I've finally started digging out my garden to build myself a proper smoke shack instead of rigging up some ghetto shelter for BBQing in the rain!
*****Official BBQ Thread - Suns out, Buns out!*****
- Thread starter Psymonkee
- Start date
I've finally started digging out my garden to build myself a proper smoke shack instead of rigging up some ghetto shelter for BBQing in the rain!
Hi all - would like some help, if you would be so kind?
It is my old man's birthday today and aside from his usual presents, I gave him a choice of a new toy for the garden and he would like a Weber Spirit BBQ to replace his ageing, knackered Char Broil from the US.
https://www.weber.com/GB/en/barbecues/gas-barbecues/spirit-ii-series/45002174.html
Not looking for alternative suggestions, as it is his birthday and he gets to pick, but I'm seeing a lot of places selling it for £710. Anywhere that might be a little cheaper or, if not, any particular store that should get my money over another?
It is my old man's birthday today and aside from his usual presents, I gave him a choice of a new toy for the garden and he would like a Weber Spirit BBQ to replace his ageing, knackered Char Broil from the US.
https://www.weber.com/GB/en/barbecues/gas-barbecues/spirit-ii-series/45002174.html
Not looking for alternative suggestions, as it is his birthday and he gets to pick, but I'm seeing a lot of places selling it for £710. Anywhere that might be a little cheaper or, if not, any particular store that should get my money over another?
Soldato
It looks to me like you won't get cheaper than £710, if places like BBQworld have it at that price, it's likely the lowest as they'll match anything lower.
I've never owned a decent BBQ, and figured that i should probably change that. After reading through some of this thread it would appear that the Weber Master Touch seems to be a good idea, and something around the £200 mark is probably towards the top of what i would be willing to pay! Is there any other options that would be better? I'm certainly more comfortable between £100-200 but i would presume so long as it's looked after it will last a good few years!
The Master Touch gets my vote, they're a really versatile piece of kit, mine gets regular use. It may be expensive at first but it will probably out live any cheaper ones anyway! Now is probably the wrong time to buy unfortunately as it's the beginning of summer. There are sometimes good deals about though so it's worth keeping an eye open. A few weeks ago you could grab them for about £150 from Go Outdoors!
Thanks, yeah i unfortunately read about that deal a little too late. Think it's still possible to get them for around £200 or so but i may hold off until something good comes up again!
Soldato
Just done a beer can chicken, my favourite to lob onto the Weber indirect and forget about. Cooked whilst I did the tip run, got back and chicken was so moist and tasty 
No stock of the briquettes were delivered to my local Aldi. PIA!
Soldato
https://www.aldi.co.uk/kamado-bbq-&...Eszu7lLDeccgLyaKny3UvWNP8M4lClvhoC0pgQAvD_BwE
Kamado BBQ £350 at Aldi. Seems to be £500 elsewhere. Might be useful to someone.
Kamado BBQ £350 at Aldi. Seems to be £500 elsewhere. Might be useful to someone.
Soldato
If 10 people forward me £50 each I'll buy one and do a review
Soldato
If you get it in black its £620
https://www.riversidegardencentre.co.uk/weberr-spiritr-ii-e-320-gbsr-black.html
Soldato
Bit of a blog this one!
I had a second go at brisket on my callow smoker on the weekend. My first attempt went really well (way above expectations!) so I was pretty confident.
I actually went in to the butchers Friday afternoon to get some beef short ribs, but they were sold out so I foolishly asked if they had any briskets. The guy pulls a full packer out the fridge and asks me how many kg I want
I said can you please separate the point from the flat, and was met by a blank face. They are a very established an well known butchers, so pretty disappointing, despite the fact that I know it's still not that common in the UK to cook these sorts of joints.
I then had about a 5 minute battle trying to show him by leaning over his counter how to cut it, when really I don't know it that well myself. In the end I think I got 80% of the point and a chunk of flat too. Not the end of the world, 4kg of nice meaty brisket! Gave it a trim and looking good
As usual, I get the meat on the smoker later than planned (11 month old has hindered my efforts to rectify this), it goes onto the callow at 8.15am. I've 'precooked' my water holder (which I have filled with sand) to 120C in the oven to get to temp ASAP, lit some coals and placed them in the tray with the minion method, handful of apple wood chunks and some other blended chips. Come to put the brisket on the top grate - we're gonna need a bigger grill.
From here until the end of the cook, temperatures stressed me the **** out. That picture above is actually after several hours, after a bit of shrinkage. To close the lid, I actually had to press down and compress the meat a little. Not ideal, and the middle grate wouldn't have caused the same issue, but I know my top grate gets hotter, and air flow might have been an issue. Well, it really was. You can see where my ambient probe is above, prior to shrinkage this was a really pretty thin gap, maybe 3-4cm.
I had my ambient probe replaced last week because my original wasn't working, and this served to make me very paranoid. I couldn't seem to get past 190F, and I am 20% of the mind it might be an ambient probe issue, 80% that I had air flow problems. Air flow due to the size of the joint preventing air flowing through the cooker, and also due to my charcoal basket, sadly still.
I drilled some more holes in my charcoal basked last weekend, on the side, and now think that this may be counter productive. As all us callow users now, on the early versions, the air flowing in from the bottom vents doesn't naturally flow under the basket and up through the coals. The foil around the rim of the basket trick solves this, and drilling additional holes in the side helps too. I wonder though if too many holes in the side means you go back to less air flowing underneath (which is best) and actually hinders things.
The temperature of the meat was actually coming on OK though, didn't take too long to get to 140F. Of course then the stall happened. I was aiming to pull it from the cooker by 7pm, which is about a 12 hour cook. My last brisket took 7.5 hours, so I thought I had plenty of contingency. By 6pm I had improved my temps to more like 220-230 (perhaps due to shrinkage improving airflow) but meat was still at 150F, so time for the oven to come in to play. Preheated to 350F, wrapped the meat and whacked it in. Took about 1.5 hours to get to 200F.
Really disappointingly, the brisket that was tender was now dry, and the brisket that was still juicy was not tender. This is probably due to the ridiculously hot final stage of the cook, but we didn't want to be eating at 11pm.
Aesthetically, it looked nice, I have to say I preferred the tender dry bits to the juicy chewy bits. Was actually quite nice especially with some pit beans too which I cooked underneath to catch some juice
Probably best meal from it was last night, wife slathered some chunks in BBQ sauce and reheated and served with mac and cheese, a couple of tough pieces but very tasty
Definitely some learning points, key one being don't try a 4kg slab of meat on a 13" grate. If I had to do this again it seems a no brainer to halve the joint and put half on the lower rack.
I love long cooks, but when the results aren't just right then it can seem like a pretty frustrating 12 or 13 hours!
I had a second go at brisket on my callow smoker on the weekend. My first attempt went really well (way above expectations!) so I was pretty confident.
I actually went in to the butchers Friday afternoon to get some beef short ribs, but they were sold out so I foolishly asked if they had any briskets. The guy pulls a full packer out the fridge and asks me how many kg I want
I said can you please separate the point from the flat, and was met by a blank face. They are a very established an well known butchers, so pretty disappointing, despite the fact that I know it's still not that common in the UK to cook these sorts of joints.
I then had about a 5 minute battle trying to show him by leaning over his counter how to cut it, when really I don't know it that well myself. In the end I think I got 80% of the point and a chunk of flat too. Not the end of the world, 4kg of nice meaty brisket! Gave it a trim and looking good
As usual, I get the meat on the smoker later than planned (11 month old has hindered my efforts to rectify this), it goes onto the callow at 8.15am. I've 'precooked' my water holder (which I have filled with sand) to 120C in the oven to get to temp ASAP, lit some coals and placed them in the tray with the minion method, handful of apple wood chunks and some other blended chips. Come to put the brisket on the top grate - we're gonna need a bigger grill.
From here until the end of the cook, temperatures stressed me the **** out. That picture above is actually after several hours, after a bit of shrinkage. To close the lid, I actually had to press down and compress the meat a little. Not ideal, and the middle grate wouldn't have caused the same issue, but I know my top grate gets hotter, and air flow might have been an issue. Well, it really was. You can see where my ambient probe is above, prior to shrinkage this was a really pretty thin gap, maybe 3-4cm.
I had my ambient probe replaced last week because my original wasn't working, and this served to make me very paranoid. I couldn't seem to get past 190F, and I am 20% of the mind it might be an ambient probe issue, 80% that I had air flow problems. Air flow due to the size of the joint preventing air flowing through the cooker, and also due to my charcoal basket, sadly still.
I drilled some more holes in my charcoal basked last weekend, on the side, and now think that this may be counter productive. As all us callow users now, on the early versions, the air flowing in from the bottom vents doesn't naturally flow under the basket and up through the coals. The foil around the rim of the basket trick solves this, and drilling additional holes in the side helps too. I wonder though if too many holes in the side means you go back to less air flowing underneath (which is best) and actually hinders things.
The temperature of the meat was actually coming on OK though, didn't take too long to get to 140F. Of course then the stall happened. I was aiming to pull it from the cooker by 7pm, which is about a 12 hour cook. My last brisket took 7.5 hours, so I thought I had plenty of contingency. By 6pm I had improved my temps to more like 220-230 (perhaps due to shrinkage improving airflow) but meat was still at 150F, so time for the oven to come in to play. Preheated to 350F, wrapped the meat and whacked it in. Took about 1.5 hours to get to 200F.
Really disappointingly, the brisket that was tender was now dry, and the brisket that was still juicy was not tender. This is probably due to the ridiculously hot final stage of the cook, but we didn't want to be eating at 11pm.
Aesthetically, it looked nice, I have to say I preferred the tender dry bits to the juicy chewy bits. Was actually quite nice especially with some pit beans too which I cooked underneath to catch some juice
Probably best meal from it was last night, wife slathered some chunks in BBQ sauce and reheated and served with mac and cheese, a couple of tough pieces but very tasty
Definitely some learning points, key one being don't try a 4kg slab of meat on a 13" grate. If I had to do this again it seems a no brainer to halve the joint and put half on the lower rack.
I love long cooks, but when the results aren't just right then it can seem like a pretty frustrating 12 or 13 hours!
Last edited:
Associate
doesn't it get all gritty?
Soldato
Hey all,
My partner and I are looking into getting into smoking and BBQing some meat, were both big foodies so aren't afraid of a bit of technical work.
Would be looking into a decent smoker with a budget of around £200 (flexible if it's worth it)
Any advice on tools/accessories and a good book to go alongside would also be ideal
My partner and I are looking into getting into smoking and BBQing some meat, were both big foodies so aren't afraid of a bit of technical work.
Would be looking into a decent smoker with a budget of around £200 (flexible if it's worth it)
Any advice on tools/accessories and a good book to go alongside would also be ideal
Associate
For the smoker, the Callow smoker is what is often recommended in this thread. We've got one, and for it's price (usually under £100) it's brilliant. The only problem with ours now is the dog managed to wrap his lead around it one night before it had been put away, pulled it over, and it's now slightly deformed. Something like the Weber Smokey Mountain might be more robust, but it's about 5 times the price.
Looks good. Also ace idea dropping some beans underneath the meat - why didn't I think of that!?