Forgot to mention - the Champion smoker - made a bunch of modifications. Still not what I want but you know what they say when you retire - more time (not really) and no money (almost).
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Yup, life is full of 'wants' and 'needs'. Some come before others... I've held off my desire this morning to purchase a new slicing knife, I just shouldn't do it right now. I need to buy a lot of new parts for my truck before I do that, so... <sigh> Hang in there. Work with what ya got. That's how we all started, sometimes we're lucky and we get an upgrade eventually! lol
But hell, I tell people all the time, folks been puttin' out amazing cue on old 55-gallon drums for years!
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When we got here, we made choices. Renovate the house or the grill. House won. My wife and I did the work except the masonry, under slab plumbing and some electrical.
put in a wood shop and made all of the cabinetry.
the expensive smoker is on permanent hold for the next several years - unless I make one
but I am still doing this
been so busy, had to put this site on holdAttached FilesLast edited by dbray45; June 6, 2024, 06:48 AM.Comment
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Back then, I did it in 2 pieces. The flat and the big piece separately.
now, I do it one piece. When it gets to 160, I wrap it in paper and cook to 205.
After resting, I put it in the fridge and slice the next day on a meat slicer - against the grain.
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Welcome back. It's nice to see that you've upgraded your cookers, are no longer slicing 12lb briskets into thirds like you did in the OP, and have got your brisket game fine tuned for perfection. Congrats!
Enjoy your retirement. And your cooks!
Kathryn
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Masterclass had a lot to do with upgrading my quality of smoking foods.Comment
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Well, I liked the Champion Smoker by Chargriller but in my oppinion has a major issue. The fire box is way too small and as a result, you have to put small blocks of wodd in every 10 minutes. Because of this, the temps go from 225 to 350 frequently. If I tried a slightly larger fire, 400 was the set temp and since the fire was so close to the smoke chamber, 1/2 the chamber was way too hot. If I closed the damper, the smoke increased to a point of being acrid - not a good flavor profile.
So, back to the drawing board and a bunch of research. Franklin has it right by creating a large fire box and dropping it so flames are not going into the smoke chamber. He is also using thick sheet steel (which I don't have) for all of it.
I was able to get a 55 gallon barrel (new and unlined) and I bought 2 barrel stove conversion kits.
The fire was nice, smoke clean, temps were about 300 degrees and had to add wood in an hour and a half. I put a damper between the fire and smoke chambers allowing me to heat up the smoke chamber to 450 and brought it down to 275 burning 3-4 logs.
This will work
Attached FilesLast edited by dbray45; January 20, 2025, 01:07 PM.Comment
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On the right side, underneath, I put in a 6” connection with a damper in itComment
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Now that is a solution! Well done!Comment
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One other thing I did, I have fire doors on both sides. Did this for 2 reasons - if the wind is too strong, going the wrong way, can open the opposite door. The other, if I build too big of a fire, open both sides and cool things down.Comment
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Well, the moment of truth - does it work the way I envisioned or not.
Smoked a 14 lbs turkey the other day. Broke it down to reduce the time and put thermometers everywhere. Wrapped everything in foil after the temps got up to 180 and took out the pieces when they got to 205.
Didn't need to add wood for 45 minutes or so and kept the smoker to 300.
The turkey has a nice clean smoke flavor, not acrid that leaves a bad taste on your tongue and not dry. Even the breast meat is not dry.
All in all, this thing does a great job and after I figure out how to regulate the heat and refine it, tasty food is in the future.
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This has been a very busy year (2025) so far. A few years ago I bought a Chargriller Champion smoker. It was okay and did the job, more or less - extremely challenging to keep a tight temperature - unless it was 350 - 450.
So, I kept the smoke chamber side and tossed the fire box. Then I put a barrel under it and piped the barrel to the bottom of the smoke chamber. Works 10 times better for about $350.
The results speak for themselves - as a side note, bought Masterclass and watched the Aaron Franklin class (worth every penny)
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After all that, my gas grill of 6+ years died. In came a Monument 6 burner grill - my wife wants me to cook more. This thing is awesome and have been using it a bunch (sorry, no pictures of it)
Fast forward to this month. Bought a 22" weber grill and a rotisserie. The gas grill is great BUT I really don't want to cook a chicken for 2 hours on a spit in the gas grill where a small amount of charcoal will do the trick.
My wife also agreed to the 4 plate attachment to the rotisserie - awesome
A couple of days ago, cooked some Jamacian Jerk chicken thighs on the Weber and they are very tasty.
I am having way too much fun with my toys.
I have some pork tenderloins marinating in the extra Jerk marinade from the Jerked chicken for the Weber and some fish that will be going on the gas grill tomorrow as well.
All I need now is another freezer to put this stuff into.
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Late to this particular party, but I was thinking the same thing, jfmorris . Those trays look like they'd be a bear to clean--unless soaking and putting in dishwasher perhaps.
dbray45 says in the following post that he uses the "hot pan cold oil" method so nothing sticks. Not exactly sure what that means for a long rotisserie setup; I've used that method before in skillets with mixed results.
Did you ever get that tray setup for your rotisserie, Jim?
Kathryn -
Kathryn fzxdoc no I sure haven’t. I had forgotten about it but may poke around on Amazon this week. I think with the kettle rotisserie, since the radiant heat is from below and to the side, something with wire racks or baskets would work better than this one with the almost solid metal racks.
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I forget who said it on one of those cooking shows - hot pan, cold oil, nothing sticks.
Words to live by - it works. Cleans up in minutes
my better half says it was Guy Fieri.Last edited by dbray45; June 6, 2025, 03:39 PM.Comment
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You know, I figured with all the changes, the smoker would be pretty awesome. After the last cook, pork shoulder, it has some quirks. The meat is getting cooked more from under the meat and making it crispy - not good. Next field change -. Put fire brick under the 1/8" steel plate to make the heat and smoke go up and plut another 1/8" steel plate to make it 1/4" thick. This makes it a reverse smoker and hopefully a little more stable - heat wise. The majority of the heat will be channeled around a water pan. I have some plate ribs to cook once I get the remaining firebricks to put in the fire box.Comment
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With this arraignment, I cooked a rack of plate ribs. Put 3 probes into the smoke chamber and got interesting results.
I put a probe near the smoke stack, one in the top where the hole is, and one about 3” to the right of the meat.
The cook took 12 1/2 hours to get the meat tender, moist, and done.
The time to cook at 275 should be about 11 hours with all things considered.
Watching the temps near the stack, when the temp went down to 240, I added a small piece of oak. Then watched the temp go up as high as 320. This is a big swing.
Here’s the rub, the probe to the right of the meat, at meat level, was staying between 225 and 230 the whole time. Once, when I had to rearrange the fire, too many coals that were choking the fire and was going out, the fire got hot. The temp near the stack went up to 340 but the one near the meat went to 270.
When I went to spritz the meat, I could easily tell the stall, it was actually wet for about an hour. For a hot temp, that would not happen.
There was a lot going on in there. The cook took the same time as with a 240 temp, didn’t cook out the marrow that would have happened with 300 degrees.
Will be looking into this more. It is fascinating and very tasty. I do need to find the best and most reliable locations to put the probes so I can get to a place that I don’t need the probes while working the fire.
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