Temperature Management on the Hasty-Bake Gourmet 256 Charcoal Grill

[70monte]

70monte I searched that M1. It looks quite interesting, and I bet it will do a fine job of smoking for you.

I just got it recently and only have one smoke on it but it was was easier to get to a targer temp and stay there and the vents are very responsive. Not in the same league as my HB at least.

My Legacy 131 is still fairly new so I'm not ready to give up on it yet. I have made some great food on it but smoking on it has been very frustrating to say the least. Mine is very leaky and will maintain temps even with all vents closed 100%. With that happening, I will never be able to adjust temps very well. I've tried using different amounts of lit charcoal, different charcoal setups, different vent setups and different charcoal tray heights and it still wants to run over 300 degrees and sometimes close to 400 degrees.

[journeymanjohn]

They actually look quite similar, with my take being the M1 slightly geared more towards smoking , and the Hasty slightly geared more towards grilling, but both able to do each. The firebox on the M1 negates the coal/deflector placement issues of the Hasty when smoking, I think. However cleaning out ashes, from a grill session (not smoke) looks not as easy.

Yes HBs can be leaky, and it took me a while to troubleshoot and fix issues with the low temp cooks, but am happy now that I have.

[ecowper]

I have owned a Hasty-bake Gourmet for 10 years now. When I bought mine, the only thing I had to go on was Meathead recommending it. And the world was way different in 2010 than now.

All that said, I learned to cook everything from a steak to burgers to chicken to turkey to ribs to pork butt to brisket ... and everything else in between. The Hasty-Bake is the greatest platform I’ve used from quick, hot grilling to slow roasting to low and slow smoking.

But you have to absolutely learn to set up the firebox and the cook chamber correctly for the cook you are doing.

And you frankly need to figure out how to seal the HB up because it is the most leaky box possible otherwise.

All of that said ... I can manage the temp at 240 or 325 or a ridiculous 900 ... all Fahrenheit ... and it’s not hard to do once you understand the machine and how it works

[70monte]

With the M1, cleaning out the ashes is a little harder than the HB but still easy. I just lay two sheets of aluminum foil on the deflector plate and just roll it up when it gets full. You do have to remove the cooking grates and the charcoal grate if you are using it but that only takes a minute to do so to me it's no big deal.

I do love HB's history and it's adjustable charcoal grate but IMO, they need to seal it up better and start using vents like they use on their 357 Pro model. I thought about buying a 357 but one of the owner's on the FB group said that even with the seals they use on it, it's still pretty leaky when it comes to air. For a $3,600 cooker, that is still unacceptable to me. I'm probably going to limit most of my cooking on the HB to grilling and use other cookers that are way easier to control to smoke with.

[damobetta]

Question for the pit and users of the HB. Is it safe to assume the HB Gourmet in particular is good for semi-hot smoking and shorter cooks 1-2 hours? Temps @ ~ 300. Personally while I like cooking with lump charcoal I find the level of effort not worth the result as compared to a my pellet cookers (Smokin Brothers 36 & Grilla) using Lumber Jack pellets. (Sample pic included...no sauce )






I don't think the effort to improve the flavor via charcoal smoking by ~10% is warranted. I think I will buy the HB as based on the discourse herein it does appear it will suit my needs for a charcoal cooking which is primarily used for temps above 225 and shorter durations.

I do have the Napoleon PRO605CSS which does not have an exhaust dampener make it temp control almost impossible. At least with the HB you can control/influence airflow for a better indirect cook. My NAP is essentially a reverse Santa Maria so I think the HB would be a step up for me.

[ecowper]

For quite a number of years, the HB Gourmet was my only cooker. I did everything from burgers to steaks to chicken, pork butt, turkey, brisket, ribs ... you name it, all my outdoor cooking was done on the Hasty-Bake. Now I also have a WSM and most of my low and slow happens there. I've had any number of ribs and pork butt done on pellet cookers and never thought it was as BBQ tasting as what I do over charcoal, whether it is lump or briquettes. My two cents worth.

[damobetta]

I understand. I love the charwood flavor as well but my question is do you think a flavor improvement of 10% or so is worth the effort when "smoking" with charcoal. The better pellets and pellet cookers are doing pretty good which is why I use them exclusively for anything for low and slow.

[John Henry]

@Da Chief: Our friend ecowper tells it well--these wonderful cookers CAN be DRAFTY! These are incredible cookers but they are not exactly about tight seals around its entire construct. I have followed his posts over the years and have found that ecowper has many GREAT ideas to share. Here's one he shared with me at one time, if memory serves--

Suggestion: Purchase a couple rolls of BBQ gasket (like Nomex, or the Green Egg stuff they carry at most hardware stores)--buy at least a couple rolls, but buy at least two sizes (I believe it is carried in 1/2" and 3/4"---not sure that I've ever seen in it 1/4" but that would be useful, too.) Please be sure that the gasket you buy is recommended for BBQs and is food safe and for heaven's sake buy enough that you don't have to interrupt your next steps to re-supply when you could have bought enough in the first place. If you have some leftover, that is a good thing, as you will likely want to re-install in a few places after a year to 18 months.

Then getchya some food safe spray cleaner and clean-up cloth and clean up the edges near seams in the cooker (like the fuel door--all around the "air edge" of it) for the dust and grease if it is there. Don't' kill yourself or order a sandblaster trying to get down to the bare metal; just clean off the biggest and dirtiest stuff as seems sensible to you.

Next, get your sharper scissors (which will be useful to cut the gasket narrower for certain edges as you make your way around the cooker) and start installing that gasket, paying attention to the edges of the cooker where outside air can enter. One tip: You will need to be careful on the fuel door, because you can overdo it there, and install too much, making it impossible for the door latch to catch. (But it can be done and it may take some gentle coaxing the first time as the gasket will eventually compress a bit if you are patient with it. It appears to me that the fuel door is the largest air leak in this effort, so you will want to figure this out as you check your gasket size and test the door latch.) There will be some places that maybe won't handle gasket installation--no worries, just keep looking for perimeter edges where it WILL WORK to install and do the best you can.

All the other good posts about fuel load size and fire management is certainly well-said and solid advice from all your other friends here. They all make excellent comments worthy of your careful attention.

Yet there is no doubt that eliminating some of the biggest air leaks around the cooker will increase your ability to control temps, as a sensible starting point, imho. The caveman in all of us knows there is nothing like grilling with a live "lump" or wood fire, that the HB allow us to do quite well (But, man, am I jealous of those M-1 owners!)

Anyway, I think you will find this effort useful as it addresses the "low hanging fruit" of air management and drafts into the cooker. The whole effort takes only a couple of hours and I bet you will see a difference and this will re-open the door to steadier temps and longer smoking times; especially if you then follow some of the other great advice here on fuel and fire management. You have an AWESOME cooker--I hope other posts will combine with this one to allow you to fully enjoy it!

I have tried to read all the posts on this subject, and hopefully am not repeating what another AR member has noted to you already.

Finally, a respectful request to the HB Team in Tulsa: You have a great cooker with a magnificent history, but many of us are hoping you are able to continue to adapt and modify its design to make it more airtight as you continue the growth of your great company. The HB IS FANTASTIC at grilling, but as you can see from the posts here, some improvements in its ability to smoke low and slow with better ambient air control would make the HB the Godzilla of the BBQ world, imho. Thank you for listening!

Cheers with a cold one to all.

[ecowper]

Wow, thanks for the shout out. I do love the HB Gourmet, but it definitely requires some mods for air flow and control. Standard from the factory pulls way too much air into the firebox. Took me quite a while to get that figured out. Glad I could share it with others. Once the Gourmet is tuned, I think it is one of the finest "Made in America" cookers in the $1500 price range that you can get. And it really can do it all, with a bit of learning curve.

[70monte]

I added some Nomex gaskets to my HB Legacy 131 and it really made a difference in fire control. It's a lot more pleasurable to use.