Equipment
Weber Genesis Gas
Weber 22" Kettle (black)
Smokenator
Slow N Sear
Thermometers
Maverick 732 Redi-Chek
Thermopop
Fuel
Kingsford Blue Bag
Kingsford Professional
Wood
Apple (chunks)
Mesquite (chunks)
Hickory (chunks)
Oak (chunks)
Beverages
Beer: Sun King Sunlight Cream Ale; Goose Island 312; Goose Island Green Line; Revolution Anti-Hero IPA; Lagunitas IPA
Bourbon: Basil Hayden
Rye: George Dickel
Cocktail: Manhattan
Personal
Married, one child (son)
Originally from Indianapolis, IN. Currently live in Chicago's Western Suburbs (near Meathead!)
Associate Dean at Chicago area university
I thought my first two cooks in the Bronco were a bit over smoked or had a harsher smoke flavor than the kettle. I used BB and 3 pecan chunks for spares on the first cook, BB and 2 pecan chunks for beef plate ribson the second.
My third cook was chicken with KBB and one pecan chunk. Smoke was perfect and much closer to the kettle’s smoke. Not sure how to assess this. Different meat, shorter higher temp cook, different charcoal, less wood.
I’ll focus on the fuel first. Do the Bronco and BB veterans have an opinion on whether the BB vs KBB makes a difference in taste?
There are lots of variables including the drippings hitting the coals. I have found B&B briquettes and char logs work best for me for long cooks. B&B seems to produce a milder charcoal flavor too, letting the wood smoke shine.
I use B&B for most things because of the longer burn time I get. I can't tell a difference in flavor between the two. Did you have the heat diffuser in place for all three of these cooks? I have found that to be a factor, since I don't like stuff dripping on charcoal.
I have switched over to only BB, but I haven't noted any over smoked taste. Of course, I have zero taste (ask anyone) unless it is salt, so I have found I have to add more wood to add smoke flavor and not less.
I would say use less wood. I used the same amount of wood on my last Dino rib cook as I do on the wsm and the smoke flavor was much stronger. With kbb, that is the chracoal I use 90% of the time. Maybe has something to do with the Bronco construction vs the weber.
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.
If anything, I feel that B&B produces cleaner/milder smoke than KBB. I attribute your differences to going from 3 to 2 to 1 chunk of wood, AND to the fact you stated you did not use the diffuser on the ribs. With no diffuser, all the fat from the spare ribs was dripping on the coals, producing the touted "smoke fog" that the PBC folk talk about. If you read the PBC discussion areas on here, most folk using a PBC *do not use wood chunks*. There is no need, due to the smoke from the dripping fat hitting the coals, which produces a unique flavor. So using 3 chunks of wood plus all the fat hitting the coals, no wonder the ribs seemed over smoked.
As a PBC owner, I agree that you don't need wood chunks - the dripping fat produces plenty of flavor. (So strong that I think it tends to overpower spice rubs on long cooks.)
JHB good info for the new Bronco owner I think. He ought to experiment doing ribs with and without his diffuser, with no wood, to see what the difference is.
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