So, yeah, after a practice run of chicken breasts, I spent Saturday smoking a 4lb brisket flat, 2 racks of baby back ribs, and 2 racks of center cut ribs. I’m using a Masterbuilt Pro Dual Fuel. I used propane.
When I did my first smoke, I noticed that I could get pretty steady temps at 230is and 270ish, but not 250 so I got a Bayou Classics regulator that has a built in needle valve. This does allow better fine tuning of the flame, but the valve is not very “firm”, meaning when you do find the sweet spot, it sometimes moves ever so slightly once you let it go. Very frustrating given how small the turns need to be to make the adjustments. Another issue I had was with the smoker itself… When I did get the flame at a good spot, the slightest breeze would sometimes blow it out. I’ll post a pic of my makeshift windscreen.
Question 1: The new regulator came with a brass orifice with a narrower diameter than the stock one. I used the stock orifice. Would switching to the narrower one help me in any way?
Question 2: Due to the flame getting blown out, should I put screws in every other hole of the burner as someone on this forum did? I wonder if the smaller orifice coupled with the plugged holes would create more pressure in the flame.
For the cook… I put the brisket in at 10am. I started it out w/ one of the probes from my thermometer (ThermoPro dual probe) in it. I guess you’re not supposed to do that? I left it alone for about 2.5 hours. It got to 141 in that time. I use the 2-2-1 method for the ribs so I put them in at 1pm, but the brisket went down to 135 after I put the ribs in. And it stalled there for a good 4 hours. I put a digital thermometer in there and that read 150 so I repositioned the original probe and my reading changed to 151 so maybe I had it stuck in some fat. It hit 160 at around 6pm so I wrapped it in foil and put it back in. It hit 200 by 8:30pm so I kept it wrapped, wrapped it in towels, and put it in a cooler for an hour as I finished up the ribs.
After an hour in the cooler, I served everything up. Sadly the Brisket was a little tough and a little dry. The flavor was amazing! The Hickory chunks really did their job. The ribs were phenomenal! The brisket threw things off so I had the ribs in foil longer than usual, but the turned out super tender and literally falling off the bone. The wife was quite happy. I used Killer Hogs rub on them which we really liked.
So overall, a decent experience, but I really want to figure out a way to get that flame/temp issue under control. I don’t mind paying attention to the smoker, but I don’t want to feel like I need to be w/ it every second. Any tips are greatly appreciated – both for the cook and for the temp issue.
Here’s the Brisket:
My "windscreen":
When I did my first smoke, I noticed that I could get pretty steady temps at 230is and 270ish, but not 250 so I got a Bayou Classics regulator that has a built in needle valve. This does allow better fine tuning of the flame, but the valve is not very “firm”, meaning when you do find the sweet spot, it sometimes moves ever so slightly once you let it go. Very frustrating given how small the turns need to be to make the adjustments. Another issue I had was with the smoker itself… When I did get the flame at a good spot, the slightest breeze would sometimes blow it out. I’ll post a pic of my makeshift windscreen.
Question 1: The new regulator came with a brass orifice with a narrower diameter than the stock one. I used the stock orifice. Would switching to the narrower one help me in any way?
Question 2: Due to the flame getting blown out, should I put screws in every other hole of the burner as someone on this forum did? I wonder if the smaller orifice coupled with the plugged holes would create more pressure in the flame.
For the cook… I put the brisket in at 10am. I started it out w/ one of the probes from my thermometer (ThermoPro dual probe) in it. I guess you’re not supposed to do that? I left it alone for about 2.5 hours. It got to 141 in that time. I use the 2-2-1 method for the ribs so I put them in at 1pm, but the brisket went down to 135 after I put the ribs in. And it stalled there for a good 4 hours. I put a digital thermometer in there and that read 150 so I repositioned the original probe and my reading changed to 151 so maybe I had it stuck in some fat. It hit 160 at around 6pm so I wrapped it in foil and put it back in. It hit 200 by 8:30pm so I kept it wrapped, wrapped it in towels, and put it in a cooler for an hour as I finished up the ribs.
After an hour in the cooler, I served everything up. Sadly the Brisket was a little tough and a little dry. The flavor was amazing! The Hickory chunks really did their job. The ribs were phenomenal! The brisket threw things off so I had the ribs in foil longer than usual, but the turned out super tender and literally falling off the bone. The wife was quite happy. I used Killer Hogs rub on them which we really liked.
So overall, a decent experience, but I really want to figure out a way to get that flame/temp issue under control. I don’t mind paying attention to the smoker, but I don’t want to feel like I need to be w/ it every second. Any tips are greatly appreciated – both for the cook and for the temp issue.
Here’s the Brisket:
My "windscreen":
