Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Of course, while you wait.....

 

Serious decision time for you charcoal snobs.

My first brisket on the WSM 22 will he going on overnight in a few hours. Would you trust more consistent and long enough temps to last through the night and stall better with Weber or Kingsford Original? My only hangup is that I have been using Kingsford and saving my Weber stash for later, but I will have a good size crowd of critics tomorrow and do not want to fuck it up. I would also like to be able to sleep comfortably knowing things are going alright.

 

Use what your comfortable and knowledgeable with. Don't go experimenting tonight!

 

As above - go with what you know - use the gasser in case it all blows up. After 4 hrs smoke, wrap it and 250 until done. some say 265 but whatever.

Save the "I'll try this - hold my beer" games for when you aren't hosting...

Once you nail it 5 times in a row, then start messing with it.

 

I've got a whole one cook on my kettle but the KBB held temps like a champ. Back in the day on my old smoker I used it as well in rotation with Royal Oak.

But definitely what @grdgz97 said... if you're worried, go with experience and don't experiment on this one.

 

I have done one overnight brisket flat on the WSM 14 with Kingsford. All other cooks have been shorter and under some kind of regular supervision.

The other big variable is that this is the first cook on the 22, so everything is different anyways. I guess might as well use up my Kingsford stash first.

 

I say just kick back and crack open a beer and let it ride and post pics

 

Got ancy and jumped the gun. Was unable to wait til midnight, so the brisket went on at 10 pm. The 22 was way easier to dial in the temp than the 18 and 14. Grate temp is at 256.

I set the hi/lo temps on the thermopro with the alarm and probably gonna pass out soon.

 

Oh hell yeah!!! How was it? Love seeing a beer wrapped in the Pitfaced pig!

Your question has already been answered and I know you've gotten underway, but I had two kind of wonky cooks in my UDS with the Weber charcoal. Seems to burn pretty hot and climbs a bit in temp from time to time with the minion method. It's briquettes that act like lump. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but for my comfort, I've reserved it for grilling (awesome to get a lot of heat out of a small amount and the stuff lasts for the next cook really well) and use KBB in the smokers.

 

That is all good to know. I checked out an unbiased and non-sponsored video with a good comparison between the various Kingsford offerings and Weber briquettes. Weber blew them away on most things, especially longevity.

 

Vid link

 

I was trying to find it earlier when I first asked. I will try again in the morning.

 

Post back results in 12ish hours

 

I know there is a big debate on bark Either on or off. I can't taste the difference nor can the people I serve it to.... so I just leave it on.

However if I put the bark down first on the coals I can imagine it effecting the flavor.

 

They add that certain "flavor"

 

Don't forget that sweet taste from termites

 

The longevity is crazy good.

 

I'm sure somewhere in the 778 pages of this thread this has been covered but just wanted to share my method for smoking Beef Shortribs. I've done them this way now so many times that friends and family ask me when I'm going to smoke beef ribs again so I feel I have something good here and wanted to pass along my process.

My Grill:
I'm using a New Braunfels Hondo Classic which I picked up at Academy.



Meat Prep:

I sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper and that's it. I also ensure the meat is more or less at room temperature before putting it on the grill (just don't put them on straight out of the refrigerator). More of my prep deals with selecting the meat than seasoning. I prefer a good layer of fat like the short rib pictured below (i'll explain more about this part in the cooking process) and then ensure there is a lot of meat in the thick part of the rib vs. fat. If they're too fatty in the middle you end up with small ribs and not a whole lot of meat to enjoy eating.



Grill Prep:

I use Hickory wood chips (no bark on the stuff I buy FWIW) and soak them in water for 25 - 35 minutes while I get my fire going in the smoker. I then drain the water from the bucket the chips were soaking in. Here is the stuff I pick up from Academy (Depending on how many ribs i'm doing I sometimes use 2 bags):

- I use Oak lump charcoal when at all possible but if I can't find it at my local grocery store I'll use Mesquite lump charcoal.
- I start with a small fire and add a few pieces at a time as the charcoal turns white until the temperature of the smoker reads 210 - 220F. Less charcoal is better mainly to maintain temperature for me.
-Once the grill hits this temperature I go ahead and set the meat on the rack. I place the ribs the furthest away from the fire as possible and also arrange for the smaller ribs to be the furthermost away from the flame as they'll cook quicker than the bigger ones. I place the ribs with the fat side up, bone side down and never flip them.

Smoking/Cooking:

For me its all about fire control and not letting the temperature or smoke get out of hand. I try and stay consistent with temperature and smoking all the way to the end.
- I take a handful of chips at the start and place them directly on top of of the hot coals. My goal is to never exceed 250F during the entire cooking process so i'm very conservative on adding wood chips to prevent heat spikes.
- I set a timer for 25 minutes and check to see if I have a rolling smoke like my picture of my grill above has. If its still smoking well I do a 10 - 15 minute timer and check again. I then add more chips as necessary to continue the rolling smoke.
- Before adding more wood chips to the base fire I see how the base fire is doing and if needs be, add a few pieces of charcoal and let that stuff burn tell its good and white and then continue adding more wood chips for smoking.
- Typically I will use the entire bag of wood chips over the process of 4 - 6 hours. Once I've used all the wood chips up I then maintain my base fire keeping the temperature between 200 - 225F and try at this point to stay away from hitting 250F.
- Depending on how much the meat has shrunk on the bone and how tender it feels from poking at it will depend on how much longer I will keep the ribs on. The smaller ribs usually come off a 10 - 15 minutes before the larger ribs do.


That's about it. Typically the ribs will come out looking just like this (I don't have after pictures of my ribs but I chose this image b/c mine have come out looking almost exactly like this) with a very nice smoke line and a juicy center that you can easily slice through just like brisket. The meat will easily pull off the bone as well and have a nice bark from all the smoking. The natural flavors from the hickory wood are to me what makes them taste so great and why I don't use seasoning beyond salt and pepper. Hope some of ya'll who read this give it a try and enjoy!

 

That smoke ring though! Great job. One day an offset will be in my backyard. Although I like my set it and forget it type setup lol