BBQing Reefers - What's on your grill/smoker?

[Skynyrd Fish]

Nice work. Ill be smoking some trout, and crab legs on my vision ceramic egg. Its a green egg knock off. I will however get some pig slow smoking Friday. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

On a side note who has an Instapot? We are loving everything that comes out of ours. I've run Beef, pork, chicken and venison. I can't get enough. I feel like I'm cheating on my grills.

 

[Brew12]

Going to have to get tips from you when I get my set up. I’ve never used a smoker before. It’s the all in one use that attracts me to that type of grill.

Plenty of more experienced pit masters on here than me.

Best advice I can give you is learn what you like. Try new things. Don't be afraid to try making changes. BBQ can be like running a reef. Lots of good ways to do it. Find the one that works for you.

 

[Reef-junky]

Plenty of more experienced pit masters on here than me.

Best advice I can give you is learn what you like. Try new things. Don't be afraid to try making changes. BBQ can be like running a reef. Lots of good ways to do it. Find the one that works for you.

Should be fun. I was getting into wood with my grill at the end before I got rid of it. I had one of those metal boxes you added to the bottom of the grill. Grill got to old and was past it’s life.

 

[Brew12]

Should be fun. I was getting into wood with my grill at the end before I got rid of it. I had one of those metal boxes you added to the bottom of the grill. Grill got to old and was past it’s life.

That is how I started. Then I started smoking on a weber kettle. The got the WSM. Now have the Yoder. I've learned each step along the way.

 

[Brian Kennedy]

Did my first real cook with the Yoder yesterday. I can't say it was my finest effort. I read that the top shelf ran cooler than the bottom one so to run the smoker a bit hot. Bad advice. I should have stuck with my normal 235F. A cook I expected to take 4.5hr ended up done in 3.5 hours. Final temp was 202F so the it was bite through tender, but the cook needed to be slower to render the fat out and build up the flavor a bit more. They turned out about like you get at a BBQ restaurant. Not bad at all, but far from my best.

I have a pork shoulder on right now. 275F for the first hour, down to 225F now. Just like any new smoker, I've got to get through this learning curve.

Nice pull back, nice color.

 

[Brian Kennedy]

Did my first real cook with the Yoder yesterday. I can't say it was my finest effort. I read that the top shelf ran cooler than the bottom one so to run the smoker a bit hot. Bad advice. I should have stuck with my normal 235F. A cook I expected to take 4.5hr ended up done in 3.5 hours. Final temp was 202F so the it was bite through tender, but the cook needed to be slower to render the fat out and build up the flavor a bit more. They turned out about like you get at a BBQ restaurant. Not bad at all, but far from my best.

I have a pork shoulder on right now. 275F for the first hour, down to 225F now. Just like any new smoker, I've got to get through this learning curve.

Nice pull back, nice color.

 

[lapin]

Oysters tonight

 

[Brian Kennedy]

I love cooking beef ribs.

 

[Brew12]

I love cooking beef ribs.

That looks fantastic! My pork shoulder is hitting 190F, so not too much longer.

 

[PaulS]

Did a duck yesterday. Went through three cheap Brinkmans smoking ducks. Now I have a WSM and my favorites are picnic roasts and chuck roasts. I know chuck roasts sound strange but in WI the price of briskets are crazy and the point of smoking is to tenderize a tough piece of meat with sinew.

 

[Brew12]

This may be the best pork shoulder I ever made. It turned out wonderful. I'm sure it was a combination of the clean smoke and constant cooking temperature that pellet poopers are known for. The total cook time was around 9 hours. Came off at 201F. Bone pulled out cleanly. The pull was perfect. I kicked up the amount of cyan pepper I normally used (learned from the first two cooks) and the balance was much better.

I only regret I won't be doing any smoking today or for Christmas since we have commitments to be other places!

 

[EHaddad]

This was a Leg if Lamb I did not too long ago.

 

[Reef-junky]

A little over 1/2 way to paying for the grill I want in gift cards. I can almost taste the steaks now.

;Drool

 

[ndrwater]

12# bone in Ribeye getting ready to go on the smoker today..

 

[NS Mike D]

Thanks! It did taste ok. I'm very picky about my BBQ. I've gotten worse at restaurants and I've made worse. Just not as good as it should have been.

The one observation I can make on the Yoder after doing the wings and now the ribs is that the quality of the smoke is better than I can do on my WSM. The food came out sweeter than I expected both times. I didn't realize that I was compensating for the bitterness of an improperly aerated fire quite as much as I was. I will need to learn to adjust my seasoning accordingly.

I smoke extensively on a WSM and a Fast Eddy 120 (pellet) and in competition. There is a slight difference in smoke, but it shouldn't make any difference. I took first place in a 50+ competitors event in ribs on my WSM including against a few teams that have placed in the top 10 at the American Royal. Neither should impart a bitterness.

fwiw, I set up my WSM 45- 60 minutes before cooking to give the fire time to settle in and the WSM to heat up. I can see bitterness if you don't wait until the smoke goes from white and puffy to clear. White and puffy smoke has off flavor compounds (think soot)

 

[NS Mike D]

Going to have to get tips from you when I get my set up. I’ve never used a smoker before. It’s the all in one use that attracts me to that type of grill.

while there is a great learning method for charcoal smokers authored by Wiviott, the concept is the same. start with one set up (in the case of the pellet, one temp and the same pellets). Cook a few spatchcock (ie butterfly) chickens first. they are the easiest and everyone should like. Do the same way and use a thermometer to check for doneness.

Then move to ribs. Cook three at a time . Pull the racks 30 minutes apart. This will help you learn what is nearly done, done and over done.

keep moving up to pork butts then brisket. each time cooking more that one that you will over cook.

The only way to really know that magical moment when BBQ is bite through tender but not mush is to see for yourself, underdone, done and over done. No two meats will cook the same. Pellet smokers are great in dialing in the temp so they will cook more consistently. You will, with experience, be able to tell when a meat is cooking fast or slow and adjust the cook time accordingly.

Oh yeah, 3-2-1 is wrong IMO. 3-1-1 makes for better ribs and you can adjust better. In 3-2-1 there is nothing you can do if the ribs are mush when you unfoil, but in 3-1-1 you can judge tell if they are cooking fast or slow when you unfoil and then decide if you need to adjust the last hour.

 

[Reef-junky]

while there is a great learning method for charcoal smokers authored by Wiviott, the concept is the same. start with one set up (in the case of the pellet, one temp and the same pellets). Cook a few spatchcock (ie butterfly) chickens first. they are the easiest and everyone should like. Do the same way and use a thermometer to check for doneness.

Then move to ribs. Cook three at a time . Pull the racks 30 minutes apart. This will help you learn what is nearly done, done and over done.

keep moving up to pork butts then brisket. each time cooking more that one that you will over cook.

The only way to really know that magical moment when BBQ is bite through tender but not mush is to see for yourself, underdone, done and over done. No two meats will cook the same. Pellet smokers are great in dialing in the temp so they will cook more consistently. You will, with experience, be able to tell when a meat is cooking fast or slow and adjust the cook time accordingly.

Oh yeah, 3-2-1 is wrong IMO. 3-1-1 makes for better ribs and you can adjust better. In 3-2-1 there is nothing you can do if the ribs are mush when you unfoil, but in 3-1-1 you can judge tell if they are cooking fast or slow when you unfoil and then decide if you need to adjust the last hour.

Thanks

At this point I almost have enough gift cards to pay for the whole grill. I’m just going to wait for an 11% off sale then buy the grill. So excited

 

[ndrwater]

Not bad... Not my best effort, but the family is all quietly shoveling food in their mouths, so it at least tastes good...

 

[PaulS]

Have to try waiting for 45 - 60 minutes with my WSM. Been a little disappointed with my ribs lately. The texture is great the taste always seems a little off. Have tried a bunch of different rubs and I do not think that is the problem. They always seen a little overly whelming with a smokey taste no matter how many chips I add. Will this help?

I smoke extensively on a WSM and a Fast Eddy 120 (pellet) and in competition. There is a slight difference in smoke, but it shouldn't make any difference. I took first place in a 50+ competitors event in ribs on my WSM including against a few teams that have placed in the top 10 at the American Royal. Neither should impart a bitterness.

fwiw, I set up my WSM 45- 60 minutes before cooking to give the fire time to settle in and the WSM to heat up. I can see bitterness if don't wait until the smoke white and puffy.

 

[Brew12]

Have to try waiting for 45 - 60 minutes with my WSM. Been a little disappointed with my ribs lately. The texture is great the taste always seems a little off. Have tried a bunch of different rubs and I do not think that is the problem. They always seen a little overly whelming with a smokey taste no matter how many chips I add. Will this help?

I feel that the challenge with a WSM is balancing the upper and lower vents. I feel the biggest mistake people make is loading it with charcoal and wood chips and trying to adjust the temperature with the dampers. IMO, temperature should be maintained by the amount of fuel and only using dampers for fine tuning. I get my best BBQ off it when my dampers are close to fully open.