Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Knifemaker]

Or... do two!

Im just here to help.

1 butt

1 brisket

2 slabs of ribs

(diversify)

Probably down the road some. I do have two food probes now though definitely if I pick up a Digi Q.But I'm likely going to stick to doing ribs on the the reverse.

Fred, so far all I've used in the UDS so far has been lump (and wood) as for "more wood"... not sure. Looking at the remains in the charcoal basket from the brisket..there's quite a bit of unburnt lump and several chunks of wood only half burnt up, so seems like there was enough wood in there.

I may try mixing in some of the charcoal briquettes that have wood in them along with the lump and larger wood chunks. I just think I burn more wood in the reverse than what gets going in the UDS.

For rib cooks I rarely add more charcoal, just wood. And I still only use lump....but sometimes use the briquettes just to start things up.

 

[08FJR4ME]

No smoke'n this weekend, off to a winery with some friends ... but did finish the shelf. Sanded smooth with 3 coats polyurethane. Installed wing nuts on the brackets so I can remove the whole shelf so the cover will fit. Also installed the pull down latch. Lid is tight as a.....drum.

Works great and quick to use. (Originally made for Masterbuilt cabinet smokers)Next cook on it will likely be the biggest pork butt I can find.

Is it me or does anyone else see the beady little eyes, big smile and the go-tee?

Just sayin, Dave

 

[Knifemaker]

Well...I admit it Dave. I was going for this...

 

[Fred W]

My new hip is 2 weeks old. I can now walk around without any crutches, but still taking a little Tramadol for pain, so no motorcycle riding yet. But that wont keep me away from the smoker! :nono:

Ive got a nice 13 lb fresh turkey that Ill be dropping on the OK Joe later on this morning. Think Ill cook this one with lump charcoal and wood chunks using the DigiQ stoker. I picked up three 20 lb bags of the Cowboy brand lump from Lowes before my operation, which was a little better priced than the Royal Oak lump I had been buying. I think the lump will let me run up the pit temp a little higher than with briquettes, and without having to tend the fire as much as burning sticks.

Anyone else cooking today?

 

[Bounce]

Man I hate tramadol but I have a refillable scrip for my knees. My reaction to it is that it makes me hyper and keeps me awake all night if I take it too late in the day (yet when trying to sleep is when my knees will hurt the worst). Glad you're on the mend.

Lump charcoal is my go-to these days. The standard briquets always seem to leave an odd taste in the food when I use it.

 

[Fred W]

They gave me a scrip for oxycodone too. I told them I would keep that on hand to knock any pain down that got past the tramadol taken every 6 hours. Never needed any Oxy. Im down to taking the tram every 12. Tried to go off of it twice but after about 36 it got uncomfortable. I havent had any trouble sleeping with it. Im sure it affects each person differently.

So heres a funny story:

Perusing the local Craigs List on Friday I saw an ad for a used Old Country smoker for sale for $225 not too far away. The ad claimed it was a $1000 smoker when new. The pit was in less than stellar condition, the racks all rusty, and the outside looked like he had left it outside uncovered, but if it was made from 1/4 inch steel it would be worth refurbishing it. No phone number in the ad, so I sent an email through the CL relay and asked what model it was, and specifically how thick the steel walls are on it.

Didnt hear back from the guy all day so I started looking at all of the Old Country offset smokers online to see if I could find a match. Old Country makes several different qualities of pit. They market some through the Academy Sports stores, and sell some directly through their website. The one that sells from Academy for $1000 plus shipping is the Brazos, and that is a really nice pit made from 1/4 steel all over. I was hoping that is what this was.

Unfortunately, based on the size and the way the front door seal was made in the pictures, I determined that what he had was a run-down version of the Old Country Pecos. The Pecos is made of 14 gauge steel and just the doors are 11 gauge (1/8 inch) to give the illusion the pit is heftier that it is. Its pretty much the same as my OK Joe except its welded together rather than bolted. I found I could buy a brand new one at Academy Sports for $400 shipped. No way was his roached out pit worth $225.

Sent him a follow up email letting him know that I was no longer interested:

I think I figured it out from the pictures. I believe that what you have is an Old Country Pecos. This is a $400 pit when new from Academy Sports, not $1000. Im sure it works fine, but Im really looking to get something made from 1/4 steel, which this one isnt. This one is 14 gauge in the cook chamber and 11 gauge doors. Thats heavier than my OK Joe, but not heavy enough.

Thanks anyway. Good luck with your sale,

Fred

He later replied for the first time last night:

The reason I haven't answered you back yet is because had a gentleman coming to pick it up today and he bought it but thank you anyway for sending me all your useless information it was worth a good laugh

Dishonest and a ********* to boot. Gotta be careful on Craigs List.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Burgers on the Webber today, sorry folks. Mine will have blue cheese melted on the top. YUM

I have smoked ribs and roast in the freezer to keep me in good shape for while.

Dave

 

[Knifemaker]

Folks are always misrepresenting stuff they sell, or just greedy, cheat or lie to get a few more bucks. Reminds me of being at a yard sale and seeing a Rival Crock Pot. One of the "ears" was chipped but other wise looked to be in fair shape. I offered the lady $6 for it. She said "There's a price on the bottom"

I tilted it over to see a tag that read $20.00. I looked at her and said, "You do know you can go to Walmart and buy this same pot brand new for $19.95?"

Her reply was "It's $20.00, if you don't want, it don't buy it..".

Speaking of a bargain, I just saved myself $50.00 by not buying a Weber cover for my UDS. It seems one of our trash bags fits it perfectly:

 

[Blind Squirrel]

We have a couple of vegan friends, so I am going to try cooking up a couple of "Beyond Burgers" https://beyondmeat.com/products/view/beyond-burger to see if they are as good as the reviews say they are. If they turn out okay I will have something I can cook when we invite our vegan friends over.

 

[Fred W]

Ha ha... beyond burger vs beef. They forgot to show one thing in their list: flavor.

The people that we know up this way with odd diets arent vegetarian or vegan. Most of them are on some kind of Palio diet, which allows lots of meat and veggies, just cuts the carbs out. Which is harder than you might think.

Personally, I dont want to live past 80 anyway. Ive seen what it looks like and it isnt pretty. Of course I cant mention that to my 75 year old friends... :lol:

PS nice UDS cover knife maker. That actually covers down further than my Weber cover.

 

[Knifemaker]

Be interested in your opinions on the veggie burger. My daughter is a vegetarian (not vegan) and I'm

always looking for something I can cook for her when she visits. (Her choice is strictly a moral one, she doesn't eat animals because she doesn't think a creature should die to feed her.) She has said she does miss my burgers....

I think the trash bags are 60 gallon. I "borrow" a few from work now and then.

 

[Fred W]

Turkey cook went sideways. I have no idea why, but it took forever to cook. I couldnt get the stoker to bring the temp up past about 245 with the lump charcoal, and yet was burning it up at a prodigious rate. It was still below target temp of 165 an hour after our planned dinner. Aborted plans to eat the turkey today and we had some of the smoked Italian sausage instead, which cooked up fine.

After dinner I went out and pulled the bird off and hacked it up into quarters. Breast meat was reading above 160 but the thighs were still reading 150. Everything looked to be cooked fine after carving. Now Im not sure if my thermometer was lying or what. The heck th3 problem was No photo evidence. Too frazzled.

Oh well, this is the stuff that keeps us humbled.

 

[Knifemaker]

Sorry to hear...."The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry" ...

Especially it seems when trying something different on a smoke.

Did you use two probes, one in the breast and one in the thigh? There's a few ways to test your probes accuracy. Am sure it would have been fine if you just went with burning splits like your last brisket cook. If I get the funds together I'll definitely pick up a stoker for the UDS, but will stay using the offset without one, just burning wood/lump and manually making needed adjustments. (Or using the propane burner, which does do a pretty good job holding a temperature, although the "smoke" isn't as strong)

 

[Bounce]

They gave me a scrip for oxycodone too. I told them I would keep that on hand to knock any pain down that got past the tramadol taken every 6 hours. Never needed any Oxy. Im down to taking the tram every 12. Tried to go off of it twice but after about 36 it got uncomfortable. I havent had any trouble sleeping with it. Im sure it affects each person differently.

Yeah. I had a standing scrip (renewal required but call got that taken care of) for about 5 years. I asked for something different because it got to where they just gave me a headache. I had taken then during the recovery from my neck fusion and didn't think anything of 2 every 4 to 6 hours (usually 4 hours) as needed for pain. I got off them as quickly as I could and much later took 1 after over doing it one day. MAN! It was a real kicker. It gave me perspective on what a big deal the fusion had been.

Sorry about your cook.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

The "Beyond Burgers" turned out okay (not great). They had a good texture and while the taste wasn't exactly like beef, it wasn't bad. I will cook and eat them again when we invite our vegan friends over. Other than that, i'm not giving up beef (or any meat for that matter) any time soon.

 

[08FJR4ME]

The "Beyond Burgers" turned out okay (not great). They had a good texture and while the taste wasn't exactly like beef, it wasn't bad. I will cook and eat them again when we invite our vegan friends over. Other than that, i'm not giving up beef (or any meat for that matter) any time soon.

Nothing some garlic teriyaki sauce can't fix. It's the cure all for unsavory food.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

Sorry to hear...."The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry" ...Especially it seems when trying something different on a smoke.

Did you use two probes, one in the breast and one in the thigh? There's a few ways to test your probes accuracy. Am sure it would have been fine if you just went with burning splits like your last brisket cook. If I get the funds together I'll definitely pick up a stoker for the UDS, but will stay using the offset without one, just burning wood/lump and manually making needed adjustments. (Or using the propane burner, which does do a pretty good job holding a temperature, although the "smoke" isn't as strong)

No, just used one temp probe in the breast from my Thermoworks Smoke thermometer, then used an instant read when I got the breast up near 160. Had two digital displays of the pit temp; one from the DigiQ and the pit probe from my Smoke thermometer. Probes were towards the chimney end of the chamber. Had the DigiQ set to 145 and the Smoke showed in the low 140s pretty steadily. Turkey was positioned at the firebox end, which tends to run about 5 degrees hotter.
I must have miscalculated how long it would take to cook a 13 lb bird. I was hoping to have the stoker run the temp up to 275-300F, but it doesnt seem like it could do that. The on/off duty cycle was already pretty high at the 145 set point. Next time its back to burning wood and keep the stoker for the low and slow stuff.

Oh, almost forgot... I had made one other change and, thinking back, Im not sure how that affected things: Two of the mods I have in the Oklahoma Joe are the tuning plate from BBQmods.com and an aluminum dryer vent 90 degree elbow attached on the inside as an extension of the chimney to bring the inlet down near grate level.

The perceived problem with those two together is the tuning plate ends about 4-5 inches short of the end away from the firebox, and the open end of the chimney hovers right above that opening. My mind says that any heat and smoke that doesnt waft up through the holes would spill up at the open end and short circuit right into the chimney.

I had some leftover 14 gauge sheet metal from a prior project, so I cut a 12 x 6 piece and leaned it against the end of the tuning plate to partially block that opening. How much that blocked off opening contributed to the inability to ramp the temps up higher is the question to be answered. I may have to turn it sideways so it only blocked a 6 inch area just below the vent and gives the smoke more space on the sides to spill upwards.

My fault yesterday was being too cocky and creating too many variables.

 

[Knifemaker]

"Had the DigiQ set to 145"

Assuming you meant 245 here.

I also have a angled vent piece I was going to put into mine, but so far haven't tried it yet. My exhaust vent for the stack is already fairly close to the food grate (about 6") which is right above the top of the meat when using my rib rack. So just haven't seen a good reason to use it yet.

It does sound like the placement of the tuning plate and the exhaust would circumvent the flow of air (i.e. smoke) from the bulk of the cooking chamber. Perhaps you just need to "tune" it a bit more, or use your new found welding skills and alter the pit into a reverse.

Good to hear about the faux burgers. Am guessing they can be frozen, so if I see some I'll pick them up and throw them in the freezer for when my daughter visits.

 

[Fred W]

Hmmm, maybe that was the problem.

Just kidding, yeah that was just a typo. I dont think it would even be possible to throttle the thing back that far.

I was looking at the added plate, and there is still a good amount of space on each end of the 12 x 6 plate for smoke and heat to come up. Im going to keep it as is for a few more cooks before changing anything. I think it is going to help make the temps even more even left to right. If not, I can always just yank it out and get rid of it.

I have considered converting it to a reverse flow. Wouldnt be all that hard. Charbroil actually sells a reverse flow version of these OK Joe pits, though you cant get them on closeout at WalMart for $180 like I did with this one. Relocation of the chimney is the biggest obstacle. It would have to come out the back side of the cooking chamber to not interfere with the firebox top lid.

Ive also toyed with the idea of running a rectangular box-section plenum across the inside top of the pit to move the exhaust intake to the firebox end. Not sure how big it would have to be. Hate to lose the vertical space when doing turkeys. Then again, after yesterday maybe doing turkeys isnt for me?

 

[Knifemaker]

I wouldn't stop cooking turkeys, you just need to find the right combination for one..(OKJ/UDS..charcoal/wood, etc .) perhaps cutting it up a bit first is the way to go. Did seem like you had too many variables that were added, and if I read right you used a different lump this time too. Saw a bag of cheaper lump at Walmart, but after reading its review here:

https://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag

I'm glad I didn't buy it.

We don't care that much for the dark meat, so I'd be more likely to just do a breast (or two) instead of a whole bird. Those "roasts" Butterball puts out were pretty good, if you like using the leftovers for sandwiches.

Hoping to do some big butts (and I do not lie) this weekend in the drum. My only concern is not drying them up. Have thought about using a water pan under but most of what I've read says not to.