Soldato
Grillstream
*****Official BBQ Thread - Suns out, Buns out!*****
- Thread starter Psymonkee
- Start date
Sound investment! Enjoy the cooks. Get yourself a rotisserie if funds ever allow. Another game changer for cooks that can be left alone.
Soldato
Nice fresh evening, BBQ is getting up to temp so have a halloumi on there to start with, then some chicken wings after.
Planning Prevents Pished Poor Performance BBQs 
The Hendrik is 11% and the Forte is 10%
So I also have some Medoc, Pino noir and some Macon plus whites for BBQ season
That La Raoul is 7% and hoppy like a smooth IPA.. well worth picking up a few bottles for hot BBQs
The Hendrik is 11% and the Forte is 10%
So I also have some Medoc, Pino noir and some Macon plus whites for BBQ season That La Raoul is 7% and hoppy like a smooth IPA.. well worth picking up a few bottles for hot BBQs
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Soldato
Planning Prevents Pished Poor Performance BBQs
The Hendrik is 11% and the Forte is 10%
That La Raoul is 7% and hoppy like a smooth IPA.. well worth picking up a few bottles for hot BBQs
The problem is if you pour that beer on the bbq the flames intensify! Great selection!
Soldato
Just built up the new bbq……just need the stainless tables either side now. Will get them measured up and ordered
Associate
Anyone able to recommend a good easy meat /recipe to smoke? Never ever done it before and would love to give it a go.
I have a charcoal & gas bbq which is reasonably large, could I start off smoking using this? It has a chimney "thing" where smoke comes out and a lid etc - would this be suitable?
Sorry for the dumb questions, not sure if anyone can help or point me in the right direction.
I have a charcoal & gas bbq which is reasonably large, could I start off smoking using this? It has a chimney "thing" where smoke comes out and a lid etc - would this be suitable?
Sorry for the dumb questions, not sure if anyone can help or point me in the right direction.
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Jan 2006
- Posts
- 4,283
A pork shoulder to do pulled pork is dead easy. If you can put up a picture of your bbq (or link a similar one) we can have a look at what vents it has etc for controlling air flow and temperature and advise on how best to try use it.
Associate
Yeah sure, thanks mate. Do love pulled pork!
Associate
I cant get it photographed now as its all covered up, but from memory it's not too dissimilar to this
CosmoGrill Duo Dual Fuel Black Gas and Charcoal Barbecue with Weatherproof Cover & Offset Smoker | DIY at B&Q
CosmoGrill Duo dual fuel barbecue provides the best of both worlds, combining gas and charcoal to form the ultimate hybrid barbecue. Featuring two generously sized grilling areas extending over 80cm combined, the cooking techniques are endless with grilling, smoking or both at any time. The gas...
www.diy.com
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Jan 2006
- Posts
- 4,283
It's difficult to tell for sure from the product photos but looking at the instruction manual, it looks like that has a firebox on the far right that opens into the charcoal side of the bbq, and has a vent on the far end to control the air flow into the firebox, and there is a vent control on the top of the chimney. So in theory you should be grand for smoking! (though there is a bit of a learning curve so be aware of that).
For smoking you'll need decent charcoal or briquettes, supermarket rubbish really won't be suitable as that gives of horrible fumes from the fillers and binders that create smoke and will give your food a horrible taste too! If you're direct grilling this isn't too much of an issue as you won't put the food on the grill until that has burnt off, but with the smoking it'll be gradually burning and lighting new coals for a long time so anything cheap and nasty will taint your food.
I pretty much always use Aussie Heat Beads as they are nice and consistent in their burn times and they light very cleanly so work nicely for a long smoke. Restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal is also a good option though can be inconsistent in it's size, shape and quality.
For the actual smoking, you'll need a big pile of unlit coals in the firebox. Then you'll add a small amount of lit coals at one side on the coals next to the air vent. As they burn through, they will gradually lit the coals beneath/beside them and the burn will spread through the firebox over the course of the smoke.
For the smoke itself, I would suggest using something like Hickory Pellets (looks for ones which are 100% hardwood, as a lot of brands use cheaper woods and add flavour with oils which just doesn't work as well in my book. Add a couple of handfuls of pellets sprinkled onto the unlit coals a little bit to the side of where the lit coals will be put, this way, as the coals burn they will also burn the pellets and give you lovely smoke.
I would strongly recommend getting a multiprobe thermometer so you can monitor the pit temp and the food temp. The hardest part is the temperature control. You want to find a balance of the vents whereby you can maintain your desired temp (normally about 110C - 120C) while not burning too many coals too quickly. This really comes down to practice and getting to know your BBQ but I would suggest a starting point would be to half close the vent on the chimney and have the firebox vent fully open to begin with. As the temperature begins to climb towards your target temp, gradually close the firebox vent a little at a time - giving a good 10-15 mins to see what impact the adjustment has - until you find a point where the temperature stabilises. It can be tricky and annoying, and can be impacted by how well sealed the joins etc of the bbq are, and even the ambient temperature etc but with practice it can normally be done.
With multifunction bbqs they can sometimes have poor air flow, and you might find that it's a struggle to get temps high enough if you start closing the vent down, in which case I'm afraid it's a case of doing your best and making sure to keep an eye on the coals to make sure there's enough burning to keep the temps up.
Hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of what to do, I've written it pretty hastily but hopefully it's helpful.
For more info, look up offset smoking, minion method, vent control there's loads of info out there and plenty of people who can help.
For smoking you'll need decent charcoal or briquettes, supermarket rubbish really won't be suitable as that gives of horrible fumes from the fillers and binders that create smoke and will give your food a horrible taste too! If you're direct grilling this isn't too much of an issue as you won't put the food on the grill until that has burnt off, but with the smoking it'll be gradually burning and lighting new coals for a long time so anything cheap and nasty will taint your food.
I pretty much always use Aussie Heat Beads as they are nice and consistent in their burn times and they light very cleanly so work nicely for a long smoke. Restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal is also a good option though can be inconsistent in it's size, shape and quality.
For the actual smoking, you'll need a big pile of unlit coals in the firebox. Then you'll add a small amount of lit coals at one side on the coals next to the air vent. As they burn through, they will gradually lit the coals beneath/beside them and the burn will spread through the firebox over the course of the smoke.
For the smoke itself, I would suggest using something like Hickory Pellets (looks for ones which are 100% hardwood, as a lot of brands use cheaper woods and add flavour with oils which just doesn't work as well in my book. Add a couple of handfuls of pellets sprinkled onto the unlit coals a little bit to the side of where the lit coals will be put, this way, as the coals burn they will also burn the pellets and give you lovely smoke.
I would strongly recommend getting a multiprobe thermometer so you can monitor the pit temp and the food temp. The hardest part is the temperature control. You want to find a balance of the vents whereby you can maintain your desired temp (normally about 110C - 120C) while not burning too many coals too quickly. This really comes down to practice and getting to know your BBQ but I would suggest a starting point would be to half close the vent on the chimney and have the firebox vent fully open to begin with. As the temperature begins to climb towards your target temp, gradually close the firebox vent a little at a time - giving a good 10-15 mins to see what impact the adjustment has - until you find a point where the temperature stabilises. It can be tricky and annoying, and can be impacted by how well sealed the joins etc of the bbq are, and even the ambient temperature etc but with practice it can normally be done.
With multifunction bbqs they can sometimes have poor air flow, and you might find that it's a struggle to get temps high enough if you start closing the vent down, in which case I'm afraid it's a case of doing your best and making sure to keep an eye on the coals to make sure there's enough burning to keep the temps up.
Hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of what to do, I've written it pretty hastily but hopefully it's helpful.
For more info, look up offset smoking, minion method, vent control there's loads of info out there and plenty of people who can help.
Last edited:
Associate
Wow, thanks so much for the info! I really appreciate thatIt's difficult to tell for sure from the product photos but looking at the instruction manual, it looks like that has a firebox on the far right that opens into the charcoal side of the bbq, and has a vent on the far end to control the air flow into the firebox, and there is a vent control on the top of the chimney. So in theory you should be grand for smoking! (though there is a bit of a learning curve so be aware of that).
For smoking you'll need decent charcoal or briquettes, supermarket rubbish really won't be suitable as that gives of horrible fumes from the fillers and binders that create smoke and will give your food a horrible taste too! If you're direct grilling this isn't too much of an issue as you won't put the food on the grill until that has burnt off, but with the smoking it'll be gradually burning and lighting new coals for a long time so anything cheap and nasty will taint your food.
I pretty much always use Aussie Heat Beads as they are nice and consistent in their burn times and they light very cleanly so work nicely for a long smoke. Restaurant grade lumpwood charcoal is also a good option though can be inconsistent in it's size, shape and quality.
For the actual smoking, you'll need a big pile of unlit coals in the firebox. Then you'll add a small amount of lit coals at one side on the coals next to the air vent. As they burn through, they will gradually lit the coals beneath/beside them and the burn will spread through the firebox over the course of the smoke.
For the smoke itself, I would suggest using something like Hickory Pellets (looks for ones which are 100% hardwood, as a lot of brands use cheaper woods and add flavour with oils which just doesn't work as well in my book. Add a couple of handfuls of pellets sprinkled onto the unlit coals a little bit to the side of where the lit coals will be put, this way, as the coals burn they will also burn the pellets and give you lovely smoke.
I would strongly recommend getting a multiprobe thermometer so you can monitor the pit temp and the food temp. The hardest part is the temperature control. You want to find a balance of the vents whereby you can maintain your desired temp (normally about 110C - 120C) while not burning too many coals too quickly. This really comes down to practice and getting to know your BBQ but I would suggest a starting point would be to half close the vent on the chimney and have the firebox vent fully open to begin with. As the temperature begins to climb towards your target temp, gradually close the firebox vent a little at a time - giving a good 10-15 mins to see what impact the adjustment has - until you find a point where the temperature stabilises. It can be tricky and annoying, and can be impacted by how well sealed the joins etc of the bbq are, and even the ambient temperature etc but with practice it can normally be done.
With multifunction bbqs they can sometimes have poor air flow, and you might find that it's a struggle to get temps high enough if you start closing the vent down, in which case I'm afraid it's a case of doing your best and making sure to keep an eye on the coals to make sure there's enough burning to keep the temps up.
Hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of what to do, I've written it pretty hastily but hopefully it's helpful.
For more info, look up offset smoking, minion method, vent control there's loads of info out there and plenty of people who can help.
I'll get the BBQ out over the weekend and send a pic and see what it actually is and maybe you can advise further.Meat wise, what qould you say to start off with? Is supermarket joints/meats etc OK? Don't want to pay a fortune on meats and then ruin them to begin with, and if the BBQ is no good, do you a reccomend a cheap/beginner smoker I could start with before maybe getting something a bit better in the future.
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Jan 2006
- Posts
- 4,283
No worries, like I said, it's a little hastily written and I'm sure there's more helpful resources out there but hopefully it's helpful.Wow, thanks so much for the info! I really appreciate that
Meat wise, what qould you say to start off with? Is supermarket joints/meats etc OK? Don't want to pay a fortune on meats and then ruin them to begin with, and if the BBQ is no good, do you a reccomend a cheap/beginner smoker I could start with before maybe getting something a bit better in the future.
Personally I would just grab a supermarket pork shoulder (try to get a decent sized one that hopefully hasn't been torn to pieces when being deboned....sometimes they make a right mess of them) as you say, no point spending a fortune on meat when you're learning. I'd even possibly suggest getting yourself a cheap whole chicken as an alternative while you're getting a feel for the temperature control. I've had some amazing pulled pork that I've made from cheap supermarket joints. I just trim the fat off the outside as best I can, then a simple rub of brown sugar, salt, pepper and garlic powder and it's fab.
I've not got a huge amount of experience with offset smokers, though my brother had a very simple cheap and cheerful one for a couple of years and while it was a struggle to get it to keep temp well, he still managed to cook some incredible meat on it so fingers crossed yours will do the job nicely, even if it has it's foibles to deal with.
I do most of my smoking either in a cheap Callow Bullet smoker: https://www.gardengiftshop.co.uk/bbq-smokers/premium-charcoal-bbq-smoker-grill (was about £90 when I got mine)
Or I use a really cheap kettle from Wilko's or somewhere which is knackered and a bit rusty but actually works really well, I picked that one up second had for £5!!
Brushed up on some cooks I wanted to do when weather permits next few weeks by watching https://www.youtube.com/@SchueysBBQ.
Ordered the Masterbuilt 560 earlier in the week after watching countless YouTube videos regarding this hybrid smoker/grill which runs on charcoal but uses a gravity system with a digital fan/temp controller, wifi and Bluetooth enabled.
I previously had a cheap offset smoker and was almost going to buy an Oklahoma Joe until the Masterbuilt caught my eye.
Arrived today and built today, just got to season it and I'm ready.
I previously had a cheap offset smoker and was almost going to buy an Oklahoma Joe until the Masterbuilt caught my eye.
Arrived today and built today, just got to season it and I'm ready.
Soldato
Now we finally have a garden, I'm looking at getting a BBQ.
I'm still torn on options, and we're looking at three avenues but leaning between either options 1 or 2 which is basically choosing a brand for your standard charcoal fired kettle BBQ.
1) Weber Performer Deluxe
+ The unit the kettle is attached to seems better quality than the Napoleon below
+ There's gas ignition for lighting the charcoal
+ Side bucket for charcoal and a timer (not massive pros, timers can be ran off a phone and not hard to get coal out of a bag)
- The lid mechanism isn't hinged
2) Napoleon Pro Cart
+ Hinged lid, saves faff with storing the lid on the side rack like the weber
+ The cast iron grill looks better quality
+ Takes up less space as the side table can collapse
- Harder to ignite technically vs the weber but I think getting a start chimney would negate this?
The third option is a Hybrid BBQ because my other half thinks charcoal is bad for you (I have no idea if this is true, or it's a case of everything in moderation). A little worried going down this route as being Hybrid, do you lose out on it going well at using either of the fuel types? Leaning towards option 1 and 2 because I've said to my other half that how many times will we be cooking on a BBQ due to being in Engurlaaannd and secondly, might as well cook inside and eat outside if you're using gas?
Any experiences on Napoleon vs weber, of dual fuel BBQs?
I'm still torn on options, and we're looking at three avenues but leaning between either options 1 or 2 which is basically choosing a brand for your standard charcoal fired kettle BBQ.
1) Weber Performer Deluxe
+ The unit the kettle is attached to seems better quality than the Napoleon below
+ There's gas ignition for lighting the charcoal
+ Side bucket for charcoal and a timer (not massive pros, timers can be ran off a phone and not hard to get coal out of a bag)
- The lid mechanism isn't hinged
2) Napoleon Pro Cart
+ Hinged lid, saves faff with storing the lid on the side rack like the weber
+ The cast iron grill looks better quality
+ Takes up less space as the side table can collapse
- Harder to ignite technically vs the weber but I think getting a start chimney would negate this?
The third option is a Hybrid BBQ because my other half thinks charcoal is bad for you (I have no idea if this is true, or it's a case of everything in moderation). A little worried going down this route as being Hybrid, do you lose out on it going well at using either of the fuel types? Leaning towards option 1 and 2 because I've said to my other half that how many times will we be cooking on a BBQ due to being in Engurlaaannd and secondly, might as well cook inside and eat outside if you're using gas?
Any experiences on Napoleon vs weber, of dual fuel BBQs?
I see so many reviews about this, I will be following this thread very carefully.Ordered the Masterbuilt 560 earlier in the week after watching countless YouTube videos regarding this hybrid smoker/grill which runs on charcoal but uses a gravity system with a digital fan/temp controller, wifi and Bluetooth enabled.
I previously had a cheap offset smoker and was almost going to buy an Oklahoma Joe until the Masterbuilt caught my eye.
Arrived today and built today, just got to season it and I'm ready.
I have a Weber and it's great but sometimes I want to do loooooooooooong cooks (brisket) and I can't be bothered to maintain the temps all day or night