food Smoke Somethin

Walchit

Walchit

Got this char-griller premium kettle for my birthday, it says its a smoker too.

So after a little research and about 40 bucks for charcoal baskets and a pizza stone I'm gonna give it a shot.

Here's the kettle

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Charcoal baskets

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Modified grate out of my old grill, had to cut the sides off, and hit it with a hammer a couple times so it would get past these bolts.

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Pizza Stone(heat diffuser)

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Water/drip pan

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Forgot to add the apple wood, it wasn't that bad to open everything back up. Glad I took out some of the center of the old grate.

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Iron mikes mustard Bbq for a binder and Montreal steak, some minced onions, salt and pepper on the rub.

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Questions, comments, and suggestions all welcome. This will be my smoking/grilling thread.

Bout to slap the meat on now!

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It said pork butt shoulder or something on the package. Once you take it out of the vacuum seal its just a mangled piece of pork lol. I was already at Wal-Mart, probably should have went to the grocery store for the meat to be honest. I also got a brisket to try tomorrow.

Sent the wife to buy a thermometer. It went up to 228 after I took the pic.

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Looking good. That looks like what they would call a pork picnic roast here. Just below the butt on the foreleg. One of the butcher places here will sell a whole foreleg for 99 cents a pound occasionally. They will run if through the bandsaw and cut into picnic and butt as long as you take the whole thing. I actually slightly prefer the ratio of fat to meat in a picnic vs boston butt.
 
I think they had some labeled picnic right next to these. They were bigger so I grabbed one of these.

Moved the meat probe back to the grill surface cause the stock thermometer on the kettle was getting up to like 275ish. Its reading 240 right next to the meat now, and I stuck this other thermometer in the meat. Hopefully its cool at 240° it only goes up to 220.

Meat was at 150 internal when I switched them around.
 
Looking good Andy!
 
I see you're now hooked...LOL I have been for years. One thing a lot of ole timers do around here is get some wood going, like Mesquite or Oak, and when it quits flaming add it to the smoker. So instead of adding fresh coals from a bag or whateva, one adds them hot already. Of course that may require an additional way to get them going. But heck I read that article, so it's part of the rules..LOL ya gotta spend mo..
 
I saw Brisket! I use a firebox rig to cook them in, it smokes well and the indirect heat is pretty easy to control. LB seasons it up and I get the pit up to around 325°, run straight Mesquite for about 3 hours and add some Oak the last 1/2 hour. I'm throwing raw wood on the fire in the box. By then it has some nice smoke color and flavor in the meat and some bark on it. Then I let the temps get down to 225° and cook it wrapped in foil the last 2-4 hours depending on the weight. I like it super tender but not so tender it crumbles when you slice it. If I let it go the whole time without wrapping it gets kinda dried out and wood tasting..LOL
 
 
Good luck with your endeavors!
 
Nice, that's a good starting point for my brisket tomorrow, I will have to load some extra coal to keep it at 325°

And yes I'm definitely hooked, I looked at this offset smoker for at least a year, but at 275 bucks I held off. And mike said that I should get a drum style instead of an offset.

I saw some really nice uds smokers on Craigslist. This guy in KC makes them with a weber kettle lid on them, for w
250 bucks. I am gonna end up getting one, or building my own UDS. I really want a weber kettle too, now that I've been reading about them and seeing guys restoring them.
 
Walchit said:
Nice, that's a good starting point for my brisket tomorrow, I will have to load some extra coal to keep it at 325°

And yes I'm definitely hooked, I looked at this offset smoker for at least a year, but at 275 bucks I held off. And mike said that I should get a drum style instead of an offset.

I saw some really nice uds smokers on Craigslist. This guy in KC makes them with a weber kettle lid on them, for w
250 bucks. I am gonna end up getting one, or building my own UDS. I really want a weber kettle too, now that I've been reading about them and seeing guys restoring them.
Click to expand...
 
Keep us posted on how the meat turns out ;)
 
The only issue I have with the 55 gallon rigs are that the metal is thin, so they burn out unless they add more material for where the fire is. That semi hibachi thang I made it deeper so controlling the heat is easier and I made the bottom 1/2" thick, cuz I burned out the last one @ 1/4".
 
 
Don't worry about the temp on that butt or a brisket. Do the initial cook unwrapped till it gets to the color you want then check the IT-internal temp. It's always about 155-160 for me and that's when you'll hit the stall. At that point I wrap in foil or a foil pan covered and let it roll another 3 hours then insert the probe and pull the butt out at about 190-195 for a good slicing butt or go longer and it will fall apart at about 200-205. Every piece of meat is different so you have to go by *probe tender*. If it slides in like butter then it's done and over done if you want it firm enough to slice and stay together.
 
Don't worry, just let it roll till it's as tender as you want it.
 
Have fun playing with your meat :rofl:
 
Devv said:
 
Keep us posted on how the meat turns out ;)
 
The only issue I have with the 55 gallon rigs are that the metal is thin, so they burn out unless they add more material for where the fire is. That semi hibachi thang I made it deeper so controlling the heat is easier and I made the bottom 1/2" thick, cuz I burned out the last one @ 1/4".
 
Click to expand...
How long does a drum normally last? I wonder if you put part of a smaller drum in the bottom if it would keep some of the heat off of your outer barrel. Maybe I should just get a whiskey barrel, I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike!
 
I started to write a whole big explanation...but a drum will not last very long. Especially if it's left outside. Like use it and it rains, it now rusts and then get weaker.
 
What I'm trying to get you not to do is buy a 55gal rig. Make one yeah, much cheaper and then you'll learn the curve on how long they last.
 
I might get 4-5 uses out of one I use in the charcoal kiln. The outer portion is from a 1946 propane tank, when they made real steel...It will out live me..
 
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