that is extremely rare.

In summer you need to worry about bot fly and some sort of cooling system. I had an AC put in and a cross breeze.

If you keep the area clean it will be really easy and enjoyable. Also most dogs love rabbit ears when you skin them. I had to stop giving them to my dogs because I had a kid.

Rabbits are very expressive when hot so you should be able to tell if they are too hot.

 

Yep, good talk. Thank you.

I have the equipment and know-how and such... but there's 50 different types of rabbits, which ones would I want? That's where I'm stuck right now. I want meat. I've got a couple of restaurants that will buy them.

 

But long story short, I caught all kinds of **** last weekend for suggesting that I might want a Traeger.

But I still do.

 

There are a variety of different ones and you can even cross breed them. There is no one breed far better than others... in my opinion if you want to do it for a business (selling to a restaurant) you will want New Zealand whites because they are heat resistant, they are stocky and healthy. They are dumb as **** but they produce big litters and big rabbits.

A lot of people will tell you to get Flemish Giants because they can weigh 20 lbs slaughtered. I have had them. They are not worth it because they eat an incredible amount, constantly need water and have big bones and less meat by ratio.

If I were to start breeding in Texas for commercial sale I would go with New Zealand whites and from time to time mix in a Rex to the blood line... you have to mix in some outside blood lines to keep away birth defects.

Pick out your males that are large and breed them. The males that are efficient breeding, keep them to breed for a couple years.... slaughter the others. The key is also to slaughter like clock work once they reach a certain weight.

With rabbits you can know within one day when they will have their babies and likely when they will be big enough to slaughter.

Have a slaughter day with your brother. Play music and a couple beers. I can fully render a rabbit now in 90 seconds but that took a lot of practice.

 

I really will try not to judge you... we all make mistakes.

 

Thanks again.

We've got the walk-in freezer and the meat processing room and a smokehouse, we do deer and pigs and sheep and goats and steers all the time. Never hung anything rabbit sized though.

 

I'm trying to unload an extra "New Braunfels" offset smoker, because I do no need it, and then buy a Traeger or a Big Green Egg, because I want a new toy to play with.

Judge me all you want. I won't be the ******* awake at 4am adding sticks to the pit. Been there, done that.

 

Can you use third party probes through the app?

 

Hey man, I just but the bullet. We are the future.