Just got my KBQ, waiting for the flu to pass and weather to improve before firing it up! I was wondering who has one (or a stick burner) up north and what kind of wood are you using and what kind of difference of flavor you get between wood types? So far sugar maple, apple and oak are relatively easy to find. Would have loved to try mesquite, but there's not much of that around here (and passing wood at the border is COMPLICATED).
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
All depends on your definition of "the great white north". US or Canada, eh? I think we have some Alaskan's in teh bunch here too. You do not have a location in your profile...
Congratulations on getting a KBQ. I bought one a couple of months ago and absolutely love it. Here's one of my recent posts regarding wood that I use (and can easily get in Ohio):
Congratulations on getting a KBQ. I bought one a couple of months ago and absolutely love it. Here's one of my recent posts regarding wood that I use (and can easily get in Ohio):
WaterAndPixels congratulations on the KBQ! Don't stress yourself over wood flavor, the KBQ does such a great job at burning that the end flavor is just out of this world great. I've used the major BBQ woods and found that it doesn't really matter what I use.
Mesquite is great but it burns crazy fast, it will keep you busy.
I prefer Oak now, because it burns longer.
Agreed. Oak is fantastic, and sugar maple (easy to get up north) is very similar. I wouldn't be surprised if I burned charcoal in the KBQ and it turned out great. Kidding!
Cookers:
Large Big Green Egg with a Ceramic Grill Store rack system, and the SnS setup.
Weber Genesis SA-E-330 LP INDIGO with SS Grates, Weber Crafted frame kit, baking stone, griddle (2/3), all from Ace Hardware.
For the first time in a long time I have no kettles as I gave them all away.
Everything Else:
SnS #3 with certificate. I was their first customer.
Sous Vide equipment.
SnS and Thermoworks instant read and leave-in thermometers.
Grill Grates for BGE.
Kingsford Blue Bag, Weber lighter cubes, Weber charcoal chimneys.
Rubs with salt: Meat Church Holy Cow.
Rubs without salt: Home-mixed versions of previously sold SnS Grills Rocky's Rub and Not Just for Beef using their recipe. SPOG.
Spices: Lots of 'em.
Welcome to The Pit WaterAndPixels. Congrats on the KBQ and thank you for your support!
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Scotch: Current favorite- The Arran (anything by them), Glenmorangie 12yr Lasanta, sherry cask finished. The Balvenie Double Wood, also like Oban 18yr, and The Glenlivet Nadurra (Oloroso sherry cask finished) among others. Neat please.
About meReal name: Aaron
Location: Farwell, Michigan - near Clare (dead center of lower peninsula).
Occupation:
Healthcare- Licensed & Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) at MyMichigan Health, a University of Michigan Health System.
Welcome to the pit WaterAndPixels! I don't use a KBQ but I do run a stickburner. I'm not in the great north relative to Canada, but compared to the southern BBQ belt of the US I'm a northerner. I live in central Michigan. I like using ash wood. It burns very hot and I have no trouble keeping a good temp on the coldest of winter days. We get some daily highs of -5F to +5F, and -20s at night/early a.m....but those are the extreme ranges, average daily winter temp is teens & 20s F. I like oak too, but even though it lasts a good while it's not as hot as ash. My favorite cold weather blend for BTUs is ash & oak.
But, like already mentioned, with a KBQ you don't have to worry much about that. You have a power cord, a fan, and a thermostat helping you maintain your temps. Just load your wood pieces in a timely manner & it does the rest.
Alright, weather is cooperating, flu is gone, stocked on wood (cherry, Apple, sugar maple) the pit is started and the ribs are in!!!
I've put a thermometer in it to get a feeling of the temperature but I see it probably won't be necessary I the long run, it's pretty stable.
I may have been a bit hasty and put the food a little bit too early (temp was stable but bed of coals wasn't the greatest) which earned me a bit of a smoldering incident later on which I fixed by pumping it with a few lumps of charcoal, it's back on track and doing fine now.
Best ribs I ever cooked for sure, can't remember having ribs that good at any restaurant in this town. I just salted them and added MH Memphis Dust, excellent taste even without a sauce (I wanted to taste the ribs and the smokiness from the smoker). I used the clean smoke setting next time I'll try mixing in some "dirty" smoke to see the difference. They had a very nice and thick bark and a moist tender interior.
By the way Huskee is your area affected by the Emerald Ash Borer? We had 2 gigantic ones up front and they had to be cut down because they were infected (the city is trying to save the ash population by agressively cutting the infected one so the borer won't spread). Of course since they were contaminated the wood had to go to the central disposal site, I think ash is going to become quite rare around here.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
WaterAndPixels One thing consider too when cooking with the KBQ in the cold weather, is the fan. When its cold, that fan will run much much more. Then your KBQ essentially becomes a convection oven. And it will cook FAST!!!! I do cooks all the way through the Minnesota winters. My coldest was -15 when I started. I cooked a whole packer in 5 1/2 hours!! But you burn through the wood faster, of course.
Good to know this things works in winter too! Must cook ribs pretty quickly! (And I should remember to stock up on charcoal for starting it before the end of summer that's nearly unbuyable here during winter).
Kidding!
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