Who's smoking meat this weekend?

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Bourbon Maple glazed Cedar Planked Salmon.

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lschiavo said:
Making two pork butts for tacos tomorrow. It's my youngest boy's 10th birthday.

My ugly drum rusted out after many years of service. I had a stainless drum left from when we planned to upgrade to a 1bbl brewery. I finally took a few hours to swap over the hardware today. I imagine this one will last a lot longer than the first.

I also have an inkbird Bluetooth thermometer to try out that I got for a gift. Haven't smoked anything since Christmas so this will be fun with all the new stuff. I hope it all works. Of course it just started raining...

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There is nothing ugly about that thing! I have a UDS also and I know it will rust out but I never thought about a stainless drum.

How does it work with the fan? I would think that with that hole open all the time it would make it hard to control the temp.
 
applescrap said:
^^That sounds so good. I have always cooked them the other way around. Simmered in beer and then grilled or smoked. Curious to learn more about this method.
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Yeah I saw a video on YouTube earlier. The guy threw the brats on the smoker and in a foil pan combined butter and onions and let it cook along with the brats. Then he added the beer and spices when the brats were done cooking and then added to brats to the pan and let it cook down. Threw it on a bun and topped it with the leftover onion mixture. looked great!
 
Jaybird said:
DUDE!!!! That is AWESOME!!! Walk me through what I am looking at and how it works exactly PLEASE :)

CHeers
Jay
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Thanks man! I put it together quite a while back with mostly stuff I had laying around the shop. Same concept as something like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A7F1B60/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

The upper box has a PID wired to a probe set about grate height through the drum. The PID controls a 24VAC transformer and a 12VDC power supply. The outputs of those go to the lower box.

The lower box is mounted on a piece of 3" conduit. The 24VAC opens the damper motor attached to the conduit (built my own little flap inside the conduit). The 12VDC turns on the computer fan mounted on the box cover. Opens the damper and blows air when it calls for heat.

I have a charcoal basket that sits in the bottom. I think I could easily do a 24 hour smoke on a large bag. It's pretty much set and forget;)

Transamguy77 said:
There is nothing ugly about that thing! I have a UDS also and I know it will rust out but I never thought about a stainless drum.

How does it work with the fan? I would think that with that hole open all the time it would make it hard to control the temp.
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I would think I'm set for life with the stainless drum now.

See above. There's a damper on that hole;)
 
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Ischiavo, that is a great idea with the damper door! I HAVE done a 24+ smoke and it would have been a lot less hands off with your setup. You have given me something to think about. Thanks for the post!
 
treacheroustexan said:
Yeah I saw a video on YouTube earlier. The guy threw the brats on the smoker and in a foil pan combined butter and onions and let it cook along with the brats. Then he added the beer and spices when the brats were done cooking and then added to brats to the pan and let it cook down. Threw it on a bun and topped it with the leftover onion mixture. looked great!
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Oh man that sounds good. I have to try that. Smoked butter and onions, reduced beer mixture, cooked down with brats and spooned onto bun. Whats not to like?!
 
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I stocked up on Kingsford blue at the last Labor Day sale and timed it just right - after regular grilling and smoking for the last six months, I smoked baby backs on Mother’s Day, grilled a couple more times and then completely ran out on Saturday. I was rationing it a bit over the last month to make it last until the Memorial Day sale.

Now I’ve got a trunkfull!! Gonna smoke/grill a ton this weekend - beef ribs, competition style chicken thighs, etc. I even told SWMBO that once my supply is restocked I’d do the most extravagant waste of charcoal in my repertoire and fire up the Pizza Kettle attachment on the Weber.
 
JonM said:
I stocked up on Kingsford blue at the last Labor Day sale and timed it just right - after regular grilling and smoking for the last six months, I smoked baby backs on Mother’s Day, grilled a couple more times and then completely ran out on Saturday. I was rationing it a bit over the last month to make it last until the Memorial Day sale.

Now I’ve got a trunkfull!! Gonna smoke/grill a ton this weekend - beef ribs, competition style chicken thighs, etc. I even told SWMBO that once my supply is restocked I’d do the most extravagant waste of charcoal in my repertoire and fire up the Pizza Kettle attachment on the Weber.
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So you use briquettes and add wood chunks?
 
HoppyDaze said:
So you use briquettes and add wood chunks?
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Yep. I usually keep a bag of apple wood chunks around and last year - long story - but I scored a lot of mulberry wood from by parents’ house. It’s been drying for the last 12 months and probably ready to go.

EDIT: That’s what I do on the smoker. For the Pizza Kettle I went to the local place that supplies wood to all the restaurants that have WFOs and bought a big bundle of their oak kindling. I heat everything up with Kingsford then throw a few pieces of wood on when I’m almost ready to put the pizzas on.
 
I went with the sale on lump instead of the two kingsford bag deal, thoughts? I didn't want to Splash out on both so I chose the lump.
 
shelly_belly said:
Any of you using charcoal in a kamodo? I have the akorn and have only used lump, which works very well.
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I've burned through several bags of Briquettes in my BGE over the years. It works fine. Fuel is fuel and even though I prefer lump, Briquettes are great if thats what you have. I have never had any issues switching back & forth or even combining them.

TheDudeLebowski said:
Lowe's just posted the same price if that's closer for people than the Depot
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I think the yearly Memorial Day sale goes on at most major retailers. The only difference being bag size - slight packaging differences.

The main thing to focus on is price/lb IMHO. I quit trying to guess what is a good value & started running numbers on this stuff as it's really the same so long as it burns good & clean.

I also cook on my pellet rig (Memphis Select) so I've looked into best value on fuel for this as well.

So yeah - to summarize pricing:

Sale price Kingsford = $0.26/lb
Lazari lump reg price = $0.38/lb

Traeger Pellets = $0.75/lb
Bear Mountain = $0.50/lb
Lil Devils = $0.25/lb



Also this popped up on the web haha -
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Crosspost from the “What did I cook this weekend” thread .

I took the afternoon off and made the trek out to may favorite farm shop to pick up a bunch of these beauties - heritage pork chops. Almost as red as steak and richly marbled, all for a mere $4.49/lb. which makes me all warm inside because shops in town sell similar quality stuff for $16/lb or more. All I have to do is drive maybe 45 minutes out of my way.

And they raise beef cattle, so I got a small brisket too. Also $4.49/lb.

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Loaded up the smoker. From the bottom up.

9lb pork butt
4 Chicken leg quarters
4 half racks of baby back ribs
1lb of buttered and seasoned almonds.

Smoking with a 33% blend of hickory, cherry, and apple.
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Those almonds look great. Will you please share some tips on how to make them.

Smoked pork loin and turkey breast thing. Apple and jd oak still, thats all i got. Missing cherry. Thicker with commercial rub and better results. The turkey is sooo good. Haha, the wife wanted to brine it with a fancy brine mix we have. Just didn't get to it. I'll see how dry it is when I cut it open. Didn't stuff it either.165 degree for turkey and 150 for loin.
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applescrap said:
Those almonds look great. Will you please share some tips on how to make them.

Smoked pork loin and turkey breast thing. Apple and jd oak still, thats all i got. Missing cherry. Thicker with commercial rub and better results. The turkey is sooo good. Haha, the wife wanted to brine it with a fancy brine mix we have. Just didn't get to it. I'll see how dry it is when I cut it open. Didn't stuff it either.165 degree for turkey and 150 for loin.View attachment 572347View attachment 572348
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The smoke nuts are pretty simple. You need to melt two tablespoons of butter in a skillet and then toss in a pound of nuts and season however you wish. Then add them to your smoker. Yesterday, did the same thing. I seasoned with adobo powder and chili powder. Then I cut some aluminum screen to make a basket, added the nuts and slid it onto the top rack of my smoker. I smoked them the whole time the butt was on. The nuts don't take on a lot of smoke, but its enough to do the job. I have done them three times the same way, aside from the basket, I always used a large muslin hop sack. Just didn't have any.

https://www.theblackpeppercorn.com/2017/05/smoked-almonds/

The basket is cut out of aluminum screen that is 1" larger than my rack. I then folded the screen edges up with a steel ruler then stapled the corner flap to one side. I use the same type of basket for smoking barley. My barley baskets are not used for food as I don't want cooking greases on my precious barley.

If this gets you thinking of barley, see my signature for smoking and roasting your own malt. I have a oak smoked pale ale that is very hammy goes good with ribs and pulled pork.
 
Awesome tips there. I've got to give it a try. I really love smoked almonds. I've never had a smoked beer but it's never too late to start!

Wow oh wow. That turkey is unbelievable. I think for Thanksgiving we should do the same turkey. I didn't mind not having the leg quarters and everything else to deal with. Look how much meat came off this sucker. Chopped it all up. It is amazing. My kids were literally stuffing their face with it cold as I was cutting it. And heated, it was the juiciest turkey I've ever had. All pulled off the bone like that, there was enough on this little bird to feed a significant amount of people. I suspect keeping the cavity opened helped to cook and also allowed smoke in there.
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Ah, that turkey looks good.... I have never done Turkey. May have too. That was just the breast right?

Your pictures reminded me. I still need pull my pork butt. It was done at 2:00 AM at 8 AM it was 86F so into the fridge it went.
 
Made amazing burgers last night. Not a phrase I use often. Got beef from Butcher Box. Everything I’ve made with their beef had been incredible. It’s expensive but worth it. Helps I had a gift card. I highly recommend the “no salt seasoning” from Costco. I’ve been using on everything
 
We went blasphemy style today and threw a shoulder in the crockpot. Had planned to smoke it; but, then figured out we were gonna be home all day.

Oh well. It’ll get the job done, I suppose.
 
Popped my cherry today. Never owned a kettle. Was up in tax free NH to buy more charcoal and found this baby. Bought the lodge cast iron grill on Friday. Told myself no more impulse buying this weekend!!!! Assembled thru the onslaught of mosquitos after the rain.
 

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