The Thin Blue Smoke Thread IV- BBQ 2012

[Penguinetti]

Okay smokers,

I have never smoked before. I have grilled with charcoal, but I have never smoked.

I'll post up a picture of what I'll be working with (a Masterbuilt twin stack barrel grill) as soon as I get them up on photobucket. But basically, I'm new to this, and if you have any tips on how to smoke, or tricks to getting it even better, then please let me know.

Thank you, and happy smoking.

[Jim]

Okay smokers,

I have never smoked before. I have grilled with charcoal, but I have never smoked.

I'll post up a picture of what I'll be working with (a Masterbuilt twin stack barrel grill) as soon as I get them up on photobucket. But basically, I'm new to this, and if you have any tips on how to smoke, or tricks to getting it even better, then please let me know.

Thank you, and happy smoking.

Of course we will help...its what we do. Have you tried to make a fire that you can hold at 230-250 degrees for several hours yet? No sense involving meat until you can get somewhere near that.

[Sullybob]

I smoked two pork shoulders today. I kept the temperature right around 250 F for about nine hours, this was far and away the best pork I've smoked. I'd like to give Jim a public thank you. Jim answered lots of questions and gave me many tips on smoking.

Thank you Jim, and my family thanks you!

[Penguinetti]

Of course we will help...its what we do. Have you tried to make a fire that you can hold at 230-250 degrees for several hours yet? No sense involving meat until you can get somewhere near that.

Thanks Jim! I'm already feeling a little more (albeit falsely) confident! I have not tried to make a fire that I can hold. I will give that a shot this weekend. As for what I'm using:




Do you think this should work for my future smoking attempts?

[Jim]

I cannot see why it wont work- you need to ditch the matchlight though. Get some Stubbs or lump charcoal and a starter chimney.

Where are the air inlets on that unit?

[Penguinetti]

Stubbs or lump charcoal... k. Starter Chimney. Okay? Any particular reason why?

And there is an inlet on either side. You can see it in the first picture. It's open a little and it's just through the grate on the left side.

[Sullybob]

With match light you are going to pick up a chemical taste in your food.

[Jim]

Lighter fluid will be a problem on your low and slow cooks, you will be able to taste it after a while. You will want to start with the stack over the meat open fully and the air inlet near the fire just cracked the width of a matchstick. The secret is not to build a fire that is too large to start, it will smolder rather than burn cleanly. There are many videos on the Minion method on YouTube that will help you get started. I would start with 6 briquests lit on a pile of charcoal.

[BobS]

That is some great looking pork shoulder -- fantastic color.

That grill will serve you well for a long time.

These are some simple chicken thighs seasoned with nothing but olive oil, S&P and fresh rosemary.



They really hit the spot with these roasted potatoes and shallots.



Anyone want to guess what's for lunch today?

[Penguinetti]

Okay, so I bought the charcoal chimney and some mesquite wood chips. My plan is to do a test run tomorrow with just the charcoal. I know you said no matchlight, but i couldn't convince SWMBO to let me buy more charcoal even though we have this stuff. Oh well. I'll have to just use plenty of them during the test run tomorrow.

In any case, the plan is to try smoking a 4lb chicken on Saturday if things go well Friday. I figure if I screw up Saturday, it won't be much trouble to just switch the chicken from the grill to the oven.

I've looked up the Minion Method and I'm pretty sure I understand what to do. However, some sites say have a tray of water above the coals, while others make no mention of it at all. So my question is this; do I add the tray of water to the grill, or do I not?

[Jim]

Your unit does not have a water tray built into it like the Webers' do so don't worry about it. I am not sure you can minion method the matchlight, but I guess we will find out.

Make notes and do not adjust things too quickly, rather give everything a chance to settle in and come up to temps. if your temps are too low open the one intake vent a very small amount at a time and wait at least a half hour before adjusting anything else. Later you can refer to your notes and go closer to the "mark" and get started sooner.

A chicken is a good place to start- 3 to 4 hours should do it if your temps are good. You may also want to check your thermometer, check it against boiling water, they are often very far off so better to know up front. You will know when you hit the sweet spot as you will have very thin blue smoke, not white smoke.

[HoosierTrooper]

Okay, so I bought the charcoal chimney and some mesquite wood chips. My plan is to do a test run tomorrow with just the charcoal. I know you said no matchlight, but i couldn't convince SWMBO to let me buy more charcoal even though we have this stuff. Oh well. I'll have to just use plenty of them during the test run tomorrow.

In any case, the plan is to try smoking a 4lb chicken on Saturday if things go well Friday. I figure if I screw up Saturday, it won't be much trouble to just switch the chicken from the grill to the oven.

I've looked up the Minion Method and I'm pretty sure I understand what to do. However, some sites say have a tray of water above the coals, while others make no mention of it at all. So my question is this; do I add the tray of water to the grill, or do I not?

If you're going to use Matchlight and Minion method to smoke that chicken I'd suggest you just go ahead and throw it away now and save all the trouble of cooking it because it's going to be inedible. You don't need to use Minion method for chicken because it doesn't really benefit from low and slow cooking, so I'd suggest you light the charcoal and let it completely grey over before you start cooking, hopefully it will burn off all of the lighter fluid before you get it anywhere near the chicken.

As for water, many, many BBQ contests have been won with smokers that don't use water. I never use water in my smokers.

[MWS]

Thanks again for this inspirational thread. Although starting late in the season, I hope to contribute in a few days.

Finally joined the BGE club. Unfortunately after 7 weeks of sunshine, I'll have to sit through 4 days of rain before I crack this egg and get BBQ'ing!

[BobS]

You are going to love the Egg!

I made some POCBs on my small Egg and they turned out great!

I used a new recipe I got off the Primo Grill Forum that uses Thai Fish Sauce to bring out the beef flavor. It really does a good job and you would never know it was there.

1 lb 80/20 ground
1 clove Garlic pressed
1 teaspoon ground pepper
½ teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons Fish Sauce



Give this a shot -- you will love it!

[BobS]

Thanks again for this inspirational thread. Although starting late in the season, I hope to contribute in a few days.

Finally joined the BGE club. Unfortunately after 7 weeks of sunshine, I'll have to sit through 4 days of rain before I crack this egg and get BBQ'ing!

While you are waiting to use your new Egg, I recommend going to the site below and reading about temperature control and also about flashbacks!

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm

Also, I recommend that you run (don't walk) to make or buy a fixture so that the level of the cooking grate is raised to the level of the opening on the Egg. You will not believe how much difference this makes. You can see what I am talking about from the previous post.

The Naked Whiz describes several ways that you can make this yourself or you can buy a nice fixture at the site shown below.

http://ceramicgrillstore.com/

Good luck!

[MWS]

BobS, thanks for the links and tips!
Question about raising the grate - I hear if it's level it'll contribute to blowing the gasket with a hi heat...you haven't had any problems??

[BobS]

There is some discussion about burning gaskets on The Naked Whiz site too. I have never heard about cooking at that level being a problem. There has been some discussion about having the pizza stone at that level and really forcing the hot gas to the side but even that is debated. This was especially true when people used after market, pizza stones that were bigger than the one made for the BGE.

Also, you are really not doing high temp cooks with the grate in that position. I remove it to sear steaks, but most cooks are 400 or less.

My first gasket on the Egg lasted about 2 years and then I finally changed it. It had not failed completely but there was absolutely no cushioning when you close the lid. The first replacement was with a Nomex(R) gasket and its life was shorter than the original. I have now replaced the gaskets on all three of my grills with Rutland gaskets (also see The Naked Whiz) and I love them. You only have to apply it to the bottom surface. My last grill was the Sm, BGE and I replaced the gasket on it before the first fire, because it was a lot less work than cleaning the gasket surface after everything got baked on.

[Penguinetti]

Your unit does not have a water tray ......not white smoke.

Thanks for the info Jim! I've grabbed a notepad from work, and it'll be my Smoking notes from now on.

If you're going to use Matchlight and Minion method to smoke that chicken I'd suggest you just go ahead and throw it away now and save all the trouble of cooking it because it's going to be inedible.

Wow. That bad, huh?

You don't need to use Minion method for chicken because it doesn't really benefit from low and slow cooking, so I'd suggest you light the charcoal and let it completely grey over before you start cooking, hopefully it will burn off all of the lighter fluid before you get it anywhere near the chicken.

It may not benefit immensely from this type of cooking, but the key on this one is to just practice smoking with some type of meat. I would be even more disheartened if i bought a rack of baby backs and screwed those up rather than the chicken. But if the matchlights are going to be as bad as you say, I'll see if I can sneak a bag of briquettes home w/o her knowing.

As for water, many, many BBQ contests have been won with smokers that don't use water. I never use water in my smokers.

That's good to know. Makes me feel a bit better.

[HoosierTrooper]

The Minion Method is used to slowly light a large amount of unlit charcoal so that you can maintain relatively low (under 300F) cooking temps for long amounts of time without having to add charcoal. Each Matchlight briquette contains lighter fluid so when they ignite and burn the smell from the lighter fluid will get on the food.

[Penguinetti]

So I'm in the middle of smoking right now. I couldn't do it yesterday, as it started to rain a bit. BUT I did go out and buy this:



Turns out I had a american express gift card tucked away in my wallet from my birthday last January...

Anyways, I've been smoking for a little over 2 hours now, and I'm coming up on two issues; one easily fixable, the other not so much.

1) I used a handful of mesquite wood chips. I soaked them for a good hour or so. It seems like I've cooked through all of them already, so the coals are still burning strong, but there's no more smoke. Next time, more wood chips.

2) The other issue is this: My grill is actually not going any lower than 350 degrees F. I've closed the vent to nothing more than a scratch, and I've even closed the stack half way to see if that will cut the flow a bit. To no avail, I can't get that grill to lower it's temp.

Here's my set-up:



I used 6 briquettes in the chimney, and I put a hole in the middle of the pile to place them in. Then I sprinkled the wood chips over the pile.


Here's the grill smoking away:





It appears that the grill is not, in fact, all that air-tight, lol.


Anyways, you wouldn't happen to have any tips on lower the temp more, would you?




EDIT: I did add some more mesquite chips, and I'm definitely seeing that light blue smoke you guys were talking about, so... that's pretty cool.