*****Official 2013 BBQ Thread- it's sizzlin'!!!!*****

[peige]

I've been grillling for years but want to try some indirect heat stuff. Whats the key to keeping it ticking over for hours, I'm used to the charcoal being done within an hour, does it last hours longer with a lid on or do you top up with new every now and then?

Fancy trying a pulled pork or rubbed joint of some sort. I've got one of the webber chimneys (fantastic things) so could light more coal and top up but is that how its done?

On the subject of the chimney, I brought some charcoal from co-op the other day, lit is and went to get stuff ready... 15 minutes later I have never seen so much smoke in all my life, neighbor 2 doors down knocked to complain, hopefully a duff batch of coal, perhaps it was damp!

 

[CHokKA]

I've been grillling for years but want to try some indirect heat stuff. Whats the key to keeping it ticking over for hours, I'm used to the charcoal being done within an hour, does it last hours longer with a lid on or do you top up with new every now and then?

Fancy trying a pulled pork or rubbed joint of some sort. I've got one of the webber chimneys (fantastic things) so could light more coal and top up but is that how its done?

On the subject of the chimney, I brought some charcoal from co-op the other day, lit is and went to get stuff ready... 15 minutes later I have never seen so much smoke in all my life, neighbor 2 doors down knocked to complain, hopefully a duff batch of coal, perhaps it was damp!

Buy better charcoal, for sure. Supermarket own brand coal is awful. You definitely want something like Supagrill or Big K. Opt for a mix of lumpwood and briquettes, but I would almost always prefer lumpwood on its own. When you setup the indirect heat brackets, light up the chimney and then get more unlit coals and put them into the indirect brackets. Then, when the chimney is lit, put the hot charcoal over unlit coals, and they'll light them eventually and burn those. If you need to, light the chimney again later on. I've ready that a large oval steel bucket is a recommended place to light a chimney again if needed It also comes in handy when you want to cool your drinks

 

[FrenchTart]

I've been grillling for years but want to try some indirect heat stuff. Whats the key to keeping it ticking over for hours, I'm used to the charcoal being done within an hour, does it last hours longer with a lid on or do you top up with new every now and then?

Fancy trying a pulled pork or rubbed joint of some sort. I've got one of the webber chimneys (fantastic things) so could light more coal and top up but is that how its done?

On the subject of the chimney, I brought some charcoal from co-op the other day, lit is and went to get stuff ready... 15 minutes later I have never seen so much smoke in all my life, neighbor 2 doors down knocked to complain, hopefully a duff batch of coal, perhaps it was damp!

What kind of of BBQ do you have? If you've got a water smoker then you should use the minion method and then fill the water pan with freshly-boiled water. Keep an eye on the ambient temp in your BBQ. It should hit 110-115C fairly quickly. At this point you should add your meat and wood (I'm lazy and often add it before coming up to temp). Eventually you may notice that the temp starts to climb higher. If the water level is still fine then you need to slightly close the lower air vents (don't close the top one at all). If temp drops, do the opposite.

If you've got a kettle BBQ it's a bit more awkward and you'll need to babysit it more frequently. Set up your coals for two-zone cooking and once again fill both water pans with freshly boiled water. Monitor/adjust temperature in the same way as for the water smoker. Keep an eye on your coals and the temperature as once per hour (plus or minus 15 minutes most probably) you'll need to light another chimney of coals and add it on top of the ones you've got in there.

I should add that I am very experienced at BBQ grilling and using indirect heat, but smoking is a whole new world to me right now. I have cooked all sorts on indirect heat, from lamb, to beef joints, chicken (beer can and butterfly) and only this Sunday a home-cured pork loin. I have a meat thermometer and I use that to determine when the meat is cooked through. If I'm smoking is it generally the same process, except you obviously want the smoker at a lower temperature? I see most recipes state 110C as the best temperature to smoke at, but some here have talked about going lower. Is it still a case of checking the meat temperature for doneness even at the reduced temperatures, or are there other factors to take into consideration?

You're pretty much bang on the money with all of your assumptions to be honest. I've never seen hot smoking done at lower than ~110C (but I could easily just not know about it) and that's definitely the temperature to go for when cooking pulled pork, brisket, etc. You're probably already aware but just in case you aren't: temperatures that meat is "done" at is generally a lot lower than the target temperature for pulled pork and brisket/etc. Tougher cuts tend to want higher temps and you'll eventually be wanting it to be about 90C internal temperature. I recommend a probe you can stick in the meat and leave there. There are some cheap temperature probes on ebay that do the job well enough (not as shiny as the £60 wireless ones people rave about but 1/10th the price).

 

[FrenchTart]

Buy better charcoal, for sure. Supermarket own brand coal is awful. You definitely want something like Supagrill or Big K. Opt for a mix of lumpwood and briquettes, but I would almost always prefer lumpwood on its own. When you setup the indirect heat brackets, light up the chimney and then get more unlit coals and put them into the indirect brackets. Then, when the chimney is lit, put the hot charcoal over unlit coals, and they'll light them eventually and burn those. If you need to, light the chimney again later on. I've ready that a large oval steel bucket is a recommended place to light a chimney again if needed It also comes in handy when you want to cool your drinks

There's definitely a difference of opinion on the use of charcoal and lumpwood. Personally I prefer charcoal as it burns longer and more evenly (especially handy when slow-cooking and smoking). I don't believe that it imparts any bad flavours. Others disagree with this.

@peige Whoever you think is right about charcoal vs lumpwood I would recommend trying both out and comparing the results for yourself. Don't take anything any of us say on here (or on the various awesome BBQ technique websites) at face value and don't be scared of experimenting once you've got a couple of (indirect cooking) BBQs under your belt.

 

[CHokKA]

I've been grillling for years but want to try some indirect heat stuff. Whats the key to keeping it ticking over for hours, I'm used to the charcoal being done within an hour, does it last hours longer with a lid on or do you top up with new every now and then?

One other thing I forgot to add is to make sure that you clear out the ash in the bottom of the BBQ so that the vent holes can bring air in through the bottom of the BBQ. Otherwise your fire will just go out

 

[CHokKA]

I recommend a probe you can stick in the meat and leave there. There are some cheap temperature probes on ebay that do the job well enough (not as shiny as the £60 wireless ones people rave about but 1/10th the price).

I should have added that I have a standard dial meat thermometer and when I purchased my ProQ, I invested in a Maverick ET-732 wireless thermometer. This has a probe for the meat and one for the BBQ. I have used it a few times now and I know that it works well. I used it on Sunday when I cooked the home-cured pork loin

 

[CHokKA]

There's definitely a difference of opinion on the use of charcoal and lumpwood. Personally I prefer charcoal as it burns longer and more evenly (especially handy when slow-cooking and smoking). I don't believe that it imparts any bad flavours. Others disagree with this.

@peige Whoever you think is right about charcoal vs lumpwood I would recommend trying both out and comparing the results for yourself. Don't take anything any of us say on here (or on the various awesome BBQ technique websites) at face value and don't be scared of experimenting once you've got a couple of (indirect cooking) BBQs under your belt.

I only prefer lumpwood because I find that it burns slightly longer. My preference isn't because I feel it imparts bad flavour etc. I want to get hold of some Aussie Heat Beads tbh. I've heard that they're absolutely amazing.

 

[CliffyG]

I bought lumpwood by mistake a couple of BBQ's ago, found it burnt very hot but didn't last at all. Briquettes are slower to start off but always last ages and are still at cooking heat long after I've finished.

 

[FrenchTart]

I should have added that I have a standard dial meat thermometer and when I purchased my ProQ, I invested in a Maverick ET-732 wireless thermometer. This has a probe for the meat and one for the BBQ. I have used it a few times now and I know that it works well. I used it on Sunday when I cooked the home-cured pork loin

Those things are indeed incredibly shiny. I just can't justify the price right now The one I bought was about £6.50 (I ended up buying a 2nd one recently actually so I can either measure ambient or other bits of meat) and I tested the calibration on it using the two water methods - seems to be fine. If I feel like getting better shiny toys sometime I will definitely pick up a Maverick though.

I only prefer lumpwood because I find that it burns slightly longer. My preference isn't because I feel it imparts bad flavour etc. I want to get hold of some Aussie Heat Beads tbh. I've heard that they're absolutely amazing.

Personally I've found the opposite but to be honest I haven't tried decent quality lumpwood (whereas I have used decent charcoal, such as this stuff).

 

[peige]

I had those aussie heat beads once and they were much different to the normal stuff but I've not found them for years. I will look out for better brand charcoal, to be honest I prefer it over lumpwood as its more consistently sized and burning. If opinion is split on which is better I will stick with it.
I have a kettle style bbq so perhaps more awkward but love bbq'n so will spend more down the line if I get hooked on this style of cooking,
Found a decent local butcher so all set to try this out

Thanks for the info Frenchtart!

 

[CHokKA]

Personally I've found the opposite but to be honest I haven't tried decent quality lumpwood (whereas I have used decent charcoal, such as this stuff).

Well that'll be why you prefer charcoal, I bet that stuff is impressive I'm referring to normal briquettes vs normal lumpwood. I always try to use Big K charcoal, both a mix of lumpwood and their briquettes, I find that works really well. I was looking at getting Big K restaurant grade lumpwood a few weeks ago but I just can't find a good place that sells it. I can get it direct from Big K but the delivery times are over a week! Where'd you buy that restaurant grade charcoal from then? Direct from Big K? I was just about to press the button on 3 bags of heat beads and then saw your post. I am now just struggling along trying to find somewhere local that sells Big K, but I'm tempted by the three 7kg bags of heat beads for £32.

 

[FrenchTart]

Well that'll be why you prefer charcoal, I bet that stuff is impressive I'm referring to normal briquettes vs normal lumpwood. I always try to use Big K charcoal, both a mix of lumpwood and their briquettes, I find that works really well. I was looking at getting Big K restaurant grade lumpwood a few weeks ago but I just can't find a good place that sells it. I can get it direct from Big K but the delivery times are over a week! Where'd you buy that restaurant grade charcoal from then? Direct from Big K? I was just about to press the button on 3 bags of heat beads and then saw your post. I am now just struggling along trying to find somewhere local that sells Big K, but I'm tempted by the three 7kg bags of heat beads for £32.

To be honest I've only started using the decent stuff quite recently The stuff I linked to was picked up at Grillfest in Manchester a month or two back. I've not really looked around online to get any replacement stuff yet.

 

[CHokKA]

To be honest I've only started using the decent stuff quite recently The stuff I linked to was picked up at Grillfest in Manchester a month or two back. I've not really looked around online to get any replacement stuff yet.

www.hotsmoked.co.uk has 10KG BigK restaurant charcoal in for £16 per box. I have just ordered a box and a 4kg bag of Aussie Heat Beads with free delivery. Hopefully they'll arrive in time for the weekend and I can try them on a 4kg pork shoulder in my ProQ

 

[FrenchTart]

www.hotsmoked.co.uk has 10KG BigK restaurant charcoal in for £16 per box. I have just ordered a box and a 4kg bag of Aussie Heat Beads with free delivery. Hopefully they'll arrive in time for the weekend and I can try them on a 4kg pork shoulder in my ProQ

Nice. Those prices sound extremely reasonable.

Which ProQ do you have btw? One person I know has the Excel and another the Amigo. The Amigo looks so tiny in comparison but then you realise you can still fit about 10KG of meat on it

 

[Glaucus]

Buy better charcoal, for sure. Supermarket own brand coal is awful.

Tesco is actually really good I gott it out of nessecity. But it actualy was better than webber and just as good as my preffered Australian heat beads.

And far cheaper than £16 for 10kilos.
5kilos £5

5hrs with good even temps wit no refills.

Co-op charcoal on the other hand barely an 45mins.

 

[CHokKA]

Nice. Those prices sound extremely reasonable.

Which ProQ do you have btw? One person I know has the Excel and another the Amigo. The Amigo looks so tiny in comparison but then you realise you can still fit about 10KG of meat on it

I went for the Excel. I was going to go for the Frontier but realised that when I was buying my original Weber, I was looking at the 47cm and the 57cm and there's such a vast difference even just with 10cm, and I knew I'd regret buying the smaller ProQ in the end, so I opted for the big one!

 

[CHokKA]

Tesco is actually really good I gott it out of nessecity. But it actualy was better than webber and just as good as my preffered Australian heat beads.

Ah nice Glaucus, I realise that my statement was probably a bit too catch-all, but most I've tried never burn for long. Asda's is particularly crappy.

I think Morrison's own brand is actually Big K. At least it was a few years back when they emailed me to tell me where I could get it from. That may have changed now but they do Big K anyway.

 

[Glaucus]

Just edited for a bit more detail. But if tesco remains consistent I am more than happy with it, as it beats the top brands which are meant to be designed specifically for long cooking times.

 

[FrenchTart]

Weird. I've not tried Tesco any time recently but out of Sainsburys vs Co-op vs B&Q own brand charcoals I've found the Co-op ones to be the best of the three. Certainly not as long burning as the pro stuff but they managed to last for around 8 hours or more when I last smoked with them (minion method).

edit: Just realised that it was Sainsburys coals I used last time. I'm sure the Co-op ones have been decent enough before though

 

[Glaucus]

Thats my worry with supermarket stuff is the consistency, that's where it likely to fall down. Co-op was utterly useless and that was when I was direct grilling.

So far two bags of tesco and its been top notch.

And when you have several kilos of expensive meat slow cooking you don't wont inconsistency, but I will keep going with tesco.