Been chewing on this for a while and decided to dip my toe into the world of stick burnin'. I have several quality pit makers here in the greater Houston area and if I expand that to a couple hundred miles, there is a ton manufacturers, Klose, Lone Star Grillz, so when I am ready, I'll have a good many to choose from without having to pay shipping.
For now, I will cut my teeth on an Old Country Pecos. I know it ain't that great but I will find out if I really like it enough to make an investment and at the same time learn the ropes and hopefully help me decide, if I do "stick" (pardon the pun) with it, what I might want in my next rig.
Picked it up last night, cleaned it out, sprayed it with Pam and did a burn in/seasoning. I wasn't too concerned with holding steady temps, just making sure it stayed above 300* for a few hours. Mission accomplished.
Today was the maiden voyage with food. So ribs and leg quarters. I did some reading on the Pecos and started right out by removing the wood grate in the firebox and using the grill grate for setting the wood. I used the wood grate from the FB for a tuning plate. I set up 2 probes from my Maverick 733 and got busy. The makeshift tuning plate worked very well.
View attachment 347028
There was a lot of leakage around the firebox, which I kinda anticipated. But it was worse than I thought. The foil gaskets worked very well. Not pretty, but effective.
I ran her a little hot on purpose since I didn't want to spend all day babysitting the smoker as I had something to do later in the afternoon. I set both Maverick probes to for a low alarm of 275* and a high of 350*. I was able to keep it there for the most part. I was OK with the large swings since I was more concerned with the quality of the smoke. I ran the chimney wide open and the door to the firebox wide open too. This seemed to work the best. I am proud to say, for the majority of the cook, there was no visible smoke at all, or very faint blue smoke. I couldn't even capture it on my iPhone camera. I mistakenly (I think) put on some larger splits at the end and the smoke got a little more visible, but still blue and fairly thin.
Of course, if I continue to purse stick burnin', which I am sure I will, I will probably need to source some good wood. This is what I used today. I got out the hatchet and broke up some of the larger splits.
I ran her at between A couple hours in:
1 rack or SLC and 1 rack of BBs:
So, the ribs were damn good. Really good. Bird was too (sorry no pics). Among the best I have done. Hell, maybe the best I have done. Was it a PITA: yes. Was it worth it: yes. Will I get better at it so it is not such a PITA: I better or it won't be something I do routinely.
Some observations:
-I must have done something right. I was fully prepared to have completely inedible food on my first go sticks. Maybe I got lucky. If anything the smoke profile was a little on the mild side. When I say there was no visible smoke for much of the cook, I mean none. I did run it a 300*+ for most of the cook.
-The Pecos leaks like a sieve. I'm not that anal about a smoker being airtight. This is my 5th smoker and my 9 millionth smoke and I have learned not to be anal about stuff like that. But this thing is on a different kinda leak level. I think I need more smoke coming out of the smoke stack than the cooker door. The firebox was bad too, hence the foil.
-The wood may have been a tad dry. I was adding a small split every 20-30 mins. I did warm them on the top of the fire box and they went up like a roman candle as soon as I put em in. I'd like to think I could get close to 45 mins without having to add wood.
-I may make or get a fire grate that lets the wood set a little lower in the firebox. I started the seasoning last night with the original wood grate and had trouble getting it up to temp so I switched it out for the good grate from the firebox. But it sits decidedly higher in the firebox. Maybe too high.
For now, I will cut my teeth on an Old Country Pecos. I know it ain't that great but I will find out if I really like it enough to make an investment and at the same time learn the ropes and hopefully help me decide, if I do "stick" (pardon the pun) with it, what I might want in my next rig.
Picked it up last night, cleaned it out, sprayed it with Pam and did a burn in/seasoning. I wasn't too concerned with holding steady temps, just making sure it stayed above 300* for a few hours. Mission accomplished.
Today was the maiden voyage with food. So ribs and leg quarters. I did some reading on the Pecos and started right out by removing the wood grate in the firebox and using the grill grate for setting the wood. I used the wood grate from the FB for a tuning plate. I set up 2 probes from my Maverick 733 and got busy. The makeshift tuning plate worked very well.
View attachment 347028
There was a lot of leakage around the firebox, which I kinda anticipated. But it was worse than I thought. The foil gaskets worked very well. Not pretty, but effective.
I ran her a little hot on purpose since I didn't want to spend all day babysitting the smoker as I had something to do later in the afternoon. I set both Maverick probes to for a low alarm of 275* and a high of 350*. I was able to keep it there for the most part. I was OK with the large swings since I was more concerned with the quality of the smoke. I ran the chimney wide open and the door to the firebox wide open too. This seemed to work the best. I am proud to say, for the majority of the cook, there was no visible smoke at all, or very faint blue smoke. I couldn't even capture it on my iPhone camera. I mistakenly (I think) put on some larger splits at the end and the smoke got a little more visible, but still blue and fairly thin.
Of course, if I continue to purse stick burnin', which I am sure I will, I will probably need to source some good wood. This is what I used today. I got out the hatchet and broke up some of the larger splits.
I ran her at between A couple hours in:
1 rack or SLC and 1 rack of BBs:
So, the ribs were damn good. Really good. Bird was too (sorry no pics). Among the best I have done. Hell, maybe the best I have done. Was it a PITA: yes. Was it worth it: yes. Will I get better at it so it is not such a PITA: I better or it won't be something I do routinely.
Some observations:
-I must have done something right. I was fully prepared to have completely inedible food on my first go sticks. Maybe I got lucky. If anything the smoke profile was a little on the mild side. When I say there was no visible smoke for much of the cook, I mean none. I did run it a 300*+ for most of the cook.
-The Pecos leaks like a sieve. I'm not that anal about a smoker being airtight. This is my 5th smoker and my 9 millionth smoke and I have learned not to be anal about stuff like that. But this thing is on a different kinda leak level. I think I need more smoke coming out of the smoke stack than the cooker door. The firebox was bad too, hence the foil.
-The wood may have been a tad dry. I was adding a small split every 20-30 mins. I did warm them on the top of the fire box and they went up like a roman candle as soon as I put em in. I'd like to think I could get close to 45 mins without having to add wood.
-I may make or get a fire grate that lets the wood set a little lower in the firebox. I started the seasoning last night with the original wood grate and had trouble getting it up to temp so I switched it out for the good grate from the firebox. But it sits decidedly higher in the firebox. Maybe too high.
