New Hell Bender smoker.

[rbnice1]

So I just picked up a new smoker from a new small bbq company in southern missouri. Hell Bender BBQ. Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to there website?

So on this thread I will be documenting this smoker and showing at least the first few cooks along with my thoughts.

So initial thoughts was the price was good, tho they are not a big name like fat stack or franklin or any number of other manufacturers. Its built very stout. I would guess with minimal maintenance this will outlive me by a large margin. It is very short. In my case not a big deal because it will be going up on blocks. The guys who built it were looking for feedback and will be making adjustments on future pits. If I was going to leave it on wheels, I would defently ask them to make it taller and also ask for locking castors on the wheels. I love the large collector and the large/tall stack. The fire box is also semi insulated and huge! The design how the firebox is embedded into the main chamber by 6ish inches is different. Im not sure if this will be good or bad yet. Im hoping good.

Forgot to post dimentions. Firebox is 24 x 22 inches. Cooking grate is 36 x 23 inches. Stack is 6 inches and is 48 inches tall.
Measurements:
84 inches tall.
48 with stack removed.
30 inches from back to handle.
84 inches from collector to firebox handle.

So, on to the first fire and biscuit tests.
I loaded it with 3 or 4 handfulls of lump charcoal and starter. Once the coals were going some i added 3 small splits to get it started. The wood im using is bad. its oak that is a bit punky. But after it settled in smoke out the stack looked good and smoker rose to 325F at left side grill level pretty quickly. It then slowly came back down to 270f. I then started adding wood slowly. Again wood is bad but i was curious how it maintained temps and how much wood would to add and how often. Here are some pics while we wait for data, then i will put the biscuits on. So far Left side and middle are around 1F difference. Right side of course is much hotter.

 

[rbnice1]

So not bad tho the swings are a bit more then i normally want so I think I will try to cut back the incoming air a bit and see if it levels a bit.

 

[JLeonard]

looks like a great looking cooker. You'll have fun figuring it out.
Jim

 

[Displaced Texan]

Looks great. Not that you asked, but I would under think learning this new pit. Maybe add another Tel Tru and trust them. Learn to even the temps without needing baffles or tuning plates. I over thunk my pit and when I went back to using feel, the results are much better.

Either way, enjoy!

 

[rbnice1]

No, not planning any tuning plates. I closed the door some and droped peak temps down 20F on the next split. We will see how the low end looks, so it feels very controlable to me. Again wood is bad so some of its that. 1 of the splits i added gave me a high spike then was down to ash in 10 minutes. Was just too much punk. im half temped to just scrap it and use my good ash tomorrow and through some small hickory pieces in. My main stack of hickory wont be ready till prob fall.

 

[Sven Svensson]

Looks like a tank. Very nice rig.

 

[jcam222]

Always fun to learn a new cooker! Looks nice.

 

[rbnice1]

So played with the door and over corrected and snuffed it down too much. Then got it pretty good. I like it opened up for more even temps but closed down some it runs better temps but less even. im sure there will be a happy middle. That said I did a biscuit test. And the cook was very very even.

 

[bohemiansausage]

So I just picked up a new smoker from a new small bbq company in southern missouri. Hell Bender BBQ. Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to there website?

So on this thread I will be documenting this smoker and showing at least the first few cooks along with my thoughts.

So initial thoughts was the price was good, tho they are not a big name like fat stack or franklin or any number of other manufacturers. Its built very stout. I would guess with minimal maintenance this will outlive me by a large margin. It is very short. In my case not a big deal because it will be going up on blocks. The guys who built it were looking for feedback and will be making adjustments on future pits. If I was going to leave it on wheels, I would defently ask them to make it taller and also ask for locking castors on the wheels. I love the large collector and the large/tall stack. The fire box is also semi insulated and huge! The design how the firebox is embedded into the main chamber by 6ish inches is different. Im not sure if this will be good or bad yet. Im hoping good.

Forgot to post dimentions. Firebox is 24 x 22 inches. Cooking grate is 36 x 23 inches. Stack is 6 inches and is 48 inches tall.
Measurements:
84 inches tall.
48 with stack removed.
30 inches from back to handle.
84 inches from collector to firebox handle.

So, on to the first fire and biscuit tests.
I loaded it with 3 or 4 handfulls of lump charcoal and starter. Once the coals were going some i added 3 small splits to get it started. The wood im using is bad. its oak that is a bit punky. But after it settled in smoke out the stack looked good and smoker rose to 325F at left side grill level pretty quickly. It then slowly came back down to 270f. I then started adding wood slowly. Again wood is bad but i was curious how it maintained temps and how much wood would to add and how often. Here are some pics while we wait for data, then i will put the biscuits on. So far Left side and middle are around 1F difference. Right side of course is much hotter.View attachment 635045View attachment 635046View attachment 635047View attachment 635048

I'm very impressed! I can't find a website for Hellbender. Could you post a little info about the manufacturer, please?

 

[rbnice1]

So Starting the first real cook. Got the smoker up to temp then added the pork shoulder.
I can say it runs much different using my good ash. It runs very hot even with stuff shut down. so will be playing with things a lot during this cook. hopefully i dont screw the roast up. lol

 

[rbnice1]

I'm very impressed! I can't find a website for Hellbender. Could you post a little info about the manufacturer, please?

https://hellbenderbbq.com/shop

 

[rbnice1]

4 hours in. Threw the ribs on a few hours after this.

 

[rbnice1]

Wrapped the roast but didn't get any pics. I did get pics when i pulled the ribs to wrap. I pulled them a bit before I would have liked. I'm still working on the fire management issues, however the last few hours have been much much better so I'm getting there.

 

[rbnice1]

everything wrapped for the next few hours. As you can see there is still a bit of extra space.

 

[culpepersmoke]

Looking good

 

[rbnice1]

shoulder is still on but ribs are done and eaten. It was odd there was a lot less pull back on the ends then im used to. The ribs were the most meaty i have had in a long long time as well. That said they were about perfect as far as not mush but almost pull off bone. The flavor was fantastic and it had a great smoke ring. If every time I made ribs and they turned out like that I would call it a win and never complain. lol Like i said I was getting very concerned because they didnt look done but they were perfect. it was odd.

 

[bauchjw]

Looks like a great smoker! Awesome results! Great fortune finding a quality start up that hasn’t sold out!

 

[rbnice1]

So finally had to go to bed and pulled the shoulder off. It ran good, small stall at 163, but then wierd happened. It got to 185 then just stopped.... it sat there for over 4 hours. I thought maybe ther was something wrong with my probe so grabbed a second one and it showed 180, however it probed super tender. I was perprexed. I have never had a should probe tender under 194ish. I don't even usually bother probing till 195 or so.

Anyhow. it sat till my wife put it in the fridge at like midnight then this morning I pulled it out and shredded. Its harder to tell with cold pork but the bone pulled clean and the smoke ring looked amazing. Will try eating some later in the week prob. Bagged them all up 15-16oz each!

 

[rbnice1]

So, Cook 2 begins! Just put the thighs in the fridge to dry brine over night. I will be doing these 2 ways. Some straight smoked. Some smoked then into the sous vide in a tallow bath.

 

[rbnice1]

Just pulled the the straight smoked thighs. They seem tender and the small piece i tested tasted great. I would guess the hybrid cook will be betetr, just from past exp. That said the pit was a lot easier to control this time then last. I got a big coal bed going then let it burn down to 250ish then put larger splits on and was able to keep 215 - 275. The 215 was on purpose to lengthen the cook on the sous vide. So either way was much more confortable.