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Made my first ever brisket yesterday and holy poo poo was it a life changing experience. Bought a whole packer and separated the point and the flat. I used the point and froze the flat for another time. Salted overnight and smoked for a little over 11 hours. Wife made some roasted veggies for the side.      
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Apr 20, 2020 15:40
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Hasselblad posted:iQue stoker Yo what's this? I couldn't Google it
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Apr 20, 2020 19:10
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tuo posted:Okay, got the stall at 170 (dropped to 165 now, I assume the fat is currently melting). So it seems to handle similar to pork, where - to my experience - it also tend to get the stall later when I use smaller pieces. Well.....?
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Apr 21, 2020 02:07
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Hasselblad posted:Save $200 and get the 2000 version. Unless you absolutely have to have the wings. Take that $200 you saved and get an iQue stoker. I have been running mine for 8 years now and wouldn’t trade it. I have yet to feel it to be too small whatsoever. Yeah, the swing grate is all fine until you have to get to anything under the grate that supports it... the fire, an extra food rack, etc. When I wanted to sear the wings a bit after a long smoke with the ribs i had to take everything off just to lower the lower grate close enough to the fire to sear, then get everything back on... I used it probably 5-6 times and got a split heat deflector for it before realizing that it was really no good for any kind of 2-zone cooking. And forget about topping up your fuel in the middle of a long cook. In terms of accessories I tried a few things but very few worked. In terms of things that would need to be made for it specifically, a temperature controller is one thing... even the companies that made an adapter were usually out of stock. I think it has its niche uses like any kamado (or pellet grill, or offset grill...) but anyone that is going to get one should just be well aware of the limitations before diving in. I guess maybe my expectations were different - for the cooking I do I really needed a setup that could grill and smoke equally well, and I think the keg is a much better smoker than grill. That being said I definitely miss the ash bucket and its crazy-good fuel efficiency.
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Apr 21, 2020 02:40
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A while back I smoked lamb shanks and they were okay. Very gamey, which doesn't usually bother me, but I didn't like them as much as I thought I would. Is leg of lamb any better? Any advice or specific spices? Thanks smoking goons.
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Apr 21, 2020 07:03
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I just got a smoker, the tiniest Weber Smokey Mountain. What else should I get? I figured a spritz bottle, wood, and charcoal. Any opinions on hybrid sous-vide/smoking? is it a dumb idea? My gut says you won't get the right bark.
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Apr 21, 2020 20:25
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5436 posted:I just got a smoker, the tiniest Weber Smokey Mountain. I've only done the SV and then 'smoked' on a gas grill. You can develop the right bark. Given my 'tools' it's probably the best I got. Plus I don't have to sit around waiting for something to hit certain temps. Take that as you wish. I know I've got pics on some of my post history here.
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Apr 21, 2020 20:48
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5436 posted:I just got a smoker, the tiniest Weber Smokey Mountain. Get a (at least) dual probe thermometer, so that you can monitor your pit temp + whatever hunk of meat you're cooking. I really like the ThermoWorks Smoke
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Apr 21, 2020 20:58
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5436 posted:I just got a smoker, the tiniest Weber Smokey Mountain. I've done the serious eats sous vide then smoked chuck roast a few times and it's delicious. The bark turns out great from my experience and the texture is perfect every time
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Apr 21, 2020 21:00
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5436 posted:I just got a smoker, the tiniest Weber Smokey Mountain. Charcoal starter.
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Apr 21, 2020 21:09
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qutius posted:Get a (at least) dual probe thermometer, so that you can monitor your pit temp + whatever hunk of meat you're cooking. I really like the ThermoWorks Smoke The WSM has a temperature gauge an i have an thermoworks dot, is the webers temp gauge inaccurate or too high up?
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Apr 22, 2020 02:55
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Wachter posted:Yo what's this? I couldn't Google it Sorry, brain fart. IQ: https://www.bbqguys.com/pitmaster-i...j8aAn13EALw_wcB
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Apr 22, 2020 04:45
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Guitarchitect posted:Yeah, the swing grate is all fine until you have to get to anything under the grate that supports it... the fire, an extra food rack, etc. When I wanted to sear the wings a bit after a long smoke with the ribs i had to take everything off just to lower the lower grate close enough to the fire to sear, then get everything back on... I used it probably 5-6 times and got a split heat deflector for it before realizing that it was really no good for any kind of 2-zone cooking. And forget about topping up your fuel in the middle of a long cook. In terms of accessories I tried a few things but very few worked. In terms of things that would need to be made for it specifically, a temperature controller is one thing... even the companies that made an adapter were usually out of stock. I dunno dude, it is a kamado...  It holds 225 for 14 hours straight without a refill, and I can crank it to over 700F. A temp control stoker like I linked above works great with it. You have a point about dual zone, but I also have a Weber Genesis to handle a quick charring. Internet Explorer posted:A while back I smoked lamb shanks and they were okay. Very gamey, which doesn't usually bother me, but I didn't like them as much as I thought I would. Is leg of lamb any better? Any advice or specific spices? Leg of lamb is better. Rosemary garlic and thyme. basically things you’d find in gyro meat. 5436 posted:
Hasselblad posted:
Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Apr 22, 2020 |
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Apr 22, 2020 04:46
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5436 posted:The WSM has a temperature gauge an i have an thermoworks dot, is the webers temp gauge inaccurate or too high up? The gauge is inaccurate AND too high up - not a great thermometer even to measure dome temp, and it’s measuring dome temp, not temp at the grate. The dot is a great instant read thermometer but you don’t want to be constantly opening the lid and losing heat just to check temperature of the meat. That said... you absolutely *can* do some stuff, especially more forgiving things like shoulder or ribs, without a probe thermometer. You’re just going to be a lot happier if you get one, and less forgiving cooks will more or less require it.
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Apr 22, 2020 07:43
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Kalman posted:The gauge is inaccurate AND too high up - not a great thermometer even to measure dome temp, and it’s measuring dome temp, not temp at the grate. Word that makes sense, I'll get another dot. The dual probe thermometers are very expensive on their site. I do have a raspberry pi that I don't use, worth getting a probe thermometer for it? My intended progression will be Pulled pork->spare ribs->beef short ribs->brisket Maybe throw a duck in there somewhere.
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Apr 22, 2020 13:38
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Smoked chicken wings... who’s got a good recipe? I realize I bought that metal ring for my grill last year but due to moving didn’t get around to it. I’d love to hear about recipes that make for crispy and have good rubs. I usually don’t like saucing smoked wings.
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Apr 22, 2020 14:47
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Hed posted:Smoked chicken wings... who’s got a good recipe? I realize I bought that metal ring for my grill last year but due to moving didn’t get around to it. Dry brine the chicken and leave uncovered in the fridge for a few hours/overnight. You can do whatever rub you want really at this point - I like brown sugar, cayenne and paprika - but be sure there's a good amount of salt in there as well to dry out moisture. Smoke on the high side for about two hours. You'll never get truly crisp skin just from smoking but this will tighten it up and prevent chawing on rubber. If you wanna crisp them up and have an air fryer or an elevated wire baking rack to stick them in the oven, do that for five minutes go enhance the finish. If you do a dry brine you can still sauce too. You can toss them when theyre done but if I am using barbecue in particular just baste them for the last 10 minutes or so of cook time. They will not turn out soggy that way.
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Apr 22, 2020 15:10
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Dr. Krieger posted:I've done the serious eats sous vide then smoked chuck roast a few times and it's delicious. The bark turns out great from my experience and the texture is perfect every time I'm going to try this method and use the roast for chili, maybe save half for noodles. 36hr sous vide starts tonight after work.
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Apr 22, 2020 15:46
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Bluedeanie posted:Dry brine the chicken and leave uncovered in the fridge for a few hours/overnight. You can do whatever rub you want really at this point - I like brown sugar, cayenne and paprika - but be sure there's a good amount of salt in there as well to dry out moisture. Smoke on the high side for about two hours. You'll never get truly crisp skin just from smoking but this will tighten it up and prevent chawing on rubber. If you wanna crisp them up and have an air fryer or an elevated wire baking rack to stick them in the oven, do that for five minutes go enhance the finish.
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Apr 22, 2020 16:19
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Infinite Karma posted:On this note, I've smoked chicken drumsticks at 275 instead of wings before, and the skin can come out nice and crispy. The bigger pieces lets you keep the drums on there a little longer, it makes all the difference. At 275, how long do you recommend doing drumsticks for? I was planning on that later this week.
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Apr 22, 2020 16:23
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5436 posted:Word that makes sense, I'll get another dot. The dual probe thermometers are very expensive on their site. I do have a raspberry pi that I don't use, worth getting a probe thermometer for it? A Dot is e: TOTALLY FINE I was thinking of the Pop. Couple other cheap options - you could probably do something with the Pi if you bought a couple decent probes. Not sure if there’s anything already out there but it’s not too hard to write, you’re just sampling a couple A/Ds and reporting results. You’ll need resistors to set up a voltage divider w/ the probe, as well as (ideally) jacks to connect the probe to the board. I wrote software for a probe thermometer for an ESP32 board that reports out via MQTT that works well (eventually I’ll add PID control when I get unlazy.) Total cost there is pretty low if you have basic electrical supplies - few bucks for the ESP and some 3.5mm jacks, couple resistors, and the cost of the probes (~15 per for good ones, less for less good ones). (Multimeter is extremely helpful to calibrate with.) That said, it’s not that much more to just get a dual channel thermometer if you don’t want to gently caress with all that. I only rolled my own because I want to play with automatic temp control down the road (and didn’t like some of the choices made by HeaterMeter or I’d have gotten one of those.) Kalman fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Apr 22, 2020 |
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Apr 22, 2020 16:58
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5436 posted:Word that makes sense, I'll get another dot. The dual probe thermometers are very expensive on their site. I do have a raspberry pi that I don't use, worth getting a probe thermometer for it? The Smoke is on the high side, but it is a rock solid device.
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Apr 22, 2020 17:15
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im not seeing any reason you can't use a dot, go for it
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Apr 22, 2020 17:20
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nwin posted:At 275, how long do you recommend doing drumsticks for? I was planning on that later this week.
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Apr 22, 2020 17:37
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BraveUlysses posted:im not seeing any reason you can't use a dot, go for it Yeah I was thinking of the Pop, not the Dot - Dot is totally fine. (Edited post to reflect.)
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Apr 22, 2020 17:52
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Kalman posted:(and didn’t like some of the choices made by HeaterMeter or I’d have gotten one of those.) Say more about this? I’ve been idly thinking about some solar-charged Arduino thing that talks wifi to software on my home server instead of using GPIO to a separate Pi, but I’m not sure how feasible it is. I’d want it to be able to drive a damper/fan setup like the RotoDamper, I think.
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Apr 23, 2020 01:31
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Subjunctive posted:Say more about this? I’ve been idly thinking about some solar-charged Arduino thing that talks wifi to software on my home server instead of using GPIO to a separate Pi, but I’m not sure how feasible it is. I’d want it to be able to drive a damper/fan setup like the RotoDamper, I think. So the source for it purely as a thermometer is up at github. The ESP32 has sufficient A/Ds (they’re not perfect but it’s not a 3D printer, a degree either way doesn’t matter in the slightest). It’s written for 2 probes right now but would be trivial to extend to more. So the basic goal (WiFi to server instead of GPIO to Pi) is fully feasible - it speaks MQTT to my home server. Solar power seems plausible enough to me - I’ve run it overnight using a USB battery brick, though not tested actual power draw yet. (And adding fan/damper might impact that since those are likely more power hungry.) I still need to add in control of air supply - for that, I think the easiest way (slash the plan is) to use an external 12V buck/boost board to drive a 12V blower, but using a 4 wire blower so the ESP PWM controls the fan speed. Adding in a damper should be simple enough, the 32 has plenty of IO left over to go out to a motor controller board. (I should order one...) Most of my disagreement with HeaterMeter has to do with the over-complexity/cost of using a Pi and with the efficiency (for me) of treating the smoker as a data source/sink for my HomeAssistant setup, so that I get pretty graphs and voice control and smartphone integration for “free” without any of it running on the ESP. Asking a voice assistant “hey google what temperature is the meat?” is a fun dumb party trick.
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Apr 23, 2020 02:07
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Anyone have a good guide for using my Weber? Maintaining the temperature and starting the fire etc?
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Apr 23, 2020 03:44
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5436 posted:Anyone have a good guide for using my Weber? Maintaining the temperature and starting the fire etc? https://www.virtualweberbullet.com has a lot of useful info for WSMs.
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Apr 23, 2020 04:03
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Kalman posted:https://www.virtualweberbullet.com has a lot of useful info for WSMs. I agree. It was my #1 go to site for WSM when I first got it. Canuckistan posted:I had to order a replacement pit probe for my bbq guru, thus ensuring I'll find my old probe within a week. It's been missing since last fall and I suspect a varmint (either raccoon or my kids, 50/50) took it off my deck. It only took 4 days to find it. I found it under my deck about 30 ft away from my BBQ. I'm going to blame the raccoons. Those drat critters have stolen BBQ brushes, oven mitts, and literally destroyed my last grill by reaching up into the guts to get at the grease tray. I just got a new Weber Genesis grill and I'm taking the grease tray with me when I'm done.
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Apr 23, 2020 04:27
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Kalman posted:Most of my disagreement with HeaterMeter has to do with the over-complexity/cost of using a Pi and with the efficiency (for me) of treating the smoker as a data source/sink for my HomeAssistant setup, so that I get pretty graphs and voice control and smartphone integration for “free” without any of it running on the ESP. Asking a voice assistant “hey google what temperature is the meat?” is a fun dumb party trick. Yeah, that’s my thinking too. I don’t want to deal with fragile SD cards and a whole computer, I just want something that sips power and can be made small that acts as a sensor / actuator. I’ll check your stuff out, thanks!
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Apr 23, 2020 05:35
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Hasselblad posted:I dunno dude, it is a kamado... Yep, like I say, I don't think I was aware of the limitations of the style of the cooker going into it. Definitely aware now, and glad I didn't have to discover it with something as expensive as a BGE! There's a lot of romanticism about them and I guess I just discovered for myself that a lot of the limitations are either glossed over or compensated for (like your Weber Genesis), or require a more significant investment for the largest sizes with two-zone accessories. I think my problem is that I originally set out to get a Primo XL, but for budgetary reasons I had to take it down a few steps... the Keg was the only unit that seemed to do what I want with the budget that I had at the time. My particular situation is that I can only have the one cooker, and I over-anticipated how flexible it could be. I have a BBQ Guru CyberQ now for my kettle and it's amazing! My goal for this summer is to build a decently functional cart for it so that it's easier to use and get going... I don't even have a table next to it so every cook is just a little bit dodgy
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Apr 23, 2020 14:20
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Guitarchitect posted:Yep, like I say, I don't think I was aware of the limitations of the style of the cooker going into it. Definitely aware now, and glad I didn't have to discover it with something as expensive as a BGE! There's a lot of romanticism about them and I guess I just discovered for myself that a lot of the limitations are either glossed over or compensated for (like your Weber Genesis), or require a more significant investment for the largest sizes with two-zone accessories. I think my problem is that I originally set out to get a Primo XL, but for budgetary reasons I had to take it down a few steps... the Keg was the only unit that seemed to do what I want with the budget that I had at the time. My particular situation is that I can only have the one cooker, and I over-anticipated how flexible it could be. I have a BBQ Guru CyberQ now for my kettle and it's amazing! My goal for this summer is to build a decently functional cart for it so that it's easier to use and get going... I don't even have a table next to it so every cook is just a little bit dodgy You keep referring to “a lot of limitations” of kamados, but I really only acknowledge the dual zone one. I get that you are happy with your kettle, but your poopooing of kamados is akin to dumping a sous vide because it won’t sear. The kamado does both, just not simultaneously. So eh, agree to disagree, and I use mine on any day out of 365 with great success. Hasselblad fucked around with this message at 14:37 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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Apr 23, 2020 14:35
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With getting wood for my WSM, should I get chunks, pellets, or chips? Any brand worth getting or its all the same?
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Apr 23, 2020 15:25
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Well still waiting on tax refund/stimulus check, but been doing a lot of research and probably gonna pull the trigger on a smoker. Leaning towards a WSM and a Fireboard, but have also been checking out pellet smokers. What's the overall consensus on pellet smokers? Just from checking reviews it seems like they all have fiddly stuff that can break, and I also already have a ton of experience grilling with charcoal. Initially it seemed like the WSM might be difficult to maintain temps but after looking into it, it seems like the learning curve is short and they're pretty hands off once you dial it in. Sorry, total newb here and there's a ton of conflicting info/reviews floating around...
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Apr 23, 2020 20:32
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Lump charcoal is the way to go for full proof bbq so I say get something that can burn that and maintain temperature. The only thing you have to worry about after that is the probes and thermometers.
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Apr 23, 2020 21:17
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talktapes posted:Well still waiting on tax refund/stimulus check, but been doing a lot of research and probably gonna pull the trigger on a smoker. Leaning towards a WSM and a Fireboard, but have also been checking out pellet smokers. I've never had a pellet smoker but my friends that have Traegers love them due to their ease of use. That being said, I've had a WSM for about 6 years and its very easy to use, especially once you get used to it. Someone posted it earlier, but VirtualWeberBullet has GREAT starting guides for it. Armed with that information, there was no "figuring it out" period for me with using it. Read some on there and you will be well armed! My first smoke was a brisket and it came out great. The temperature control isn't that hard. You'll get to a point where you can eyeball the vents and set them and get your desired temperature every time. You'll also learn to accept variations in temperature too. Nailing 225 can be hard, so don't freak out if it goes to 250 for a while. Just crack a beer and relax. I'd recommend getting an 18" or a 22". I have the 14.5" and it smokes well, but fitting racks of ribs or a brisket in there is a challenge.
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Apr 23, 2020 21:20
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5436 posted:With getting wood for my WSM, should I get chunks, pellets, or chips? Any brand worth getting or its all the same? Can’t speak to brands (I just buy the Weber stuff at the local hardware store for ease of access) but you want chunks from whoever. 99% of the time it’s what you’ll be using and the other 1% of the time you’ll have free chips in the bag from the chunks that splintered in packing. (Pellets are specifically for pellet smokers and there’s zero reason to buy them for a WSM.)
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Apr 23, 2020 21:28
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WSM can get a little charcoal hungry, especially in colder weather. Have a wind shielded area for it. I use a big ol Costco sized bag every time I run it.
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Apr 23, 2020 21:49
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um excuse me posted:WSM can get a little charcoal hungry, especially in colder weather. Have a wind shielded area for it. I use a big ol Costco sized bag every time I run it. YES. Another complaint against the 14.5. Again, it works great and I've smoked on it for years...but I have to reload it multiple times during longer smokes (brisket or pork butts) which can be pretty tedious. The charcoal basket in it is just tiny. My brother has an 18.5" and says he does have to reload it, but not nearly as much. I'm inspired to come back to this thread because I just bought a BGE today and hopefully its getting delivered tomorrow or Saturday. Cant wait!
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Apr 23, 2020 22:10
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