What did you cook today?

That looks lovely.

1 Like

Yeah lump does burn much hotter. To dissipate the heat you could fashion a shield out of an aluminum pan.

I shut the dampers way down, and it seems to be holding temp better. Love the challenge of smoking over real wood!

I smoke with an off set smoker so I donā€™t have to deal as much with the dampers. Went to my uncles BDay party tonight and he smoked both pork butt and brisket. Both to die for. Hard to beat well smoked/done brisket.

2 Likes

I too use a Weber charcoal grill to smoked brisketsā€¦ I wouldnā€™t do it any other wayā€¦ I can keep it at close to 225*, I do use an offset pan/cast iron skillet in the coal chamberā€¦ It takes some time to get it going rightā€¦ Iā€™ll rip a 14 lb-er in halfā€¦ one gets nice bark, the other, wrap in foil half way through so it turns out better than prime ribā€¦ Sneezles61

1 Like

At the cabin in the UP with the guys and made enchilada casserole after a day of trail riding in our side by sides. Didnā€™t get a pic and the four of us destroyed the whole thing! :yum:

1 Like

This thing smells frigginā€™ AWESOME! Think Iā€™ll put it in a 225Ā°F oven for 5 or 6 hours tomorrow to finish.

I have an upright water smoker, but itā€™s a pain in the butt to take out and use. So usually the weber grill gets the call. Kind of like when the skies are clear at night, do you take out the 8ā€ SCT or the 6ā€ dobsonian? The dob, of course. Less set up and tear down.

1 Like

Haha same here. Me kfc. Fam feast bucket with fries. And polar beer

While we are on smokers and BTW @porkchop that looks fantastic, I have a question about ours. Itā€™s a Brinkman stainless steel bullet shaped smoker. Kind of looks like R2D2. It was originally designed as a charcoal but only seemed to have two speeds. Burnt and raw. The problem was the small door in the side did not allow you to add charcoal all the way around inside or remove it and no vents.

I was told early on we would be converting it to electric and Brinkman had a kit. On calm warm days it takes like 12 hours to do decent size ribs. On cold or windy days, forget it or finish them in the oven or on the grill.

It looks to me like the metal plate in the bottom that the heating element sits on could be larger. There is gap between it and the side of the smoker of about 3/4" (guessing without going out to measure) all the way around. I was thinking of trying stuffing aluminum foil almost all the way around the gap to gain some heat. The lid fits not very tight but I havenā€™t come up with a solution for that. The temp gauge is a cheap ā€œwarm-ideal-hotā€ dial so another upgrade will be drilling a hole in the lid to add a real thermometer.

My wife picked the smoker as a service anniversary award at work so the cost was zero. Gotta lover her for not selecting some frilly gift over that.

3 Likes

Thatā€™s a keeper

1 Like

I think it needs that gap at the bottom for combustion airā€¦ Get out the grinder and wack some more ports in it to add charcoal! You could find some stainless steel sheetmetal and very small piano hinges, some small latchesā€¦
Iā€™m contemplating building an electric grillā€¦ That would be so great to smoke withā€¦ add a rotisserie too itā€¦ from very slow cooking to warp 11! Sneezles61

I really want to keep it electric @sneezles61 Just because it works and is much easier than charcoal. I used to be a die hard charcoal grill guy that would never consider a gas grill. Until I tried one.

With the electric it doesnā€™t seem like more air is needed, maybe less since it does not depend on it for heat. Next step might be a Traeger if my lotto numbers come in.

Just need more heat to the food. Are you running it off a long extension cord? Iā€™d plug up as many holes as possible to keep the heat in and by the food. One caveat is sometimes you want to dry the surface of the meat before you smoke it, in which case you want to keep the temp low and have lots of ventilation for half an hour or so. But ribs Iā€™d probably want to keep at about 250 for three or four hours.

Change of plans, going to throw the brisket in the crock pot all day. Had to do some minor surgery to get it to fit. I know the purists will shake their heads at this, but I really donā€™t want to spend 18 hours tending the fire today.

Oh. Yeah.

6 Likes

I wishes I was there!! Sneezles61

No its about 5ā€™ from the outlet and I use a short heavy duty cord. If I need to move it farther away I have an RV 30 amp cord and outlet on the garage. Sold the RV so itā€™s available. BTW the brisket looks wonderful.

Looks delicious and making me hungry now @porkchop.

I started out with the electric bullet style brinkmann as well @hd4mark. Helped me learn the basics but couldnā€™t control heat like I wanted to. Iā€™ve since moved on to the CharGriller kamado style and love it. Not as ā€œtoughā€ as the big green egg but definitely worth the $160 I paid for it when my local Kmart went out of business. After a few smokes I have it dialed in pretty well. Charcoal can be a pita but I love the flavor it brings to my meats.

Thanks @brewmanchu I also like charcoal flavor but got lazy so I donā€™t have any charcoal grills or smokers. One of my neighbors has a Traeger and he cooks some amazing stuff on it. Set the controller, add pellets then forget it. He did wings that were out of this world.

Two problems I have with the Traeger though. First is the price of course. I think his was over $1000. He seems to ooze cash so no problem for him. I would have to think really hard about it. Second is you are a slave to the pellets. If a decent source becomes unavailable, then what?

This season is about done for us so I will wait until spring to ponder what to do.

I keep a small gas grill on hand for those lazy days too! Those Traegers look pretty amazing but Iā€™ve yet to see one in live action. There are some things I would never buy unless I hit the lottery and a $1000 grill is one of them.

Iā€™ve heard of folks burning cherry pits in place pellets in a pellet stove. Same thing maybe?