Basics....

[bringmethemeat]

Hi people!
Just joined the forum, loving it already ha ha.

So I am about to attempt slow cooking/indirect grilling some pork shoulder this weekend.
I have bought and attached a themometer(not digital) to my bbq, the bbq is just a cheapish oil drum style bbq with a lid that closes. I've also bought a chimney starter and a digital themometer for placing into the meat when testing.

My main concern is maintaining and getting the correct temperature for cooking. I will do a dry run tomorrow night, and just place a bit of lit charcoal straight in the drum and monitor the temperature.

How long will a bbq generally maintain a temperature for? Is it just a case of keeping an eye on it and topping up with a fresh load of lit charcoal? Also if its to hot do you just not add in the meat until it has cooled down?

Any advice would be appreciated

Dave

[The Social Smokers]

I was watching a video by Chris Lilley of "Big Bob Gibsons BBQ" the other day and he was saying that you shouldn't get too hung up about maintaining a constant temperature that's bang on, especially when doing 12-14hr cooks involving pork. He said if you get spikes of 275F and lows of 200F, it's not a problem, especially over such a long time period. We like to aim around the 220-230F mark (i personally am a bit anal when it comes to temps). Depending on the quality of your pit (our is a pro q frontier usually) you can maintain a constant temp for around 4-5hours, sometimes more.

[RobinC]

How long a BBQ can maintain temp for depends on the BBQ and the fuel used. My 18" WSM when using briquettes can run at a steady 250f for 16 hours.

I think you are correct in trying to do a dry run.

Does your drum have any kind of vents underneath or near where the charcoal is going to sit? Most people tend to get their BBQ to cooking temp before adding meat (though I personally don't I add the meat soon after lighting the coals and the initial clouds of smoke have died down). If your BBQ is running too hot normally you would adjust then vents to reduce the amount of oxygen going into the BBQ which in turn reduces the temp. How much you adjust the vents comes from experience but in general you want to do small adjustments and then give the adjustment 15 mins or so to have an effect before adjusting again (if required).

In terms of adding fuel to a BBQ whether you add lit or unlit fuel depends on whether you anticipate the BBQ needing fuel within the next hour or so (in which case add unlit) or whether the temp has already started dropping (in which case add lit)

[bringmethemeat]

Hi, thanks for all the replies.

Ok I won't worry to much about the temps, I will just try and keep it within a desired range.

My bbq has 2 vents on the lid, I presume I need to have these open to allow the smoke to escape from the bbq?
I wasn't sure if I would need to add a vent to the bottom of the bbq near where the coal will be, to control the amount of oxygen getting to the coal?

Also would you recommend using lumpwood or briquettes?

Cheers

[RobinC]

Either fuel is fine. I use both though tend to favour briquettes.

Dry run is a definite must - I think I would be concerned with just having vents at the top but try it and see.

[bringmethemeat]

Yer I think I am going to create a vent at the bottom of the bbq as well, more than likely will just drill some holes into the bottom.

[keith157]

You control the heat with the bottom vents i.e. the greater the airflow the more fuel for the charcoal, the hotter it gets etc, so I would put some kind of controlable cover on the bottom vents. The top vents should be open partway to allow for the throughflow of air.
Now as to the fuel, you pays your money and takes your chances in general. Years ago I tried lumpwood but was disappointed by bthe quality, which is generally much better these days, so switched to briquettes and from there to cocoshell which I now stick with, apart from the occasional high and fast with Heatbeads.
There are lots of dicussions on the forum as to which is best and what brands are available.

[bringmethemeat]

Cool thanks again.

I will add some vents to the bottom before I do my test run

[bringmethemeat]

So.... I had a test run yesterday night.

Added a thermometer to the bbq and drilled some holes in the base next to where the coal will sit.

When I added the coals in after lighting them the temperature rose straight to about 400 and then settled down to roughly 300. This gradually went down as a few hours went by and by the time I went to bed it was about 250.

The kinda temperature I am after is around 220-280 so I am thinking that I just need to reduce the amount of coal I put in there at the beginning. Due to it not being a great bbq, I'm not sure how long it will maintain heat for, I'll just have to be diligent and add more coals when needed.

Thanks for all the help!

[RobinC]

Are you lighting using the minion method ie some lit coals on top of some unlit coals?