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**Dale Case** · February 19, 2017, 12:57 PM

EdF All I did was wipe the racks to remove any contaminants and light the fire !!

â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹â€‹I use a 1/4 chimney lump to get wood going, set dial to my temp with bottom poppet open (really gets coal/wood blazing), then start putting meat in while the fire/coal bed is establishing. 4 hours might be a lil long I'd start checkingon em in about 2-1/2 to 3 hours and that will keep em from going too long, but thats just my experience in my climate which is warm, so fan doesn't stay on very long between cycles. You gonna LOVE IT !!

**Sacred Smoke BBQ** · February 19, 2017, 04:47 PM

Curious what temps you guys and gals like to cook at for each meat. I have done 10 cooks and everything is great but I would like my meat a little more juicy. Been running mostly around 230° from top by checking with maverick 732. I tried water pan twice and didnt notice anything different. Tried spritzing once. Have not wrapped and don't want to. Love good bark. Thinking hotter like 275....maybe even 300 in hopes that may produce something juicier?

Thoughts plus what are your favorite temps:
1. Chicken thighs
2. Whole packer brisket
3. Bone-in pork shoulder
4. Baby back ribs
5. St. Louis cut spares

**EdF** · February 19, 2017, 05:24 PM

Already told the wife that's what we need to try tomorrow. Blow by blow on the ribs after we have dinner.

**Spinaker** · February 19, 2017, 05:30 PM

Originally posted by EdF View Post

Already told the wife that's what we need to try tomorrow. Blow by blow on the ribs after we have dinner.

How did your first cook go?

**EdF** · February 19, 2017, 05:32 PM

Can 't tell til we taste it. In a bit. Sure smells good!

**EdF** · February 19, 2017, 06:51 PM

The first KBQ (for me) report.

Bottom line is that I've tested one rib from the outcome, and consider it the best I've ever made, and if I were to be bold, the best I've ever had.

But you all expect to hear that junk when someone is jazzed about a new MCS acquisition.

So, to document my thinking: there was a pull-away skin, the smoke was exactly where it should be, the ribs tasted like ribs, the texture was such that yeah, some of the meat broke apart when I tried to move the rack. But that was probably more me than the fault of the tool.

To start, these were weird ribs, labeled "baby back rib spare ribs". Basically they were curved like back ribs and had about the same amount of meat. or maybe less, than spares.

Prep was very simple because I'm testing the cooker: pull the membrane and add a reliable rub not too long before the cooking (Dizzy Pig, Dizzy Rub in this case) to the cold meat.

So, starting the fire was pretty easy. Chimney, dump it in the KBQ hopper when more or less covered with ash, throw a couple of chunk/logs of oak and or hickory on, and let the bed start building. Since I'd heard it was ok to add the meat at this point, I did - middle area, with a full steam pan on the second from the bottom rack (ie 3 slots up) as a drip tray.

Left the thermostat at 118(?), which started bringing temps as measured through a thermapen through the controller hole to the range of 190 - 220. Left it that way for an hour or so.

But I wasn't smelling meat.

So I raised the thermostat to halfway between that value and the next, and eventually all the way to the next, so the thermapen was registering 215 to maybe 240. That seems to have been the right level. Started smelling meat!

I lost control of the fire about 2/3 of the way through, so had to add some emergency kindling and use the BBQ Dragon to heat things up (first use of that guy. BTW). It did the trick.

Coasted out to about 190 IT all around at 4 hours and 15 minutes.

I'm still waiting to go for full effect while the wife is making fried rice.

Pics:

**Spinaker** · February 19, 2017, 07:20 PM

EdF Great write up!! I will be back in a bit. At dinner, just popped in to check how your cook was going.......

**JGrana** · February 19, 2017, 07:39 PM

Presidents Day Trifecta

With a day off and some warm unusual weather here in the North East - time to do some KBQ'in.

Here is my trifecta going on tomorrow:

Very Small Brisket Flat going for pastrami
Some nice pork belly going for MH Maple Bacon
and dinner Monday night
Beef Short Ribs, just starting to dry brine

Going to start the beef ribs with Oak and Cherry, a few hours later put on the pastrami and bacon with apple and cherry.

Hopefully finished pics tomorrow!

**Spinaker** · February 19, 2017, 09:04 PM

EdF One thing to remember when you lose your fire....Shut off the induction fan, turn the thermostat all the way down. This will make sure you don't pull a bunch of ashes into the cook box while you are restarting the fire.
Also, make sure that you are not opening the cook box while the induction fan is running. I find that I get more ash into the cook box when I do that. Mark your position on the Thermostat, then turn it all the way down. Do what you need to do and return it to its regular, cooking position.
And lastly, Make sure the cap is on the fire box if you have the top damper open. Otherwise you will suck cold air in through the top and the KBQ will be running less efficient.

Just a few tips regarding the fire and what not, that I thought you might like to know. Glad the first cook wen well.

Them ribs have that gorgeous KBQ color!!! Congrats on the new rig and the successful first cook!!

**Spinaker** · February 19, 2017, 09:19 PM

Well I my control box all cleaned up. It's amazing what a little NaOH will do. It was a pain in the back side but I got it totally clean. Actually, just wiping all the grease away was the worst part. The Oven cleaner blasted all the tough stuff away into greasy slime. But now, it almost looks brand new. The blades didn't get quite as clean as I wanted, but they are plenty clean to cook again. I used Heavy Duty Oven cleaner and let it sit on the grime for a few hours then I wiped it clean with A LOT of shop towels. I wish I had a before picture but, to be honest, I am embarrassed I let it get that bad, so I didn't take one. But I am proud of the finished product. (When you do this, make sure to wrap the motor shafts with paper towel, so the degreaser won't flow into the motors)

**Mr. Bones** · February 19, 2017, 09:23 PM

AJ n' Squared Away!!! Very Nice!!!

**EdF** · February 20, 2017, 06:29 PM

Cook number two - another unambitious one. 2 hours from lighting to cleanup! Small yardbird. Skin seems good - we'll see!

Attached Files

**EdF** · February 20, 2017, 07:23 PM

Spinaker Very simple - that's what I do with new toys.

Salt and pepper, some dried thyme and sage, and a bit of granulated garlic because I was lazy and wanted to focus on how to use the cooker.

15 minutes from lighting charcoal, dumping in the hopper and adding a couple of loglets, and moving the spatchcocked chicken into the chamber, may be at 5 slots from the bottom with my new favorite drip catcher at 3. Wood was mainly oak - might have been a piece of hickory in there.

Jacked the thermostat to its highest level, and just let it play. At about an hour and 15 started to smell the chicken. Is that the thing with this cooker - you start smelling what you're cooking when it's almost ready?

Pulled the chicken at 160-165 breast, 190 thigh. Did turn it around once during the cook because there were visible differences front to back.

Also had a bum loglet in the middle that was wet, maybe even punky and too big. So it ran low and took longer than I expected. But again, the cook righted itself. This is a very forgiving cooker.

How'd it come out?

Skin was bite-through good. Breast moist, but "cooked" as the wife would say. Hind quarter very nice - a little more cooked than my preference, but not too much so.

Flavor is awesome. Used the clean setting. I'm not sure a lot of people would recognize it as "smoked", but it sure is good! (he says as he shovels some more into his mouth).

**JGrana** · February 21, 2017, 09:06 AM

Presidents Day Trifecta - results

Ok KBQ'rs, here was yesterdays smoke. The short ribs came out great - nice smokiness, tender and juicy - we needed no teef to eat that beef. I am convinced that dry brine using @Meatheads salt recommendations are the way to go. The short ribs had a fantastic bark (used BBBR) and the taste was just right - no strong saltiness, just a rich beef flavor.

The pastrami is in the fridge - pulled at 150F and will steam it for Thursdays dinner. The bacon as well is in the fridge. Will slice up today and vacuum seal some packages.

BTW, I put a pan under the short ribs about half way through the cook. We were going to have mashed potatoes and I wanted to try to make a gravy. When I pulled the ribs, I took the pan which had lots of clear fat and some nice darkened bits and poured off some of the fat (saving for Texas Mop) and left a few tablespoons in the pan. Added about 1 cup of beef broth and deglazed. Added another 1/2 beef broth with ~1 1/2 tbs of flour mixed in and used that to thicken the gravy. Let it reduce a bit. Came out really good. Nice rich beef flavor with a nice smokey finish.

**sblair1255** · February 21, 2017, 12:28 PM

Have a question for the KBQ"ers. Do you find you get a little more smoke by letting one log burn down pretty far before adding another? I was wondering if my fire was burning a little too hot by putting two logs in to get a little longer burn time before reloading. My thought was with two logs the fire is burning hotter producing less smoke to enter that upper poppet. Any thoughts?

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