Smokin-It 3D
Weber Kettle with an SNS
Masterbuilt kettle that I call the $30 wonder grill
Bullet by Bull Grills gasser
Anova WiFi sous vide machine
Thermoworks Thermapen and Chef Alarm
Looks great! Can't wait to see that first cook! Better throw a big party!
So - none of the wheels appear to turn like casters, so how do you "steer" when rolling it? Brute force lift one end to get it pointed in the right direction?
So are you going to leave it out at your buddy's place for that first cook, or get it moved to your house on a trailer or something?
Front axle pivots left and right on a bolt through the frame. Can turn about 30-40Âş or so. Have to do some backing and filling at time. This will be worse if I put larger tires on. Future iterations will have a different mechanism.
DogFaced PonySoldier AH! I see it now that I went back to the photos again. I didn't realize the vertical member was a pull handle like on a wagon. Good design!
Next one you need a trailer hitch on, haha!
Now - fire this thing up, and be sure Corn Pop isn't around when you do so.
There was not a SINGLE. INCH. TO. SPARE. in getting her through the gate. I was sweating for a little bit, but my son and I got her through, tires rubbing the posts both sides all the way. Whew!
This weekend will be the first cooks. Friday night a small get-together with next door neighbors and my mom, it's her birthday. The Saturday night with my men's Bible study group and their wives, etc. Friday will be tri tip and pork ribs, Saturday will be more of the same PLUS a brisket and some pork belly, I believe.
Ok, this is for those who said they wanted to see what I did with her....
Wifey has more pics, she hasn't sent them all to me - I can't take pics with greasy hands while slicing meat.
I kinda did a bit of a marathon (for me) cook this weekend to break her in. On Friday night, I had my next door neighbors over, and my mom. Did a rack of babybacks, a tri tip and a chikkin. Overall, came out pretty good.
Tri tip and babybacks:
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Babybacks:
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Tri tip:
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Chikkin: ​
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She takes pictures differently than I do - I think it's too close, washes out the color and perspective somewhat. Oh well.
It was all good - did the tri tip up to 197ÂşF or so. Chikkin came off at... mmmm... maybe 157ÂşF I think, in the breast. Just S&P, pulled out of the package, just kinda dried it as best I could with paper towels and that was it, cooked fairly hot at the 350ÂşF+ mark. Skin was 'mostly' bite-through, but not crispy. Still very good chikkin.
About the time we ate, I threw on a brisket I had trimmed and S&P'd the night before and left in the fridge to try to dry the exterior a little bit.
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I don't think I'll do the overnight thing in the fridge with the brisket again. I just didn't see any benefit from it, and I felt like my brisket ended up TOO dry and hard on the outside crust in some places... more on that in the continuation post.
So as I mentioned above, I put the brisket on around dinner time and stayed up with it through the night, feeding the fire in the new smoker.
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Wrapped in butcher paper and wagyu tallow around 5AM, pulled for good around 7AM at 195ÂşF I think. Wrapped in towels and placed in an ice chest. Went to sleep for 3h, then got up to cook some more.
Sat evening had guys & wives coming over from my men's Bible study group. The brisket was done, but several of these guys are hardcore carnivores and had been talking smack about the carnage they were going to inflict upon the table. So I went fairly big... 2 more tri tips, 2 more birds, 2 more racks of ribs and a Berkshire pork belly from Wild Fork - about a 3 lber, I think. Along with the 17lb brisket. Altogether we had 9 people here. lol So.... we were a little overstocked on meat. lol
2 more tri tips: ​
2 more ribs and a pork belly: ​
The whole family in the shot: ​
Finished pics: ​
^^^^This one, if you look real close, you can tell, the left one is a sugary rub I call MMD+ and the right is just S&P for one of my guys who is a keto follower.
Here's my yardbirds: ​
These I actually wet brined first, some salt, some sugar, some Tapatio hot sauce. Then pulled 'em out, spatched and partially deboned, then THOROUGHLY dried and rubbed some baking podwer on the skin, put back in the fridge for... I think maybe 90 minutes or so. S&P only, though a little more thoroughly than the night before, going under the skin and all. They came out great, I really loved this method. One lady did mention there was 'a lot of pepper', but... her husband says she occasionally finds water a bit too spicy for her. lol Skin was definitely better on these, and I also didn't wrap them after removing from the smoker the way I did the night before, which probably hurt the skin a bit, as well.
Interestingly.... unfortunately don't have pics of the tri tip or pork belly or briskie just yet - wife's phone, she's asleep at the moment.
However, the brisket was - ok. I felt when slicing that that exterior was TOO hard and crusty in a lot of places over the point. The flat felt a bit tough and maybe dry to me when slicing as well. This was a Sam's Club Prime I had wet-aged for 80-90 days, then frozen. Seasoned only with S&P.
The tri tips and pork belly I sliced up and put all together in a big serving dish - apparently these got put off on the side on the stove or somewhere and nobody actually ATE any of them. They got overlooked. <sigh> So no feedback on these. Sent a bunch home with people, but none really consumed at the event, I don't think.
Personally, I couldn't tell you how it tasted - I didn't eat any of it. Not a bite. By the time my 30-hour plus cooking marathon was done, all I wanted to do was sit and drink and then crashed early when people went home. I am sure we have plenty of leftovers in there, and I might try some, but... haven't had a bite yet (3 days later) and have never been all that big on leftovers. So... it was a success as far as people said. One guy the next day texted me and said it was the best brisket he'd ever eaten. Like I said, I wasn't happy with it, but we're all familiar with the phenomenon of people being happy with the mediocre que they end up with at mediocre restaurants and know it doesn't take perfection to impress them, eh? lol
So that was my weekend virgin cook marathon on the new smoker.
Love the photos of the cook. Make up some yummy brisket tacos, I don’t really count that as left overs. You gotta eat something out of all that goodness you cooked up!
Congratulations! Look at what you’ve created with your mind and hands. Most people never try, but you did and succeeded. I know your butt dragged across the finish line, big projects are just that way. You’ll tackle another project someday. Next time will be easier because of all you’ve learned. The fruits of your labor look very good. I would think one of the highest levels of being a pit master is building the pit you’ve mastered.
Oh yeah, I gotta get back to work. Was hoping to get my 320 done before family comes in 5 weeks - but... I gotta get help manhandling the doors before I can do anything else. <sigh> Once those are done, I can get the rest of it myself and shouldn't be too hard.
Not only can you build 'em - you can build 'em right and cook the h*!! out of your protein. (I guess that's great with a Bible study group comin' over. )
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