Some Hasty Bake questions

[JCBBQ]

My nephew is about to close on a house. First time he’ll have a back yard and he wants a charcoal grill. I’m pushing him towards a Hasty Bake Legacy. The cheaper black one not the stainless. That just seems like an amazing rig for the money ($1100 ish).

First of all, I see Harry Soo is now using Hasty Bake. Cool.

Questions:

What is typically the temp you get this down to for low and slow? Meathead’s review indicates that it’s hard to get it under 300.

How long do your briskets take? I saw an Arne Tex video where it only took 6 hrs and it looked like it was 12-14 pounder. Is this bc you have to cook it hotter? The brisket looked amazing and he’s won competitions so he definitely knows what he’s doing. I think he said he was around 300.

How many racks of St. Louis style ribs can you fit at one time?

Do you always have to leave part of the grill surface open bc the fire box cover only covers half the length of the firebox?

Does anyone use only wood for fuel? How’s that work?

Thanks in advance

[DavidNorcross]

I have had a Hasty Bake in the past, but ecowper is your best resource on this one.

[JCBBQ]

Thanks!!

[ecowper]

Hey, thought I'd chime in :-)

First off, the HB Legacy is an awesome rig. I have the Gourmet, and frankly could have just bought the Legacy. Yes, the powder coated Legacy is just fine, no need to spend the $$ on stainless steel. I've had my Gourmet for 11 years now and the powder coating is holding up just fine.

Second, let me just say that I can dial in temps anywhere from 225F up to 400F for indirect and for direct, with grill grates, I regularly get 900F on the grate ..... can't beat that for searing a steak.

Your questions

What is typically the temp you get this down to for low and slow? Meathead’s review indicates that it’s hard to get it under 300.

I usually run low and slow about 250F. Bear in mind that Meathead probably wrote that review after cooking on a Legacy 1 or 2 times, not for years. The trick here is fire management and properly sealing the cooker. Unfortunately the firebox door is extremely leaky and allows huge amounts of air in the firebox. Some 1/2" lavalock solves this problem just fine. And then building small fires and using snakes or minion method to run a long cook are critical. In the Gourmet, I typically only light about 30 briquettes to start (or 1/3 chimney of lump, if using lump).

How long do your briskets take? I saw an Arne Tex video where it only took 6 hrs and it looked like it was 12-14 pounder. Is this bc you have to cook it hotter? The brisket looked amazing and he’s won competitions so he definitely knows what he’s doing. I think he said he was around 300.

I first learned to cook brisket on a Hasty-Bake, before I had a WSM. I run it about 250F and it takes 10-12 hours for a typical 14 lb brisket. It's faster than some other cookers because of the convection effect created inside a Hasty-Bake.

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How many racks of St. Louis style ribs can you fit at one time?

I have had 3-4 racks of ribs laid flat on mine. With racks you could get 10 in there, I would say.

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Do you always have to leave part of the grill surface open bc the fire box cover only covers half the length of the firebox?

No, not at all. What the heat deflector does is keep you from having a direct fire effect. It also contributes to the convection behavior in the cooking chamber. I have covered the entire main grill with pork butts, no problem.

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Does anyone use only wood for fuel? How’s that work?

Never done that and never really felt the need. You could, though. Just need to burn down to coals, of course. I typically cook with lump charcoal and small wood splits for smoke.

Here's some pics to give you an idea of capacity

3 Tri-tips


3 racks of back ribs


4 pork butts .... from Costco, about 8 lbs each. Big suckers

​​​​​​​3 racks of back ribs in a different orientation

[ecowper]

The Legacy is a great cooker for a great price. There's tons of Hasty-Bake forums, youtube channels, etc .... including right here in the Pit, of course :-)

[DavidNorcross]

Told ya

[JCBBQ]

DavidNorcross 🎯

[tenphases]

I don't have much to add about Hasty Bakes after ecowpers write up, which was great. I can say that I was frustrated at first but grew to love the HB once I sealed it up (so important) and got the fire management under control. Using the rotisserie function is great as well.

[ecowper]

Yeah, that first year l spent learning how to not have runaway fires was really frustrating. Was loving all the steaks, burgers, chicken I was turning out, and hating all the low and slow stuff. In 2010 there was nowhere near the forums and knowledge available as now.

[IowaGirl]

I would say my Hasty Bake (Continental model) wanted to run around 300 F or a bit higher when I first got it, but I can keep it in the 250 F range now that I have more experience managing the fire and also since I added a gasket to the fire door.

You don't have to limit where you put food to the area just over the diffuser once you learn how to control the temps. If you let the temps get away from you, which is likely right at first, then yeah you do want the meat over the diffuser. But IMO that's less a fault of the HB itself and more about the skill of the cook.

[tenphases]

Rest a pan over the diffuser and it cover the entire area without have to move the diffuser around

[JCBBQ]

Like a sheet pan? Also, what did you use to seal it? Oh! Wait a minute, you’re n JC! Can I bring him over to look at yours? There aren’t any distributors near us.

[ecowper]

JCBBQ the big difference between the Legacy and the Gourmet is that the Gourmet has the double height lid and a second cooking rack. Take a look at it if you can, though. I have to say, I have used the second rack perhaps 10 times. I don’t actually need it and could have just bought the Legacy.

[tenphases]

JCBBQ hell yeah just let me know when, I'll be the guy with 3 kids crawling all over him lol

[ecowper]

JCBBQ I sealed the firebox door with Lavalock.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JO00S04/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[70monte]

I have a powder coated Legacy and I had to add Lava Lock gasket to my side door before I could begin to control temps. Before that I couldn't keep the temps below 350 no matter how I set up the coals or how many lit coals I used. Mine would keep those high temps even with the vents totally shut.

I personally would not use all wood in a HB. They are made out of very thin 18 gauge steel and the side door tends to warp when it gets hot anyway. I guess if you could keep the temps down with all wood but most stick burners use heavy duty steel for a reason.