60+ year old thread.

Kurt, Some years back, I rigged up a temperature monitor and blue tooth for my phone. Used a processor board and some Microelectronika click boards. Thermo-j-click & Bluetooth-click. Grilling while the game was on, so it was my way of keeping track of temp.

These days you find a turnkey item on that A to Z company. One such kit (just a random example) $33 solution.

BBQ Meat Thermometer, Remote Cooking Thermometer, Digital Oven Thermometer with 6 Probe Port for Smoker Grilling (Carrying Case Included)

https://www.amazon.com/Thermometer-Bluetooth-Grilling-Carrying-Included/dp/B075L7V6NZ

Septic: Frozen pipes got us during the Texas Deep Freeze. No electricity, so no running water. I was flushing once a day (drilled hole through 2" slab to ice on the pool to siphon water to use for flushing. Septic backed up, blown toilet seal, water seeped out into hardwood floor in next room. Damn! I got the plumbers out, usually pop and reseal is $250. The toilet that leaked had a recessed oval flange, so the recommendation was a jackhammer and setting the correct round flange. The guy is good and said, "We could use two beeswax stacked rings, but that fails after a couple of years". $1350, no broken tile (whew). Still need to address the living room floor ($4000?) The pool freeze damage was $5400. We still need to address tile and resurface (Ice popped the cap and top 2" of plaster/tile) about another $22,000.
No insurance coverage on the pool; the house is still under the 1% rule. About $30,000 in freeze damage. It would not have been so bad if we have electricity that week, warm water would have kept septic pipes cleared, and pool pump circulating water would have prevented so much damage.

My wife asked, "weren't you going to buy a generator a few years ago?" We have a 1000 gallon propane tank. Most years only need 200 gallons but will add 500 gals every two years when prices drop in the summer. Hindsight. I'll wait until August to look into this again. Propane is the least maintenance, so I like that for backup as long as that big tank is kept filled! 10KW system burns 1.5 gals/hour at full load. Hindsight would have paid for itself.

 

Tom, I have one of those Meatstick devices, with probes, and a bridge. It's supposed to be best in the bidness, but I give it no more than 3 stars for it's wonky software. It told me to take the ribs off yesterday after 30 minutes, because the internal got too hot when the fire got hotter. I kept it with me on the phone the whole time, and I had to keep the phone on to monitor the fire temp. That's my temp control issue with the vertical - South wind kept me on my toes!

And after this winter, I gave them a couple weeks for things to calm down, but I told the wife I'm raiding my retirement this year for a whole house Generac, hooked to our Natural Gas line. I finally heard back from them this week, for my quote contact.......they will come see me at the end of MAY! Guess they were busier than I thought!

 

Sometimes those old pitmasters are much better than modern electronics!

Did you lose natural gas during the power outage? Compressor stations are about 40 to 100 miles apart. They use natural gas to run them but still need electricity to run the equipment. Quite a few didn't have backup generators in good repair, so no natural gas was available in some cities. Oops. Mother nature really did mess with us this year.

Years back, a friend had a Cat Tractor who was using it in the hills. He stopped and got 1 gallon of gasoline for the starter. I was what? Yep, it had a tiny 1 hp gas motor; start it, engage it, and it just keeps turning over that diesel engine until it fires up. Something was satisfying about spending a day with the beast. All the diesel in the world didn't help if you couldn't get it started. One time he hauled in 50-gallon drums of diesel but forgot the gas or a siphon hose for his truck.

 

Well, I was paranoid until I cut a sample in the last hour...or should I say, picked up one that fell off during the move! they were good, but, I'm not a pit master. I get someone interested in that vertical, and I will probably get that Masterbilt!

Never in our 35 years here have lost gas. Didn't lose electricity this storm - seemed we were on a special circuit with some City business! But, we've lost power before. It is a ridiculous expense, but I know from being a weather addict, it won't be 10 years again before the next one. And, oddly enough, I have to get some heat trace on the solar panels. Since all the snow and wet came from the North, it all drifted up on the panels on the South. And with the ice underneath, could not move it. We don't have a lot of pitch. But if I can heat some strips across the black, it will probably warm enough when the sun comes out to produce some melt off.

 

Yes wind and outside temps that change a lot make fife management a PITA at times. With only 1 cook on the EX6 I like that the fire management problem is basically taken care of. It was windy for my first cook but the temp remained constant at 275. I usually spritz every 30 minutes so I am still engaged with the cooking process.

Cooking a turkey tomorrow. Taking it out of the wet brine after dinner then drying it off nd applying a dry brine overnight. Going to put some fresh herbs and a quartered onion in the cavity. I am also going to try the smoke boost feature, I will take a few pics and post them up.

If one of your friends have a new pellet grill you should check it out. The WIFI control is pretty nice and all the major brands have it now.

 

I love smoking turkey. Ours were great for the Holidays in the vertical smoker. Just played heck with temp control. But, mmmmmm, Apple wood is great! Ours come out looking like George Hamilton, but always moist and tender.

 

Good Morning and Happy Easter!

These may be of interest to some of you.

Respect
Rob

 

Good morning everyone and Happy Easter!!!

A much warmer start to this day - above freezing for once. Pretty much planning on taking a day off today - back at brush cutting tomorrow. We've got a run of days in the mid-50s to 60s this coming week so it will be a good time to work outside.

Sorry to hear about the damage. That freezing was brutal.

We put a whole house emergency back-up generator in the house when we built - we are in a rural area where power outages are common. We also have a 1000 gal propane tank - ours is buried in the yard - the feeds our heating system and stove. The generator is also propane fed - ours is a 20Kw. It starts automatically after 30 seconds of electricity loss. The longest we've run is 5 consecutive days after Hurricane Sandy - what a savior that was. We've since replaced the original with a new system - went with a Briggs and Stratton.

 

Weather patterns change constantly and electric grids are all vulnerable. So electric backup is essential IMO, and would add more than it cost you to the value of your home, when done properly. Money in the bank, peace of mind, etc.

 

Morning all:
Forgot that I deleted some backward posts because I thought something was going on, one of them was welcoming Dan to the porch, so a belated welcome to the porch Dan!

Kurt, you are not supposed to also smoke the cartridge that you killed it with! Looks delicious!!!

Looks like you guys are busy Rob, didn't realize that there were turkeys in Alaska, they are fun to hunt.

 

I have hung turkeys in the WSM with great results. This will be the first time in the pellet smoker. I will use Green Mountain Gold blend pellets. BTY the ACE store manager emailed me offering me a bag of Weber pellets for the assembly problems I had with the smoker. Going to pick up a bag of the pecan pellets. Pecan is my favorite wood, Post Oak is a close second.

Nice wintery pics, BURRR. I had forgotten how nice your Tacoma is, I like the color.

 

Thank you Tom. Happy Easter and God Bless.

 

A little Easter time story I know Mark will appreciate, no doubt others here too.

 

Happy Easter everyone!
I'll be cooking a nice looking cut of prime rib in my pellet grill. I have not tried it yet for prime rib.
If it comes out good I'll try to post a pic this evening.

Moose...I enjoyed your short films! Thanks

 

My pleasure Sir.

 

Awesome story!!! Having commanded a MI Battalion that may, or may not, have been involved in tracking people accused of war crimes and coordinating their capture and transfer to an international court I wholly understand both the importance and gravity of the mission. And, I wholly declare that I have only ever taken my coffee black! No foo foo stuff for me.

 

AttaSoldier! HOOAH!
Respect
Rob

 

Good Morning and Happy Easter all. Raining again lightly - maybe we get more than the 0.08" that took most of the day yesterday. We're not supposed to, so I might get to cleaning out the pond this afternoon.

Sounds great Tom. Last year was the first time in that vertical, and it went fine despite the fussing. Post up a pic when he's tanned!

 

Your guys with all of your fancy cookers! You almost want to make me go out and get one. Almost. I just barely pass muster on a gas grill! Today we're heating our spiral cut ham in the convection oven.

Happy Easter everyone!

 

They're only fancy if you don't use them!