Looked at the Green Mountain Grills today.

[tikigriller]

No bolt in the fan. It did not spin freely. Played with it some and it is now spinning freely so I am getting ready to try again and see if it works this time.

I really hate taking apart brand new stuff. I have the worst luck with new stuff. The first one of everything I buy is always broken or missing something.

 

[mowin]

Hope it works for ya. I'd definitely swap it out when the new one arrives.

You would have to take it apart to swap out the fan, so it should be easier when the new one comes.

 

[tikigriller]

Do you know.......is the hopper fan supposed to run all the time? When is that fan supposed to turn on?

 

[tikigriller]

No luck. Never turned on. Saw it twitch once.

Going to grab the bag of charcoal and get the old grill fired up. I am not looking forward to listening to my wife when she gets home. All I'm going to hear is how she never had any problems with her gas grill.

 

[tikigriller]

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 10, 2016

The Charcoal Grill made a valiant effort to defend itself against the GMG that sits across from it in an inoperable manner.........:nothing more tha Lawreys seasoned salt and Pepper and some worschester sauce. Quite tasty.

 

[mowin]

Do you know.......is the hopper fan supposed to run all the time? When is that fan supposed to turn on?

Yes, the hopper fan is supposed to run constantly and at a set speed.
Glad you were able to get the meal cooked. Hang in there, you'll get the DB up and running soon.

 

[tikigriller]

The fan arrived today!!!! Going to smoke up those hot dog burnt ends tonight for the family as a snack, but tomorrow, we go for some baby back ribs!!!!!!! This will be my first attempt ever at doing ribs on any style grill!!!!!!!

 

[mowin]

Do yourself a favor and get a couple cheap oven therms to monitor grate temps. My DB is off from set temp.

Better yet, if u can find a maverick 732 locally, grab it. It has a probe for meat and grate temps.

 

[jcjack]

Sorry to hear about your problems. Glad that GMG sent you the new fan. Keep us posted on the repairs and how you like your new smoker. I stopped by my local dealer today and bought four more bags of pellets. Going to try my hand at a brisket tomorrow with the DB.

 

[tikigriller]

Will have it installed in about 10 minutes.

Let me know how that brisket goes....especially the burnt ends........that is so close to being attempted here next weekend depending on how this first attempt at Ribs goes.

Sure hope everyone is enjoying my newness to all of this. Nothing like being a virgin pellet grilled and BBQ past a burger and some chicken!

 

[tikigriller]

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• tikigriller
• Aug 13, 2016

Ok....points for the rub thrown in the box with the new fan.

 

[tikigriller]

We have a proper working grill!

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• tikigriller
• Aug 13, 2016

 

[tikigriller]

And the first cook is complete. Equated to dinner at 930, but oh was it worth it.

Couple of artichoke and garlic dogs, cooked at 450 for 6 minutes a side, then lowered temp to 330, and added some shrimp with some olive oil and some 5 pepper seasoning on top of a salad of greens with a honey lime dressing.

We make this meal often, and I can tell you, I asked several people and everyone, including myself, noticed a marked improvement on the meal. I knew I "wanted" and "needed" there to be a marked improvement after spending the money and dealing with the frustration of the fan, so that fact that is was not just me, made a huge difference!!!

I can't wait for the ribs tomorrow!!!! I am so happy and stoked

 

[jcjack]

@tikigriller  - brisket results are in.

IMG_0533.JPG

• jcjack
• Aug 14, 2016

I had injected a can of beef broth into the flat the night before.  Surprisingly little in the pan in the AM when I added a Dijon mustard coating followed by a dry rub.  This photo is the ready to go brisket sitting on the GMG-DB already producing smoke!  Had it at 150F for about an hour to get some smoke flavor going, then up to 250F.  Here's the brisket after hitting 150F internal temp per the Maverick food probe.

IMG_0534.JPG

• jcjack
• Aug 14, 2016

I did notice the GMG-DG runs about 25f to 50F hotter than what's registered on the unit.  I adjusted temps accordingly.  After the brisket hit 150F, I foil wrapped the brisket and back into the GMG_DB until it hit about 195F to 200F.  From there it goes into parchment paper and back on the smoker set to 150F (which is surprising accurate in the low range!). There it sat for about an hour before I pulled it for dinner.   Here are the uncut and cut pictures.

IMG_0535.JPG

• jcjack
• Aug 14, 2016

IMG_0536.JPG

• jcjack
• Aug 14, 2016

Notice that in going from 150F to 200F, the meat shrunk quite a bit - that's the same pan in all of the pictures!  I was super worried after the foil step in that I was able to drain about a good amount of juice from the brisket foil (think a full can!).  However, it turned out fine in the end - moist and eminently carveable.  There was a nice smoke ring around and again the meat was juicy and tender.  I'm still working on getting it all the way to pull apart soft.  I suspect that I need to let it sit in the parchment a bit longer.

As for the GMG-DB, I figured I used about half the 29lb bag in getting the brisket done.  Given that I can get the bags for about $17/bag from my local, that's not bad.  They do take good care of me!  Certainly less pricey than the Amazon.com prices!

 

[tikigriller]

Looks really good!!! My ribs are still going. Smoked them at 180 for 5 hours, and just turned it up to 225 for the last hour. They don't seem to be getting where I want them, so it is forcing me to check on them more than I wish. Have a sweet rack going and a spicy rack going. Hoping for the 90 degree flex I have been reading about to be achieved in about 30 more minutes.

So very much to learn......

 

[tikigriller]

Here's how they are looking thus far....,

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

 

[jcjack]

@tikigriller - looking good! I've done ribs around 250F on my propane smoker. Takes about 6 hours. I have yet to do them on the GMG-DB. Let us know how they end up.

 

[tikigriller]

Well....first real test....not so good. Ribs were a little on the Dry side. Flavor was good. Just too tough for my liking

Did a brown sugar run with a sweet BBQ suace. Kids like sweet better than spivey.

Cooked them at 180 for 5 hours, and they never seemed to be done. Raised the temps to 225 for what ended up being an hour and a half. There were spots that were really tastey and then spots like jerky.

Hopefully you all can tell me what you recommend by the picks. Like I said, flavor was great, meat was not.

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

This is the second rack

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

And here is how the plate looked. Garlic mashed potatoes and some asparagus with lemons and pepper and some garlic.

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

 

[mowin]

Well....first real test....not so good. Ribs were a little on the Dry side. Flavor was good. Just too tough for my liking

Did a brown sugar run with a sweet BBQ suace. Kids like sweet better than spivey.

Cooked them at 180 for 5 hours, and they never seemed to be done. Raised the temps to 225 for what ended up being an hour and a half. There were spots that were really tastey and then spots like jerky.

Hopefully you all can tell me what you recommend by the picks. Like I said, flavor was great, meat was not.

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

This is the second rack

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

And here is how the plate looked. Garlic mashed potatoes and some asparagus with lemons and pepper and some garlic.

image.jpeg

• tikigriller
• Aug 14, 2016

Your ribs were not cooked. 180 is too low of a temp for 5 hrs. The 1 1/2 you added at the higher temp wasn't quite long enough. You needed to be on the 225-250* range for the entire cook. Your ribs didn't reach a high enough internal temp to break down the connective tissues.

Try a higher temp next time, and go for tenderness. When a toothpick slides in with little to no resistance, there done.

I do SL ribs on my DB frequently. I monitor my pit temp with a igrill2 so i can keep pit temp between 225* - 250*. I use the 3-2-1 method. 3 hrs on, 2 hrs foiled, 1 hr no foil to regain some of the bark.

 

[tikigriller]

Thanks

I went with the 180 based on the recipe from GMG's own website.