|
SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Mes is the mesa electronic smoker, no? Masterbuilt Electric Smoker. It's interesting that my thermapro probe registers a much different temp inside the unit than it does.
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2021 21:26
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 20:10 |
|
|
SSJ_naruto_2003 posted:Mes is the mesa electronic smoker, no? The heat from the electric element causes the wood chips to smoulder.
|
|
#
?
Oct 30, 2021 22:16
|
|
|
Does anyone have an iOS temp tracking/graph app they like? I used to use Pit Pal but apparently it’s not available now.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 02:41
|
|
|
My new smoker arrived DOA.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 12:41
|
|
|
toplitzin posted:My new smoker arrived DOA. With no context I say you throw some charcoal in it and let it rip anyways
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 13:27
|
|
|
It's a mes 40" electric. Plug it in and nothing happens. No beep, no lights, nothing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 15:30
|
|
|
toplitzin posted:It's a mes 40" electric. Plug it in and nothing happens. No beep, no lights, nothing.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 17:53
|
|
|
Also electric smokers tend to randomly not play nice with GFCI outlets
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 18:13
|
|
|
Smoked my first item ever yesterday (pork butt); due to being a colossal dumbass, it didn't finish until 2:30am. Whoops. Overall, it came out . . . decent. I spent most of the day doing research and now have a big checklist of things to do differently next time. First big question: if I'm reheating via sous vide, what is the temp I want to shoot for? I think I do Pork Loin around 140ish, but I don't know if I want to aim for hotter than that - and if so, how much hotter.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 19:22
|
|
|
Zarin posted:Smoked my first item ever yesterday (pork butt); due to being a colossal dumbass, it didn't finish until 2:30am. Whoops. 140 will be fine. Enjoy your new hobby! A great resource is amazing ribs dot com, and malcom reed's how to bbq right youtube channel if you want to dig into more reading/watching later.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 20:03
|
|
|
Zarin posted:Smoked my first item ever yesterday (pork butt); due to being a colossal dumbass, it didn't finish until 2:30am. Whoops. yeah, 140 is good, that's what I reheat my pulled pork to.
|
|
#
?
Oct 31, 2021 20:06
|
|
|
Infinite Karma posted:You do the usual dumb troubleshooting stuff like try a different outlet/check for popped breakers? I can't tell you how many times I thought a thing was broken when it was actually my stupid house that was broken. Even broke out the multimeter.
|
|
#
?
Nov 1, 2021 11:44
|
|
|
Did a pork butt at the requests of my kids, also had some Jalapenos from the garden so added it to 1/2 the cornbread. This was my best tasting prokbutt and cornbread I've done so far.
|
|
#
?
Nov 1, 2021 14:18
|
|
|
ROJO posted:yeah, 140 is good, that's what I reheat my pulled pork to. Perfect. I was shocked, it actually almost seemed better reheated than fresh! qutius posted:Enjoy your new hobby! A great resource is amazing ribs dot com, and malcom reed's how to bbq right youtube channel if you want to dig into more reading/watching later. Thanks! I started at AmazingRibs, but man if the design of that site isn't a struggle to navigate. Maybe just because I don't have ad-free . . . . I found YouTube to be a bit more helpful, just to kinda SEE what people are doing and how they approach stuff. I really vibed with Mad Scientist BBQ on YouTube, but he doesn't have a LOT of videos, and it seems like 70% of his videos are brisket haha. Not that there's anything wrong with that, just that I was doing a pork butt and then I still have a vac-pack of spare ribs in the fridge that have a "use/freeze by" date of Friday. So brisket is still a bit in the future for me. So, he's a question for the thread: my ThermaPro was reading the pit temp to be something like 20+ degrees higher than the digital setting readout on the smoker itself. I did the ice water test with the ThermaPro before I used it, so I'm guessing I should probably trust it over the reading on the smoker, yeah? I'm just surprised that the two readings were so consistently far apart.
|
|
#
?
Nov 2, 2021 04:08
|
|
|
First attempt at Brisket today. sitting in the fridge with a rub for a few hours, then letting it get to ~room-ish~ temp. it's only a tiny 3 lb piece, so I'm probably going to smoke it, no foil at any point for about 5 hours. I bought the brisket about 3 ish days ago and I think it got a bit dried out, so I'm a bit nervous about that, and I had to use some mustard to act as a binder to make sure I got some good coating of spices on it. Pictures will follow when I throw this bad boy on the smoker.
|
|
#
?
Nov 2, 2021 18:06
|
|
|
Trip report: It did not go well. And grandpa pumpkin does not approve.  Smoker was turned on, set at 225 for heat. the brisket was 3 lbs, minimal trimming was done since the butcher did a decent job and got it to right around 1/4th of an inch in thickness on one side. My plan was to do a 4.5-5hr smoke, giving me a solid 30 minutes of either letting it cool down after the grill session, or more time.   This was the meat at around the 2 hour mark, internal temp was about 145  This is where I think I made a lot of rookie mistakes. 4.5 hours into the smoke, I hit a plateau of 160 internal temp. By the 5 hour mark I had been at 160 for about an hour. I decided to increase the heat to 300 and within an hour I hit an internal temp of 195 and pulled it from the grill. The results: Meat was not "fall off the bone" tender and was still pretty stiff, along with being semi dry right in the middle. The taste was really good but definitely didn't reach that "noodle-like" juicyness or tenderness that I think we all want from a good smoked brisket.   Plans for next time: -I need to allow for a longer smoke session, as I think increasing the temperature exponentially probably was one of the causes that increased the meat to be dryer than expected. -I should look at doing a brine or cooking the meat the day of/next day after getting from the butcher (sat in the fridge for two days). I think it lost a lot of the internal moisture and I didn't do anything to help retain it -I'm at 5,100 feet of elevation, and the air is dry. Not sure if anyone else would advocate for adding a cup of water inside of the smoker to keep some evaporative moisture going -Look at doing some routine spritzing of apple cider to give it some flavor/added moisture -get better at handling my meat anyhow, that's my story at a first attempt of smoking a brisket.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 05:00
|
|
|
Nice and hot piss posted:anyhow, that's my story at a first attempt of smoking a brisket. I'm as much of a rookie as you here, so hello! You're ahead of me on smoking My initial research suggested that: • briskets are going to take A Long Time, Buckle Up Bucko. (like, 16 hours. Maybe I'm wrong there) (I know I for sure didn't budget enough time for my pork butt this weekend) • briskets benefit from being wrapped in butcher paper or something at a certain point (dunno where exactly though) My simple dumbass opinion is that you probably didn't lose any "moisture" by letting it sit in the fridge - after all, dry brining is a thing - because I think most of what we register as "moisture" in our mouths is actually rendered fat, so water loss from the fridge is probably negligible/irrelevant here. It sounds like Learning Happened, though, so high-five to you, First Smoke Learning Buddy! Good luck on round 2  Edit: I thought I read somewhere that starting your smoke at fridge temp was fine because cool/moist surfaces pick up smoke flavor quickly Edit2: I didn't fill the water tray in my smoker for my first pork butt smoke and I think that was a mistake. One of the things I'm going to do differently is try and keep it topped up next time and see how that changes things. Zarin fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Nov 3, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 05:15
|
|
|
First of all, a 3-pounder's not going to have as much moisture as a larger cut by definition. You can help this by injecting with beef stock or broth. But the little ones are meant for braising. They can be smoked, but it takes a bit more thought before and during. The 'plateau' you encountered is called the stall; it generally hits around 160 give or take a few degrees. You can do nothing and just power through it with time, or you can overcome it by wrapping the meat - foil will help the meat hit the goal temp faster but the bark will be softer, for brisket I've seen butcher paper or peach paper recommended.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 06:20
|
|
|
TITTIEKISSER69 posted:First of all, a 3-pounder's not going to have as much moisture as a larger cut by definition. You can help this by injecting with beef stock or broth. But the little ones are meant for braising. They can be smoked, but it takes a bit more thought before and during. Yeah, I frantically googled what was happening and figured it was that, but I didn't want to have dinner at midnight waiting for it to reach an appropriate temperature, so I just kind of did the wrong thing in regards to trying to speed it up. That's good to know about a smaller slab of meat though. The butcher didn't have anything bigger than that and I figured it would be a good "beginners" cut as I expand on different cuts/styles.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 06:59
|
|
|
A small piece of brisket like that is probably one of the harder things to really get right. It doesn't really say a whole lot, but a San Antonio food writer just reported on his attempts at cooking small pieces of flat both low-and-slow and significantly hotter.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 07:13
|
|
|
Nice and hot piss posted:
I live at ~6500 high desert elevation. Stall is the meat sweating, and opening the smoker to wet it down is just going to prolong that stall.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 12:31
|
|
|
I picked up this MB560 on clearance at Walmart over the summer. Its been a great grill. It's a great jack of all trades. Does well at low and slow as well as searing when you need it. The downside is that grease build up does happen & it needs to be regularly cleaned. If you fail to clean before searing you can get yourself a little grease fire going. Also I've had some issues with the safety switches on the lid. MB was quick to replace those for free though. Think that's due to grease ingress. It cooks great though & you might be able to find them super cheap at the moment. Oh and the app is pretty garbage.         An oak tree fell on my house 2 years ago. I'm finally getting my revenge on it. Been blasting through Oak as an alternative to the usual hickory & pecan. I love the patterns in this knot  I've become a huge fan of resting briskets. If you rest them in cooler thats heated & humidified with hot water + towels you can get really good extended hold times. really has upped my brisket game. My new smoking accessory that I'm happy to have on hand is a Slow N Sear Deluxe & SS cooking grate for the Weber 22' kettle. I think the Weber Kettle is probably the best intro smoker & grill combo. Takes a bit of work, but it does a lot of things really well if you invest a bit of time in it. Can't beat it for the price.   Zarin posted:Smoked my first item ever yesterday (pork butt); due to being a colossal dumbass, it didn't finish until 2:30am. Whoops. Let me recommend a few other YT BBQ Channels I found helpful: TRoy Cooks SmokyRibsBBQ SDSBBQ Kent Rollins Cooking onemanlan fucked around with this message at 12:53 on Nov 3, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 12:42
|
|
|
onemanlan posted:I picked up this MB560 on clearance at Walmart over the summer. Its been a great grill. It's a great jack of all trades. Does well at low and slow as well as searing when you need it. The downside is that grease build up does happen & it needs to be regularly cleaned. If you fail to clean before searing you can get yourself a little grease fire going. Also I've had some issues with the safety switches on the lid. MB was quick to replace those for free though. Think that's due to grease ingress. It cooks great though & you might be able to find them super cheap at the moment. Oh and the app is pretty garbage. I've always Weber kettle smoked using the snake method, is piling charcoal and lighting one side better?
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 13:46
|
|
|
For the slow n sear specifically, either you do half a chimney of lit coals and half un-lit, or you start with a tiny pile of 14 ish briquets in the corner lit up and the whole rest of the basket un-lit. Depends on what temp you want to hold and how long you need to hold it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 14:14
|
|
|
Gwaihir posted:For the slow n sear specifically, either you do half a chimney of lit coals and half un-lit, or you start with a tiny pile of 14 ish briquets in the corner lit up and the whole rest of the basket un-lit. Depends on what temp you want to hold and how long you need to hold it. I normally start with 12ish lit when I start my snake, but I wonder what holds 225-235 longer, snake or sns.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 14:21
|
|
|
Nice and hot piss posted:Plans for next time: In addition to the advice about the size of the cut, moisture and handling the stall, I would add that it's actually preferable to put your meat in the smoker straight from the fridge because it takes on more smoke. (And also means you spend less time in the 40 - 140 degree danger zone for bacteria, which can be a concern for longer cooks like pork butt or brisket.)
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 14:47
|
|
|
crondaily posted:I normally start with 12ish lit when I start my snake, but I wonder what holds 225-235 longer, snake or sns. If I just do ~14 briquets stacked on top of a couple fire starter tumbleweeds, the sns will hold 225 for probably 2.5 hours ish? Depends on the temp outside. A full basket lasts WAY longer.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 21:12
|
|
|
Gwaihir posted:If I just do ~14 briquets stacked on top of a couple fire starter tumbleweeds, the sns will hold 225 for probably 2.5 hours ish? Depends on the temp outside. A full basket lasts WAY longer. Wonder if I should make a bro and sear and try that this weekend, snake method is fine but takes a while to setup
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 21:43
|
|
|
crondaily posted:Wonder if I should make a bro and sear and try that this weekend, snake method is fine but takes a while to setup Before picking up an SnS I was doing 2 zone cooking by place two firebricks across the middle as a divider. I'd fill one side with charcoal & utilize the other side for the indirect cooking. It works great for grilling since you're not limited direct heat all times when flair ups occur or when the meat is not finished by internal temps. For smoking, while the snake method works I've read that a deeper charcoal bed as opposed to a thin one generally guarantees contact lighting occurs so there is little risk of burn out. The SnS and the brick method both lend to deeper beds than the snake. Some folks stack the 2 weber charcoal baskets together for the same purpose. Does that translate to a longer time before having to fiddle with it? Think it depends on the conditions you're running in & if you have any issues with burn out using the snake method. If not, then perhaps the SnS isn't entirely useful to improve your smoking situation. A nice feature is that the hinged grates fit the SnS well so that all you need to do is lift the hinge & dump more charcoal in when you need to refil. You might have to poke it around to distribute it well, but you can do it without removing the grate entirely. The deluxe model has a removable water pan that you can sacrifice for more charcoal space if need be. Not really sure about the time of burn you'd get off of one basket, but I'd wager under non-windy conditions maybe 4-8 hours.
|
|
#
?
Nov 3, 2021 22:33
|
|
|
I usually fill the SNS basket with unlit coals except one corner and then light 8ish coals and fill in the empty corner with them. I routinely get 6 hours at 225 without touching them. If I take a minute and adjust the coals at 6 hours I’ll get to about 8 before it really just needs to be refreshed.
|
|
#
?
Nov 4, 2021 03:50
|
|
|
I know that for larger hunks of meat, such as brisket and pork butt, you want to let them rest for a bit before digging into them. What about with something like ribs? Are they pretty much good to go right off the smoker if I want, or should I be considering a rest period before digging in? I have my second smoke ever going right now - two racks of ribs - so this question will be pertinent in about 3 hours or so 
Zarin fucked around with this message at 20:32 on Nov 6, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 20:04
|
|
|
Ribs are good to go straight off the smoker.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 20:07
|
|
|
Enos Cabell posted:Ribs are good to go straight off the smoker. Excellent, thanks for the quick response!
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 20:32
|
|
|
been trying to think about what i'm going to smoke next this week and since we're on the topic of ribs... I guess I'll smoke ribs.
|
|
#
?
Nov 6, 2021 20:57
|
|
|
Love this thread. I currently use a Weber classic, a Masterbuilt electric smoker, and just got a Traeger Pro 780 that I've just cooked a few items on. Ive really made some good food on the Masterbuilt. Next time I cook something interesting, I'll be eager to share here. A fun first smoker recipe is smoked eggs!
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2021 13:36
|
|
|
Anyone have any experience removing rust from grill grates that used to have a ceramic coating that broke down? The grates are what came with my gas2coal grill, and it does appear they had ceramic coating that just got burned off. I have nonstick copper grill mats but they can’t hold up forever, and I’m wanting to just restore the grates until I can set aside some money for GrillGrates (or possibly get them for Christmas but we aren’t doing Christmas gifts for grownups this year just for kids). I have a Dremel with a small wire brush attachment if that wouldn’t be overkill? Then just keep them piled maybe? Otherwise perhaps a food-safe rust remover like evaporust? I suppose I could use electrolysis but I don’t have all I need for it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2021 17:02
|
|
|
Started my first brisket early this morning on my pellet grill. Really excited to see how this comes out. Started it at 210 for a few hours to encourage more smoke flavor then bumped it to 225. Starting to look pretty nice.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2021 17:21
|
|
|
life is killing me posted:Anyone have any experience removing rust from grill grates that used to have a ceramic coating that broke down? The grates are what came with my gas2coal grill, and it does appear they had ceramic coating that just got burned off. I have nonstick copper grill mats but they can’t hold up forever, and I’m wanting to just restore the grates until I can set aside some money for GrillGrates (or possibly get them for Christmas but we aren’t doing Christmas gifts for grownups this year just for kids). I would personally use a wire wheel, but even if you do that, the rust will just come back
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2021 17:31
|
|
|
life is killing me posted:Anyone have any experience removing rust from grill grates that used to have a ceramic coating that broke down? The grates are what came with my gas2coal grill, and it does appear they had ceramic coating that just got burned off. I have nonstick copper grill mats but they can’t hold up forever, and I’m wanting to just restore the grates until I can set aside some money for GrillGrates (or possibly get them for Christmas but we aren’t doing Christmas gifts for grownups this year just for kids). Wire brush and wd-40 or penetrating oil will get the rust off. Give it a good wash, dry completely with a towel or paper towels and then a very light (like you can barely tell it’s oiled) coat of food grade oil. Every time you use it now you should clean and oil it if you want to keep the rust off. You can try and season it like cast iron but if you cook at high temps over an open flame it’s likely going to burn off any seasoning.
|
|
#
?
Nov 7, 2021 19:32
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 30, 2024 20:10 |
|
|
Found an excuse to fire up the grills this weekend. A lot of people wanted food different ways so I kinda worked out. The SnS has impressed so far. Really seems to kick up the kettle game for the indirect cooking. Easy to load & maintain through the cook if more is needed. Always nice to use the tools you have to give them purpose & all.      onemanlan fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Nov 8, 2021 |
|
#
?
Nov 8, 2021 03:52
|
|