British BBQ Society Forums

Posted: **08 Jul 2014, 13:50**

Depending on what you cook, I don't think keeping track of temp is that crucial. My BBQ has been much better since I deliberately put the Maverick to one side and just went off the BBQ thermometer and cooking meat to touch. I cook low and slow stuff around 250, hot and fast around 300-350. I'm not bothered if temps to up or down by 25F or more (unless the pit's hitting 375+ in which case panic sets in!)

For pulled pork, when you can put a skewer through it with little to no resistance, it's done. With chicken if you can get the skin cooked til is tears easily, it's done

Posted: **08 Jul 2014, 19:43**

Scantily wrote:
somapop wrote:Thanks scantily.
Definitely love it already (having only 'got into' it over the last couple of weeks). That pulled pork, even in it's overdone state convinced me it's worth pursuing.

I tried some chicken thighs on the current set up at the weekend: same thing happened...heat loss, coals cooling though I think I may have overloaded it again (10 thighs on that small grill). The other half looked after it a while whilst I was out, but when I came back she's managed to close the bottom vents...not her fault really.
Bit frustrating though. However, that mesh idea is ace...I'll pick some up this week and cut to shape. Could do with some anyway so I can separate the coals from the rest of the bottom grate (they cascade into the other half and end up under the meat I'm trying to cook non direct.

Really like those WSM's...very tempted to put that forward as the contender next year. Plan is to build up a small 'outdoor kitchen' area next year (building a pergola but will extend that over a cooking area). Trying to find a way to hack those pergolas with the 'roof pulley' for when it rains, but keeping it quite natural (tanalised wood and climbing plants)...but that's another story.

I do want to grill but definitely low and slow smoking...I presume you can grill on the WSM too? I may build a grill (brick and stone and kit type) or may consider gas one (thoughts?)...but that would eat up the budget so may go down the WSM and brick grill route. Couple of stone work tops and small section for cold smoking (mainly cheese using one of those Pro Q tea light smokers)...wood burring stove would be great too, but that's might be much further down the road.

I'll try and glue that metal ring in plus fit the smaller grate this week and post up pics.

Huge thanks for the advice.
No problem buddy, just trying to share what little knowledge I have.

You can't really grill on the wsm, you can do it in a fashion by removing the water bowl, but then your meats are quite a distance from the coals, or you could remove the centre section and put the grate on top of the charcoal ring. But neither solutions are ideal or especially convenient if you want to grill properly, they're designed for indirect cooking at low temperatures and are very good at it. A weber 57cm one touch premium is capable of smoking low n slow and is big enough to hold a fair bit of meat, if you wanted one bbq that could do both that is. But doesn't have as good temperature control or anywhere near the capacity of a WSM.
Don't really know anything about gas bbqs so can't advise on that front I'm afraid, I did use to have one a few years back, but that was when I thought BBQ was the traditional English sausages and burgers etc.

Regarding your chicken, were you trying to smoke it or just grill? Whenever I smoke chicken I get the Wsm nice and hot and don't use water in the pan, all air vents open, around 150-180 celcius so that I don't end up with rubbery skin.

Just to clarify, the mesh is to go on top of the grate, I'm sure that was your intention, but I just didn't want you trying to balance a load of hot coals on a bit of flimsy mesh. Also, it's still best to use the snake method with lump wood, although not as easy compared to briquettes, it's still the best way of controlling temperature on a grill.

Cheers for that. Aye - I'll place the mesh on the grate. Not entirely sure how (or what type) the glue will hold up when in contact with very hot coals (any experience on here?), but I'll look into it. I should be able to hack an ok smoker till I upgrade, but I think I'm struggling with the design and general low quality.

The Pro Q and WSM seems to be around the same price (bit more that I expected to be fair, considering large gas ones are around the same price...might stick to charcoal rather that gas however).

The Weber 57 one touch is an option also (fair bit cheaper and good for both grilling and smoking by the sounds of it, though a dedicated smoker and separate (built) grill BBQ might be what I end up with. Worth looking into the second hand (relative light use) market or am I asking for trouble there?

Just read a clay saucer vs water and sand discussion on here...plenty of titbits to take in

Thanks again.

Posted: **08 Jul 2014, 19:53**

YetiDave wrote:Depending on what you cook, I don't think keeping track of temp is that crucial. My BBQ has been much better since I deliberately put the Maverick to one side and just went off the BBQ thermometer and cooking meat to touch. I cook low and slow stuff around 250, hot and fast around 300-350. I'm not bothered if temps to up or down by 25F or more (unless the pit's hitting 375+ in which case panic sets in!)

For pulled pork, when you can put a skewer through it with little to no resistance, it's done. With chicken if you can get the skin cooked til is tears easily, it's done

Built in lid thermometer?
That's interesting...was reading that amazing ribs site - huge amount of info, but perhaps a little daunting to the first timer. Read a fair bit of conflicting advice (to inject or not etc).

I've heard an internal temperature of 195f for pulled pork is good (going past the cooked/safe 165f). As I mentioned on here, the pulled pork I attempted last week was pretty good in the centre (really moist) but had dried out towards the edges by quite a bit (the bark was way over done).
Did think the maverick was a good idea, but I'll hang fire. The thermopen reads the internal temperate (when place in the top vent) quite well.

I'd like to do really good burgers also (direct this time) - interested in using various cuts of meat, blanching them quickly then grinding to mince myself (I believe bacteria is confined to the exterior of meat cuts rather than internally hence pre minced can be exposed already)...apologies off on a bit of a tangent there!

Will look into the WSM, Pro Q and Weber 57 but muck around with the mini BBQ this summer at least.

Cheers!

Posted: **08 Jul 2014, 21:10**

I kind of agree with Yetidave on the temp thing particularly with pork butts. I've had ones probe tender at 190 and others have been 205 or so before they pass the probe test. I don't always cook with a therm these days. More often than not I'll use the maverick just to monitor the temp of my wsm so that I don't have to go outside. Where a therm can be useful is that it can give you an indication of when to start testing the meat but I never make a decision to foil or remove the meat based on what the therm says.

Posted: **09 Jul 2014, 01:05**

Oh for sure the maverick is really useful for remotely monitoring pit temp. I've been using my UDS though so temp stability isn't an issue

on my last 10 hour cook I had to tweak the vents maybe 3 times. The thermometer is side mounted just below grate level and I have a diffuser in there; tested against my maverick it's pretty damn accurate

Just to weigh in on the Pro Q vs WSM thang, honestly I'd just build a UDS. I've not used a WSM but versus the Pro Q in terms of temperature stability and fuel consumption the UDS wins hands. down. It frankly embarasses the Excel in those two areas and puts out equally good food. Not to mention the fact that it has a better airflow system meaning I get to ditch the diffuser when cooking chicken. And this thing produces the best smoked chicken I've eaten to date

And finally the grinding meat thing - no need to blanch!

Posted: **09 Jul 2014, 08:43**

YetiDave wrote:Oh for sure the maverick is really useful for remotely monitoring pit temp. I've been using my UDS though so temp stability isn't an issue on my last 10 hour cook I had to tweak the vents maybe 3 times. The thermometer is side mounted just below grate level and I have a diffuser in there; tested against my maverick it's pretty damn accurate!

On a typical cook I don't adjust the vents on my WSM at all, with briquettes in it it seems to maintain a stable temperature with all vents 100% open. It the temp moves +/- 25f or so I just leave it to do its thing. In the main the only time I get stability issues is if it is very windy outside - sometimes it kills the fire others it boosts it. As I said main use of the maverick these days is just to keep an eye on proceedings, quite a few of my long cooks tend to be overnighters so it's nice to have that extra bit of reassurance without going outside. In terms of whats best to get I think that depends on your budget and interest levels. With the exception of maybe modding my smokey joe into a mini WSM I've never been interested in UDS's. Not because I think they are bad smokers (cause I don't) it's just actually making one holds no interest so purchasing a WSM made sense to me.

Re the ops problems with temps I suspect that's down to a combination of airflow and the thickness of the metal used in the construction of that kettle.

Posted: **09 Jul 2014, 09:21**

YetiDave wrote:Oh for sure the maverick is really useful for remotely monitoring pit temp. I've been using my UDS though so temp stability isn't an issue on my last 10 hour cook I had to tweak the vents maybe 3 times. The thermometer is side mounted just below grate level and I have a diffuser in there; tested against my maverick it's pretty damn accurate

Just to weigh in on the Pro Q vs WSM thang, honestly I'd just build a UDS. I've not used a WSM but versus the Pro Q in terms of temperature stability and fuel consumption the UDS wins hands. down. It frankly embarasses the Excel in those two areas and puts out equally good food. Not to mention the fact that it has a better airflow system meaning I get to ditch the diffuser when cooking chicken. And this thing produces the best smoked chicken I've eaten to date

And finally the grinding meat thing - no need to blanch!

Firstly - the blanching thing - this is just something I browsed through recently so haven't really fully researched. Makes sense a little in that any surface area bacteria can be killed off but, once ground, the minimal cooked surface edge will just blend in with the interior uncooked meat. Should therefore mean I can cook the burgers to a lower temp (rather than the 'done' 165f. But as I say, I haven't really looked into this fully. There are some relatively cheap (and favourably reviewed) meat mincers out there.

Secondly...what on earth is a UDS?!!

Ok...just googled (landed on an American Brethen? site). Right...interesting. Hmm...certainly be a bit of a challenge (and I do like a challenge) and a fair bit more affordable. I'll look into this definitely. Weigh up the pros and cons. I see you're Manchester based - would you know of a local drum firm/yard?
There are some great examples on that site (just a quick glance) and I'm sure there are some on here. Getting the parts and any welding might hold me back a little (how on earth would you match a BBQ lid to a drum, or would you make one up from the existing drum? I'm a bit OCD and like things nice and tidy...but I think I could incorporate this within an outdoor cooking area (build it into a brick section to help when elements aren't too kind).

Any definitive posts on here (I'll take a look)?

Many thanks.

Posted: **09 Jul 2014, 09:24**

All vents 100% open?? I do that on my UDS and my temps are quickly going to start pushing 400F+! Same with my Excel

Posted: **09 Jul 2014, 09:31**

There's no need to weld anything. I put mine together with nothing but a borrowed angle grinder and a drill. I bought a cheapo kettle BBQ off eBay and used the lid from that, then I tweaked it out with pliers to make it fit the drum and added a stove rope gasket to make a good seal. I used the cooking grate from that bbq too, and the charcoal grate ended up being modified as a support for a diffuser. The fire basket I used an old washing machine drum I picked up off ebay - drill a load of 1 inch holes in the bottom then add bolts for legs. Anyway, it turned out like this - http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... ssaeqm.jpg

If you check the BBQ Brethren forums there's a thread which is pretty much the definitive guide to putting one of these together. Finally the drum I picked up from North Sea Lubricants in Wythenshawe. I think I paid £15 for it. It you do decide you want to build one and are having trouble getting a drum though, send me a message and I might be able to sort something else out

Posted: **09 Jul 2014, 09:59**

YetiDave wrote:There's no need to weld anything. I put mine together with nothing but a borrowed angle grinder and a drill. I bought a cheapo kettle BBQ off eBay and used the lid from that, then I tweaked it out with pliers to make it fit the drum and added a stove rope gasket to make a good seal. I used the cooking grate from that bbq too, and the charcoal grate ended up being modified as a support for a diffuser. The fire basket I used an old washing machine drum I picked up off ebay - drill a load of 1 inch holes in the bottom then add bolts for legs. Anyway, it turned out like this - http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... ssaeqm.jpg

If you check the BBQ Brethren forums there's a thread which is pretty much the definitive guide to putting one of these together. Finally the drum I picked up from North Sea Lubricants in Wythenshawe. I think I paid £15 for it. It you do decide you want to build one and are having trouble getting a drum though, send me a message and I might be able to sort something else out

That looks great...and something I'll most definitely consider.
I'll look into that place in Wythenshawe, but thanks for the offer of help if I get stuck.
This would help financially and probably mean I could start smoking (properly) earlier than I would if I had to budget for a WSM etc (though that would be easier!).

As it happens I just read a thread you contributed to when you started to design yours. Did the 22" lid fit fine in the end? How do you secure/stick down the fire rope - fire resistant silicone?
Did you create a guide when you built that? Tad unsure of picking up the right parts for the coal basket (were you lucky picking up the washing machine part or are they easy to come by?). There's a recycling plant/tip in Sharston that has sections for washing machines/TV's etc...might try my luck down there perhaps? I guess I'd just need to know the size of the drum then find a washing machine part to fit in there.
Not sure if I should do away with a built in thermo and put the money towards a Maverick instead. I know a few sites/smokers tend not to be convinced about the lid thermos...but what do I know!

These UDS don't seem to have doors - simply a case of lifting the coal basket in/out?

Many thanks!

British BBQ Society Forums

First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!

Re: First time smoker!