Christmas came early

[Smoldering Flea]

Sorry. Didn’t have photos on me when I commented. SRF wagyu beef plate ribs. First smoke on the HB and second time I tried cooking beef ribs next time will probably add a bit more rub to try to get a bit more bark—might also try to cook slightly hotter but all in all pretty happy with how this turned out will post how much charcoal was left in the pan tmrw.

[Smoldering Flea]

Beef plate rib (last post in the link)

[Smoldering Flea]

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...-rib-look-like

[ecowper]

Out of curiosity, what did you cook and do you have pics? Cause we all know that without pics, it didn’t happen ;-)

[Smoldering Flea]

Did my first real smoke on the HB. Unlike the test runs, i was resigned to using the vents. I also went with the method they outline in their video (modified minion with large charcoal pieces on the top). Worked well and likely would have been even better had i not been insistent on trying to maximize the size of the input vent. Stayed within a 20 degree range of 250-270. 1 hour to ramp and 6.5 hour cook. Will check back on the firebox tmrw am, but when i looked mid-cook there was a LOT of charcoal left. I would guess it could have gone at least 8 hours just using half a firebox and in 30 degree temps. The vent setting was the first line in the input vent; and line 2.5-3 on the output vent. when there was visible smoke it looked like there was a slight bit of egress in the door and in the back, but seems pretty clear that you can use the vents to keep a pretty stable temp using their lighting method.at 250+ degrees.

[Smoldering Flea]

70monte you're right. I'm in the middle of my first smoke using the vents. Using the setup they have on youtube (minion with charcoal logs on top). Vents 2/3 closed. Has been flat at 247 for an hour and counting.

[70monte]

I don't think any of the HB's are meant to be run with the vents open all of the way. The vent system on the 357 is more precise compared to the other HB's with the flap vents.

[Smoldering Flea]

to be fair i have not tried shutting the vents down at all (at least until temps went way high). was trying to see if i could cap temps using other methods. bought some briquettes and might try a smaller or more bendy fuse one more time before choking back air.

[70monte]

Believe me, I almost got rid of my Legacy because mine wanted to run at 350 degrees even with the vents closed 100%. I was very frustrated because I tried all of the different lighting and coal setups with no good results. I believe your high temp problem is that your grill is SS which will get hotter until it's all black inside and that too much coal is getting lit before the vents are getting shut down. The door warping is definitely contributing to that as well.

[BFlynn]

Looks great!

[Smoldering Flea]

Will only start getting frustrating if temps can’t get held in even with vents choked back. That and I’m pretty sure mine was shipped with a bad thermometer (either that or all 4 of my FB probes plus a thermapen are high by 100 and it actually is dialing in exactly 275...)

[70monte]

They say to get about a fist size spot of coals going before adjusting the vents and closing the door and lid. It takes some time to learn how to control temps on a HB. There is a guy on the FB HB group by the name of Jeremy Jackson. When he first got his 357 he was having the same type of high heat issues. I believe he put a light inside his at night to see how many cracks he could see and said that there are many. I think he mainly uses a single turn fuse burn on his and now that his is seasoned up, he is able to maintain more stable temps. He also uses a temp control on his. Search his name in that group.

Hopefully you can get yours dialed in at some point. It can get frustrating for sure.

[70monte]

I can't remember if I raised the charcoal grate or not but I did prop the door open some and it still would come up to where I wanted it to. It was below 200 degrees and it had been that way for awhile. It was starting to get late so I had to do something to get the temps up. I've not tried the double turn since.

[Smoldering Flea]

surprsied that you couldn't get to temp on your double turn. I got to 270 and my fire had not jumped the fuse yet. though i ran without food so not sure if that makes a material difference.

[Smoldering Flea]

Test burn #2 on the 357.

Based on how the first burn went, my plan for the second test burn:
2 turn fuse with vents all open to start.
one deflector and a water pan to start with the option to add the second deflector later (but i reversed the placement so that i would not have to slide anything around after the charcoal was lit).



Saw a much more gradual ramp. took 1.5 hours to get to 275 degrees. however, temperatures continued to climb. Added a second deflector which didn't seem to do much and temps continued to climb to > 350. Seemed that temps really ramped after the fire took the first turn near the door. Took a quick look before shutting it down and it looks like at some point the flame jumped, lighting all the charcoal. Thinking i might try reversing the direction so that the flame starts at the door to help get things to temp early then is more moderate and i'll probably close just accept having to choke down the vents. Might also go to natural briquettes. am open to other suggestions.

looks like christmas bbq will be served on the BGE.