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Now that Spring appears to be here in the Northeast, time to get some smoking going.
Ribs, a Costco Prime Brisket and a smallish pork shoulder.
Pork is at 170F and the Brisket just hitting 160F.
I have some chicken thighs and pork belly/bacon going on soon.
I like how I can run hickory and oak for the first 4 hours while the brisket and pork are cooking, then switch over to apple and cherry for the ribs and chicken. With the ~30-40 mins of wood eating time on the KBQ, switching is pretty quick!
BTW, thanks BBQ_Bill for the tip on a deeper water pan in the bottom of the KBQ. I had a 1 1/2" pan but recently switched to the 2 1/2" pan. Takes up one more slot on the bottom but it is going on 8 hours and the pan still has water in it!
The brisket went on at 5:30AM and the pork shoulder around 5:50AM
The ribs went on much later, around 11:30.
I wrapped the brisket around 173F around 3:00PM. I really hope to be done around 5PM. Good news, the brisket is up to 194F :-)
EdFSpinaker Thank you did not get a smoke ring on the chicken do you think becuase I smoked it at a high temperature? Cranked that kbq all the way and was hitting temps from 335 to 350. Bottom poppet open only . Also how much lump do you light in your chimney to get the kbq going I use half full chimney in the Weber charcoal starter. How do you guys smoke your chicken in the kbq
On high temp shorter cooks, you can open the top poppet up a ways for more smoke flavor.
Your fan blades and fan port should tell the story regarding how clean your smoke was.
I cook it with the heat almost all the way up. I make sure I start with enough lump to at least cover the slots on the side. Fill that baby up about 1/2 full of lump and let it rip. You can't start with too much. IMO.
Higher temp fast cook for chicken to get crispy skin is why you have little to no smoke ring but I’m sure still had good smoke flavor. Putting it in the freezer for about an hour before tossing in the cooker may help get a smoke ring on such a short cook. (I’ve never tried it for chicken though). 1/2 chimney of lump should be enough to get it going, just remember to keep a good coal bed. I like to hang a couple chickens from the top grate using my PBC hooks, as I saw Ernest do. I don’t know what difference it makes in smoke or flavor but to me it looks cool😎. Great looking cooks keep the pics coming.
king kielbasa on high temp shorter cooks, you can open the top poppet up a ways for more smoke flavor.
I've read where one fellow said the dirtiest setting on the KBQ is cleaner than the lightest smoke setting on his other smoker.
(His other is a popular and somewhat expensive name brand)
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Also, your fan blades and fan port should "tell the story" regarding how clean your smoke was and how much creosote your meat got.
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So... clean smoke, short duration, good coal bed = a very light smoke profile.
The color on your bird DOES look excellent my friend.
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Here is a 10 hour low and slow coating on two beef full packer briskets.
Note the color on the machine and the resulting color on the meat.
The darker color in the center of the blades is from the cook/smoke just prior, which was a "dirtier" stronger smoke profile.
With these last two briskets, I used 1/8" open top poppet with bottom full open.
Smoked with Mesquite only.
Kept water in both trays for the duration, and spritzed with a fine mist very often.
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Light smoke flavor because my coal tray was "Hawked" and the holes always kept covered.
NO creosote, no heartburn, no belching up smoke flavor hours later.
The bark was not super thick and had a light smokey flavor for these two prime briskets.
The fat rendered VERY nicely and what was left was delicious. EXTREME Procedure:
1) Wet aged in the cryovac packs for 90 days after slaughter.
2) Opened trimmed and dry brined in vacuum bags for 6 days at 28/29°F.
3) Pulled opened and seared with a propane flame thrower.
4) Spritzed (to make the rub stick) then rubbed with freshly cracked Black Pepper and Hatch Mild Red powder.
5) Placed into the freezer for two hours.
6) Smoked with Mesquite at 145°F average for two hours in a clean smoke setting.
7) Raised the temperature and Smoked with Mesquite at 225°F for another 8 hours.
(Ya GOTTA LUV a smoker that can do THAT on the fly!)
8) Pulled from the KBQ and spritzed, double wrapped TIGHTLY in butcher paper, and into the moist electric heated oven until almost done.
9) Pulled when almost done for the slow rest at 110°F, in which the I.T. finally wound down to the "magic" temperature (I dearly LUV) of 146°F.
10) I then held one packer for 10 hours at 146°F and the other for 20+ hours at 146°F with both in high humidity.
- (SECRET... Shhhhh...)
The available moisture distributed very nicely throughout the flat in this long hold.
And, added beef bone broth will be absorbed by the meat.
So my fellow BBQ friends.... both flats were quite moist according to the eaters.
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Yup! Pulling from the heat when ALMOST done nailed it again.
Cut and pull tests were "spot on" with 1/4" slices for flat and 3/8" slices for point.
It is noteworthy to mention that even after 20+ hours of holding, the last brisket did not overcook from the 146°F and being in high humidity.
The fat did continue to render in that long hold as there was much yellow/orange oil in the wrappings when pulled, sliced and devoured.
Bottom Line:
I had some VERY happy and VERY full eaters!
- Smoke On!
Last edited by BBQ_Bill; May 1, 2018, 11:11 PM.
Reason: I decided to share more "Secrets" ;)
For those who are a bit leery of using oven cleaner on your unit (that sounded funny 😂) I found this on amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Disassembled mine and did a full cleaning for the first time after five cooks. Grease melts right off just seconds after spraying it on. Looks almost new. Highly recommended.
Finally getting to put the KBQ to use after a miserable long winter in MN. Had to postpone last weekend after a red flag warning for the county I live in. ​That's alright though. Picked up a Bernzomatic TS8000 and my Fireboard literally just arrived.
Loved using the TS8000 to get my lump going. Thanks to all those who recommended it on here. Excited to check out the Fireboard and integrate it with Alexa.
Oh yeah, I'm four hours into three racks of pork ribs rubbed with Oakridge BBQ Dominator Sweet Rib Rub. Had to freeze them after last weekend's dry weather. Using cherry wood today.
My wife loves that I'm doing yard work the entire time while feeding the fire, so it's win win. I didn't mention to her that it's that amazing KBQ smell that keeps me outside the entire day.
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