I have an upcoming event that I need to smoke 4 briskets in my KBQ. I apologize in advance if someone has already discussed advice on cooking this many at once. Any tips? pointers? advice on loading this many packers in my KBQ? I usually use a water pan so questioning the ability to fit it in there with that much meat. Thanks for any advice!!!
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Throw the water pan at the very bottom. Then rotate the briskets very two hours or so. Give them a spritz when you switch them up and you should be good to go!Comment
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Howdy DustinH!
Feel free to read this very odd and detailed procedure below for 4 packers in a KBQ.
Please be aware that your "mileage" may vary...
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I have done 4 packers in my KBQ's before, but not a whole lot of times before I became very frustrated I might add.
It truly is a "Royal Pain" to do and get them right, so I stopped doing it and bought a 2nd KBQ running 2 or 3 packers in each one afterwards. (MUCH easier)
I have 4 KBQ's now and will run 12 total, but that is the limit I set for quantity at one time with 3 packers per smoker max.
My current standard is to never refrigerate so I hold at a moist 148°F instead.
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Four packers CAN be done with decent results however, to get it to work, I had to do a lot of swapping of the racks for decent quality results. The "procedure" to run four packers at one time became simply more work than I wanted to do.
To fix the "customer demand" problem, I simply bought more KBQs.
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Our KBQs are "convection" smokers, therefore the smoke and air inside do NOT stay in the cooking chamber very long at all.
The smoke and air are CONSTANTLY being dumped "overboard" by the exhaust fan and replaced by fresh smoke and air.
Therefore, whatever moisture is generated by the meat, wood, and water pan(s) will be coming out with the smoke and air in very short order as soon as the temperature drops below the set point. In our smokers, that is not long at all.
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I would also like to mention, the packers will be dripping on each other depending on how long you leave them in there before wrapping. (Assuming you will be wrapping) So tip them to remove puddles.
Remember Fat Cap Side DOWN on all 4, and keep the flat ends towards the door, with about 3/4" gap.
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Here was my four packer procedure...
I swapped them around 9 times total, yes, ridiculous but I did it for awhile because success simply had to happen for me.
At one hour in, I started the swap and continued to do this once every hour until 9-1/2 hours in, and then I wrapped and put them into a very moist oven set at 25°F higher in temperature than the KBQ final temperature to finish the cook.
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This "continual" swapping is because the temperatures are really all over the place (as confirmed with FireBoard probes) when smoking 4 packers in the cooking chamber due to poor airflow and poor heat circulation.
Obviously, there will also be poor smoke circulation. (Not good either)
I finally ended up staggering the packers as well before I totally gave up on the 4 packer thing, and bought KBQ # 2.
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STAGGER:
The top packer would be slid to the right as far as I could while leaving a gap between it and the right side rack holder.
(The circulation port is on the left side at the top and interfered with good results)
The 2nd packer down was positioned to the left side.
The 3rd one, was the same as the top one, being slid to the right.
Finally, the 4th packer (on the lowest position) was slid to the left side of the rack it was on, closest to the rack holder on the left.
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Ran the temperature a bit higher as well.
240°F which will be equal to about 265°F in an offset smoker or in a conventional oven.
WATCH FOR HOT SPOTS (Sizzling) and spritz the hot area, including moving (sliding) the sizzling packer to the other side of the rack as needed. (If on the left side, slide it to the right side to get it away from the "hot spot")
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SWAPPING:
All 4 were moved once per hour. (I know, weird but it worked to get somewhat even heating and smoke on each one)
I moved all four, while still sitting on their racks and simply re-positioned them.
The top packer at the end of the first hour of smoke was moved to the location where the 2nd one down was.
The second one down went to the location where the third one down was.
The third packer down went into the position where the bottom packer was and the bottom packer and rack was slid into the vacant top position.
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I tried very hard to make them evenly spaced, but had problems with the very top packer getting ash on the point at the rear by the manifold, so then I arranged them more towards the bottom leaving more of a gap on the top.
This caused a lot of heat on the bottom one, so I slid a shallow full steam table pan under it and tried water.
Four packers truly was a struggle, believe me, but all of my efforts paid off and before I finally gave up on this, the results were as I said somewhat decent.
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I pull and wrap all tightly with butcher paper at 9-1/2 to 10 hours into the smoke so I don't lose too much moisture.
I then continue to cook them until they get nearly done and then rest each one as it "gets there" for two hours.
Finally, the hold can last 10 hours with no problem at all. In fact, they do get better with a long moist hold at 148°F.
Bark can be re-set at 160°F in a convection oven or dehydrator, which is what I use and the bark is simply incredible in texture when slicing.
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Please do P.M. me if you want my cell number and I will try to help with any questions.
BBQ BillComment
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Posts like this are what makes the Pit awesome. I don’t own a KBQ and never read this but I sincerely appreciate your efforts to help fellow pit members. Posts like this are priceless. -
BBQ_Bill ... after some additional math and final numbers for attendance I'm confident I'm going to be able to get away with only 3 packers. I plan on following your latest guidance - https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...et-discoveries
Thanks!!!!
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DustinH Declare your KBQ ownership on the KBQ Roll Call. We are now nearly 70 strong and a complete list is on page 6.Comment
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