- Nov 25, 2023
- 110
- 85
First, I agree with the thought that a guy should learn to use what he has in it's original form to better know what mods are needed. Solid logic and advice for sure, but I am not wired that way! lol.... Please keep in mind everything I am about to say is based on only a few cooks and no previous experience.
I have a newer model Brazos with the removable interior baffle. Seeing a plethora of videos on the location of the hotspot being further toward the stack with the original baffle installed, I decided to remove it and set it aside. Also because of the amount of videos out there, I went ahead and ordered the BBQHQ stack extension -
https://thebbqhq.com/products/thebb...ld-country-brazos?_pos=4&_sid=bc829fcca&_ss=r
During the seasoning and first few cooks, I placed 4 probes from the Thermopro on the grates and noticed the exposed firebox opening into the cooking chamber made the FB end of the grate super hot. I used a water pan, which I am guessing helped nock down the heat before getting to the meat. Without the baffle the temperatures from FB to stack were highest to lowest. Definitely could not use the center to FB side of the grate.
I added the BBQHQ Custom Baffle for the Brazos yesterday. I built a fire and placed four probes on the grate (no cooking yesterday, just testing). Probe 1 was closest to the FB and probe 4 was closest to the stack, with 2 and 3 in between. The change was very interesting. The extreme temperature spread between the probes decreased to around 50-degrees. Probe 1, the FB probe, was the coolest of all now. The center probes, 2 and 3, seemed to stay closer together in temperature than the extreme spread, and probe 4 near the stack was generally the hottest. I also noticed the temperature inside of the CC did not fluctuate as much as it did prior to adding the BBQHQ baffle when adding new splits. It appeared as if maintaining a relatively constant temperature was a bit easier. Was this due to the baffle or the lack of experience and one more fire under my belt? That is unknown.
I opened the CC door and watched the light smoke enter the CC from the FB. The BBQHQ baffle directed the smoked/heat straight up to the top of the CC. The smoke/then followed a straight-ish route toward the stack opening, which is at grate level. The climb over probe 1 is my guess as to why it read the lowest of the 4. The squeeze and slowed-down smoke/heat at the stack opening is my guess (from what others have said) as to why it was hotter at the far left-side of the grate than where probe 3 was located.
What does this mean? Not sure... lol, as my lack of experience does not give me enough data to make any kind of a claim. This is just an observation. I will be cooking a chuck roast today. I will have all 4 probes going, with probe 3 in the meat. Probes 1, 2 and 4 will be monitoring the grate temperatures again. I will let you know what I see today.
Thank you!
I have a newer model Brazos with the removable interior baffle. Seeing a plethora of videos on the location of the hotspot being further toward the stack with the original baffle installed, I decided to remove it and set it aside. Also because of the amount of videos out there, I went ahead and ordered the BBQHQ stack extension -
https://thebbqhq.com/products/thebb...ld-country-brazos?_pos=4&_sid=bc829fcca&_ss=r
During the seasoning and first few cooks, I placed 4 probes from the Thermopro on the grates and noticed the exposed firebox opening into the cooking chamber made the FB end of the grate super hot. I used a water pan, which I am guessing helped nock down the heat before getting to the meat. Without the baffle the temperatures from FB to stack were highest to lowest. Definitely could not use the center to FB side of the grate.
I added the BBQHQ Custom Baffle for the Brazos yesterday. I built a fire and placed four probes on the grate (no cooking yesterday, just testing). Probe 1 was closest to the FB and probe 4 was closest to the stack, with 2 and 3 in between. The change was very interesting. The extreme temperature spread between the probes decreased to around 50-degrees. Probe 1, the FB probe, was the coolest of all now. The center probes, 2 and 3, seemed to stay closer together in temperature than the extreme spread, and probe 4 near the stack was generally the hottest. I also noticed the temperature inside of the CC did not fluctuate as much as it did prior to adding the BBQHQ baffle when adding new splits. It appeared as if maintaining a relatively constant temperature was a bit easier. Was this due to the baffle or the lack of experience and one more fire under my belt? That is unknown.
I opened the CC door and watched the light smoke enter the CC from the FB. The BBQHQ baffle directed the smoked/heat straight up to the top of the CC. The smoke/then followed a straight-ish route toward the stack opening, which is at grate level. The climb over probe 1 is my guess as to why it read the lowest of the 4. The squeeze and slowed-down smoke/heat at the stack opening is my guess (from what others have said) as to why it was hotter at the far left-side of the grate than where probe 3 was located.
What does this mean? Not sure... lol, as my lack of experience does not give me enough data to make any kind of a claim. This is just an observation. I will be cooking a chuck roast today. I will have all 4 probes going, with probe 3 in the meat. Probes 1, 2 and 4 will be monitoring the grate temperatures again. I will let you know what I see today.
Thank you!
