I am a smoker, the BBQ type.

[ponyo]

I'm going to give brisket another try. Picked up 18 lb packer cut that I plan on smoking tomorrow. This time I will foil. I think I failed the previous two times because I listened to others and didn't foil so the meat dried out. This time I plan on wrapping it in aluminum foil after about 5 hours and cook it wrapped til the flat hits 200 degrees.

 

[zinfamous]

Costco carried Vision and Pit Boss. I think the Pit Boss 24" was $599 but they had instant $200 off sale in June bringing it down to $399. I wish I caught that sale. 24" kamado at $399 is smoking deal even if the build quality isn't good as BGE or Kamodo Joe.

crap, maybe that is what I saw. Damn, you make me angry again.

 

[agent00f]

Yeah, I purchased the egg and then saw one of those in the Costco about 3 months later for ~$400 less (comparable size to mine--the large egg).

Those are the oval shape Kamados, right? I think I'd much rather have that design.

I believe the premise of these thick ceramic cookers is to hold the temp more steady? If that's the case I've pondered before if it's possible to be more cost-effective with some technology, namely a temp control loop using a PID or such in a much simpler/cheaper unit.

My prototype was going to be a pan with fuel/smoke chips over a electric heating element in-lined with a simple temp control switch. I was just going to set a foil covered box over it as proof of concept and then a big plant pot upside down if that proved anything.

 

[Ns1]

They already have automatic temperature controllers

$300-$400ish for a full blown quality setup, cloud logging and everything if you want it.

 

[MrSquished]

I didn't feel like reading through 15 pages of posts. Is there a beginner's guide in here for various price points for an entry-level system? Like say I wanted to spend $500 to get going, all inclusive. What are the top few options?

 

[agent00f]

They already have automatic temperature controllers

$300-$400ish for a full blown quality setup, cloud logging and everything if you want it.

What I'm wondering is how much of their effectiveness is down to temp control per se vs perhaps some other aspect, like humidity/wet-bulb-temp.

An aquarium controller + hotplate costs all of $30, which I had from previous projects, and I suspect a wet-bulb setup run in parallel with water replacing the fuel would solve the latter. Smoking is kind of a pain, and any sort of automation would be an improvement.

 

[ponyo]

Just got the brisket in the smoker and the temperature dialed in at 250 degrees. I'm going to bed. The meat should be ready to foil at around 6am.

 

[agent00f]

I didn't feel like reading through 15 pages of posts. Is there a beginner's guide in here for various price points for an entry-level system? Like say I wanted to spend $500 to get going, all inclusive. What are the top few options?

If you're more interested in the finish product instead of the (long) full process of smoking, I suspect most people would be more satisfied with a simpler max-smoke intro to impart flavor (where the specific equipment matters less), then transitioning to sous vide to actually cook, with maybe a flash-grill at the end to provide a traditional finish.

I've combined various processes in the past to great effect. The flavor profiles tend to composite.

 

[IronWing]

Noob question: I bought my first propane grill this week. Some say to soak wood chips to get better smoke. Others say it is a waste of time and fuel as all you're doing is making steam before the chips can smoke. What sayeth ATOT?

 

[ponyo]

The brisket is in ice chest resting. Should be ready in about two hours. The temp probe slid into the meat like butter when I removed it from the smoker at 206 degrees. I decided to remove at 206 instead of 200 degrees since the point was really thick. I can tell it's going to be good. Wrapping after the 5 hour mark was the key. If you want tender and moist brisket, you have to wrap. That's where I screwed up the previous two times when I didn't wrap it.

 

[ponyo]

Noob question: I bought my first propane grill this week. Some say to soak wood chips to get better smoke. Others say it is a waste of time and fuel as all you're doing is making steam before the chips can smoke. What sayeth ATOT?

If you soak the wood chips, you'll get nasty bitter dark smoke and not the clear blue smoke which is what you want. But if you don't soak it, you'll go through wood chips like potato chips. I've used wet wood chips in the past when I didn't have dry wood chunks and had good results. But I'm not picky as some people.

 

[ponyo]

If you're more interested in the finish product instead of the (long) full process of smoking, I suspect most people would be more satisfied with a simpler max-smoke intro to impart flavor (where the specific equipment matters less), then transitioning to sous vide to actually cook, with maybe a flash-grill at the end to provide a traditional finish.

I've combined various processes in the past to great effect. The flavor profiles tend to composite.

Don't complicate it. If you want to save fuel or don't want to finish in the smoker, you can finish in the oven. You smoke it until it can't take any more good smoke. Then you wrap it in foil and move it to 225-250 degree oven and finish it in there until it's done. For spare ribs, wrap at 3 hours and move it to the oven. For pork butt/shoulder and beef brisket, wrap around the 5 hour mark or when the bark color is the dark chestnut brown and move it to the oven.

You can achieve great results doing this with any charcoal grill. Even cheap $60 charcoal grill will work since you're not smoking long time so you don't have to worry about replenishing fuel in the middle of the cook. So if you want the cheapest way to smoke, just use any charcoal grill to smoke and finish in the oven.

 

[agent00f]

Don't complicate it. If you want to save fuel or don't want to finish in the smoker, you can finish in the oven. You smoke it until it can't take any more good smoke. Then you wrap it in foil and move it to 225-250 degree oven and finish it in there until it's done. For spare ribs, wrap at 3 hours and move it to the oven. For pork butt/shoulder and beef brisket, wrap around the 5 hour mark or when the bark color is the dark chestnut brown and move it to the oven.

You can achieve great results doing this with any charcoal grill. Even cheap $60 charcoal grill will work since you're not smoking long time so you don't have to worry about replenishing fuel in the middle of the cook. So if you want the cheapest way to smoke, just use any charcoal grill to smoke and finish in the oven.

The problem with not introducing some kind of wetter step is that the meat starts drying out. So I guess the trick might be to never eat meat cook that way, because it's hard to go back.

 

[ponyo]

The problem with not introducing some kind of wetter step is that the meat starts drying out. So I guess the trick might be to never eat meat cook that way, because it's hard to go back.

The meat won't dry out because of the foil. It'll be the opposite. You'll get the most tender and moist meat you'll ever have. You can also add liquid in the foil if you prefer. Some people add apple juice/pineapple juice for the pork ribs and beef stock for beef dino ribs. I add butter, brown sugar, and honey on my spare ribs when I foil. But I add that for the added flavor and not to make it moist and tender. The foiling and the juice from the meat will do that on its own.

I have Anova sous vide. I was one of the first to buy it when it was introduced. So I know how it works and the result it produces. But it's not needed and only complicates the matter. There's no need to try to vacuum seal 18 lbs of meat. Foiling is whole lot simpler than vacuum sealing and does the same thing.

 

[agent00f]

The meat won't dry out because of the foil. It'll be the opposite. You'll get the most tender and moist meat you'll ever have. You can also add liquid in the foil if you prefer. Some people add apple juice/pineapple juice for the pork ribs and beef stock for beef dino ribs. I add butter, brown sugar, and honey on my spare ribs when I foil. But I add that for the added flavor and not to make it moist and tender. The foiling and the juice from the meat will do that on its own.

I have Anova sous vide. I was one of the first to buy it when it was introduced. So I know how it works and the result it produces. But it's not needed and only complicates the matter. There's no need to try to vacuum seal 18 lbs of meat. Foiling is whole lot simpler than vacuum sealing and does the same thing.

On longer cooks it's difficult to retain consistent levels of moisture. It's the source of the observable "stall", which supposedly affects even experienced hands.

The benefit of more controlled processes like sous vide is consistency esp for people don't do it a lot (ie beginners). I just displace ziploc bags in water and a gallon bag holds a lot of meat along with flavor additives.

 

[ponyo]

On longer cooks it's difficult to retain consistent levels of moisture. It's the source of the observable "stall", which supposedly affects even experienced hands.

The benefit of more controlled processes like sous vide is consistency esp for people don't do it a lot (ie beginners). I just displace ziploc bags in water and a gallon bag holds a lot of meat along with flavor additives.

Look, you don't know what you're talking about. Foiling is the sous vide of the BBQ world.

 

[agent00f]

Look, you don't know what you're talking about. Foiling is the sous vide of the BBQ world.

Odd given how much disagreement there is in bbq circles.

 

[MrSquished]

If you're more interested in the finish product instead of the (long) full process of smoking, I suspect most people would be more satisfied with a simpler max-smoke intro to impart flavor (where the specific equipment matters less), then transitioning to sous vide to actually cook, with maybe a flash-grill at the end to provide a traditional finish.

I've combined various processes in the past to great effect. The flavor profiles tend to composite.

That's all greek to me and I'm greek. I would prefer to avoid sous vide and stick to start it in the smoker and maybe finish it in an oven.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Making pulled pork for the girlfriend's father's birthday sunday. Got a butt and about a third of a butt in a brine till later tonight, then it's going in the Kamado overnight.

 

[Jeeebus]

Making pulled pork for the girlfriend's father's birthday sunday. Got a butt and about a third of a butt in a brine till later tonight, then it's going in the Kamado overnight.

Why would you brine pork butt? It is probably the fattiest piece of meat you can put on a smoker. I inject my butts but that is for extra flavor - not to keep them from drying out.

 

[MrSquished]

this seems to be the best starting point as per Amazon reviews

https://smile.amazon.com/Complete-I...=1478988528&sr=8-3&keywords=how+to+smoke+meat

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Why would you brine pork butt? It is probably the fattiest piece of meat you can put on a smoker. I inject my butts but that is for extra flavor - not to keep them from drying out.

Don't knock it till you've tried it.

 

[ponyo]

This is how I do pork butt/shoulder and I did one last weekend. I don't do the brine or rubbing and letting it sit in the fridge overnight. There's no need. You can simply apply the seasoning or rub while you're getting the smoker ready. I did the rub and letting it sit overnight night nonsense when I first started smoking years back because that's what I read on some of the forum. That's waste of time. Just season right before and put it in the smoker. Smoking is simple. Don't complicate it.

 

[Ns1]

ATOT, how do I make bomb AF bbq beans, using the drippings from whatever pork product I'm smoking?

In other news, just bought $185 worth of accessories for my $25 grill. Immediately followed up by $200 worth of thermometers.

 

[zinfamous]

I believe the premise of these thick ceramic cookers is to hold the temp more steady? If that's the case I've pondered before if it's possible to be more cost-effective with some technology, namely a temp control loop using a PID or such in a much simpler/cheaper unit.

My prototype was going to be a pan with fuel/smoke chips over a electric heating element in-lined with a simple temp control switch. I was just going to set a foil covered box over it as proof of concept and then a big plant pot upside down if that proved anything.

many people do this--"the Alton Brown smoker," and it works very well. I used one for about 4 years and it was great. They don't control temperature as well, however, and even with a PID, the do-it-yourself version with a hot plate and small woodchunks is going to require more hands-on-attention than a large kamado with a serious convection design and a fire ring in the bottom. Granted, I went with whatever cheap and large cermaic pots I could find, and they didn't fit each other perfectly, but it worked.

PIDs with blowers that control the flame are pretty common these days
https://www.bbqguru.com/StoreNav?CategoryId=1&ProductId=34&keyword=&gclid=CLnzodjsqNACFZBLDQodh88DSw

and apparently work very well. I've considered getting one myself, but I'm a fidgety person and would rather miss the constant OCD treks out to the backyard to check the temp and fiddle with the air vents for no reason. But--these are great for overnight when you just want to get it going and sleep peacefully knowing it will work out in the morning.

Many people just tack that on to the bottom of vent of their egg of similar kamado, set the temp, and walk away.