Here's the first cook in the new Hasty Bake. I'd done a test burn in it several days ago, just to get a rough idea on charcoal amounts, run time, temp control, etc. But today was the first cook. Just a single rack of baby backs.
First off,
SmokinEdge
had asked in another thread about the coal basket lift mechanism. I promised I would take pics to try and show how it works.
This shot is from directly above with the hood up. Shows the crank handle on the outside and the lift mechanism inside.
The whole assembly is hinged from the left cabinet wall. In the pic below, you can just make out the screw coming into the cabinet from the outside (lower left side). Turn this and it pushes the whole mechanism, which rotates the hinges, which raises (or lowers) the arms.
During my test burn I decided that a half basket of coal would be more than enough to do direct heat ribs. I also wanted a 2-zone fire so I could rotate the ribs to the cooler side after they started getting to much color.
BTW - in what should have been a predictable move, just a couple weeks ago, I found B&B briquettes on sale and bought three 25 lb. bags. I only run briquettes in my gravity feed smoker - which I sold the other day...so I'll be running briquettes for a while in this cooker - until these are gone LOL!
Played with the dampers a little until it settled in at right around 300. It pretty much stayed there all afternoon, except when I opened the hood.
I started with the ribs directly over the fire, with a couple a hickory chunks dropped on the coals for smoke. The trimmings are meant for a mid-day snack for the chef
I flipped the rack about every 20 minutes for the first hour and a half.
Once they began to get a little too dark, I moved them to the cool zone side for another 30 minutes or so...then foiled them with a little honey, tiger sauce and 3 pats of butter for about 30 minutes more.
I didn't time this cook very carefully, but start to finish was definitely less that 3 hours.
All cut up and ready to eat.
My plate. With some bake beans and potato wedges.
The ribs were delicious! Count the maiden voyage as a success!
A couple of notable things I discovered from the first cook:
I started with more charcoal than I needed for this cook. 2 hours after I brought the ribs in the house, the Hasty Bake was still chugging along at 300*. After nearly 6 hours total, the temp was still reading about 200.
Opening the hood causes a significant temp spike, which took a while to get back down to 300. The longer it's open, the higher the spike. So now I know - keep the door closed! And when you have to open it, make it fast.
Overall very happy with it. I have to learn all it's characteristics and fine-tune my process, but this cooker is gonna be fun to use.
Thanks for checking it out!
Red
First off,
SmokinEdge
had asked in another thread about the coal basket lift mechanism. I promised I would take pics to try and show how it works.This shot is from directly above with the hood up. Shows the crank handle on the outside and the lift mechanism inside.
The whole assembly is hinged from the left cabinet wall. In the pic below, you can just make out the screw coming into the cabinet from the outside (lower left side). Turn this and it pushes the whole mechanism, which rotates the hinges, which raises (or lowers) the arms.
During my test burn I decided that a half basket of coal would be more than enough to do direct heat ribs. I also wanted a 2-zone fire so I could rotate the ribs to the cooler side after they started getting to much color.
BTW - in what should have been a predictable move, just a couple weeks ago, I found B&B briquettes on sale and bought three 25 lb. bags. I only run briquettes in my gravity feed smoker - which I sold the other day...so I'll be running briquettes for a while in this cooker - until these are gone LOL!
Played with the dampers a little until it settled in at right around 300. It pretty much stayed there all afternoon, except when I opened the hood.
I started with the ribs directly over the fire, with a couple a hickory chunks dropped on the coals for smoke. The trimmings are meant for a mid-day snack for the chef
I flipped the rack about every 20 minutes for the first hour and a half.
Once they began to get a little too dark, I moved them to the cool zone side for another 30 minutes or so...then foiled them with a little honey, tiger sauce and 3 pats of butter for about 30 minutes more.
I didn't time this cook very carefully, but start to finish was definitely less that 3 hours.
All cut up and ready to eat.
My plate. With some bake beans and potato wedges.
The ribs were delicious! Count the maiden voyage as a success!
A couple of notable things I discovered from the first cook:
I started with more charcoal than I needed for this cook. 2 hours after I brought the ribs in the house, the Hasty Bake was still chugging along at 300*. After nearly 6 hours total, the temp was still reading about 200.
Opening the hood causes a significant temp spike, which took a while to get back down to 300. The longer it's open, the higher the spike. So now I know - keep the door closed! And when you have to open it, make it fast.
Overall very happy with it. I have to learn all it's characteristics and fine-tune my process, but this cooker is gonna be fun to use.
Thanks for checking it out!
Red
