Greetings from Suburban Chicago!

[sjg1980]

Hi, I'm Sam. I've been grilling this summer on my weber 22 premium, and I've been adding accessories to it. I've added a SNS Deluxe, the the stainless steel drip and cast iron and griddle pans, the grill grates and the extender (if I were to do this all over again I would have just bought the kettle from SNS....)

I'm a software engineer working from home, and I want to eventually make dinner during the week while I'm working. I don't want to constantly watch my kettle, so I bought a fireboard drive that I'm going to install this weekend so I can do stuff like make pork roasts, pulled pork, and stuff like that. I'm also installing the probe port, smoke hole, and side table from SNS.

I still haven't mastered controlling temps on charcoal. I hope with additional practice, my squirt bottle of water and the fireboard drive can make it foolproof.

I want to host thanksgiving and cook the turkey on the kettle, but I'm not doing that on thanksgiving. First I'd like to cook a full chicken, then have a test run on a turkey.

I may have gotten, in the words of my wife, low-grade obsessed with this hobby, but as I justified to her, we're always gonna need to eat, and food brings people together.

I've found meatheads book and also the recipes on SNS's site fantastic to follow.

I look forward to hanging out here talking with fellow pitmasters.

[LA Pork Butt]

Welcome to the Pit from Dallas, Texas! The SNS is a great accessory. If you haven’t tried the snake method for low and slow cooking, you might want to check it out on YouTube. The SNS does a great job with wings, but if you need more capacity the Vortex accessory is outstanding. Have fun in the Pit!

[Sid P]

Welcome from the northwest burbs, Sam. The Pit is a great place to learn and hang out.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

The best advice I can give is don't obsess over the temp. If it varies, give it some time, and if it keeps moving in the wrong direction, tweak the top vent and wait. But with the Fireboard, that should not be necessary as the FB will keep temps very steady.

[mcook2201]

Greetings from North Carolina.

[HawkerXP]

Welcome to the Pit!

Catch your desired cooking temp on the way up. Much harder to get it to come back down.

225* for smoking low n slow is BS. Get it up to 250* to 270* won't hurt a big hunk o meat.

Poultry likes if hot. get the pit over 300*.

[sjg1980]

Yeah, the squirt bottle was my way of trying to get the temp down. I need to be more patient and put the proper amount of briquettes (kingsford blue standard) in my kettle either in the SNS or just on the coal grate

[Alan Brice]

Welcome fr Cincy Ohio. It looks like you have it going on.

[Sid P]

These are my SnS vent settings. If you use them and follow their instructions closely it should put you in the ballpark. The key things to remember are that anything between 225 and 275 is fine, and it isn’t an oven. Making large vent adjustments will just lead to big temperature swings.

These pics are from an 8/22/21 cook, and my notes say the temp initially stabilized at 237 and drifted into the mid 250’s by the end of the 4:47 long rib cook.

[sjg1980]

Ooh, cooking ribs sounds like a great idea for something I can cook up during a workday. I'm trying to assemble a list of recipes that I can start around in the day and have done by like 4-ish. Or if they finish early, wrap in foil and toss in a faux-cambro?

Also, in terms of using my fireboard, just have the thing alert me (for cooking ribs) if it goes above 275? Ideally, I'd like to get my kettle at a precise temp, but this isn't an oven and charcoal is trickier than I thought

[Murdy]

Welcome from Elgin!

[Starsky]

Welcome!

[Draznnl]

Welcome to the Pit from a Chicago escapee.

[mrteddyprincess]

Welcome! I live on the south side of Chicago. (Indianapolis.)

[jfmorris]

Welcome to the Pit from Rocket City USA (Huntsville, Alabama)! Glad to have you onboard.

I'm an engineer myself and kinda mildly obsessive over my BBQ hobby, among other things.

I will say though, that a squirt bottle has *ZERO* place in controlling temperature on a charcoal fueled kettle. Just want to get that off my chest! The lids and the vents are your friends in that area, as well as use of 2-zone setups. And the Fireboard is fine for controlling temps when smoking, but don't rely on it when "grilling", like the steaks you showed us - which look stellar! The probe wires can get damaged by higher heat experienced when searing steaks. And temp control is not as important as either 2-zone or using a set of Grillgrate panels on the cooking grate (for me anyway) when direct grilling on charcoal.

Cooking a whole or spatchcocked chicken or a turkey is super simple, and nothing to stress over. Just use the high heat indirect lighting instructions from SNSgrills when doing so, and I run with the vents wide open, as I want to get the indirect area in the 350 to 400 degree range. I've also got a Weber rotisserie ring for the kettle, and that is even better for chicken and turkey. Just don't plan on going much over 15-18 pounds on your turkey, and DO plan on spatchcocking it if cooking indirect on the kettle. Don't try to smoke it in traditional "whole" form, as it takes way too long.

[sjg1980]

When I seared those strips I definitely took the probes from my previous device out. I did use my instant read thermometer to check the internal temp.

Before I cook for thanksgiving (depending if I host, tbd), I'm going to try cooking a whole chicken first, and then cook a turkey in october in a trial run. I definitely intend to spatchcock the birds to get even heat distribution.

Since I'm still new to all this, I follow the directions in meatheads' book and the sns site's recipes closely.

[RichieB]

Welcome from Western Massachusetts.

[mrichie1229]

Welcome to the Pit sjg1980! I agree with jfmorris that there is no need for a squirt bottle. That will do more harm than good. The vents are your friends as well as adding or removing fuel as needed.

You have the right mindset and a lot of tools. Give it time, and you will crush Thanksgiving dinner!

[jfmorris]

In fact... now that I think of it, water + ash = corrosion. You don't want wet ashes in the bottom of your kettle or down in the ash catch bucket if you can help it.

[sjg1980]

I used the squirt bottle once because I added too many briquettes and the temp was getting away from me. I should just remove the extra coals using my tongs and put them in the ash bucket if that happens again, and then measure out the coals properly for the next cook