Pellet Maze Experiment - Pork Butt

[HotSun]

I have been playing around with some different techniques. The weather was a little weird this weekend, so I actually did this early Monday morning. Here's what I was experimenting with:

• Kamander
• Pellet maze for smoke
• Lump charcoal for heat
• Inkbird for air/temp control
• Skewering the meat instead of tying

I did a test run yesterday just with the pellets and it maintained smoke for a good 5 hours at least. Today, I got up super early to get this going before I had to go to work. I prepped everything the night before.


Here is how I setup the Kamander:

Note the little fire on the pellet, to get it going. I added hot coals, using a version of the snake method:


Coals are at the top. The pellets were producing decent smoke, so I get the deflector, drip pan, grate, and pork in place:

Beautiful day for smoking, but I wasn't due to get home until about 12:45. Lid was down at 7:00 am.

I wasn't getting smoke, so the pellets did not stay ignited. I put some cherry chunks in for smoke and went to work.

To be concluded....

[HotSun]

I forgot to mention, I set the Inkbird to 225F. It is extremely reliable and accurate, so I know I can leave and come back and temps will be right. Smoke is a different story.

If you noticed, I had skewered the pork butt. I was curious to see if there would be any impact on the stall (there wasn't), by transferring heat into the center of the meat. If nothing else, it is a heck of a lot easier than tying. I think I like the results.

I got home and needed to feed the Kamander for more smoke. I used some mesquite chips and pellets. I had to do it a couple more times. I hit the stall for a few hours, at about 165F.

I cranked the Inkbird up to about 250F at about 4pm. At about 6:30, getting late for dinner, I cranked up to 350F. Right about 7pm, I hit 203F. Here we are:


Results were still good, but the pellet idea was a bust. There is so little oxygen in the Kamander that I'm sure it just snuffed out the smoke. Yesterday, I just had vent and damper open, rather than having the Inkbird regulating airflow.

I won't bore you all with shredding pics, as it looks like every other shredded pork butt. Here is my obligatory plating pic:

I doused this with generous amounts of homemade East Carolina bbq sauce. The roll is from a local baker with the mysterious name 'Newark Bakery'. Good bread.

Postscript:
This is what the pit looked like after cooling (I just realize the pic is upside down0. As per usual, a 12 hour burn with lump charcoal still had a lot of life left in it.
The pellets just turned to charcoal nearest to the coals. I'm thinking the only way this might work is without the Inkbird and the damper open between 1.5 and 2.

I have found the pellet tube and pellet maze to be difficult with this device. Regardless, I found this a fun (and tasty) exercise. Thanks for hanging with me here.

[realdocBBQ]

Yeah I can see you need a bit more airflow to keep pellets smoldering. That's unfortunate. In a setup like that, I'd probably just scatter actual wood chunks in with my charcoal to light up over time. I do that in my Super 55 drum, and in my Weber kettle. Not as much smoke flavor as an offset stickburner, but it does get some smoke on the meat.

[HotSun]

I typically cook in a pyramid, which works great for the super prolonged cooks. Chunks are placed towards the top. Of course, as evidenced here, I can't leave well enough alone, haha.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Back when I had a Big Easy SRG I tried a few variations of things like this, the air flow just isn't there and the heat messes things up with the maze. The maze needs air flow and I would assume the coals suck up the air the maze needs. I would try a pellet tube vertically in the position you are trying? OR, maybe foil the top of the maze and see if that might let things burn slowly up? It's always fun to experiment for sure, maybe you'll figure it out maybe you won't, but I'm sure you'll eat good along the way.

[HotSun]

Thanks for the ideas. There is not enough interior real estate for the pellet tube, with the heat deflector in place. This darn device is so efficient and tight, that the Inkbird doesn't even run that much. I'm going to try a test run without the Inkbird and vent/damper at 1.5 each. I do have to keep the hot coals far enough away from the pellets. Fun time regardless.

[DaveD]

Experiments for the win!

[Oak Smoke]

We’re going to have to resurrect the smoke pot. It actually works and pushes the smoke through the fire to make it better..

[HotSun]

I've been toying with the idea of setting up a smoke box under the Kamander, which has a 'drain' of sorts at the bottom. Hopefully the Kamander lasts long enough for me to figure it out, haha.