*****Official BBQ Thread - Suns out, Buns out!*****

That's over an hour without an update, and I see more action on the graph. Don't leave us in the dark here.

Felix if it's not obvious then it's not for you clearly.
 
dl8860 said:
That's over an hour without an update, and I see more action on the graph. Don't leave us in the dark here.

Felix if it's not obvious then it's not for you clearly.
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I noticed that the pit temp dropped off to 242F and it wasn't really recovering although the fan speed was only at about 13%. I had a look at the charcoal and repositioned some of the pieces so it should burn better now. Bumped the set point to 275F because time is starting to get short and the damn thing is still in the stall.

The FireBoard's battery is at 35% so I've plugged in a USB battery pack.
 
valve90210 said:
There better be some photos at the end of this! :D

That's not bad going on the battery there.
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I fear that the most exciting part about this cook will be the fancy graph :P I relied way too much on the FireBoard at the beginning to bring the BBQ up to temp which I think killed the battery quite a bit. Next time I'll get it up to about 200F with the vents before switching on the FB. Live and learn :)
 
No...I want pictures!!:(

I've done the same with my gmaster lite before now, set it running once I'd put the heat beads in the smoker and of course it had the fan spinning like mad to get the temp up. It was blowing for such a time that the coals got crazy hot and it massively overshot my target temp. Now I leave the smoker to get to almost temp before switching on the Qmaster.
 
Street said:
Whoop, you've beaten the stall! :D
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I do love butcher paper! I dunno why I thought I would have enough time to ride it out unwrapped.

Not sure why the pit is running hot after I moved the coals around. The fan ramped it up to 292F and now it's sticking there even though the set point is 275F.
 
Might have worked without butcher paper, but better safe than sorry. Was the bark looking good prior to wrapping? I reckon you'll be done by 6 at this rate.
 
What's the key to a good bark in your opinion? I can never getting looking like some people do, like a real dark crust. I always thought it might be because I cooked hotter (and therefore shorter) than optimal, as I can't control temps that well. I've used silicone to try and plug gaps in my barrel style which helps a lot but it's hard to maintain <270F.

Have a small bullet smoker I'm dying to try out soon, hoping for some real proper low n slow with that.
 
Felix said:
But if you are out its not like you can adjust the temp.
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thewanted said:
Not sure why the pit is running hot after I moved the coals around. The fan ramped it up to 292F and now it's sticking there even though the set point is 275F.
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My guess would be that when you had the lid open and moved the coals about, then put the lid back on, thus causing the temperature to drop and the fan to kick in hugely (it's on constantly for the best part of 20 minutes and at high percentages too), this extra heat caused the coals to burn a lot hotter and increased the amount of area on them that's burning which will of course give a higher temperature which will take a good while to come back down.

This is the same problem I had when I first used my qmaster and let the fan bring the smoker up to temperature, or indeed if I'm not careful about unplugging the fan when I remove the lid and only plug it back in once I've given the smoker a chance to get back up to temperature which is generally does as the coals where in the right condition for the temperature I wanted before I lifted the lid.
 
dl8860 said:
What's the key to a good bark in your opinion? I can never getting looking like some people do, like a real dark crust. I always thought it might be because I cooked hotter (and therefore shorter) than optimal, as I can't control temps that well. I've used silicone to try and plug gaps in my barrel style which helps a lot but it's hard to maintain <270F.

Have a small bullet smoker I'm dying to try out soon, hoping for some real proper low n slow with that.
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I know what you mean about those really dark, almost black crusts. I've never managed to achieve it myself on pork, but I think it's a combination of a sugary rub and a lot of smoke.

valve90210 said:
My guess would be that when you had the lid open and moved the coals about, then put the lid back on, thus causing the temperature to drop and the fan to kick in hugely (it's on constantly for the best part of 20 minutes and at high percentages too), this extra heat caused the coals to burn a lot hotter and increased the amount of area on them that's burning which will of course give a higher temperature which will take a good while to come back down.

This is the same problem I had when I first used my qmaster and let the fan bring the smoker up to temperature, or indeed if I'm not careful about unplugging the fan when I remove the lid and only plug it back in once I've given the smoker a chance to get back up to temperature which is generally does as the coals where in the right condition for the temperature I wanted before I lifted the lid.
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I think you're right. It should have backed the fan right off when the pit reached the set point but it just didn't.

I'm glad that I put the gazebo up this morning. It's hammering down sideways at the moment!
 
I don't understand things like that Smobot. Part of the fun of BBQing is keeping the temp consistent and, to be fair, once you've got it to where you need it you can leave it. I've done cooks where it went on the grill at 11pm and came off at 7/8am without the need to go out and adjust anything. I like the idea of being able to track the temps over time though, I wish my thermometer did that.

As for the bark, I'm not sure what makes it so dark but I don't think you don't want a lot of smoke otherwise it'll make it taste weird. I use McCormick Sweet and Smoky rub and that gets a nice thick, dark bark. Brisket is probably the only thing I bother wrapping too. Pork butts just get thrown on and left until the temp reads 195F - 205F.

I'm going to get my grill cleaned up and fired up this weekend. I think the last time I used it was in July when I almost amputated 2 toes with the ash catcher.
 
timmeh said:
I don't understand things like that Smobot. Part of the fun of BBQing is keeping the temp consistent and, to be fair, once you've got it to where you need it you can leave it. I've done cooks where it went on the grill at 11pm and came off at 7/8am without the need to go out and adjust anything. I like the idea of being able to track the temps over time though, I wish my thermometer did that.
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I'll admit, my WSM holds it's temp very well when it's going but I'm always wary of leaving the house or leaving it going over night. I'd love the added security of a controller so I could head out or even set it going when I go to work as currently it takes up a whole day at the weekend for me to smoke something. It's more about the end product for me than the process.
 
Street said:
I'll admit, my WSM holds it's temp very well when it's going but I'm always wary of leaving the house or leaving it going over night. I'd love the added security of a controller so I could head out or even set it going when I go to work as currently it takes up a whole day at the weekend for me to smoke something. It's more about the end product for me than the process.
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This is exactly why I bought the FireBoard. The Summit will hold temps quite well, but it's definitely not flawless. I don't find it "fun" at all to tend to a fire for 12 hours when you have guests to worry about and a hungry girlfriend.

So the pork knuckle wasn't a great success. I had to pull it off at 195F internal temp because I ran out of time. It got a 30 minute rest while I cooked some corn, but only half of it was pull'able. I think pork knuckle doesn't have enough intramuscular fat for pulling which is why most people seem to braise it. For £4.25 I got 4 meals out of it so I'm not too sad :)

Here are some photos. I was impressed with the amount of charcoal leftover since I ran it at an average temp of ~295F for 2.5 hours and I didn't fill it to capacity with fuel at the beginning. I think I need to chop up some of these massive pieces with a hatchet so that they all fit together better in the Summit.
 
I would say that's a pretty good bark. Bit confused, you say 295F for 2.5 hours, how many hours do you really mean? And it looks like the charcoal barely got started!?
 
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