Thread: Barbeque Sunday! Smoking out the truck

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No no no no not here !!!!!! I was referring to Bocephus' song lyric "we got the pig in the ground and the beer on ice - all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight!" If any body shows up here tonight they get bologna and ham lap-overs.

Sorry 'bout the hi-jack, Stovens.

Originally Posted by Hot Rod Nick

I'm also lucky to work closely with BBQ so we get to eat all the experiments. A few years ago our owner/founder, who was an old Texan and always known for his BBQ, started playing with our industrial valve products to see how he could control a long, slow cook with them and here we are today in a successful multi-million dollar company making BBQ controls: www.thebbqguru.com

You're a lot o' help.....................................
Hi, my name is Bob, I'm a gadgetholic. Thanks to you Nick I just ordered a DX2 setup for my KJ.

Just finished the leftovers from this weekend, by far the best pulled pork we ever made here, not greasy at all like past crockpot recipes.

Man, you guys are making me hungry! I agree crock pot BBQ can leave it greasy for sure.

^ good choice, Bob! If you have any questions or need a hand with anything let me know and I'll get our best expert, our very own "BBQ Bob", to help you out.

Bob, Nice little remote temp gauge! Just old school simple here, but something like that would sure help!
Anyone have a good rub they would recogmend? I like Rendevous, but wouldn't mind trying something different.

I'm starting to make my own because I want to use Celtic Sea Salt instead of Regular Salt mainly because it's healthy and good for you and I also like to tweek the pepper some depending on the particular meat I'm cooking. Here's the basic recipe without my tweeking.

Recipe:
1/4 cup Coarse Salt
1/4 cup Paprika
1 T Dried Thyme
1 T Dried Oregano
1 T Coarse Pepper
1 T Onion Powder
1 T Garlic Flakes (or Granulated)
2 t Cayenne Pepper
1 t Ground Bay Leaf

Combine all ingredients as shown. Add more Cayenne Pepper for addtional heat. Rub on your favorite meat and let stand for an hour for maximum flavor.

Okay - I gotta jump in here. The batch below are after +/- hours at 185-225 degrees. I use hickory and mesquite and some cherry (from an old tree cut down in my yard). For saesoning I use a dry rub only and server up "as-is" allowing people to put their own sauce on (I really like Stubbs and typically have a sweeter one available for folks as well).

In the infamous words of Homer Simpson, "uuummmmmmmm ribbbs!!)

Oh yeah, that looks delicious! I like your smoker too! Was it made from an old LP tank?

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Oh yeah, that looks delicious! I like your smoker too! Was it made from an old LP tank?

Old pressure tank from a well.. Mostly bits and pieces I had laying around. I bought the temperature gauges at a BBQ shop and the wheels/tires from Harbor Freight. I build a nice fire in the box and there's a small fan (from a PC power supply) that keeps the heat fairly even.

I just love to smoke meats - mostly ribs and beef briquet, but have done a few turkeys, and some chicken (I can do 16 chickens at a time..).

We've fed 200 people this guy from this in one setting.. 36 racks o' ribs.. Yummmmm - I may have to leave work and go fire it up if I say much more!!

Originally Posted by glennsexton

Old pressure tank from a well.. Mostly bits and pieces I had laying around. I bought the temperature gauges at a BBQ shop and the wheels/tires from Harbor Freight. I build a nice fire in the box and there's a small fan (from a PC power supply) that keeps the heat fairly even.

I just love to smoke meats - mostly ribs and beef briquet, but have done a few turkeys, and some chicken (I can do 16 chickens at a time..).

We've fed 200 people this guy from this in one setting.. 36 racks o' ribs.. Yummmmm - I may have to leave work and go fire it up if I say much more!!

That's pretty cool. I mean hot. Could you give some input for a non knowing person to build his own smoker? I have an air compressor tank I thought would be perfect for it. I think it's a 20 or 30 gal unit.

Okay, now this thread is fixin' to get BIG!!

Steve, just remember.............it's all Nick's fault (btw Nick thanks for the backup offer)!!

While the temperature features are valuable, and for the most part I've got a decent handle on temp management using the baffles and charcoal arrangement, the idea of having temperature/electronic management of the draft sounds appealing and hopfully will free me up to do other things without as much periodic monitoring of the smoking process. The features that sealed the deal for me though were the "ramp down" programing toward the end of the cook cycle (where the temp of the fire is brought down gradually as the optimum meat temp is neared) and the "lid open" adjustments that it did automatically to efficiently readjust temp. The decision for that particular unit was assisted by my previous remote meat thermometer dying, so rolling in the cost of replacing that helped justify it (though a gadgetholic needs little nudging in all honesty). A couple online reviews by non-advertising driven sites spoke highly of the perceived results from the temp ramping. We'll see, probably won't get here til sometime next week.

I like to make a rub similar to Em's. Depending on my mood, the anticipated flavor of the meat, I'll tweak that with a smoked paprika, and instead of cayenne I'll use a chapotle chili. Sometimes on pork I'll slip in a bit of cinnamon (off the grill that's a good "secret" for chili verde too).

My chip selection is much like Glenn's. I'm seasoning some cuttings from my apple tree this summer, so that will be fun to play with. A supply of alder chips is good for salmon. I like the Stubb's sauces too, as well as Lucille's for a switch up. The other day the bride and I had lunch at a nearby pub and she had a hard cider (remembering the Steves talked about that awhile back) that I thought would make a terrific baste for a pork shoulder.

Right now all I have is a webber type grill. I saw a metal box that sits on top of the coals and under the top grate. It's supposed to be a device that can add the smoke flavor by burning the wood chips of your choice. Do these work, or is it a waste? I know it won't give a smoker result, just looking for some stuff I can do until I get or build a smoker.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Right now all I have is a webber type grill. I saw a metal box that sits on top of the coals and under the top grate. It's supposed to be a device that can add the smoke flavor by burning the wood chips of your choice. Do these work, or is it a waste? I know it won't give a smoker result, just looking for some stuff I can do until I get or build a smoker.

The limiting issue for your kettle is the proximity of the fire to the grill, that metal box is intended to block direct heat waves and divert them for a more indirect path. If you look at the Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, it's effectively your kettle with a couple added sections in the middle to make room for the water bowl (intended to add moisture and act as a baffle) and distance the meat product from the heat. That tin baffle (or some of the ceramic alternatives) probably would get you there to a degree, but you'd probably be limited to small batches and maybe extra coal/temp management.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Right now all I have is a webber type grill. I saw a metal box that sits on top of the coals and under the top grate. It's supposed to be a device that can add the smoke flavor by burning the wood chips of your choice. Do these work, or is it a waste? I know it won't give a smoker result, just looking for some stuff I can do until I get or build a smoker.

Sometimes on my gas fire grill I want to add a little smoke flavor and the metal box does the job, but for real smoked slow roasted meats, can't seem to beat a smoker, and the one I'm using right now is pretty affordable at 89 bucks, but if you have a weber, why not just add a few wood chips to the babrbeque coals as you go, you could even bank the charcoal to one side and put meat on the other to keep the heat down and allow a longer smoke time. I add coals to my smoker as the old ones burn down, and find mesque coal works great to add natural flavor, that augments the wood chips I add, I used mesquite, hickory and apple depending on what's on the grill, apple alone for salmon, mesquite and hickory mix for most pork dishes and poultry,