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If I put a tray or two of beans in the smoker, do I still need to fill the water pan? Also, I'm doing some chicken thighs from raw, and a SV chuck for bark. Should I do everything at 275 (suggest chuck smoking temp) or should I go with the lower temp (225) for the chicken and let the chuck just ride at the lower temp? Based on what the recopies I have call for, the chuck gets 3 hours at 275, and the chicken should take 2 @ 250. Perhaps a hybrid where i start at 275 and drop the temp when I add the chicken? toplitzin fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Mar 12, 2017 |
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Mar 12, 2017 16:45
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Chicken doesn't benefit from low and slow. So higher is fine. Cook to temp not time. I never filled the water pan ever.
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Mar 12, 2017 17:49
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Veritek83 posted:I got a backyard recently and now that the weather in my area is starting to warm up I'm hoping to start having friends over for alcohol and smoked meat on the weekends. Poking around the web, I saw the Pit Barrel Cooker is pretty well recommended as a good entry point. Any goon advice/reviews? I just got a PBC and did my first cook on it yesterday, a 6lb brisket point. It turned out loving magical, I am totally sold on the PBC. It has the same enamel finish as any Weber product and will surely last just as long. I fired it up and it ran at 270 degrees the whole time with absolutely zero adjustments or anything needed. Probably as close to set-and-forget in a charcoal cooker you can get. VERTiG0 fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 13, 2017 00:20
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Took a look at a few of the $2.99lb prime briskets at costco today. The point was well over 60% solid fat on every one. They also had just flats, but I have given up on flats. I left with a couple nice chucks. So I have to ask, what do you call a point that is separated from the brisket flat? Is there such a cut or is it just chopped up and sold as stewing meat or something?
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Mar 13, 2017 00:26
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I believe second cut?
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Mar 13, 2017 00:48
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couldcareless posted:I believe second cut? IIRC, it is close (next?) to the chuck, so maybe they just whack it off the flat and call it chuck?
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Mar 13, 2017 02:10
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Isn't a brisket 2 parts, the point and flat? Separated by a layer of fat?
VERTiG0 fucked around with this message at 03:36 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 13, 2017 03:29
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VERTiG0 posted:Isn't a brisket 2 parts, the point and flat? Separated by a layer of fat? Yes, but I either see flats or wholes in the stores, but where do the points get to?
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Mar 13, 2017 04:17
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It's almost 9:45 and our dinner isn't ready yet. Didn't get home until 8pm, but this was my only loving goal this weekend so damned if I'm giving up on it.
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Mar 13, 2017 05:38
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BeastOfExmoor posted:It's almost 9:45 and our dinner isn't ready yet. Didn't get home until 8pm, but this was my only loving goal this weekend so damned if I'm giving up on it. Well, that went poorly. Rushed things too much due to time. Pulled the halves at 133f instead of 145 and threw them on to the hot grill to crisp the skin. Unfortunately I forgot the indirect heat and put them directly above a raging propane flame. Went down to start smoker cleanup and grab my Maverick and came back up to two fireballs. Moved to indirect heat and waited for the temp to hit 165. Unfortunately I forgot that the grill was not 225f and reached in to reposition a 500f probe with my bare fingers. Ouch. Chichen eventually came up to the 165 target. The end product tasted good, especially considering the fire, but the results were a little tough. I'm not sure if it was the fire overcooking the meat, cooking too fast, or perhaps just the meat in general. Either way, more valuable lessons learned for next time.
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Mar 13, 2017 07:15
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Fog Tripper posted:Yes, but I either see flats or wholes in the stores, but where do the points get to? Sold as corned beef?
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Mar 13, 2017 20:15
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my turn in the barrel posted:Sold as corned beef? 
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Mar 13, 2017 20:21
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my turn in the barrel posted:Sold as corned beef? Most corned beef I've seen is flats right now, but I have seen some points (both marked with that terminology).
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Mar 13, 2017 22:23
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my turn in the barrel posted:Sold as corned beef? Probably this or ground/stew beef. Weird though, around here its either whole packers or points. I prefer this as I'd never buy just a flat, they are always too lean. The 6lb point I did this past weekend was marvellously marbled for being a supposedly low (Canada AA) grade.
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Mar 14, 2017 00:18
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my turn in the barrel posted:You might also look at the Weber Smokey Mountain as it's pretty much the same thing as a pit barrel cooker. The 18.5 WSM is the same size and price as 30 gallon PBC. VERTiG0 posted:I just got a PBC and did my first cook on it yesterday, a 6lb brisket point. It turned out loving magical, I am totally sold on the PBC. It has the same enamel finish as any Weber product and will surely last just as long. I fired it up and it ran at 270 degrees the whole time with absolutely zero adjustments or anything needed. Probably as close to set-and-forget in a charcoal cooker you can get. Appreciate the advice. Went ahead and ordered the PBC this afternoon. Since the reviews are all pretty well matched, the oil drum aesthetic won out. Will definitely post inaugural cook photos once it arrives and I get to break it in.
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Mar 14, 2017 04:25
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Veritek83 posted:Appreciate the advice. Went ahead and ordered the PBC this afternoon. Since the reviews are all pretty well matched, the oil drum aesthetic won out. You won't regret it! It really does impart a unique taste unlike any other smoker I've used thanks to the "meat fog," but it's great! Here are some pics from my first PBC cook, that 6lb brisket point (please excuse the hideous oversaturation from my drunk Instagram filter choices):   
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Mar 15, 2017 02:03
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what are the recommended probes for the heater meter? I'm finally getting around to this thing...
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Mar 15, 2017 02:18
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Is there much difference between the various masterbuilt electric smokers? Their website has a bunch for different prices at the 30" size and I can't tell the difference other than the window. Its a shame the 40" is so much more expensive in the UK because I'd prefer a bigger one
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Mar 15, 2017 08:48
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There are so many different variations. This may help. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/masterbuilt-electric-smokehouse-models I believe the inside layout is also slightly different between the years.
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Mar 15, 2017 14:36
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Hey everyone, I've been stalking this thread for a very long time now, and finally made the plunge. Last night at 3am, after eating what will be my last oven roasted rack of ribs with a few too many vodkas, I decided it was finally time to purchase a smoker. Backstory: I have some experience with smoking meat. Nothing like a father who smoked meat or anything cool like that, but I was a kitchen grunt in one of Boston's better BBQ restaurants, Sweet Cheeks, for a little while. The hot, sweaty, and dank atmosphere wasn't something I enjoyed too much while working there, but drat do I crave handling dozens of racks of ribs, smoking whole chickens by the dozen, preparing briskets the size of my torso etc etc. The smoker that restaurant had was IMMENSE - easily the size of my bedroom. It had a few dozen really long metal racks that would rotate around the central drum. I bought my first grill at 18, almost 5 years ago at this point, from Home Depot for $100. It lasted a couple years and then promptly started disintegrating due to rust and simply the worst (lack of?) design. I made the call to never buy cheap garbage like that again. Fast forward to a couple months ago - I'm ready to buy a new grill, and I had a marvel idea - get a smoker this year, man! I looked around and set my sights on a (poo poo) DynaGlo offset (goo.gl/78v9sW), before doing a few hours of research I realized I would be getting myself into another horrible purchase that I would deal with until it rusted out, buckled under the low heat required from smoking, or something else thats expected from one of the cheapo offsets. I did a lot of research, and ended up going for a PBC. Made the purchase on amazon alongside a chimney starter, a couple bags of briquettes (I don't have a car so I figured getting them with the original order would be easier than sourcing them after the order), a ThermoPro TP03A, a silicone glove and bear claw combo, and a bag of pecan cooking chunks. At that moment I was only around 50-60 pages into this incredibly long thread, and I don't think the PBC was even out at that point since nobody had mentioned it at that point, but I figured I would take the plunge because of how consistently good the reviews throughout the internet are for the drat thing. I struggled to find any negative reviews. Then I came onto here, and skipped to the most recent 30 pages. It seems like the recommendation for the price range of $300 is the WSM due to how much more of a pure smoking experience it is, rather than being somewhat of a cooker, rather than a smoker like the PBC. I think I made the best choice for what I need - I enjoy cooking for people, and will be having monthly cookouts with 16-20 friends. I found through my research that the PBC is really hard to beat in terms of the amount it can cook, the ease one can cook with it, and the fact that it takes up pretty much NO space, which is really important when you're like me - living in a really tightly packed residential area in Boston, MA. My PBC is set to arrive on March 27th, first use will be on April 2nd, when I have a smoke party with a few friends to break the cooker in. I'm planning on smoking one large pork butt, and at least two racks of ribs. Pictures will be posted, and I'm SUPER pumped to get everything up and smoking  My first MAJOR cookout will be April 22nd, when I'll be smoking a pork butt in the morning for some pulled pork sandwiches around 2pm, then smoking 8+ racks of ribs for the main feast later in the night. Any recommendations for smoking for large groups? Anything I may be overlooking due to (woeful) inexperience? Super excited to be part of the smoking community, I haven't been this inspired to cook in a VERY long time, so this is an amazing step for me. TLDR: I bought my first smoker. It'll be coming in in the next week. I bought some stuff with it. I cook for large groups. I'm excited to be here as the noobiest noob, very eager to start smoking. Need advice on setting the PBC somewhere in a location in a very tightly packed residential area, and wanted to see if anyone had anything else to add that could help me out. Thanks! BritishRacingGreen fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Mar 21, 2017 |
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Mar 15, 2017 18:29
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Pork butt is a good choice for your first smoke. I'm unfamiliar with the PBC, but it looks like a pretty robust unit. Your primary goal with a butt is going to be temperature control and time. A larger pork butt will feed an army, but it will easily take 12-15 hours at a steady 225 to reach your target temperature (I shoot for 195 but others will go to 200, pork is forgiving though). With a smoker like yours, maintaining your temperature will be the biggest battle I think. Around 195 I find it continues to rise a bit and is very easy to pull. You didn't mention having any sort of instant read thermometers, you will need one if you want to do this right. It's nigh impossible to judge when things are done without it.
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Mar 16, 2017 00:30
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For large groups, pork butts are king for crowdpleasing and ease of cooking. Luckily the PBC does them kinda hot'n'fast so they don't take as long. Mine seems to like to run steady at about 280 F. I have a big bday party coming up and I'll be doing 8 racks of ribs at once, can't wait for that. What I can tell you as another new PBC owner is COOK ON IT AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE YOU COOK FOR OTHER PEOPLE. Do not gently caress around, you need to know how this cooker works and what to do in case something goes awry. Cook up a few chickens or something first, they'll only take 90 mins, 2 hours tops. It'll blow you away, this thing is a chicken cooking monster.
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Mar 16, 2017 00:45
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Spudalicious posted:Pork butt is a good choice for your first smoke. I'm unfamiliar with the PBC, but it looks like a pretty robust unit. Your primary goal with a butt is going to be temperature control and time. A larger pork butt will feed an army, but it will easily take 12-15 hours at a steady 225 to reach your target temperature (I shoot for 195 but others will go to 200, pork is forgiving though). With a smoker like yours, maintaining your temperature will be the biggest battle I think. Around 195 I find it continues to rise a bit and is very easy to pull. Temperature control isn't really an option on a PBC. I've seen videos of people rigging pitmasters to their PBC to make them able to cook low and slow for hours, but the factory unit simply has one intake (which you adjust once for elevation and leave it alone) and 4 "exhausts" around the rebar that you hang the meat from. It cooks at what is by all means a pretty hot temperature for a smoker unless you're smoking chickens, between 275-300. Their claim is that if you follow their charcoal guide and their cooking guide, the food will come out perfect every time. Apparently it's held up to the test, people really love theirs. I'm super excited to smoke my first butt, the only time I've made it has been either roasted in the oven or steam roasted in a slow cooker 😅 Spudalicious posted:You didn't mention having any sort of instant read thermometers, you will need one if you want to do this right. It's nigh impossible to judge when things are done without it. I'm getting a ThermoPro TP03a. It's nothing fancy but should do the trick, right guys? VERTiG0 posted:
Is there anything specific to the PBC I should be looking for in terms of things going awry my first few smokes? VERTiG0 posted:Cook up a few chickens or something first, they'll only take 90 mins, 2 hours tops. It'll blow you away, this thing is a chicken cooking monster. That's a wonderful thing to hear. One of my favorite memories from the BBQ place was the smoked chicken we made for just the breast for a salad topping. I know, it was insanity since the rest of the chicken tasted amazing. The skins and bones and whatnot went into a huge stock pot for stock that was used in collard greens etc. I'd often save a few skins for myself, then fry or roast them to crispy, salty, smokey perfection. I bet the PBC can do my skin craving justice. I'm not sure if it's obvious how many PBC videos I've been watching, but I must have 10 hours down by now. All of the skins on the chickens in those videos look beyond amazing. I'll make sure to get a few chickens and those will be the first things I make when I get it. BritishRacingGreen fucked around with this message at 07:03 on Mar 16, 2017 |
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Mar 16, 2017 06:57
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Jose posted:Is there much difference between the various masterbuilt electric smokers? Their website has a bunch for different prices at the 30" size and I can't tell the difference other than the window. Its a shame the 40" is so much more expensive in the UK because I'd prefer a bigger one Size wise it comes down to the wattage. Smaller ones have 800 watt elements where the bigger ones have 1200W elements. The window is a worthless feature. After a smoke or two you can't see poo poo through the thing. Their wireless is cool, but short compared to other remote temp probes...unless if they changed it. The 30" will have a hard time keeping up to 275 if it is relatively cold outside.
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Mar 16, 2017 18:10
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C-Bangin' it 
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MES chat: I have a 30" bluetooth with a window, and the window is as has been stated, worthless. I got it as a floor model discounted to $180 and couldn't resist, but I wouldn't pay more than say 250 for this. The bluetooth is short range but the way my house is set up it worked perfectly for me this winter, I was able to get through a handful of smokes in the snow without issue overnight, and being able to wake up and check my phone to see internal temps and such is kinda nice. It's a little small but I don't do huge batches of stuff. I tried to hook up my PC with bluetooth and make it so I could remotely monitor and shutoff from work and such, but I wasn't able to get an android VM with the app installed working correctly. C'est la vie, maybe I'll attack that again someday.
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Mar 16, 2017 19:11
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I have the MES 40 GEN2 (although with the smoke vent on top). Supposedly the bluetooth ("Gen 2.5") model has improved heat distribution and a better design overall, but the RF remote of the Gen2 likely goes further than bluetooth. That said, if you're using a remote thermometer the MES remote/bluetooth is mostly good for just making sure the thing is powered on. A meat probe and oven probe will tell you more about the state of your cook. In my first two smokes, I've used the window a bit just to see how things are progressing and make sure nothing weird was going on, but it's nothing I'd miss much. In fact, the window leaks heat much worse than the rest of the unit, so if you smoke in cold weather or in a place where small children might touch the window it's probably even worse than useless. I noticed my local walmart had wood chips on sale. I picked up a smallish bag of Hickory and Mesquite for $2 a piece and was able to order Pecan online for the same price with local pickup. Not sure if this is a local thing or not, but you can toss your zip code in the links below and it should show you somewhat accurate stock information as well as price in your nearby stores. Hickory: http://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=23591311 Pecan: http://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=48205508 Cherry: http://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=48205508 Apple: http://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=48205508 Mesquite: http://brickseek.com/walmart-inventory-checker/?sku=48205508 I plan on using pellets in the longterm, but this is a good for me to get a feel for which woods I like or get some wood (mesquite) that I'm unlikely to use frequently.
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Mar 16, 2017 21:02
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Has anybody cleaned off the cold smoker attachment for the MES smokers? Mine is caked in tar and the lid is resistant to shutting now so I'm going to have to glove up and get this thing clean. Or at least cleaner. What's the best solvent for the wood smoke tar?
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Mar 16, 2017 21:05
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BritishRacingGreen posted:Is there anything specific to the PBC I should be looking for in terms of things going awry my first few smokes? It'll help you discover whether or not you've got the intake set correctly for your elevation. Also, if you have a windy day and no wind break, stuffing foil in the holes around the rebar poking out will bring temps down really quickly. Start with 2 holes stuffed (lol) and go from there. Definitely monitor the pit temp! Run the probe cable through one of the rebar holes and sling it around one of the rebars so it hangs down near the middle of the barrel. {edit} Oh, and re: that Thermopro thing, you'll want a remote unit to monitor internal pit temps. A handheld probe like that is a necessity too, but you will want something like a Maverick ET-733 so you can see what your internal PBC air temps are as well as the meat temperature. They're like $59 USD on Amazon USA and I've had mine for years now without issue. Get one, they're basically a requirement. VERTiG0 fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Mar 17, 2017 |
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Mar 17, 2017 02:59
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And the aaa batteries last a hell of a long time, they can take a beating and are usually pretty accurate. But you need to do trial runs in any new bbq to get some seasoning in it and to see how it behaves. It's a constant process of tinkering and perfecting things.
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Mar 17, 2017 03:58
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Is the Maverick the recommended temp probe these days? Any better options?
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Mar 17, 2017 04:17
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I drive a BBW posted:Is the Maverick the recommended temp probe these days? Any better options? The units work decent, the probes have varying degrees of fragility. Have replaced 2 in the span of a year, and the first unit I got had a bad one right out of the gate.
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Mar 17, 2017 13:34
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My first smoke was a snow/wind day and the 30" electric MES held 275 pretty reliably once it got up to temp. I think my next smoke is going to be a pastrami.
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Mar 17, 2017 15:00
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RE: Masterbuilts and Mavericks Anecdotes ahoy! Mavericks... this one's short: the fragility of the probes cannot be overstated. You can look at them funny and they'll stop working. I attempted to follow their super-specific cleaning instructions, keeping water away from the probe shroud/cable junction. Didn't matter. I've lost 4 probes in the past two years, and if you do the math against how many smokes I've actually done in the last two years the ratio is crap. I have one probe left that's functional, and I didn't even use it last weekend. I got a Thermapen for Christmas and it was so quick to check temps at the halfway mark, I just didn't bother digging the Maverick out of the drawer. The Maverick has gone through probes so fast that even my wife has noticed and has asked "what's next?". This is what's next: http://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke . Chances are that'll be my birthday present. Masterbuilts: I got my 6-rack digital Bradley in early 2009, leaving my offset with my brother in law when we moved cross country. Late 2011 he got a 40 inch digital Masterbuilt. Late 2012, my mother-in-law joined the club with a 30-inch digital Masterbuilt. Both of them got weather covers and used them religiously. At the time they got theirs, they worked like a charm, and were far less expensive than my Bradley. I'd decided that when the Bradley died, I'd be replacing it with a Masterbuilt. Summer 2015 both of the Masterbuilts started exhibiting electrical issues. Temperature control became a nightmare and eventually they both started blowing GFCI circuits. Plug them in to a non-GFCI and they'd blow a main fuse. Both of them have just sat since then, both of them are probably being replaced with something else this spring. So that's a 40 that lasted under 4 years and a 30 that lasted under 3 years. My Bradley is 8 years old last month. It finally started acting kind of buggy on the puck feed on this last smoke. Here in a couple weeks I'll take the generator/control box apart and clean the entire mechanism. If that doesn't resolve it I can get a full replacement generator/control box for 150 bucks. So presuming I can't get the puck feed to behave in a stable fashion, that's 150 bucks every 8 years as opposed to 300-400 bucks every 3.5? And the generator/control box swap takes about 30 seconds. Mileages vary and all that, but I'm really digging the stability and the modularity of my Bradley.
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Mar 17, 2017 17:03
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Alleric posted:RE: Masterbuilts and Mavericks The MB's do seem to have a few issues with electrical things, with some models apparently being worse. You can get replacement parts pretty easily from Masterbuilt, with some people even saying MB sent them for free out of warranty when they reported the problem to their support folks. Also, the entry level 30in is like $180 and under $150 on sale.
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Mar 17, 2017 22:18
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I've only had to replace 1 Maverick probe in my time with the unit and that's because I got way too drunk and forgot about the cook in my Hasty-Bake during a party I was having and came back to flames licking out of the grill and around the probe. The plastic shroud melted. Just don't wash the drat things, it's fine!
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Mar 18, 2017 01:22
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I love my ChefAlarm. The Smoke does look pretty nice though!
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Mar 18, 2017 06:18
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http://i.imgur.com/3sYiAgJ.jpg I got this brisket on about an hour and a half ago. Just salt, pepper, oak, pecan and lots of time.
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Mar 18, 2017 09:21
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http://i.imgur.com/bs1NxKN.jpg http://i.imgur.com/2KlNrcP.jpg I encourage everyone to make their own tallow.
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Mar 18, 2017 21:31
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Got 9.2lbs of pork resting now, thought I'd share some jpg. Smoked pork rear end in 3 easy steps! Step 1: score fat, cover in local hot sauce shop's mustard:  Step 2: Rub (ran out so had to spread thin)  Step 3: ???  Edit: Steps 4-6 
Spudalicious fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Mar 18, 2017 |
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Mar 18, 2017 22:06
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That looks great.
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Mar 18, 2017 22:18
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