Equipment
Weber Genesis Gas
Weber 22" Kettle (black)
Smokenator
Slow N Sear
Thermometers
Maverick 732 Redi-Chek
Thermopop
Fuel
Kingsford Blue Bag
Kingsford Professional
Wood
Apple (chunks)
Mesquite (chunks)
Hickory (chunks)
Oak (chunks)
Beverages
Beer: Sun King Sunlight Cream Ale; Goose Island 312; Goose Island Green Line; Revolution Anti-Hero IPA; Lagunitas IPA
Bourbon: Basil Hayden
Rye: George Dickel
Cocktail: Manhattan
Personal
Married, one child (son)
Originally from Indianapolis, IN. Currently live in Chicago's Western Suburbs (near Meathead!)
Associate Dean at Chicago area university
Smoking some ribs today on 22 inch kettle with SnS. I've done beans on indirect side on cooking grate with good results. Would like to try beans on charcoal grate under the ribs. It strikes me the stirring and rotating the pan would at minimum require lifting the lid enough to dramatically affect temp fluctuation and cook time for the ribs. It also strikes me that on a 22 inch kettle I'd need to take the ribs off the cooker to stir/rotate the beans in the middle of the cook.
Any advice on managing all of this? Is the result enough better than cooking beans on top worth the trouble?
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
I've done beans under the ribs on my WSM. I'm not convinced it made that much of a difference. What I plan to do in the future is collect some drippings in a drip pan to add to the beans that I smoked on the side.
We have two weber kettle grills (one LARGE and one small/average), the SnS and the Weber Smokey Mountain 18" smoker. We use both natural lump charcoal and KNB for smoking and measure our temps with a Maverick 733, thermopen and MK4. Favorite beer depends on what is cooking (alt answer is yes).
When I do mine, I only smoke the beans 1-2 hours. Because you are adding a volume cooler than you want your smoke temp, you'll use a touch more fuel to maintain your temp, but I've never noticed an impact on the cook time.
i also do not stir the beans while they are smoking. Maybe I should.
So I was reading Meathead 's book recently, and he and the doc did a whole lotta testing on the "if you're looking, you ain't cooking" theory. They found that if you have the lid off for only a few minutes (like 1-3, maybe), when you put the lid back on, it returns to temp pretty easily. Liner than that and you get too much oxygen to the coals and then run away temps. I think I've got that right... But basically, I think you should do it and just try to do in quickly each time. Do you have a hinged grate?
Thanks, Meathead. I was mostly concerned about doing it on a 22" kettle on which I'd have to take the ribs off the cooker to access the beans for stirring and rotating. Seemed like a lot of time with the lid off, ribs off the indirect heat, etc.
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