I am a smoker, the BBQ type.

[SpatiallyAware]

I found this last night.. A digiq competitor, but only $150 instead of $350. The guy who makes these posts all over the bbq forums and seems to give great support for issues and changes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BBQ-Automat...=Barbecues_Grills_Smokers&hash=item20d8ac4b12


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178663

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Picked up another brisket, this time a nice soft 11lber.

I'm thinking it will be 10lb after trimming.

At 1.5hrs per pound I'm looking at 15 hours, so either wake up at 3am or risk another overnight cook.


Leaning towards overnight again, but with some fresh batteries in the et732, and paying better attention to lump layout.

Also going to use less water in the water pan, just enough to last 4-5 hours. I'm wondering if the water used up all the fuel.. From what I've read, people are getting 50% less time out of their lump when using too much water. Although I think my main issue was I didn't take enough time to delicately stack the lump, it burned uneven, and I ended up with a bunch of unlit coals.


I researched briquettes last night... They work fine for WSM and other verticals because there's no issue with ash. With my egg, too much ash will plug up the firegrate so the overwhelming consensus is to stick with lump.

 

[Kaido]

I researched briquettes last night... They work fine for WSM and other verticals because there's no issue with ash. With my egg, too much ash will plug up the firegrate so the overwhelming consensus is to stick with lump.

Nice! I was looking at either the BGE & Kamado Joe to replace my rusting charcoal grill, but it's still holding together and the Traeger pellet grill I wanted finally went on sale, so I went that route instead. I finally had a chance to assemble the beast last night...it warmed up enough to crack the ice on the patio, so I cleared all that stuff off & got it setup. Behold, the Holy Trifecta:

http://i.imgur.com/JnQKkj9.jpg

Going to have a lot of fun cooking this weekend :thumbsup:

 

[kn51]

Nine inches of snow yesterday. In the twenties for Sunday. I'm feeling the itch to smoke something.

Anyone ever order replacement parts from Chargriller? I torched the bottom ash pan off of my kamado style cooker and need a replacement.

 

[Crotulus]

http://i.imgur.com/JnQKkj9.jpg

That looks kind of like my back yard. Except on one end of my patio is a Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5", Weber 22.5" grill, and a Brinkman gas grill.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

<snip>
http://i.imgur.com/JnQKkj9.jpg

Going to have a lot of fun cooking this weekend :thumbsup:

Nice setup!! Over the years I've bounced between so many things.. Right now I have a large (18") egg along with a small 2 burner gasser. I'd love to add a weber performer gold 22.5" to the mix but at $300 I think weber is just a bit too proud of them.

 

[Kaido]

That looks kind of like my back yard. Except on one end of my patio is a Weber Smokey Mountain 18.5", Weber 22.5" grill, and a Brinkman gas grill.

Nice! I have a bayou burner that I use for doing my Smash Burgers on the cast iron pan too. The only other piece I want is a Traditional Oven, but I'm renting right now so that will have to wait until school's finished & I get something permanent so I can do some built-in stuff like that.

 

[Crotulus]

Nice! I have a bayou burner that I use for doing my Smash Burgers on the cast iron pan too. The only other piece I want is a Traditional Oven, but I'm renting right now so that will have to wait until school's finished & I get something permanent so I can do some built-in stuff like that.

An outdoor oven like that would be awesome. I'm curious how well this add on for the Weber grills works http://www.amazon.com/KettlePizza-18...pizza+oven+kit . I've only had the Weber grill for a couple of weeks but it's so easy to get up to 550f.

 

[Crotulus]

Nice setup!! Over the years I've bounced between so many things.. Right now I have a large (18") egg along with a small 2 burner gasser. I'd love to add a weber performer gold 22.5" to the mix but at $300 I think weber is just a bit too proud of them.

You're right, the Weber performer is too overpriced. A propane fire starter and small table are just not worth $150 to me. The ash catcher on the one touch gold is totally worth the extra $50 over the silver though.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

In cooking pizza on my egg I discovered a hugely important factor is how well heat radiates off the top of the lid. It took a lot of trial and error to get the pizza stone to the perfect height... And there is ~5" of ceramic and firebrick between the coals and the bottom of the pizza stone which is 1" thick by itself.

All that being said, I'm not really sure what the device gets you. It still seems like it would lose quite a bit of heat, certainly more than quickly removing the lid and tossing on a pizza?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Smoked the brisket last weekend and it turned out excellent.

Ran about 205f for 18 hours. It was looking a little dry at hour 15 (175f meat temp) so I foiled it to finish.

In hindsight I don't think foiling was needed.. It was a delicious meal, but a little too similar to roast beef / crock pot textured. Next time I'm going to skip the foil.

Also did a bunch of research while it was cooking and a lot of people say these 200f-ish temps are too low for brisket. That there's a balance between cooking too long at too low of temp and drying out versus too high of heat and drying out. That makes sense to me.

Next time I'm going to keep it right at 225f, use a water pan for most of the cook, and will not foil.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Was finally able to open my screen door. Drove up to the lake house around 05:00 to grab the smoker. Was home by 08:30 and had a pork shoulder on at 10:00.
Damn it felt good to BBQ again. Wind was nasty Saturday (and cold) so it took 9 hours instead of the usual 6 for a 3.5lb piece. Not quite cooked long enough (had to shut it down at an internal of 175° instead of the 195° I prefer, but the family was hungry and complaining).
Went with a chopped instead of pulled pork. Still good.

Was going to do a brisket Sunday but it looks to only be a high of 34°F. I'll make a new batch of beer instead.

 

[Spydermag68]

The big green egg does not need a water bath. A water bath is used to keep the heat down.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Also did a bunch of research while it was cooking and a lot of people say these 200f-ish temps are too low for brisket. That there's a balance between cooking too long at too low of temp and drying out versus too high of heat and drying out. That makes sense to me.

Next time I'm going to keep it right at 225f, use a water pan for most of the cook, and will not foil.

Yeah I would try 225f and see how you like it. I usually smoke brisket between 225-240f for a bit less time than what you quoted. Maybe 60-70 minutes per pound. I usually mop every 2 hours or so and rotate the meat at least once during the cook.

 

[Uppsala9496]

No, you want water to keep things moist. It isn't going to keep the heat down.

 

[slag]

No, you want water to keep things moist. It isn't going to keep the heat down.

Water has a couple uses really.

1. It keeps moisture in the smoking area so the meat doesn't dry out as much. Very evident if you smoke small items like wings.

2 It's a heatsink that helps to normalize temps. If I'm just looking for a large radiant heatsink, I never use water as it needs to be replenished. I fill a large pie pan or cake pan with sand, cover it with foil, and place it below the item to be smoked. Works fabulously.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Who here thinks a big green egg is worth the money? I'm tempted, but they are DAMN expensive.

I think they are even more expensive here in South Africa than they are in the states. I mean, a large egg is 4x the price of the most expensive Weber charcoal grill.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Who here thinks a big green egg is worth the money? I'm tempted, but they are DAMN expensive.

I think they are even more expensive here in South Africa than they are in the states. I mean, a large egg is 4x the price of the most expensive Weber charcoal grill.

I love my egg. A weber is $200-$250 here, and an egg is $1100 with accessories, so we're not far off on price difference.

I've had 5-6++ gas grills, a cheap offset, and a 22" weber. I don't miss any of them one bit.

I do sometimes wish I'd sprung for the XL egg. My large will barely fit full racks of ribs. A >15lb brisket has to be trimmed. When we have 6+ people over it's not large enough, so I have to setup a 2nd grill. But, I've read that the XL is not as good of a smoker as the L. Maybe I need a medium and an XL.

I do feel like it cooks more evenly and stable than the verticals like a weber smokey mountain. Perhaps not at 4x the price though.


To me.. If you need a do it all grill/smoker then an egg is the way to go. If you see yourself doing primarily one or the other you're better off just getting a WSM or a kettle.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Water has a couple uses really.

1. It keeps moisture in the smoking area so the meat doesn't dry out as much. Very evident if you smoke small items like wings.

2 It's a heatsink that helps to normalize temps. If I'm just looking for a large radiant heatsink, I never use water as it needs to be replenished. I fill a large pie pan or cake pan with sand, cover it with foil, and place it below the item to be smoked. Works fabulously.

Agree, it definitely helps keep things moist.

It does cause me to go through fuel much more quickly. No water pan and my egg will go 20+ hours easily. If I have a big water pan I have to refill after about 12-13 hours.

 

[Jeeebus]

Who here thinks a big green egg is worth the money? I'm tempted, but they are DAMN expensive.

I think they are even more expensive here in South Africa than they are in the states. I mean, a large egg is 4x the price of the most expensive Weber charcoal grill.

I considered the green egg (or a similar type ceramic grill) before eventually settling on the WSM. If I didn't already have a nice Weber propane grill, I probably would have just got a ceramic and used that for everything. But for me it wasn't worth the price when I already had a grill and really just needed a smoker.

 

[Ancalagon44]

I have a weber grill, the 22 inch, but the vents at the bottom are getting jammed. Mine is the cheaper one with the cheaper vents at the bottom. Ash gets in between the vent mechanisms and makes them difficult to open. Other than that, there is nothing really wrong with it. I use it for smoking and grilling.

I've never seen a WSM available in South Africa. You can buy some wood chips for smoking in the shops, but smoking is generally not very popular in South Africa. I've never figured out why - South Africans are huge on what we call braaing, which Americans would call grilling. Probably 90% charcoal grilling, 10% gas grilling. So its a mystery to me why smoking and other long cooking methods never really took off here.

 

[NetWareHead]

I considered the green egg (or a similar type ceramic grill) before eventually settling on the WSM. If I didn't already have a nice Weber propane grill, I probably would have just got a ceramic and used that for everything. But for me it wasn't worth the price when I already had a grill and really just needed a smoker.

My situation and thoughts exactly. I have a great weber grill that I got secondhand from craigslist for $75 and it is the best propane grill I have ever owned. Hottest and puts great sear marks on the food. Even came with a cover and side burner. I also have a big charcoal grill which I like too. I wanted a smoker and considered the Green Egg but couldnt justify almost $1000 so I went to a 22.5 inch WSM. I'd say I'm happy and it makes awesome BBQ.

 

[NetWareHead]

I have a weber grill, the 22 inch, but the vents at the bottom are getting jammed. Mine is the cheaper one with the cheaper vents at the bottom. Ash gets in between the vent mechanisms and makes them difficult to open. Other than that, there is nothing really wrong with it. I use it for smoking and grilling.

I've never seen a WSM available in South Africa. You can buy some wood chips for smoking in the shops, but smoking is generally not very popular in South Africa. I've never figured out why - South Africans are huge on what we call braaing, which Americans would call grilling. Probably 90% charcoal grilling, 10% gas grilling. So its a mystery to me why smoking and other long cooking methods never really took off here.

Order a WSM online and start a BBQ smoking movement in South Africa! Delicious food always has a way of getting peoples' attention!

 

[Uppsala9496]

I have a Weber gas and went with a ceramic egg style for the smoker.
Got mine at Menards last year.
http://www.menards.com/main/spring-fever/grills-smokers/big-red-kamado-grill/p-1509794-c-10141.htm

I think I walked out the door with it for about $215. Right now they have 11% off. I think I bought mine when that was going on and I had a $50 rebate check.

Amazing how well this thing holds the temperature and hardly uses any fuel. Smoked pork shoulder last weekend when it was cold and windy (put in about 1/3 a bag of lump charcoal). Smoked for 9 hours. Last night finally cleaned it up to smoke a pork tenderloin and half the fuel was still left. Didn't have to add any last night (went with a 1.5 hour smoke at 255°).

Personally I don't think the egg is worth the additional premium over a generic smoker such as this one. Oh and this thing can get stupid hot if you want it to. Was well over 550° when I made pizza last year (probe maxes out at 550° and I pulled it off then for fear I would kill it).

 

[Scarpozzi]

I do that all the time. I made some pork in a slow cooker a few weeks ago and all the fat leftover, I just plopped some beans in, seasoned em up, and let them cook.

My problem is, when I smoke pork, I'm doing it for a party and I never take a chance on running out... I'll smoke 4 roasts at a time...the thought of the drippings in the beans kind of turns my stomach. (might just be because it's morning) But it's probably because I usually end up eating about half a roast or more of leftovers after my parties and the last thing I want is more pork fat. I do like the concept of catching the drippings better than putting pork in the beans (what some of the places around here do).

I may have to smoke some roasts when it warms up and do a luau next time. (Little or no hickory smoke and no bbq sauce) Living in the South, I'm about burned out on bbq.