What's in your smoker?

[ucla695]

Originally Posted by T.G

Welcome. Just PM me or start a thread in good eats (there are a few other people here who have similar modified webers - a few extra heads/ideas/experience rarely hurts anything) if you have any specific questions once you start setting it up and operating it.

The one downside to having a single weber that you will go back and forth with is that you're pulling the firebricks, drip pan and coal grate foil in and out every time you convert from grill to smoker. Now, if you are set up as a smoker, and you don't have a large quantity of meat to grill, you can just leave it set up as a smoker and just grill over the small area where you dump the lit coals.

Couple tips:
-only use firebricks. They are about $3 at ace hardware. I know some people use red clay bricks, but those can shatter under heat and the heat dispersing properties of the firebricks are superior anyway.

-you don't have to grind or cut the firebricks to fit perfectly or fit the curve of the kettle. I did simply because I had the tools and blades to do it (skillsaw with dry masonry diamond blade and 4-1/2" angle grinder and composite masonry discs) I would not have bought them for this. Firebrick is also very soft and easy to work with if you do choose to though.

-you do need to foil the area of the coal grate below where the food will be, even with a drip pan. This is to prevent crazy airflow and drafts inside the smoker.

-Get a permanent pen (a sharpie, not a big ol' magic marker), take the ash can off the bottom of the grill, close the vents fully, then start slowly opening the vents, the moment you just see the edge of the blade pass the opening, exposing a clear passage to the cooking chamber, stop and clearly mark this point on the shield that is around the lever (the shield that supports the ash can). Edge the vents open some more, until you get to 25-30% exposure, stop, mark this point. Open them some more until you reach 50%, mark that. then 75% and finally just when you hit 100%. This will help you quite a bit with controlling temps, since now you will have a much better idea how far your vents are open.

-Don't be afraid when cooking at low temps to simply close the bottom vents all the way if you think that's what you need to do to keep the temps down. So long as you have the top vent open, enough air leaks by on the OTs that the coals will not go out but rather just burn very slowly and at low temp.

-It's like a WSM when it comes to smoke wood - the equivalent of one or two first sized pieces is plenty. Sometimes you don't even need that much.


A couple cooks and you'll have it down.

Excellent tips! I'll follow your advise! Thanks!

[ucla695]

Originally Posted by fxpose

Looking forward to some good eatin' at The Pool Bar & Grill....

[wayner123]

Dang it T.G, now I am looking into getting a Weber Kettle. I see you have the one touch and the standard, do you prefer one to the other? Or did you simply replace the handles?

I love my Brinkmann SnP, and my UDS, but right now I am not doing large cuts or multiple cuts. So the Weber Kettle would be perfect for what I am doing now.

[T.G]

The 18" from the cold smoke photos is an old standard three-vent model, the 22" shown with the bricks is a one-touch.

I have a set of bricks for both, but hardly ever use them in the 18" because on a grill that small, you lose about half the grate area to the coal and brick - not much left to cook on. Lastly, the lack of the hinged grate section on the 18" grates I have makes it a pita to do anything with the fire once you have loaded the pit with meat.

As for control, the old standard three-vent gives better draft air control, and seals better when closed down, but you have to lean under the kettle to see how they are set, and the one under the fire would have to be periodically cleared by poking a stick through the ash. that accumulates on it. Lastly, you have to lift out the drip pan, bricks and grates (after awhile it gets old doing this) to empty the ash from the standard 3-vent. Whereas the one touch, you can just set the lever from above, and on the golds you have the metal shield that you can mark in percentages as I described above, and you can clear the vents and even empty all the ash out of the kettle by simply cranking the vent handle over and back a few times.

The one touch is far more convenient, and the convenience to me outweighs the slight sacrifice in draft control over the old 3-vent. 22" gives you a good cooking grate size where you only lose about 1/3 of it to the coals and bricks, so you can fit quite a bit on there.

[wayner123]

Does the one touch still seal well enough to keep temps steady?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by wayner123

Does the one touch still seal well enough to keep temps steady?

The firebricks help a LOT with keeping the temps constant. To me, it doesn't seem like it requires any more adjusting than really any other small smoker. You have to make a few adjustments for the first half-hour - hour or so, then after that, you can just leave it for like 5-6+ hours without having to fiddle with it. Then, as you get toward the point where the coals are just about all spent, you have to either add more or make adjustments. I've had mine hold constant for 4-5 hours on a partial fuel load, then I noticed that the temps were dropping slowly, so I opened up the vents a bit more, but never looked inside, temps climbed back up - about 20 minutes later, falling again - opened the lid and looked, I had two or three tiny little remnants of briqs still left. It had been essentially out of fuel yet holding temp long before I made that first adjustment.

The oddest thing for me was realizing that you can close the air damper down to 0% while leaving the lid vent at 100% and it won't go out, it'll just sit there, chugging along low and cleanly for hours on end because the vanes do leak as does the lid sides.

If you need more heat buffering, you can add a loaf pan full of hot water on the grate over the coals, this is how the Smokenator adapter works. (some of their claims don't quite jive mathematically, but most ad copy is always slightly exaggerated).

The other cool thing about the OTS as a smoker, is that if you absolutely HATE it or can't get the hang of it (I don't feel it's really any more or less challenging than any other pit I've used), you can always just take the firebricks out and just use it as a grill. You're only out six bucks, and you can still use the firebricks one per side when you make indirect charcoal mounds for things like fish or chicken.

[wayner123]

Thanks for that info.

Last questions.... for now.

You said parital fuel load was out in 4-5 hours. I have been reading around and some say they can get 10 hours doing the minion method in a Weber Kettle with the offset area and firebricks. How long would you say a "load" (the load area being the portion blocked off by the fire bricks) will last?

I really am interested now. If I could get this to last at least 6-8 hours on one load, it would be perfect.

[T.G]

No problem bro, fire away on the questions all you need to. If I can answer them, I will.

I think 10 hours is doable. Remember, the bricks can be placed closer (to a point) or further away from the side of the kettle to give less or more room for fuel if needed. It doesn't take much extra fuel to get another 2 hours - in true weber style, these are fiarly efficient pits/grills for being just an uninsulated metal can.

In mine, I can go a bit tighter to the outside wall than most others because I ground the edges of the bricks to match the curve of the kettle, allowing me to snug them up a bit more, because of this, I think a better definition for a "load of fuel" would be a full chimney of unlit KF. For a weber brand chimney (which is larger than the generic no name brands) filled with KF blue (6.5lbs of charcoal IIRC), 8 hours should be no problem. I get 6-8 with a tighter fit and a smaller generic chimney (I have a weber chimney too, just don't need to use it as often) and usually end up pulling the food and shutting the pit down when I still have coals left.

I've found that KF blue bag is the ideal for me in this pit - temps stay low and it burns longer. KF comp burns too hot and way too quickly no matter what I do. Lump, same problem.

If you can find Rancher hardwood briquettes (Home Depot should carry them), those burn _forever_, like hours longer than KF blue. But they do burn hotter, so you have to be careful.

[OLS]

Originally Posted by T.G

No problem bro, If I can answer them, I will..

And if I can't I will. At length and ad nauseum.

[ucla695]

Well, I pulled the trigger and picked up the 26.75" OTG from a local BBQ store. Before I let them know I was interested in it, I checked out everything in the store and asked them how their sales were. The associate told me that this is usually their prime season, but things have been slower and customers aren't going for the bigger ticket items. Let the negotiations begin... I started asking about the 26" kettle and showed them I could buy it cheaper from Amazon (no tax and free shipping), but let them know that I grill a lot and will be a frequent customer. After a discussion with the manager, I walked out the door with the kettle and some bags of "opened"chunks and a "damaged" chimney to offest the tax.

I also stopped by a local building supply store and picked up some fire bricks.

After assembling the kettle and marking the vents as TG advised, I was ready to fire it up, but the 98* weather kept me from doing so.

More to come.......

[fxpose]

Mike....Congratulations on your new kettle purchase! That's a nice addition to the patio at The Pool.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by OLS

And if I can't I will. At length and ad nauseum.

But will there be pictures?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by ucla695

Well, I pulled the trigger and picked up the 26.75" OTG from a local BBQ store. Before I let them know I was interested in it, I checked out everything in the store and asked them how their sales were. The associate told me that this is usually their prime season, but things have been slower and customers aren't going for the bigger ticket items. Let the negotiations begin... I started asking about the 26" kettle and showed them I could buy it cheaper from Amazon (no tax and free shipping), but let them know that I grill a lot and will be a frequent customer. After a discussion with the manager, I walked out the door with the kettle and some bags of "opened"chunks and a "damaged" chimney to offest the tax.

I also stopped by a local building supply store and picked up some fire bricks.

After assembling the kettle and marking the vents as TG advised, I was ready to fire it up, but the 98* weather kept me from doing so.

More to come.......

Sweet! Enjoy.

[LooseCard]

Originally Posted by OLS

And if I can't I will. At length and ad nauseum.

Originally Posted by T.G

But will there be pictures?

From Brad????

You're joking, right?







j/k Brad!

FWIW: I will be doing ribs again this weekend. I will have to roll them so that I can finish them off on a gasser - either that or I'll be getting up really early in order to BRITU-cook them for lunch....

No 'camera' here, but do have my phone...

[kugie]

I finally did it.

I smoked my first pork butt today (do you ever forget your first).
Sorry no Picks that thing was destroyed as soon as I brought it in the house, man it was real tasty.

Next time I will get some picks out here.
I used the mcCormicks pork rub and some seasoned salt for the rub. It was really good.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by kugie

I finally did it.

I smoked my first pork butt today (do you ever forget your first).
Sorry no Picks that thing was destroyed as soon as I brought it in the house, man it was real tasty.

Next time I will get some picks out here.
I used the mcCormicks pork rub and some seasoned salt for the rub. It was really good.

Welcome to the other dark side. LOL

[ucla695]

Originally Posted by fxpose

Mike....Congratulations on your new kettle purchase! That's a nice addition to the patio at The Pool.

Thanks George!

[LooseCard]

Originally Posted by T.G

Welcome to the other dark side. LOL

Yeah... welcome to the smokey side....


Well, I'll be starting the coals in the morn, to do the ribs.
Didn't like the "re-heat" idea of doing them today...

[kugie]

Thanks guys my next venture will be a larger pork butt, Maybe pork loin or chicken, or brisket the possibilities are endless!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[OLS]

Originally Posted by OLS

And if I can't I will. At length and ad nauseum.

Get it? If I can't answer the question, I'll do it anyway?? At length?
You guys have no sense of humor, or I have no sense of proper sentence structure.