Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[Knifemaker]

And ...taa daaa.... they came out awesome. Everyone impressed

 

[Fred W]

Those look awesome. Wish Id done something as creative. Our chicken came out great. But its just smoked chicken. Hardly impressive. And due to some domestic turmoil no photos were taken. Sorry

 

[biknflyfisher]

Looks yummy! How can something wrapped in bacon not be a home run??

I mentioned smoking a couple of tri-tips tomorrow to my wife, but as she was somewhat nonplussed I have the KTM dirt bike loaded up to head to Hungry Valley to go dirt bikpe riding. That'll teach her .......

Brian the biknflyfisher

Those look awesome. Wish Id done something as creative. Our chicken came out great. But its just smoked chicken. Hardly impressive. And due to some domestic turmoil no photos were taken. Sorry

 

[bigjohnsd]

The Pork Shoulder came out pretty good, took it off at 197F, should have left it on till 205F. It was done, but not quite as "pullable" as SWMBO desired

the wind kept screwing around with my temperature all afternoon.

 

[Bounce]

Next time you can finish it in the oven if you need to.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

The Pork Shoulder came out pretty good, took it off at 197F, should have left it on till 205F. It was done, but not quite as "pullable" as SWMBO desiredthe wind kept screwing around with my temperature all afternoon.

Getting those last few degrees can be a bitch, but the quality of the outcome is worth the wait. I pull mine off at 203 degrees, then rest it for awhile.

 

[Knifemaker]

Yep, amazing what the difference is in just those 8 degrees. Looks great however

My grill probe crapped out on me right at the end of my cook. luckily it was "right at the end" ...the chicken had just hit my target temp of 165 and I was there to pull them out. I'm going to order a new one, and an extra meat probe so I can cook 2 different things at one time.

 

[Bounce]

If you mean the one that the OEM puts in the lid. Just leave it. Get a probe with an alligator clip on it and put it next to the meat. The probe at the top will always read differently than one down in the pit where it matters.

 

[Knifemaker]

If you mean the one that the OEM puts in the lid. Just leave it. Get a probe with an alligator clip on it and put it next to the meat. The probe at the top will always read differently than one down in the pit where it matters.

No, these are wired probes for my Thermoworks digital gauge. The grill probe has a clip that hold it about 1" above the cooking grate.

 

[Knifemaker]

And a big thumbs up for Thermoworks. My order not only showed up in two days, along with emails providing shipping info... but the little bag of jelly belly jelly beans they included in the shipment was a nice touch. I recommend them highly.

https://www.thermoworks.com

 

[Fred W]

Smoke roasted a ~ 4 lb Beef Rump Roast yesterday for the Moms. Quite reasonably priced for beef, I think it was just over $10 altogether (Manager's Special) Dry brined it in the morning (for ~ 6 hours) then spritzed with Canola oil spray and an ad-hoc version of Big Bad Beef rub. Cooked on my propane fired offset OK Joe at ~ 225F with hickory wood chunks in the pan for smoke.

Was surprised it cooked so quickly, only took about 2 hours to reach my target 130F internal. Wrapped in heavy foil and multiple large towels to carry-over cooking up to 135 and hold it for almost two hours until dinner.

Here's the finished goods:

Sorry, no pics were taken after carving. I sliced it thin since it tends to be a bit tougher than some other Beef cuts. It came out a perfect medium rare and actually more tender than I anticipated.

That's a large serving fork over on the right and long carving knife on the left. They make the roast look much smaller than it was. It fed 5 hungry adults and 2 kids with about half of it leftover for sammiches.

 

[Knifemaker]

Plan for today is to smoke 10 brats. Just for the three of us. It's going to be hot humid day here. 91-93. It's only 10am and it's already 86, just a few minutes outside and I'm sweating. I bet I could bake the brats without even using charcoal...tested my new grill probe (in the unlit smoker) it showed the grill temp was 106, this with the lid open....bet it hit 150 with it closed.

But gotta have smoke.

Am also going to smoke some corn on the cob, basically following this:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/smoked-corn-on-the-cob-recipe-336609

Not going for their spice mix, just going to brush them with a 50/50 mix of butter and olive oil.

Got everything ready to go, will go fire up the coals around 1pm. Photos to come, hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day

 

[Fred W]

Looking forward to hearin* your results. My throw-down challenge for today was something the bride brought home called Turkey Tenderloins. I’m thinking to myself WTF is that? Google was my friend and revealed it was just strips of meat from the breast. But they were pretty nice and plump so I hit them with some standard poultry spices plus a sprinkle of chipotle pepper and slapped them onto the gas grille with my iron smoke generator in the back and with mostly indirect heat. After picking up a little color I started slathering them with some of the new Sweet Baby Rays sauce with maple syrup. They came out pretty darned good. Sometimes you have to think a little outside the box.

 

[Knifemaker]

Brats came out fine. Although abit of a sear on the grill would have been perfect, as the casing was still a bit tough.

The corn was disappointing, nice smokey flavor, but not very juicy...to be fair they were dried up a bit to start with, as the three ears have been sitting around for a week here. (I did soak them

For several hours in water) I ate mine, but the crew did not. I think part was due to just being used to hot buttered and salted corn it's hard to accept something "different". I might have over cooked them too. I've done grilled corn with great results. I think with fresher corn, and cooked a shorter time (mine went a whole hour) they'd have been better.

The real winner was the wife's homemade egg potato salad. She makes about 5+ lbs. at a time and it's always great. Potato, red and green onion, celery, miracle whip and a dozen hard boiled eggs.

 

[bigjohnsd]

I ordered a Camp Chef 24" Smoker Vault last week.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Camp-Chef-Smoke-Vault-24-in-Propane-Gas-Smoker-SMV24S/203591386

The Amazon package arrived last Wednesday. I thought the package looked big when I moved it into the garage. When I went to set it up on Thursday I quickly discovered that I had received a Camp Chef STX Pellet Grill https://goo.gl/images/6tYMde

Test run on an 8# pork butt went well, test run on 4 NY Strips on Friday went really well.

Thank you Mr. Bezos for the early birthday present, I saved $200

 

[Knifemaker]

Bite my shiny metal ass.....

 

[Fred W]

My Not-So-Ugly Drum Smoker has gone high tech. After over a year of deliberation I finally pulled the trigger on a pit stoker. Decided the best unit for my use would be the Digi-Q from BBQ Guru. Ordered directly from their web site and got it shipped Priority mail for $233. I think this thing is my biggest single financial investment in BBQ to date.

Picked up a couple of Pork Shoulder Whole Picnics on sale at the local supermarket. Fired up the UDS at about 10PM last night with a full load of Stubbs charcoal briquettes and chunks of hickory wood in the basket, dialed in 225F on the Digi-Q and waited until everything stabilized, then slapped 15 pounds of pork goodness onto the pit at about 11PM. Watched the stoker do its thing for about an hour and then turned in at midnight.

Up this morning at just after 5 (as usual) and when I checked on the pit it was cooking along steady as a rock at 225. The meat is still in its stall now (leaving it unwrapped) after 8 1/2 hours. Im expecting it to take about 14 to 16 hours total, which should make it done sometime mid afternoon.

Photos of the setup along with the completed effort forthcoming...

 

[Knifemaker]

Very cool. 15 pounds? That'll make a lot of samwitchis...

At some point I likely will get a UDS, so interested in your set up now

I may end up making my own, as I can buy a drum from the guy that built my smoker.

There are many DIY videos online. This one is well done and has detailed drawings:

https://howtobbqright.com/udssmoker.html

Likely a retirement project down the road.

 

[Bounce]

Digi-Q is magic sauce. Like magic tricks, we're not supposed to reveal it.

 

[Fred W]

I detailed my UDS build earlier in this thread. All of the photobucket photos should still display since Im back on good terms with them. I really like the drum for extra long smokes, and the offset for shorter stuff like poultry and ribs. The UDS is very fuel efficient to begin with due to its vertical nature. Its no problem getting 16 hours out of a single load of char

In the past Ive been using a pizza pan with holes drilled in it as a smoke diffuser, but this time I opted to put one of those disposable aluminum pans on a shelf, both to block the direct heat, and also to catch the copious pork fat renderings and prevent it from dripping into the charcoal fire and burning like It has in past. I want to see if the flavor improves by eliminating all the fat smoke. I tell you what, it sure smells fantastic.

I had previously tried using a water pan (on a brisket) but that just made a mess inside the pit and consumed more fuel to evaporate water. Im going to have to disagree with Myron Mixon who claims water smokers are the only way to go. The more I watch BBQ Pitmasters the more I realize that what they do in competition is not always the best way to cook.

The two picnics were over 8 1/2 lbs each. I trimmed off the pigskin capes and most of the heavy fat from under them, and the trimmings weighed 2 1/2 lbs!! So the trimmed meat with bones still in were just less than 15 lbs.

I started my iPhone stopwatch running last night at meat-on, and Im up to 14 hours now at a steady 225 and the meat probe is showing 184.! This is lower and slower than Ive ever cooked before. Cant wait to taste the results tonight.

Bounce, dont tell David Copperfield on me!