Smokers (BBQ - not grilling)

[08FJR4ME]

I like the nutty look. Kinda Harlyish to me. You can add the leather tassles to your BBQ utensils too.

Dave

 

[Knifemaker]

Here it is after paint. (Yes it's high temp)

And the hinged lid in action:

Still have to build the shelf...but that's a woodworking project I'll do later. Will be seasoning it this weekend.

 

[Fred W]

Now it’s looking good. Get some smoke on that bad boy and it will look even better. If it gets a little crusty, redemption is only a rustoleum hi temp spray can away from fixed!

 

[Knifemaker]

Yep. Can't wait. Only real rust on the drum is on the inside on the bottom. Figured you can't spray that..

Going to get my neighbor to help me bolt on the legs. Weber makes a cover for their 22 inch smoker that I bet will fit this puppy.

Not sure if I'm going to do a brisket or a butt for its maiden cook. Thanks for the guidance there Fred. Need to vacuum out any metal filings before I fire it up. Got a bag of Royal Oak lump, a can of spray Canola oil, and a big sack of Hickory for the initial burn.

p.s. The reason I picked silver gray for the paint is an homage to the first FJR I saw. Made me fall in love with the bike. Although I bought a Cobalt Blue one, the 2003? Silver one is the reason I joined this forum.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

That is one fine looking rig!!

 

[Fred W]

The bottom of my drum shows a little rust on the inside too. Once you do a few pork butts or briskets all the rendering fat will weather proof the bottom. Dont clean the bottom. Its all good. Just try to not let condensation build up inside and it wont be a problem. Another reason I dont like the idea of using a water bath.

I use a Weber 22 kettle cover on my UDS. It covers most of the way down. Keeps moisture off the lid and hopefully out of the inside.

 

[Knifemaker]

That is one fine looking rig!!

Thanks! I've been designing it in my head for two weeks. Everything has so far gone as planned, other than the issue with lid size. Only thing to bitch about was the crazy hot weather I had to endure to work on it.

Adding up all the parts so far I'm into this for about $100-$120. Luckily a lot of the bolts/ nuts I had on hand.

 

[Knifemaker]

Well go it all cleaned out, got tomorrow off so may do the seasoning then.

Finally hit me what it reminded me of...

 

[Fred W]

You know, theres no reason not to drop some piece of meat on the smoker while you are seasoning it. Kill 2 birds, and all that.

I got my son a nice, barely used, 18 inch Weber Smokey Mountain at a local yard sale for his birthday. $100 including the Weber cover was too good a deal to pass up. He and his wife immediately started calling it R2D2.

Well be going up to their place in VT today for BBQ off of R2D2. :thumbsup:

 

[Bounce]

Been 102 - 103 (heat index up to about 109) this week. AC went out on Sunday. Repair guys got the parts so will be doing an install this morning (holiday even). Meanwhile running a smoke has been down the list. I really wanted to smoke a turkey breast for today but it can wait.

 

[Knifemaker]

You know, theres no reason not to drop some piece of meat on the smoker while you are seasoning it. Kill 2 birds, and all that.

Right with you on that, I've got a nice little 3lb boneless pork loin here to be the UDS's first victim:

Another HOT 97+ day expected with high humidity...but I'm gonna do it anyway.

 

[biknflyfisher]

I just put 2 tri-tips on the Brinkmann vertical smoker at 10:00am. Each has a different rub on it so we can compare/contrast the 2.

I have an OK Joe on order that was supposed to be here on Monday, but now they are saying Friday, so that will be fun to tinker with.

Have a great 4th!

Brian the biknflyfisher

 

[Knifemaker]

Don't forget the smoking essentials....

 

[biknflyfisher]

I was thinking Beafeaters & tonic followed by a fantastic California Zinfandel from the Paso Robles area....

 

[Knifemaker]

To each one his own poison

I do have a nice California Merot of tap for the meal.

A bit over an hour in. Some adjustments made along the way but temps staying in the 225-238 bracket. Pork at about 110 now.

An interesting aside here. With my reverse offset it required me to adjust the temperature as it went UP. With the drum it went right up to 360 F, so it was all about getting the temperature adjusted DOWN to what I was looking for. For this smoke I only filled the charcoal basket about 1/2 way up, mixing (Hickory) wood chunks along with the lump. When I added to meat , after it seemed stable at around 230 degrees,I tossed in a few handfuls of Applewood. Guess there is no guide on how much wood to mix in. I can still smell the wood burning, so there's still some in there doing its thing. A few more smokes on this and I'll have a better clue on the ratio needed.

 

[Knifemaker]

Well...after 2-1/2 hours pork hit 143 degrees and was pulled.

After a short rest, sliced up. Juicy and tender. Oddly no discernible smoke ring....but did have a distinct smokey flavor. Sandwiches for the rest of the week.

A quick look at the charcoal basket when yanking the pork showed quite a bit of unburnt coals and wood. Hopefully can reuse what didn't burn.

So,for the first run on this am guessing I need abit more wood, but happy with the results. The concept of adding a Digi-Q type thing is definitely something I'd like to incorporate here.

 

[Fred W]

I think your pork loin came out that way because you cooked it at too high a cooking temp and that sealed the outside before it could absorb the smoke. Cooking on a drum you need to finesse the heat a lot more than what you are used to on the offset.

When I start the charcoal for the UDS, I will turn the starter chimney upside down and fill it, which means only about a dozen briquettes at the most. And when they are lit then drop them into a well made in the unlit briquettes in the basket. Stick the basket into the drum right away, and seal it up tight, with the one intake port uncapped, and the ball valve half open. Then wait to see what happens before you start to close off the intake. If you light too many coals to start with it will make some wild temperature swings while you try to get it under control.

I will also drop a refrigerator cold roast on the pit before it ever comes fully up to cooking temp. I figure that is the best time to get the smoke flavor into the meat. While it is cold and the pit temp is low.

I also mix the wood chunks into the charcoal when I fill the basket all the way through it in layers, making sure there are a few extra in the top layer that Ill be throwing the lit coals into to get heavier smoke early on.

You dont get much time to get the smoke into a tender and lean roast, so you have to make the best of the time you have. Dont get hung up on the thin blue smoke on the drum. You will see white smoke as the new charcoal and wood chunks get warm. Its not the same as workin* to get TBS on a stick burner

By the way, your pork roast looks terrifically juicy an delicious. My comments above are just to increase the smoke flavor. You nailed the temp and done-ness

 

[Knifemaker]

Well I did start out with a full chimney of charcoal. I did mix wood with the coals in the basket and had a pocket in the basket where I tossed in the hot ones. The temperature did start high because of that (369F) but I didn't put the pork in for a few hours until the temperature had come down to the 220-235 range. I also threw on a few handfuls of applewood chunks when I did that. Judging by the wood that didn't burn, I'd say there was enough burning. The temperature only spiked once with the meat on to 154, and that was only for about 10 minutes. So not sure the meat was cooked at a high temperature.

The pork was cold right from the refrigerator. The only thing I did differently this time was I put the rub on the meat two hours ahead of time. It's possible that some of the sugar dissolved on the meat, and caramelized into a "protective" crust that prevented a more evident smoke ring. It does look like the meat had a "skin" on it when I pulled it out. You can see it in the photo. Vary faint smoke ring only 1/8" in. Am sure it got enough smoke... I could taste it, just couldn't see it.

Well next time I'll know not to start off with that much lit charcoal. But for the first run I'm pretty happy with the results.

Also, when I got things going noticed a bit of smoke leaking out from the bottom of the lid. I know you said not to be concerned about this, but I saw that if I pushed down on the lid handle, it stopped. It only moved a fraction of an inch, so I'm guessing it's do to how I mounted the hinge. It bugged me a bit, and you can see in the photo above I put a tiny C clamp on it for the cook. I don't feel like tearing the hinge mounts apart and trying to readjust them, so I'm just going to install one of these:

https://www.appliancefactoryparts.com/search/part/552993/146199/

Guess I'll start working on the shelf next...

 

[Blind Squirrel]

I wouldn't worry about a ring if you are getting the taste/flavor you are after.

 

[Bounce]

Don't forget the smoking essentials....

What do they call a whiskey and Canola oil beverage?

You can also get some high heat gaskets to run around where the list sets.

This is just an example from a "smoker gasket" search:

https://www.amazon.com/LAVALOCK-Nomex-Grilling-smoker-gasket/dp/B01GLQ0L3C