Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

East coast steak tips traditionally have been sirloin tips, and through out the MidWest. Once you get toward the West Coast all bets are off and you will usually find tri-tip instead. Ask a butcher in California for sirloin tips and they most likely will stare at you and say you mean tri-tip?

 

I read up on the controller last night.
The PID controller should help keep temperature swings lower & help with reducing the amount of pellets.

I will fill the hopper & log all of my cook times (from Start up to Shutdown)


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Pretty sure tri-tip started on the central coast (California)

One of my favorites to cook for people.

 

Yep and Santa Maria seems to always take the claim for it.

Well then again there is the Santa Maria gill\pit so maybe so. Not that I am jealous of the one @TK-422 has or anything like that LOL...

 

That thing is so bad ass... Every time I see it I ponder it... But not sure it's gonna survive long in Iowa winters

 

Kind of my thoughts in Mn. also although covering it should get it through the winter.

I smoke and grill all winter on the deck but hate the cold anymore. And hate the idea of having to shovel snow just to light fires.



Bad enough having to snow blow the driveway can't imagine running the snowblower to an outdoor kitchen also. Plan was to start spending winters in Az. or at least a couple months of the coldest weather. After this COVID thing and everything associated with it not sure I'm going to be able to do it this next winter either. But a man has to have goals in life.

 

You need to build that cover I posted a day or so ago, at least keep the snow off the equipment.

 

Amen to that! #goals

 

Have gone back and forth over different cover options for years. But having worn this hat during Desert Storm\Shield along with a few other hats





I keep saying no to a cover. A cover is a fire hazard on any type of flareup, and they do happen. Then again I shouldn't be burning on a wood deck either. But the mosquito is the State bird here during the 6 weeks of piss poor sledding and will eat you alive at ground level. I could move but it really is nice here. Sometimes LOL. And not a lot of people which makes it worth it.

 

You obviously have more experience in this area than I do, but my thought was that if the cover is high enough and treated correctly it might not be that big of a deal. I am considering this in my design, and also letting the smoke have a route to escape and not build up. I was thinking 8-10 feet high and angled 10° or so.

We visited Brainerd in 2018 and it was very nice, but I can't imagine living around the lakes with those mosquitos. They are bad enough here as it is.

 

You can do a vented ridge cap or a shed roof and do all metal construction. It's harder to make a metal structure not look so "industrial" but it can be done. Out here (in the desert) wood doesn't weather so well without a lot of maintenance.

 

Well I did make covers.for it but I couldn't imagine it covered in a foot of snow. Luckily we only get an inch every 10 years or so.

 

I smoked a tri-tip last week instead of the pit and pulled it at 147* it came out perfect.

 

That thing is sweet!

 

@Misplaced Nebraskan got your next contest entry.

 

pay regular price $747 or discounted?

 

Needs a giraffe, hippo, and rhino...

 

Got to save something for next year.

 

Baby steps

 

Does that mean you're coming off Judge Status? Haha