I got my KBQ up to 406 degrees with just a chimney of lump coal. The sensor was placed about half way up the cook box. And my KBQ cut out was never lit up.
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Last edited by lostclusters; August 3, 2017, 06:02 PM. -
Question for you guys: what are the recommendations or rules around the "health" of the wood you use on the KBQ? My backyard is in front of a nature reserve that consists of oak, maple, and elm trees of different ages. So there's always a dead tree or branch I could use for my cooks. However, I've been hesitant to use them because I wasn't sure if they are safe to use for barbecuing meat (some trees have died from disease). Can I start cooking with them or do I need to continue to purchase it from my local tree farm - which can get a little pricy?Comment
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Did my first cook today. I am way to beat to post more than just the broad strokes now. I have lots of pictures.
Highlights:
Pork butts - (1) 2.75 lbs, (1) 3.75 lbs,
Prep - Meathead's .5 tsp salt per lb 24 hrs prior, Meathead's Memphis Dust day of,
6 hrs of smoke 235-265 degrees f, alternating between post oak and apple,
Added wood every 30 minutes,
Bottom poppet open all the time, top poppet open the last ten minutes before adding new wood, then closed,
Put in convection oven after six hours at 265, for about three hours,
9 hours total cook time,
Nice crispy bark,
Heavenly flavor,
Guest tore through it like a cross cut saw,
No stall, no wrap. Trying to figure that one out,
Went through 1.5 cubic feet of beefy chunk wood, 24.8 lbs, amount of ash in tray - .75 inches.
More tomorrow.Last edited by lostclusters; August 6, 2017, 11:47 AM.Comment
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What a great report, lostclusters! I can’t wait to try pork butts in my new KBQ. -
You are going to be blown away. The KBQ kills it making pulled pork. johnnylighton
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lostclusters The fans pulling hot air through the cooking chamber can push meat through the stall really quickly. Think of it kinda like a convection oven.
I have never weighed the wood I was using, but your ash levels seem to be just about right.
Congrats on your first KBQ cook! Looking forward to those pictures.
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Spinaker It certainly is a convection oven. With convection ovens, to get the results of a conventional oven, one usual lowers the convection oven temperature by 25 degrees f of the specified cook temperature. Our cooks usually have a specified temperature of 225-250 degrees. We are cooking 25 degrees higher than that. We are cooking 250- 275. There's the power.Comment
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Yep. I pretty much set all of my cookers to run between, 250 F and 275 F. It helps to cut time, and I think you get some killer bark.Originally posted by lostclusters View Post
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I had plans to cook a duck but couldn't find one. So......
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lostclusters haven't used a typical rub since my second KBQ cook. Salt, pepper and a touch of chipotle powder. For both beef and pig ribs.
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Might be able to sink 4 stainless screws through a grillgrate to keep it from moving around. My KBQ is going to be here next weekend, so we'll have at least two KBQ'ers in the Sacramento area (I'm just down the road in Roseville).Originally posted by oldsteve View PostComment
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Welcome to the Pit and the KBQ family! Please introduce yourself here! https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...troductions-aa
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That is a good idea. I like to use the cast iron grate from my hibachi because it is heavy and it fits perfectly over the firebox. The weight keeps it from moving around. Grill Grates are much lighter, and tend to move much more. So the screws might be needed to hold it in place on that firebox.Originally posted by Zac Jones View Post
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BBQ_Bill Yes, there is a bug in the messaging. The IT department is "on it". Hopefully it will be fixed soon. If you need to reach me, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]
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Spinaker, BBQ_Bill thanks for the welcome. The Lodge sounds like a better solution for sure, especially if you don't have grill grates lying around. And reading on in the thread I now see Oldsteve eventually happened upon a Lodge Hibachi anyways. Looks like they still have them on Amazon these days, but maybe I'll wait and see what kind of modification BBQ_Bill comes up with!
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For my first cook I alternated between post oak and apple chunks.
I used chunks:
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not chunks:
One of the biggest mistake I made was to let the coal bed dwindle too much. In an attempt to conserve wood. It can not be too over stated how important maintaining at least a 1 inch coal bed is. Not for the convenience of keeping the fire going, but to maintain the quality of the smoke. It's why we have a KBQ after all. Too many times I added wood with no coal underneath it. This was precipitated by not checking the coals enough. After the wood burns down to a black coal it should "tested" by tamping it with the tending hook. If it collapses, fresh wood is needed. I never lost my fire, but I did lose the coal bed in places throughout my cook. So my smoke was not always top notch. Lesson learned. Once I got it down - figured out how to maintain the firebox, the wood level seem to be at a level just above the slot in the firebox where the coals are seen. About an inch or so above it. And of course this was my first cook, this may change with my experience and the way different woods burn. My firebox in use looked like this:
However the output was the best smoked pork I have ever had, EVER! I am a major foodie and have had BBQ from ALL over. BBQ is one of my favorite foods when it is good. This was by far, better. Meathead's approach to BBQ are my Dead Sea Scrolls. I followed his prep and rub to the letter. When I heard that a rub, properly done, is better than a BBQ sauce glaze on a smoker - I had my doubts. Doubted no longer! BBQ sauce glaze still has a place on a grill I suppose. But when you can get food that taste like it does on a KBQ smoker with something like Memphis Dust rub on it ... Who would want anything grilled anymore? At this point I can not imagine. My bark was exquisite! About a thirty-second of an inch thick, maybe a touch more. Very crispy. Lightly sweet and savory. Simply outstanding. There was a slightly bitter taste from my coal bed mishaps no doubt. This is what it looked like coming off:
Six hours on the smoker, 3 hours in the oven. I did not notice a stall, and I did not wrap. I pronounced it done at an internal temp of 203 degrees f. I did notice that when it went into the oven, at the same temp as the cookbox using the same measuring device, the internal temps dropped a few degrees. And it took quite a while before it came back to the same temp it was when it came out of the cookbox. Maybe that was my stall, I do not know. I did not keep track of the time it took but I would guess it was about forty-five minutes or so. The temps moved slowly but steadily throughout the whole cooking process. In retrospect I think maybe too fast. As it has been said earlier, the KBQ is a convection cooker. I think adjustments in the cook temp should be made because of this. I cooked at 235-265. One of the pieces of pork seemed a little dry after it cooled down. It was wrap in foil and sat on my counter, while I continued snack on it throughout the evening. Towards the later part of my snacking the meat seemed to dry out. Maybe it was the cut of pork I don't know. I have had dry pork shoulder/butt before. This is an issue I need to do more research on. I bought the pork from butcher that has a reputation for excellent quality meat. And paid about $3.25 per pound for it so it was not cheap. Conversely, I have paid 79 cents a pound for absolutely tender and juicy shoulder/butt that was grilled. I think maybe I may have cooked at too high a temp. It should be low and slow and with no stall I am thinking my cook was not low enough. My next cook of pork butt the temp will be somewhere around 210 on the low side of the spread. To maintain the highest possible quality of taste. This was the other possible mistake I made and another lesson learned.
I have to get on with my day, lot to do as always. Never enough day. I end this with a question. Anyone want some?
Last edited by lostclusters; August 6, 2017, 04:43 PM.Comment
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I would definitely not worry about your cooking temp. I cook pork butts at closer to 300 on the KBQ and get great results. Wrapping in foil with a little liquid or butter and brown sugar after the bark sets may really help with your tenderness issue. I -
I often like to cook Smithfield or Costco pork butts. The Farmer Johns and other brands just don't turn out as good for me. If you get an extra tender butt or ribs from smithfield, make sure not to oversalt as they are already brined.
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Smokin Saturday, Cleanup Sunday
I purchased a Prime Packer from Costco in Austin, TX. smuggled back to Rochester NY. Wet aged about 3 weeks. My wife and I are going to a fishing camp in Norther Ontario Canada - pretty remote - you haul all your food in for the week.
So - brisket + ribs - good eating for the week! Hopefully get a few pike as well ;-)
I must say, after trimming, the Costco packer had some great marbling on the brisket. Left the point on. Wish I could get these USDA Prime every day here in WNY...
Started at 5:45 AM Saturday morning. Around 6:30 it (and I) were in a groove
Dry brined the day before, and BBBR early that morning. Also put in a pan of Himalayan course salt on the top rack. Getting ready for my seasonal batch of Ghostly Smoked Garlic Salt!.
I set the KBQ for 225 or so. The temps did the ~210 to 240F swing.
For the first 4 hours, I used a combination of red oak and hickory wood.
I did put a full kettle of hot water in the drip pan at the start. Not sure I will do this again. The brisket did well and I suspect it really helped the salt take on more smoke - but the fans on the KBQ control look pretty glazed at the end...
Around 4 hours into the cook, I added 2 racks of baby back ribs and 2 racks ST cut. My wife prefers baby back.
Dry brined the night before and a good coating of MMD.
I switched over to a mix of cherry and apple wood - figured the brisket took on most of the oak and hickory, wanted the fruit woods hitting the ribs - plus they add that deep color!
When the briskets hit around 155, they stall started. Bark looked ok so decided to wrap for a while:
Didn't take too long to get out of the stall and slowly start climbing. In the mean time, the baby backs were just right, pulled em and put them into a steam pan for safe keeping
I didn't take a photo of the SLC's but they had the same nice color!
When the brisket hit 190, I decided to unwrap and let the bark firm back up (and maybe add a bit more).
Worked well! I did experience the drop from 190 to ~185 but after about 30 mins, it started to climb back up.
Around 200, I checked the brisket - it had the nice jiggle and the flat was like putting the probe into butter!
Took it out and wrapped in foil and into the cambo for 3 hours
Came out stellar. Both the flat and point were moist, juicy and the flavor was beefy with a nice smoke!
Lessons learned from this smoke:
Get Prime if you can...
I don't believe the water in the smoker was enough improvement to justify the cleaning I will need to do on the KBQ controller fans
When the temps get close, jiggle and check with the probe. This really was the first time I didn't wait for a specific temperature and just checked a few times.
Unwrapping the brisket the last hour seemed to get the bark back and I don't believe made it dry
BTW, the salt came out good as well. It was in the smoker the full 12 hours. I suspect the higher humidity the first few hours helped it attract more smoke. I put a handful of unsmoked salt to show the difference in color. Put it back into the resealable bag the salt came in. Smelled gently smoked - just what I was looking for.
Last but not least, on Sunday I power washed the inside. I then sprayed oven cleaner (yellow can). Let it sit for 20 mins, quick scrub with a sponge and power sprayed it all off.
Wow, looks almost new! (I didn't put oven cleaner on the drip pan on the bottom. Next time :-)
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I received an email stating that a private message was sent to me.
In checking it out, the senders name is there, but the conversation is not there.
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I checked my past private messages, and they are all blank, with the prior conversations we had erased, gone.
Is this happening to me only, or is there a problem with the software here at The Pit?
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