Does anyone have a 5ish year old SNS basket with the small square grill in the bottom that chokes on ash? My last two cooks the temp just peeters out and it can barely hold 200F. These were long cooks with brisket and ribs respectively. The brisket one was worst as I had added coals at the 6 hour mark and by 8 hours in it was dying. I looked in there and blew on the coals and they perked up but as soon as I shut the lid the temp dropped. After investigating I realized it was full of ash on the bottom and couldn't get air. I was cooking with B&B oak briquettes. I had added a few pieces of post oak but nothing crazy. Should i just cut the bottom out with my multitool? It holds the ash so well that it accumulates on the side of the kettle out of reach of the one touch control. The newer ones have more openings in the bottom and it looks like you can remove the bottom completely.
I have the one before they added that (there's no bottom) and it's pretty good. It will still catch some ash. This is after a six hour cook. This is B&B briquettes .
Mosca I have a plan and hopefully will be ordering mine at the end of 2023. . . It involves an architect, selling a house, moving out of my house and then moving back in, and taking delivery with a covered patio for it. It's all fantasy for now but come winter I will know if it's achievable.
Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
I’ve got an older one with no bottom grid. Using B&B briquettes, and maybe some char logs, I can cook a brisket or pork butt without any messing with the coals. I might use the ash sweeper after six hours or so but no messing with the coals in the SnS.
Before doing anything drastic, I’d suggest doing the same cook again with a quality lump charcoal in place of briquettes. Briquettes contain about 50% or so of non-combustible materials that only create ash, whereas lump charcoal has maybe about 5-10%. I’d give this a shot before destroying the bottom of your SNS.
My SnS looks as your does and sometimes mid cook I do shake the SnS to get rid of ashes. I have used both KBB and B&B briquettes with similar results but for the longer cooks I like to mix in B&B Char Logs. I just did a 10 hour pork butt without any real problems. Trying lump is also a good suggestion before you do any surgery on the SnS.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
I went with the SNS original (mine has the SNS logo laser etched into it) due to the concerns of ash clogging those vents, and that is still the one I use on my Weber Performer, and I've never seen the ash clog the fire even on a 16 hour cook.
My SNS Deluxe Kamado came with the SNS Deluxe with that grate in the bottom, and I can see how it would tend to clog up with ash. I use lump for the most part in the kamado though, and so far, its not clogged up the basket.
I personally think with briquettes, the grid in the bottom causes more problems than it solves. With lump, I think the grid does help, as I get so many random sizes of lump in the bag, and some could fall through before it even gets lit if just using the charcoal grate.
Comment