KBQ ~ has landed

[JGrana]

KBQ'in in the Cold

It's 11F outside but at least it's sunny ;-)

Had an issue with my freezer during the cold spell - go figure. Needed to cook up everything. Also figured I would experiment with sous vide + smoke.

Here is the start -
Small brisket flat - sous vide @ 150 for 36 hours
Chuckie - sous vide @ 135 for 48 hours
A nice beef short rib

Later today I put on the pork ribs and chicken.

Man, the KBQ needs to be fed a bit more often in this cold!!!



That's a doubled over welders blanket being held on by magnets. KBQ's winter jacket!

[kmuoio]

JGrana - love that shelf on the side of your KBQ. Did you mod this yourself? Is that permanent or magnetic?

[Spinaker]

More fun!

[JGrana]

Hi kmuoio, it was a mod. Came off an old grill I had at my cabin. It folds down for storage. Bolted it on the side. Works great for holding spritz bottles, Fireboard etc.

[JGrana]

Quick question - I am going to pull the Chuckie around 140F.
As far as the brisket - I have read 180F, probe tender, etc. Do I stick with probe tender?

[JGrana]

Thanks gents, I pulled around 180, it was tender enough and looked great

[Ernest]

Did you cook these SV first or no?

[JGrana]

I did SV first, but ran into a low water condition. So, I went for dark bark and ended up around 180.
I must say, it was fantastic. tender, still had juicyness - wow

[hogdog6]

A little KBQ chuck for dinner.

[JGrana]

My Chuckie and Brisket Flat from yesterdays cook - sorry I would have posted sooner but was chilled to the bone and wanted to dig into the food!!!

[FI_Smoking]

My KBQ has landed! See a picture of the initial test fire bellow.

I am a complete noob to the world of BBQ and after reading around a lot I've decided to go with the KBQ.

Before I do anything more serious (brisket) I want to try the KBQ on something simpler. So I bought some St. Louis ribs, some baby back ribs and some short ribs. The short ribs are not in a slab -- they are cut into individual pieces.

Can any of you KBQ-ers help me with time to BBQ, internal temperature etc. for such relatively thin pieces? (Well the short ribs are not that thin, but they are in individual pieces so they might take less time to cook)

I know about the stall and I am ready to wrap the meat if needed, I'm just worried that my food will come out dry since it's so thin.

[Spinaker]

Nothing like lighting up a fresh and clean KBQ.

[Spinaker]

FI_Smoking
​​​​​​​Congrats and welcome to the KBQ family!

The ribs should take about 4 hours, or so. Try to shoot for about 225 F-250 F. The temps will fluctuate in the KBQ, this is normal as the fan cycles on and off.

The short ribs can take longer, as they are thicker pieces of meat. You can wrap them when they hit 170 F or so. Personally, I would let them ride, unwrapped. Don't worry about it drying out. You will be fine there, unless you bought really low grade meats.

Make sure you are holding a solid coal bed and you will be just fine. Let is know if you need anything else.

[EdF]

If you have an thermapen, you can stick it into the hole in the controller to keep track of the temp center and swings. I eventually picked up the thermapen air, which is intended for taking air temp. It works great for the KBQ.

[hogdog6]

Welcome to the cult of the KBQ 😋🔥👏. You already got excellent advise and always will from the pit masters on this thread. Love the pic of the flame.

[BBQ_Bill]

Howdy FI_Smoking!
Congrats on your purchase!
To me the KBQ is the best smoker I have ever owned period and I have been using off-sets and Weber kettles to smoke meats for a very very long time.
-
I will go along with all of the above, but I am a nut, so I keep water pans in my KBQ's and spritz often, especially when concerned about thin brisket flats drying out.
I run with the fat side down and bone side down as a lot of heat comes off of the bottom of the cooking chamber.
Also keep the meat closer towards the door side with the fat towards the back where the heat manifold is.
-
Remember, the KBQ is a convection smoker.
This means that hot air is not just sitting there, it is moving and like a hair dryer blows hot dry air to dry your... well, you get the picture.
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Smoke On!

[lostclusters]

Marinaded salmon in the KBQ. Set at about 200 degrees.




Top poppet open 1/8" when wood starts to coal, bottom poppet open full all the time, gives an excellent smoke profile. I used scrub oak.


Out of the KBQ.


Out of the broiler. Yum!

[hogdog6]

Now that looks really good! I’ve not tried fish in my KBQ but I’ve yet to smoke any fish that turned out good. It is without a doubt my nemesis. Thanks for sharing and motivating me to attempt another go round.

[Mastro]

Yum!! What did you use as the marinade?

[lostclusters]

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/seafood-recipes/358414-salmon

[FI_Smoking]

Bellow are my first results. This is not just my first use of the KBQ -- it's my first BBQ ever. I made a few silly mistakes but it still came out excellent.

[Spinaker]

Great work!

[hogdog6]

Excellent looking cook

[Dale Case]

Looks great, good job !!

[FI_Smoking]

What I did good was: 1) Used a water pan. 2) Used the Maverick probes and kept it mostly between 225F and 250F 3) Built a solid bed of coals.

The mistakes: 1) I put the thinnest piece of meat on the bottom shelf. This is not even a rookie mistake, since I knew not to do that. I was just flustered doing my first BBQ and switched the thin piece (baby back ribs) with the thicker piece (St. Louis ribs).
2) I put thinnest piece of meat with the bones up. Because of mistakes 1) and 2) the thinnest part of the baby-back ribs was overdone, but the thick part still came out good.
3) I pulled the short ribs too early. I know that because I accidentally forgot one short rib piece in the KBQ. When I found it in the morning, I put in in the microwave for 20 or so seconds, and it was the softest piece I made. But even the ones pulled out too early were still amazing according to me and everyone eating them.

All in all I couldn't be more happy with the KBQ. This machine is amazing -- I could literally watch the blue flame through the "KBQ" letters, once I made a proper coal bed. It is also very forgiving: despite all my mistakes, the St Louis style ribs and the short ribs still came out awesome.

I know I have a lot to learn. Everyone can drive a Lamborghini fast, but it takes practice to be a race driver. But the food is so good, that my wife forgives all the funny wood cutting noises in the garage and all the smoke filled clothes that I wear. The KBQ meat is that good!

[Spinaker]

Great post!

[EdF]

Great to read your impressions and first adventure!

[Dale Case]

Congratulations on your first cook !!

[BBQ_Bill]

Hey JGrana, above in your posts here on this page you stated that you Sous Vide a brisket flat at 150°F but stopped before you hit the 36 hours you had planned for it due to a water level problem.
From what I am reading, you discovered the problem, pulled it and smoked it to 180°F internal in some really cold weather, which I would consider to be ideal for "growing" bark as the KBQ will run for long intervals, drawing fresh smoke in.
In my experience, the draw "deposits" much more smoke on the meat than the circulating-at-temp period.
What I am trying to say is circulating while "waiting" for the temperature to drop and then draw heat (and smoke) means less dense smoke in the cookbox and less smoke on the meat.
-
Anyway...
due to the positive results you posted (moist and tender) for this small flat, I want to try to duplicate your experience, but to do this I need to know how many hours it was at 150°F when you pulled the flat out of the Sous Vide and put it into the KBQ.
-
Also, at what average temperature did you have your KBQ set to?
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The reason I ask, is I have purchased a (sight unseen) VERY thin grass finished packer.
When it arrived I was like... REALLY?
I was already aware that grass finished beef is not well marbled, but to make matters worse... the packer/butcher removed most of the fat cap from this skinny packer as well.
I complained and found that this was done at the request of the rancher due to his prior customers not wanting to pay for fat.
-
Am hoping to find a way to make this thin, lean, fatless, 8.1 pound packer brisket come out moist and Sous Vide came to mind.
I am not worried about the point as it will be fine, but the flat... I donno, so I am "grasping at straws" here.
I COULD whack the flat off and grind it, but thought I would try to do the near impossible and make it come out moist with great KBQ'ed bark.
-
If you do not recall the details of this cook, no worries my friend.
Am just hoping for some success here on this experimental $10/Lb grass finished brisket...
-
BBQ_Bill

[JGrana]

Hi BBQ_Bill, sorry been out of town for a week! Just catching up...

I suspect the brisket was at 150F for likely 28+ hours. I checked it after 1 day and it seemed to be fine.
Side note - do NOT use those Styrofoam coolers that are used to ship frozen meant. When you look close, they are made from lots of little balls compressed together. When soaked at 150F for a few days - it leaks like a sieve!!!
Anyway I chilled the 28+ hour flat and put it in the KBQ the following morning. Your right - I let it get to 180F and I got cold and tired. The KBQ was eating wood since the ambient air was around 12F-15F.
But, the brisket came out with a great bark and could have used another few degrees. I would say it was "close" to probe tender but not at butter stage. It still came out with a nice smoke profile and was tender enough.
If I could turn the clock back, I would let it go another 10F or so - but given the circumstances - it rocked ;-)
Nothing like warm, sweet smokey BBQ brisket and ribs, fresh off the smoker on a cold winters night.

Even better, my freezer is stocked with some chunks of this brisket, around 1 1/2 racks for STL ribs and 2 nice beef ribs - all vacuum frozen for reviving the next month or so!

[BBQ_Bill]

Thank you MOST kindly my friend.
My experience with the flat is that IF you let it go until it is "Like Buttah" it is overdone AND dry.
Point, yes, definitely, like butter and it is perfect.
The flat, no way.

[BBQ_Bill]

One final question please... do you recall what the average temperature of your KBQ was?
I cannot duplicate the 12-15°F here in Phoenix, but can match the other data.

[JGrana]

Hi BBQ_Bill , I was running the KBQ around an average of 230F. As you can imagine, the both fans were working overtime!!!

Now that I am thawed out, I took the time to save some of the photos I took of the cook. Sorry I didn't post these sooner!!! Short plate, pork ribs and dinner that evening (well worth the chilly cook ;-)

[BBQ_Bill]

Wow!
The results look incredible!
Thank you for sharing JGrana

[JGrana]

An Idea for us Cold Weather Folks

After I reflect on my last smoke in cold weather, I went through a lot of wood on the KBQ. More so than typical since the draft fan needs to pull the heat from the smoke box much more frequently.

So, I wanted to bounce an idea off you folks. I want to use lump charcoal towards the end of the cook...
Here is my thought process... I would use regular smoking wood for the first say 2/3's of the smoke. For ribs this could be around 3 hours, for brisket maybe 6 or so.
I would then switch over to much cheaper lump charcoal - more to continue keeping the heat flowing into the KBQ. I can buy fairly good bags of lump much cheaper than smoking wood.
I should be able to reduce my smoking wood consumption by at least 1/3.

Am I off here somewhere?

[BBQ_Bill]

Saving smoking wood for making smoke flavor and bark is what I do.
I wrap at the color I am looking for and brisket then goes into an electric oven.
That saves wood for what I need it for and shortens the time spent feeding my smokers.

[Spinaker]

I like to use a welding blanket. It really does help to insulate the KBQ. Just make sure to get a non-shedding blanket. I feel like lump will burn up too fast, but, maybe not. If you are wrapping, Bill makes very goods points.

[JGrana]

Speaking of getting low on smoking wood... as I was driving home the other day I noticed our local utility company did some tree trimming around the power lines. As luck would have it, some of the tree were old apple and cherry. I grabbed some today and am going back tomorrow with my chainsaw to harvest more!