Smoker buying advice

[wade]

I have cooked my 12-14 lb Christmas turkey in my Weber 57cm for the past 8 to 10 years.

[Chris__M]

My Weber actually suffered from dodgy leg syndrome. It took a drill and a retaining screw to fix the problem. I'm not over-practical with my hands, and even I managed it. The important bit - the kettle itself - cannot be faulted.

With regard to chicken size, when cooking larger birds I used to use two Weber charcoal baskets, and placed the chicken between them on the charcoal grate itself. It cooked brilliantly, with extra crispy skin.

[QueFrescoPaul]

Nice fix for "dodgy leg syndrome" & good way to go for beer can chicken, will try with my vertical chicken roaster.

[essexsmoker]

Think they have changed leg design now. They seem to be push in with a lock button. Much better.

I always spatchcock my chickens. Safer and cook in no time.

[wade]

Think they have changed leg design now. They seem to be push in with a lock button.

Yes - that would make sense.

[Bryan_80]

Thanks for all the advice guys. It's all appreciated.

In then end, I decided to go ahead and buy a ProQ Frontier Elite over the Weber kettle. There were a few reasons for this but I won't bore you with the details...

Anyway, it arrived at the end of last week, so Sunday was spent putting it together and seasoning it, which was all pretty straight forward and had no problems with it.

I decided to smoke a chicken for experimental purposes rather than doing 'dry runs' as I was so excited

After seasoning it at very high temperature, I brought the heat down to 250f, and popped the chicken in (with a standard dry rub). Here was where I had the first problem. The coal just couldn't get hot again and after checking on it, I noticed that there wasn't a great deal of it left so I topped up with hot coal from the chimney which did the trick for a while... then the same problem, so I topped up again... and to cook the chicken from start to finish, I had used 3 lots of coal. I suppose I could've put a ton of coal to start with, but as I'm still in the learning process I don't want to waste coal and food.

As it happens, the chicken did come out absolutely fantastically well. So juicy and succulent. I received many compliments! I can't wait until the next go, which will probably be next weekend.

So far, I love the smoker minus a few problems. I don't think the thermometer is up to much, but I have ordered a Maverick and it's in the post so that'll solve that one. The highest door isn't shaped very well, and a fair amount of smoke was leaking from there so I will have to bend it a little to minimise the smoke and heat waste. And lastly, the vents are very tight and without the use of gloves they are impossible to adjust due to the heat so I have ordered welders gloves. Other than that, I am over the moon!

The only other problem I've encountered is the charcoal. I had read that lumpwood charcoal was the best for using so I bought a big bag from B&Q. However, the vast majority of the coal in the bag is very small. Too small in fact to fit into the charcoal basket so it just fell straight through. This is probably why I had to keep topping up the coal to maintain a decent heat.

So a couple of last questions for you is which coal is the best to buy, and if I put unlit coal into the basket, once it's been lit by the other coals, does this not produce too much dirty coal smoke rather than the nice wood smoke?

Cheers

Bryan

[wade]

To keep a good long even temperature in the ProQ and WSMs I find good quality briquettes (Heat Beads or Weber premium) are best to use as a base and then add your wood of choice on the top. Use the Minion method. Place a can of beans in the middle and neatly stack the briquettes around it. Remove the can and place a dozen fully lit briquettes in the centre. On top of the unlit coals place blocks of wood (or pellets) of your choice. Have patience waiting for it to get up to temperature - it could take 45 minutes or so - and as it approaches the temperature you want then start to close the bottom vent. It can also be helpful to half close the top vent throughout too.

Yes, ignore the built in thermometer. The Maverick will give you a much more accurate grate temperature reading.

Good luck

[essexsmoker]

I agree with Wade, except I tend to have the unit throttled back from the start. I find it's easier to throttle it back or raise it slightly from near the target temp and also it doesn't gobble so much fuel right at the start.

If you have no idea what the position is I'm sure there are pro q users that can give you an idea of the final position, then you just have to tweek it for your particular unit.

Maverick and minion are your friend. Use them.

[Bryan_80]

Thanks again guys.

The Maverick has arrived, just need to wait for the heat beads then I'll have another go. I've got a couple rib racks in the freezer ready to go. Roll on next weekend

[Chasing blue smoke]

The weber kettle can last a very long time if taken care of.Mine is 16 and still going strong.It's being given to my son in a few months.He can't wait to get it,he was 7 when i got it as a fathers day gift.