Any Battlebox buddies out there who want to talk Humphrey Smokers? I just bought one and have fired it up five times doing ribs, boston butt, turkey legs and brisket. love it so far!
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Please share your Battle Box experience at our review page: http://amazingribs.com/bbq_equipment...tle-box-smoker -
How do you like it compared to others you have used in the past? It is my next smoker, I took the wife to look at it and she changed her mind and agreed with me on it. How much do you think you can realistically cook on it? I am trying to decide between that and the pint. I want to be able to cook for my church.Comment
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No activity from the BattleBoxers here or on the equipment page for 9 months now. Mine arrives tomorrow, so I'm hoping for a forum where we can all learn from each other. I understand these smokers hold consistent temps very well, so I see my first challenge as learning how to light and tend the fire to keep temp control. I'm going to start out without a Guru at least until I learn the cooker. Any comments or advice from the 'Boxers will be appreciated.Comment
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I've been wondering about the Humphreys Smokers. I was a bit surprised that the review here said "no warranty" but the rest of the review and what I've seen on Big Poppa Smokers looks really good. Eventually I want to upgrade to a nice cabinet or offset when my WSM goes - but that'll be awhile for me. WSH is only 5 years old and going strong.Comment
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The BattleBox arrived. Very impressive heavy duty build and finish. I do not worry about the "no warranty" issue because of the quality build, the company's reputation, and the strong customer service I've already received from Chad Humphrey. I am confident he would stand behind his smokers if any defects showed up.
Today, I went through the recommended 3 hour break-in at 225. Filled the burn box only 1/3 full of charcoal, dumped a 1/4 full load of lit charcoal from the chimney onto the front corner of the unlit charcoal. Hot tap water in the water pan. Up to 225 within an hour. I played with the intake valve and it is clear to me that it won't be too hard to dial in a steady temp. Shut it down after 5 hours and had half of the original charcoal left. Two Maverick probes showed about 5 degrees from upper to lower shelf. More to follow as I go through ribs, pork butts, and brisket.
Hope to hear more from other experienced users.
Initial light
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The Black & Blue color scheme is a metaphor for what happened when my wife heard I was getting still another smoker.Comment
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That thing looks really cool. Reminds me a bit of a Backwoods Chubby.Comment
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Wow, beautiful cooker! I want oneComment
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First cook on the Battlebox today. Did 3 racks of St. Louis ribs and 2 eight lb. boneless pork butts. Ribs took 4 hours, butts took 10. My target cook temp was 240-260, but I was outside the range at times as I was learning to dial it in. I used a full tray of Kingsford. Simply lit the front right corner with about 1/3 of a chimney of lit briquettes. Top vent fully open for the full cook. Used 4 orange size chunks of Hickory during the first 5 hours of the cook. Water pan filled with hot tap water at beginning of cook. Wrapped ribs at 3 hours, and butts when they had attained good dark bark and color---about 6 hours in.
Results: Ribs very good, the rack cooked on the very top grate a bit overdone. Butts excellent, with rich smokey flavor that I like. Wanting smokier butts and briskets was the main reason I sold my RecTec pellet pooper and bought the Battle Box, so this pleases me greatly
Learnings and Wonderings:
-The cooker was up to 250 within 45 minutes of adding lit coals. The coals were still going strong at the 10 hour mark; looked like they would go another 2-3 hours. Will consider a maze to get me through my typical 16-18 hour brisket cooks.
-There was about a 40 degree difference between bottom and top grates during most of the cook.
-I'm not sure wrapping the ribs and butts was necessary; they stayed pretty moist. Next time I will try cooking bare and spritzing as needed. Also interested in the influence on the meat's smoke character with a longer, lower (215-225) cook.
-The water pan was still almost completely full at the end of the cook (some of that was fat). It sloshed around a bit when I moved some racks. Next time I will fill only half full.
-The lower ball-valve air intake is quite powerful in effecting quick changes in the temp. Once it settles on a temp, it holds it very well. This will take me awhile to dial in. It seems the sweet spot for holding in the 250 range is 1/3 to 1/4 open for me. Remains to be seen if I'll spend the $$ to add a Digi-Q or similar.
Questions I have:
- I was a bit surprised by the temp difference from top to bottom, as others have commented on how even the temps are throughout the Humphrey smokers. Any comments or suggestions?
-Is there ever a reason to fiddle with the top smokestack control other than when shutting down? If so, why?
-Any experiences or strategies on manual temp control (without a Digi-Q or similar)?
-Any experiences or strategies on wrapping/not wrapping on this particular smoker?
-The fuel box is pretty generous in size. Any experience using just wood instead of charcoal on a Humphrey's?
This is a very promising and well-built smoker. My intention in sharing so much detail is to hopefully stimulate some conversations where we can share our experiences and learn. I know Humphrey's has a Facebook discussion group, but Facebook and I don't get along.
Thanks.
Last edited by tongatim; September 24, 2016, 11:14 PM.Comment
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Last call for any Battle Boxers to share their experience. Otherwise I'll sign off from this thread as I'm just conversing with myself, which I already do offline
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I wouldn't sign off on it because you are not talking to yourself. I don't own a PBC but I want one one day. I don't own an insulated unit. I DO want one one day. While you may think you are posting only to yourself, you definitely are not. You are sharing advice and information to people who may not respond but who are learning from you and potentially buying based upon your experiences. I wouldn't be writing this if I wasn't interested in your input.Comment
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Nice smoker and cook tongatim if you have a PBC or a Weber kettle you would get a lot of conversationsComment
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By all means, continue the thread! If anybody else needs Battlebox reference, then the information you are providing is very helpful! Just consider yourself as leading the way into a product most of us aren't familiar with.Comment
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Please continue the thread as I have wanted to know more about these contraptions and thought your write up was great.Comment
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