gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Bring it on!!!Don't get me started here with my food porn.
Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)
- Thread starter Fred W
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well... alright...Bring it on!!!Don't get me started here with my food porn.
Smoked Chicken.
Smoked (modified)1-2-3 Ribs, we always change it up on the recipe right? The last rib, I forgot to take a picture before we ate, too hungry.
Smoked Salmon - The orange-ish salmon is Costco farmed raise, the rest is fresh Alaskan salmon my friend caught while on vacation. AWESOME! Most soaked in a soy-sauce brine for 24 hours, as you can see some have an apricot glaze, it's so bloody good.
Smoked Rib Eye - I left it smoked, no browning it up I liked the red color, tasted FANTASTIC!
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Yummm... That's some fine lookin' food pr0n
Those Traeger grilles are very nice. And the convenience of pellets is pretty hard to beat. But the entry price is pretty steep, and you are limited to using whatever wood is available in pellet form. Same thing with those Bradley biscuit burners.
I've seen where you can outfit a UDS with a PelletPro pellet burner on the side. Runs about $350 for the conversion. Seems a bit counter to the main UDS concept to me. But adding a way to do cold smoke would have some appeal.
Those Traeger grilles are very nice. And the convenience of pellets is pretty hard to beat. But the entry price is pretty steep, and you are limited to using whatever wood is available in pellet form. Same thing with those Bradley biscuit burners.
I've seen where you can outfit a UDS with a PelletPro pellet burner on the side. Runs about $350 for the conversion. Seems a bit counter to the main UDS concept to me. But adding a way to do cold smoke would have some appeal.
Thanks Fred. You are correct on the limitations and it doesn't smoke constantly (pellet feed rate and pause), but for me it's great.
I bought the Treager at Costco. A friend had the Green Mountain Grill, loved it. I wanted one but yes the price is steep. I could have got one for about 30% off but I would have had to drive way up to NorCal east of Chico to get it, after time and gas$$ forget it.
The story goes... I got home a from a trip late one Sunday afternoon from Arizona, just got off the plane and on the way home my wife and I stopped for Costco chicken for dinner. I enter the building and there's the Treager reps getting ready to clear out and go back to Oregon, Costco was about 30 minutes from closing. I was like a kid in a candy store, MOM! I want one! The price was about $100 off and the guy enticed me with another $100 of extras, covers, spices, pellets, and then my wife comes back with the chicken and says, "just buy it." The rest is history.
I bought the Treager at Costco. A friend had the Green Mountain Grill, loved it. I wanted one but yes the price is steep. I could have got one for about 30% off but I would have had to drive way up to NorCal east of Chico to get it, after time and gas$$ forget it.
The story goes... I got home a from a trip late one Sunday afternoon from Arizona, just got off the plane and on the way home my wife and I stopped for Costco chicken for dinner. I enter the building and there's the Treager reps getting ready to clear out and go back to Oregon, Costco was about 30 minutes from closing. I was like a kid in a candy store, MOM! I want one! The price was about $100 off and the guy enticed me with another $100 of extras, covers, spices, pellets, and then my wife comes back with the chicken and says, "just buy it." The rest is history.
Blind Squirrel
Well-known member
Fred,
How hard do you think it is going to be to control the temperature on the new rig?
How hard do you think it is going to be to control the temperature on the new rig?
gixxerjasen
Well-known member
The UDS is dead easy to control. I open more exhaust and then control the intake at the bottom with the ball valve. It takes some trial and error to figure out where the temp will settle for a given setting on the ball valve, but after one experimental cook I had my 225F figured out and using the minion method with enough coal I can keep it right there all day long.
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What ^ he said. That was one of the goals in building my Upright (no longer Ugly) Drum Smoker. I want a nice long even smoking. If there is much droop in temp over time I could retrofit the UDS with one of those BBQ Guru thingees
BBQ Guru forced air control is da bomb for long (overnight) smokes. No need to stay up all night making runs to manage airflow/temp.
Blind Squirrel
Well-known member
The cost of an airflow device is most likley more than the cost of both of your smokers combined.
Ya hafta get the WiFi Guru so you can monitor and control it from your laptop in the living room while watching the game!
That would be pretty darned cool. Stay right in the climate controlled living room and monitor your smoker remotely!!
Here's a Friday update... The primary UDS build is finally completed!!
Picked up the materials from Home Despot (and Walmart for the pizza pan) yesterday and put the charcoal basket together
You can see that I used 2 - 12" x 24" pieces of 1/2" expanded metal to make the sides of the basket, wrapped around the charcoal grid from a 22" weber clone. It is 14" in diameter and holds a lot of charcoal.
With no welder at hand I just used a few 1/2" machine screws, washers and nuts to hold the two pieces together, and then I used pieces of coat hanger wire to attach the formed sides to the bottom rack.
The bottom rack is spaced off the (pizza) ash pan by some short pieces of 1/2" copper pipe with carriage bolts running up through them clamping the charcoal grill.
I also made a bail type handle that swings to the side from a length of 3/16" steel rod, and of course I had to also make a "hook" to reach down and lift the whole shebang in and out of the drum out of the same 3/16" rod material.
Put about 10 lbs of Kingsford blue in the basket and threw a few chunks of wild cherry wood off the woodpile (not shown), lit an upside down chimney full of coals and tossed them in on one side of the basket. Dropped it in and after about a half hour it's percolating along at a steady 225-230 F.
I can already see the thermometer on the domed lid was a bad idea. It is way off. No problem, I'll plug that hole and make a new one at grill level. Might just stick with the digital probe thermometers as they are far more accurate and not much more money than the mechanical analog ones. I can also see that I'm going to need to gasket the domed lid as it doesn't fit tight enough and leaks a little. No biggee.
Here's a Friday update... The primary UDS build is finally completed!!
Picked up the materials from Home Despot (and Walmart for the pizza pan) yesterday and put the charcoal basket together
You can see that I used 2 - 12" x 24" pieces of 1/2" expanded metal to make the sides of the basket, wrapped around the charcoal grid from a 22" weber clone. It is 14" in diameter and holds a lot of charcoal.
With no welder at hand I just used a few 1/2" machine screws, washers and nuts to hold the two pieces together, and then I used pieces of coat hanger wire to attach the formed sides to the bottom rack.
The bottom rack is spaced off the (pizza) ash pan by some short pieces of 1/2" copper pipe with carriage bolts running up through them clamping the charcoal grill.
I also made a bail type handle that swings to the side from a length of 3/16" steel rod, and of course I had to also make a "hook" to reach down and lift the whole shebang in and out of the drum out of the same 3/16" rod material.
Put about 10 lbs of Kingsford blue in the basket and threw a few chunks of wild cherry wood off the woodpile (not shown), lit an upside down chimney full of coals and tossed them in on one side of the basket. Dropped it in and after about a half hour it's percolating along at a steady 225-230 F.
I can already see the thermometer on the domed lid was a bad idea. It is way off. No problem, I'll plug that hole and make a new one at grill level. Might just stick with the digital probe thermometers as they are far more accurate and not much more money than the mechanical analog ones. I can also see that I'm going to need to gasket the domed lid as it doesn't fit tight enough and leaks a little. No biggee.
gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Nice job. You might pick up a bag of lump charcoal and try it out too. Burns very evenly and leaves very little ash to clean out.
I've been looking around for some to try. It isn't all that prevalent up here in the land of the long (and getting longer by the day) winter nights. I've also read some stuff that indicates that briquettes have more BTUs (per unit volume), but as you indicate they do generate more ash. I'd still like to try some real char, if I can get my hands on it.
In the meantime, Kingsford blue (and a few good sized chunks of smoking wood) seem to generate some darned nice smoke. I am very impressed with how little fuel I used to season this drum for several hours. I ended up closing it off and killing the fire after about 4 hours, and the basket was well less than half burnt, and I had not even filled it 1/2 way. I think I am looking at 12 to 16 hour burn times with no problem.
This weekend doesn't look good for any BBQ'n, too much else going on. But maybe next week...
In the meantime, Kingsford blue (and a few good sized chunks of smoking wood) seem to generate some darned nice smoke. I am very impressed with how little fuel I used to season this drum for several hours. I ended up closing it off and killing the fire after about 4 hours, and the basket was well less than half burnt, and I had not even filled it 1/2 way. I think I am looking at 12 to 16 hour burn times with no problem.
This weekend doesn't look good for any BBQ'n, too much else going on. But maybe next week...
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It is... trust me.
Not just monitor, but once you get the air flow balanced right (just a slight drop if left to run alone), then short of adding more fuel you control the target heat for the smoker and the meat(s) remotely, too.
But don't tell anyone. It's a secret weapon that makes everyone think you busted your ass all night for their enjoyment.
We have lump charcoal at the grocery stores, lowes, home depot, wal-mart, etc.
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TomInPA
Well-known member
You can get Royal Oak at Home Depot and Lowes carries Cowboy. I really miss the Lazzari we used to get out west, but Royal Oak is all hardwood and doesn't overwhelm you with fines. Get lump charcoal. Using hardwood charcoal instead of briquettes is like the difference between propane and charcoal briquettes. It's a major step up. Chunks of fruit or nut wood are great for smoke spice, but you'll get a lot better burn with lump charcoal.
gixxerjasen
Well-known member
Yep, I get my lump charcoal at WalMart. I have to go one town in either direction for Home Depot or Lowes, but WM is right down the street, so it's easy.
Blind Squirrel
Well-known member
Fred,
With a setup like that, you may also want to look into cold smoking. I love me some smoked cheese! I use an A-MAZE-N smoker (no affiliation other than being a happy customer) https://www.amazenproducts.com/?Click=4920 to produce my smoke.
With a setup like that, you may also want to look into cold smoking. I love me some smoked cheese! I use an A-MAZE-N smoker (no affiliation other than being a happy customer) https://www.amazenproducts.com/?Click=4920 to produce my smoke.
Be careful about not isolating your patio from the heat. Chimneys are notorious for breaking down the concrete from the heat. Your smoker may or may not but wouldn't it be better to err on caution and set it on some fire bricks?
BTW: Looks great! Hope it works just as good as it looks. You've made me want to go do a brisket this weekend.
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Warpdrv
Well-known member
Boys - just a heads up on Lump Charcoal...
When using it, inspect the product that your going to use for cooking. I have seen on multiple accounts first hand with the Lump Charcoal - plastic soda bottles, and construction lumber mixed in with it.... They are covered in soot, black and will be hard to distinguish between the real lumps of wood. So please check that you are not getting that stuff in your bags - plastic or the possibility of treated lumber can be toxic and poisonous.....
The companies that make these products as you know hire humans, and like any workplace there good people and bad.... Tossing a plastic soda bottle instead of taking it to the garbage is not too hard to imagine for a lazy disgruntled under paid worker is not too hard to fathom - so take care about that.
When using it, inspect the product that your going to use for cooking. I have seen on multiple accounts first hand with the Lump Charcoal - plastic soda bottles, and construction lumber mixed in with it.... They are covered in soot, black and will be hard to distinguish between the real lumps of wood. So please check that you are not getting that stuff in your bags - plastic or the possibility of treated lumber can be toxic and poisonous.....
The companies that make these products as you know hire humans, and like any workplace there good people and bad.... Tossing a plastic soda bottle instead of taking it to the garbage is not too hard to imagine for a lazy disgruntled under paid worker is not too hard to fathom - so take care about that.
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