2013 Gratuitous Grill Thread

[jetmechG550]

I was asked to cater two parties today, so after 5:30am about 4 hours before it should've been ready, my system alerted me that it was time to get up and pull my pork. Too early to take pics but 48lbs pre cooked yielded about 26lbs cooked. Threw it in the warmer and went on a 7 mile run, two fatties and biscuits going now, ready in about 2 minutes.

 

[chezuki]

What brand wireless thermometer?

It's a cheapo "Grand Gourmet" from Meijer. It's still much more accurate than the stubby dial thermometer mounted on the side. I still plan to pick up a Amazon.com: Maverick Wireless BBQ Thermometer Set - Maverick ET732: Kitchen & Dining which has better range and gives me both smoker temp as well as internal meat temp. The Meijer thermometer filled my immediate need.

Wow...lookin delicious. The drum smoker is a beautiful device isn't it?



They hold temps pretty steadily once they are in their groove (which can take a few hours). A good wireless thermometer with an alarm to let you know temps are out of range helps. His charcoal basket is huge, too. I bet it will hold enough charcoal to run for 30 hours.

I bet you're right!

I allowed myself a quick peek at 10hours.

 

[Caleb]

Where to get good quality smoking wood chips locally?

Edit: I mean chunks, I find chips to be short lived and annoying.

 

[chezuki]

Where to get good quality smoking wood chips locally?

Edit: I mean chunks, I find chips to be short lived and annoying.

Walmart and Meijer have hickory, oak, cherry, and mesquite in chunk form. Most hardware stores do as well, both big-box stores and local Ace/Do It Best type places. Walmart and Meijer are by far the cheapest.

$5.50 at Walmart:

 

[Caleb]

Walmart and Meijer have hickory, oak, cherry, and mesquite in chunk form. Most hardware stores do as well, both big-box stores and local Ace/Do It Best type places. Walmart and Meijer are by far the cheapest.

you talking about the western? I've read reviews on them saying they tend to be musty and lower quality. I like my tibbs, but walmart only has chips on the shelves.

 

[chezuki]

you talking about the western? I've read reviews on them saying they tend to be musty and lower quality. I like my tibbs, but walmart only has chips on the shelves.

Do you mean Stubb's?
I've only ever seen Stubb's in chips or charcoal brickettes.

Wood is wood. The bag is clear, if it looks damp or mildew stained don't buy it.

 

[Caleb]

Maybe I'll try. It then...anybody use hickory logs to smoke their food?

 

[ultra...good]

...............about 4 hours before it should've been ready, my system alerted me that it was time to get up and pull my pork............

Um, what??

 

[chezuki]

Um, what??

My wife helped me pull my pork, once it was hot enough and the texture was right.

 

[Caleb]

My wife helped me pull my pork, once it was hot enough and the texture was right.

 

[Caleb]

What temp do you cook spare ribs and about how long?

 

[chezuki]

What temp do you cook spare ribs and about how long?

225 for 4-6 hours. If they go much past 4, I foil wrap them for the remainder.

 

[steveh_131]

What temp do you cook spare ribs and about how long?

I like mine cooked at 275 until they pass the 90 degree 'bend test'

Never messed with foil or anything, yet. Quick and easy and delicious.

 

[steveh_131]

On a related note, my local walmart had spare ribs marked down hugely. Picked up 4 racks all in the $5-$6 range ($1.39 per pound).

They also had steaks and other meats marked down. They were all close to their 'freeze-by' date so I froze them.

 

[jetmechG550]

Um, what??

Which part? The innuendo or the system I use to control my Egg?

 

[jetmechG550]

Menards has a good supply of chunks, at least ours does. Gander Mountain or Bass Pro do as well.

 

[chezuki]

Which part? The innuendo or the system I use to control my Egg?

I'm interested in info on your controller, though if you're running a BGE, I likely can't afford the controller you use. I'm considering a IQ-110 for my UDS.

 

[CountryBoy19]

How do you guys keep your smokers burning over night?

The UDS smokers are very fuel efficient and they have very large charcoal baskets. Mine, filled with briquettes will burn 16+ hours. Filled with lump charcoal (not as energy dense) will burn 8-10 hrs...

As far as keeping the temps in check, once "settled in" a UDS smoker will hold pretty constant temps. I normally give mine 1 hr minimum warmup to get settled, put meat on and give it an hour to come back up to temp and an hour to make sure the temp is stable, then I can crash and not check on it for several hours and still have confidence that it's doing fine.

The only time I had a problem with this was my first overnight smoke, I had put the smoker on a piece of card-board because it tends to drip condensation out the lid the first few hours of a smoke. Simple solution? Cardboard drip blocker so my sidewalk didn't get stained... I never even though the barrel would get hot enough to light the concrete on fire... my neighbor said he drove past at 3 am and my sidewalk had a large blaze on it... he said he though it looked normal and that's why he didn't say anything... Woke up to a nasty charred mess on my sidewalk... it's still stained black... something tells me the drippings would have been better than charred nasty mess

 

[jetmechG550]

I use the Stoker draft system from Rock's BarBQ. I can run both my eggs off it. He has someone that wrote a nice little software package for it too. I can either get online or setup on the computer. Can graph the cook, see the fan on/off, set alarms for pit and food temp and have it email me if I am out. Twitter used to work until they changed the protocol. Pretty handy if you do a lot of low and slow overnight cook. The Cyber Q is a similar system. Not cheap, you're right, but I wish it had an hour meter just to see how many hours of worry free sleep it's saved me.

 

[Caleb]

The UDS smokers are very fuel efficient and they have very large charcoal baskets. Mine, filled with briquettes will burn 16+ hours. Filled with lump charcoal (not as energy dense) will burn 8-10 hrs...

As far as keeping the temps in check, once "settled in" a UDS smoker will hold pretty constant temps. I normally give mine 1 hr minimum warmup to get settled, put meat on and give it an hour to come back up to temp and an hour to make sure the temp is stable, then I can crash and not check on it for several hours and still have confidence that it's doing fine.

The only time I had a problem with this was my first overnight smoke, I had put the smoker on a piece of card-board because it tends to drip condensation out the lid the first few hours of a smoke. Simple solution? Cardboard drip blocker so my sidewalk didn't get stained... I never even though the barrel would get hot enough to light the concrete on fire... my neighbor said he drove past at 3 am and my sidewalk had a large blaze on it... he said he though it looked normal and that's why he didn't say anything... Woke up to a nasty charred mess on my sidewalk... it's still stained black... something tells me the drippings would have been better than charred nasty mess

How big do I need to make the firebox to burn 16 hours? How many pounds of charcoal? Lit or unlit?