gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Shards? If it explodes enough to throw shards then I'm also going to be worried about the hot charcoal sitting on top of it that'll be thrown along with the shards.
Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)
- Thread starter Fred W
- Start date
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C'mon guys. Really? (where is that chicken little emoticon?)
I don't think heating a few pieces of rock is going to cause violent explosions. Yes, the shale may pop apart into flakes, maybe even make some shards, like it does under impact. But it will be inside a big metal can, under a grate and also under the expanded metal charcoal box. I promise not to be putting my face in the firebox when it is lit.
I don't think heating a few pieces of rock is going to cause violent explosions. Yes, the shale may pop apart into flakes, maybe even make some shards, like it does under impact. But it will be inside a big metal can, under a grate and also under the expanded metal charcoal box. I promise not to be putting my face in the firebox when it is lit.
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gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Promise?
I triple double dog dare you to.
I was just saying if he was worried about shards, and if it were to explode that violently, I'd be scared of the hot coals coming out too. That is all.
C'mon, go take a sniff inside that lit firebox. You know you want to. All your friends are doing it.
I triple double dog dare you to.
I was just saying if he was worried about shards, and if it were to explode that violently, I'd be scared of the hot coals coming out too. That is all.
C'mon, go take a sniff inside that lit firebox. You know you want to. All your friends are doing it.
Suddenly, my grilling has taken on a whole new level of excitement.
gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Take video!!!
I can see it now... ~6 hours of GoPro video of my smoker... smoking.
I'd have to get one of those big blast shields to hide behind like they use on Mythbusters.
What music would be appropriate for the video? Maybe Ravel's Bolero?
I'm sure that you will all want to relive the excitement often. My YouTube channel ratings will soar.
I'd have to get one of those big blast shields to hide behind like they use on Mythbusters.
What music would be appropriate for the video? Maybe Ravel's Bolero?
I'm sure that you will all want to relive the excitement often. My YouTube channel ratings will soar.
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gixxerjasen
Well-known member
6 hours? Dude, you have to edit it down to just the exciting bits.
Knifemaker
Not me
But you'll need a high speed camera to capture the shards escaping in super slow motion....
Edit it down to the exciting stuff? What a novel idea. I wonder why nobody else on YouTube doesn't try doing that.
Yes, ribs. Got a few racks of Baby Backs to do. The crowd favorite...
Yes, ribs. Got a few racks of Baby Backs to do. The crowd favorite...
Warning: The following post includes graphic details of high risk activities performed in a controlled (back yard) environment. Duplicate these reckless stunts at your own risk.
Came back from a nice morning ride with my son, and it was time to fire up the pit. Loaded a 1/2 starter chimney with the Stubbs brand charcoal briquettes, and lit 2 sheet of news paper under it. Once the paper burned off, and the charcoal was burning I could tell that the smoke / smell was different from the normal Kingsford stuff. I decided to go with the Stubbs in the firebox, and was able to fit the entire rest of the bag into my minion box, filling it to the max, along with a healthy amount of hickory wood chunks interspersed throughout the basket.
After the starter was about 1/2 ashed over, I dumped it on the top of the minion box, closed up the FB and waited for the pit to come up to temp. I started out with my 18" chimney extension on, but soon found that the draft the extension provides is actually too much when trying to burn charcoal briquettes. I would close down the intake all the way and the high vacuum from the long chimney was sucking the air in from all the cracks in the side door and damper. Pulled off the extension and everything settled down to a nice even burn with the FB intake open about 3/8"",
In fact, it was the evenest burn I've had on the offset pit to date. I don't know if I can attribute that to the Stubbs charcoal, or having added the mass of stone in the bottom of the firebox, but I really didn't have to fiddle with the intake vent much at all for the entire cook.
Had the three good sized racks of Baby Backs laid side by side and had plenty of room, and didn't need to use a stand-up rack. I had dry brined them over night (plain kosher salt) and then dry rubbed them with Meathead's Memphis Dust recipe (minus the rosemary powder because we didn't have any).
Flipped and flopped the racks at strategic intervals, but pretty much left the firebox alone and chugging for the full 5 hours. Was planning on going 6 hour, but decided not to crutch them at all this time, and the bend test at 5 hours said "Dun!" so I wrapped them and let them rest an hour or so till dinner.
Sliced them up just before serving and was pleased with how they came out. Pull away from tyhe bone nice and clean, but not mushy, and not falling off the bone. And you can see the smoke ring I got this time.
Oh... My... Gawd! These were by far my best effort on ribs (or anything else to come off one of my smokers) to date I didn't even use any of my favorite spicy sauce on mine, they were so damn delicious. There was none of that Kingsford Blue off taste from the Stubbs Charcoal, so I'd say we have a winner for those who want to use briquettes. Had just the right amount of meat as there were about 5 or 6 ribs left after everyone had stuffed themselves to the gills.
And the risky activity? Well, I can report that not a single piece of my stone firebox liner popped, shattered, exploded or fragmented into deadly shards. The risky part was eating all that smokey delicious meat. I hear that smoked meats have been proven to be carcinogenic and could shorten your lifespan. But man, it sure is a wonderful way to go down!
Came back from a nice morning ride with my son, and it was time to fire up the pit. Loaded a 1/2 starter chimney with the Stubbs brand charcoal briquettes, and lit 2 sheet of news paper under it. Once the paper burned off, and the charcoal was burning I could tell that the smoke / smell was different from the normal Kingsford stuff. I decided to go with the Stubbs in the firebox, and was able to fit the entire rest of the bag into my minion box, filling it to the max, along with a healthy amount of hickory wood chunks interspersed throughout the basket.
After the starter was about 1/2 ashed over, I dumped it on the top of the minion box, closed up the FB and waited for the pit to come up to temp. I started out with my 18" chimney extension on, but soon found that the draft the extension provides is actually too much when trying to burn charcoal briquettes. I would close down the intake all the way and the high vacuum from the long chimney was sucking the air in from all the cracks in the side door and damper. Pulled off the extension and everything settled down to a nice even burn with the FB intake open about 3/8"",
In fact, it was the evenest burn I've had on the offset pit to date. I don't know if I can attribute that to the Stubbs charcoal, or having added the mass of stone in the bottom of the firebox, but I really didn't have to fiddle with the intake vent much at all for the entire cook.
Had the three good sized racks of Baby Backs laid side by side and had plenty of room, and didn't need to use a stand-up rack. I had dry brined them over night (plain kosher salt) and then dry rubbed them with Meathead's Memphis Dust recipe (minus the rosemary powder because we didn't have any).
Flipped and flopped the racks at strategic intervals, but pretty much left the firebox alone and chugging for the full 5 hours. Was planning on going 6 hour, but decided not to crutch them at all this time, and the bend test at 5 hours said "Dun!" so I wrapped them and let them rest an hour or so till dinner.
Sliced them up just before serving and was pleased with how they came out. Pull away from tyhe bone nice and clean, but not mushy, and not falling off the bone. And you can see the smoke ring I got this time.
Oh... My... Gawd! These were by far my best effort on ribs (or anything else to come off one of my smokers) to date I didn't even use any of my favorite spicy sauce on mine, they were so damn delicious. There was none of that Kingsford Blue off taste from the Stubbs Charcoal, so I'd say we have a winner for those who want to use briquettes. Had just the right amount of meat as there were about 5 or 6 ribs left after everyone had stuffed themselves to the gills.
And the risky activity? Well, I can report that not a single piece of my stone firebox liner popped, shattered, exploded or fragmented into deadly shards. The risky part was eating all that smokey delicious meat. I hear that smoked meats have been proven to be carcinogenic and could shorten your lifespan. But man, it sure is a wonderful way to go down!
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Huzzah! They look great.
With all that charcoal, was there any left over after a 5 hour cook?
I imagine the mass of the stones is a big help as a heat sink to stabilize the temp.
With all that charcoal, was there any left over after a 5 hour cook?
I imagine the mass of the stones is a big help as a heat sink to stabilize the temp.
ChrisCo
Active member
Dang, you guys got me wanting to throw a brisket on my smoker now. I haven't cooked one since last August.
Stubbs used to be my go-to charcoal when I had my ECB. After the ECB finally fell apart, I built myself a reverse flow offset out of an old 30gal air tank that I had laying around. Stubbs did ok in that smoker, but I found Lazzari mesquite lump at a local shop for something like $10 for 40lbs. It did much better than Stubbs in my smoker, and cost less... I did find a rock in one bag, though.
The last time I did a brisket, I ran out of Lazzari about half way through. The neighbor went and got me a bag of mesquite lump from the local restaurant supply shop (I've got awesome neighbors!). I can't remember the brand name to safe my life, but I do remember that it cooked (and smelled) much better than the Lazzari...and the 40lb bag didn't have any rocks or funky looking pieces of wood (I always pour the charcoal out of the bag into 5gal buckets for easy storage and transport from the garage to the smoker out back).
I tried the stick burning once. I didn't care for it in my smoker.
Here's my backyard wood-burning station
The grate slides out so I can easily access the grub without getting a bunch of smoke in my face (this was a 12 or 14lb brisket I cooked up last year).
(hopefully the forum will let me use those pics -- it complains that I can't use a jpg here when I preview my post
)
I think I know what I'll be doing next weekend (if I'm not out riding
)
ETA: The brisket pic was a 2-hour check... It sat on the smoker for another 7 hours afterwards.
Stubbs used to be my go-to charcoal when I had my ECB. After the ECB finally fell apart, I built myself a reverse flow offset out of an old 30gal air tank that I had laying around. Stubbs did ok in that smoker, but I found Lazzari mesquite lump at a local shop for something like $10 for 40lbs. It did much better than Stubbs in my smoker, and cost less... I did find a rock in one bag, though.
The last time I did a brisket, I ran out of Lazzari about half way through. The neighbor went and got me a bag of mesquite lump from the local restaurant supply shop (I've got awesome neighbors!). I can't remember the brand name to safe my life, but I do remember that it cooked (and smelled) much better than the Lazzari...and the 40lb bag didn't have any rocks or funky looking pieces of wood (I always pour the charcoal out of the bag into 5gal buckets for easy storage and transport from the garage to the smoker out back).
I tried the stick burning once. I didn't care for it in my smoker.
Here's my backyard wood-burning station
The grate slides out so I can easily access the grub without getting a bunch of smoke in my face (this was a 12 or 14lb brisket I cooked up last year).
(hopefully the forum will let me use those pics -- it complains that I can't use a jpg here when I preview my post
I think I know what I'll be doing next weekend (if I'm not out riding
ETA: The brisket pic was a 2-hour check... It sat on the smoker for another 7 hours afterwards.
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Knifemaker
Not me
Holy crap Fred, those look awesome. As I've mentioned, Ribs are my favorite...I think next smoke I'll try the baby backs instead of the Saint Louis cuts.
Will look around for the Stubbs charcoal.....as I've got a huge family get-together coming in July and a low maintainance fire sounds good....
Will look around for the Stubbs charcoal.....as I've got a huge family get-together coming in July and a low maintainance fire sounds good....
Thanks!
And sorry, I meant to report on the fuel consumption earlier. I still had about 1/2 of the charcoal un-burned in the basket after the 5 hour cook, so although the OK Joe offset isn't as frugal with the fuel as an UDS or other vertical / direct heat cooker, it isn't horrible and could be used for a 12 hour cook with maybe adding a little more towards the end.
The nice thing about using the briquettes is how evenly they burn through the entire cook. No need to fiddle with the fire much at all. With the lump I was having to poke the coals around to get them all to burn, and there is less heat per volume (more per weight) with the lighter lump charcoal. So if you have a limited space in the firebox that could be a concern.
Stubbs charcoal is being carried at Lowe's. That's where I got mine. Also picked up some Cowboy brand Hickory wood chunks while I was there, and a snazzy new pair of those black insulated BBQ gloves for meat flippin'.
@ChrisCo - Welcome to the thread. Your home built setup looks pretty awesome. You and knifemaker have similar, reverse flow, custom built pits. Someday I will leave my modified OK Joe behind and move on up to a heavy duty custom like yours. In the meantime, I'll just keep experimenting, and (hopefully) making some good eats.
And oh, those last few ribs from Saturday? Yeah they got gobbled up on Sunday along with some steak and pork chops off the gas grille. Definitely a crowd favorite.
ChrisCo
Active member
Got a little 5lb brisket on the smoker right now. I haven't used the smoker since last August...and apparently I forgot to clean it after the last use -- d'oh! That was nasty!
I think I may have to drag it around to the garage next weekend and give it a bit of an overhaul. The seals/gaskets are shot, and it's got almost as much smoke coming out of the lid as it does coming out of the stack
Anyone else smokin' today? Whatcha' cookin'?
I think I may have to drag it around to the garage next weekend and give it a bit of an overhaul. The seals/gaskets are shot, and it's got almost as much smoke coming out of the lid as it does coming out of the stack
Anyone else smokin' today? Whatcha' cookin'?
ChrisCo
Active member
7 hours later (an hour longer than I'd planned)... Mmmm.... Brisket...
Not the best I've ever done, but really good nonetheless! The pieces on the right look a little drier than they should, but that's only because I forgot the immediately-post-slice pics immediately after cutting it open. Of course, I was also fighting the wife to keep her fingers out of it while I was slicing. I'll pass on the Type-A BBQ sauce
Not the best I've ever done, but really good nonetheless! The pieces on the right look a little drier than they should, but that's only because I forgot the immediately-post-slice pics immediately after cutting it open. Of course, I was also fighting the wife to keep her fingers out of it while I was slicing. I'll pass on the Type-A BBQ sauce
We also had a little 'que this 4th of July weekend . Our whole fam damily converged at my son's beautiful place up in Vermont, and the little Charbroil COS that I handed down to him (one I started with at the beginning of this thread) was used to cook up a couple of racks of baby backs for the carnivorous men, and his Weber gas grille cooked up a few jumbo Key West Chicken breasts for the Pollo-Vegetarian ladies. He used the gas conversion burner in the firebox for the heat and a good healthy dosage of hickory wood chunks in the smoke pan for flavor.
Came out quite respectably. I consider the BBQ torch officially passed to my son, and look forward to his tales of wowing his friends with fantastic BBQ.
Sorry, we didn't stage the ribs right side up after he hacked them up, and the phone photo is a bit blurry, but they sure tasted beautimous! I am envious of that cutting board of his. It is HUGE!
Came out quite respectably. I consider the BBQ torch officially passed to my son, and look forward to his tales of wowing his friends with fantastic BBQ.
Sorry, we didn't stage the ribs right side up after he hacked them up, and the phone photo is a bit blurry, but they sure tasted beautimous! I am envious of that cutting board of his. It is HUGE!
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Knifemaker
Not me
A little pricey, but they are good thick boards:
https://www.overstock.com/2613392/product.html?detailsMoreExpanded=true
I have a slightly smaller one (18X24)....the one above is 20"x30".
https://www.overstock.com/2613392/product.html?detailsMoreExpanded=true
I have a slightly smaller one (18X24)....the one above is 20"x30".
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El Toro Joe
FYYFF
Only smoking I'm doing, is cigars...till I get home from Mexico
