Charcoal?

[tsquared bbq]

Hi All,

So we just finished our maiden smoke on our new East Texas custom. Love the pit, was really hoping for burn times in the firebox, so I come here with questions?

So I really really like to sleep :-) If I am expecting to entertain the next day I would really not be up every hour on the hour. You all know the drill. I am hoping to expand that time with a few cheats.

As you may be aware Clint equips his fireboxes with Barbeque guru's and they really do make an impact flattening the temp curve somewhat, it heats faster and can keep out pit at a target number for quite a while.

So what I want to know seems to rotate around this fact. I prefer to pit my briskets for 16+ hours if I can. This tends to impart more smoke than some customers appreciate (Especially She Who Must Be Obeyed). This fact in hand has led to the study of the art of paper wrapping brisket, as she also says crutch just doesn't taste the same.

With all of that said, should not a basket or even better a maze get me 4 or maybe 6 hours of sack time?

I know, I know, go test it and tell us right? Well it will be a week before I can go light a fire, so I am asking here to give me something to take my mind off the leftovers in the fridge.

So What does everyone think? 

 

[ringtail bbq]

Hello T-Square... welcome to the forum, lots of great information and feedback will come your way.  I'm glad to hear you purchased and East Texas Smoker, I'm doing the same thing the end of the month.  I'm very interested in what you have to say about it and I'm sure I'll need your advice soon enough.

I'm not sure how to answer or address some of your questions.  I've never used the paper wrapping method, so I'm curious to what others will say.  When it's time to cut down on the smoke and tenderize I use a foil pan with liquid and cover with foil.  Loss a little cruch, but it can always be taken out of the foil during the last few hours.

If your talking about a basked in the firebox, that should really help with extending your smoke time.  I'm not familiar with how the East Texas works yet nor the BBQ Guru, but it makes sence that it would help.  I use a basket all the time and it really does extended the fuel and keep the temp constant.

One thing I am curious about with the East Texas, does it have a water pipe in the bottom of the smoker?  The unit I have now has a pipe that I fill that keeps a little moisture under the meat and heat.  

If you would, take the time to fill out your profile, load of some pictures of your new smoker for everyone to see and give us some detail on yourself. 

Keep a smokin'.... JB

 

[bruno994]

Tsquare, welcome.  When you get a chance post some pics of your pit.  We love Q-view around here (pits, builds, food, you name it), I would rather look at pics than read anyday (except of course for the articles in Playboy....hmmm.!)

A basket would extend your intial cook time, I use 20#'s of charcoal in my 150 gallon RF smoker, in a basket I built for it.  I can leave it unattended for probably the first 3 hours of the cook, then it is the usual throw a stick on every 45 minutes to hour after that.  I have wondered about the maze and one day will try it on mine, but my worry is with so few coals being lit, will I get the temps where I want them?  Not sure, but worth a try.  Plus for a long cook, what do you do with the maze, take it out after the coals have all burned up? 

I have used butcher paper, works just fine.  Stops the smoke, but keeps the moisture, just doesn't steam like a tightly sealed foil wrap does. 

 

[tsquared bbq]

Call Heath and talk to him....you will find them quite easy to work with.

Mine is a 250 barrel, in fact if you look at their Facebook page you'll see our Orange monster.

There is a drain pipe that is installed at the forward (farthest from firebox) end of the tube, just before the dome on that end starts.

As to the guru, make sure you book some time with Heath when you pick it up and get him to show you how the guru works...or if you are luck grab Red, but only if Heath doesn't see you pilfer his shop foreman ;-)

--T

 

[tsquared bbq]

Thanks..

We just did our first break in cook this weekend, no I didn't take Q-view...it so escaped me :-(

It got to 30 degrees over night as we were pounding our brisket towards a noon serve time, we were both glad and sad we got the insulted firebox :-)

--T