Old Country BBQ Pits Pecos Owners Thread

[Kevin Haynes]

Doing my first ever smoke today. Decided on a whole chicken. Fire has been clean. It's pretty windy today but I'm not sure that's the reason I am having temps from the stack side to the FB side pretty well off. I've got averaging 284 on chimney side and 318 at FB side....cant seem to get it any closer and still curious as to how I would approach doing a brisket.(not in the near future haha) if I am aiming for a 250ish range the only way I get there is if my fire is getting low. People have said to cut the splits down to about 8 or so inches and it should help. I currently have about 12-14" right now unfortunately with no way of cutting them at this moment. Will have a chop saw within a few days. Think this may be the only issue I'm having? Split sizes? Old country stock therm says 280ish on the lid. I use inkbird 4 probe bluetooth. Using oak since that is pretty much what grows everywhere here in Texas.

 

[pbclown]

If your temps are that far apart close the gaps in your tuning plates. The tuning plate closest to the fb should be almost touching, then all the other ones spread out just a little more, like the picture included. I run stack wide open, door damper half closed. Temps are +- 10 degrees or so.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

If your temps are that far apart close the gaps in your tuning plates. The tuning plate closest to the fb should be almost touching, then all the other ones spread out just a little more, like the picture included. I run stack wide open, door damper half closed. Temps are +- 10 degrees or so.

I'll give this a try next time! I appreciate it...and what exactly do you mean by door damper half closed...door completely shut and latched with that little slide adjustment on the door half closed? Or the slide part closed and door half way open?

 

[Kevin Haynes]

Well the first smoke is in the books and I think I will say I am very surprised and proud of myself! My first initial thoughts are it looks awesome, smells awesome and it tastes pretty damn good to me! Please give me everyones honest thoughts on looks please. If you guys were here I'd have you taste but I think it came out pretty decent.

 

[pbclown]

Yes, for closed, damper in door half open, your chicken looks good

 

[Smokin Okie]

Yardbird has good color, I'll take a thigh :)

 

[Smokin Okie]

Something else I do that might make a diff in your temps end to end. I always use a water pan on the FB end. I found this 16" loaf pan that fits perfectly acros the end of the cook chamber. With tuning

 

[Smokin Okie]

And while I'm here ........... for some reason I can't post a reply to this thread when using FireFox. I either have to use Google Chrome or get on my Amazon Fire Tablet.

The area that contains the box where the post is entered, doesn't even show up with Firefox.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

Something else I do that might make a diff in your temps end to end. I always use a water pan on the FB end. I found this 16" loaf pan that fits perfectly acros the end of the cook chamber. With tuning

Just purchased a pan! Haha this will be used next time as well. Already excited for the next cook

 

[Smokin Okie]

For some reason my post did not finish, I was adding that with tuning plates, I put the pan on top of the plate nearest the FB. It fits perfectly under the cooking grate.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

Couldn't wait any longer after my first smoke yesterday of a whole chicken which came out pretty darn good. Did some pork ribs today and once again, shocked myself with how well my first ribs ever came out. My girlfriend loved them and her mom did as well. I thought they were awesome too. I'm hoping this is not beginners luck and going forward they aren't as good. I am very impressed with how they turned out. Me and my girlfriend travel Texas in search of the top 50 in the Texas monthly and I would say we are very familiar with how Texas BBQ should taste and which places are good and which places are absolutely trash. Me and my girlfriend both put my pork ribs today higher than Kreutz,smitty's AND salt lick bbq. (Those 3 we were VERY disappointed with) and let down!....here are some photos. Please let me know what you think based off of photos and colors.

 

[texasjason]

Couldn't wait any longer after my first smoke yesterday of a whole chicken which came out pretty darn good. Did some pork ribs today and once again, shocked myself with how well my first ribs ever came out. My girlfriend loved them and her mom did as well. I thought they were awesome too. I'm hoping this is not beginners luck and going forward they aren't as good. I am very impressed with how they turned out. Me and my girlfriend travel Texas in search of the top 50 in the Texas monthly and I would say we are very familiar with how Texas BBQ should taste and which places are good and which places are absolutely trash. Me and my girlfriend both put my pork ribs today higher than Kreutz,smitty's AND salt lick bbq. (Those 3 we were VERY disappointed with) and let down!....here are some photos. Please let me know what you think based off of photos and colors.View attachment 398817 View attachment 398818 View attachment 398819

Looks good! And as long as you and the family like it that’s all that matters. Keep on smoking and you’ll get better and better at dialing in temps etc., and figuring out how your smoker likes to work.

 

[rsv4ever]

Purchased my Pecos this weekend just in time for Labor Day. Seasoned it Saturday and jumped right in to do my first brisket (on an offset) my pervious briskets were l done on a MES40. Didn’t do any real mods but I did take out the charcoal tray and put it in the chamber to use as a tuning plate and set the grate for the smoke box at the bottom. Brisket was an overnight smoke and I learned some lessons in heat management for overnight cooks. 14lb Brisket came out decent, it smoked for 16 hours at cooking temp range of 190 a 275 (again heat management issues). I pulled it at 170 to wrap in pink butcher paper and finished it at 198 (slightly earlier then I planned). Used Post Oak and really liked the smoke it produced.

 

[pbclown]

This past weekend during my smoke, the gasket I had on the cook chamber started coming off. I had used fireblack the last time, it didn’t last all that long, about nine months. What is a good gasket to replace it with?

 

[Smokin Okie]

I used the Fire Black and the RTV Silicon a year ago last June on my Brazos. Not had any problems.

Before I put it on, I put a wire brush attachment on my drill and roughed up the area where it would stick. I also cleaned it with rubbing alcohol.

I put the gasket on the lid and not the cook chamber.

I put the RTV Silicon down first, then put the gasket on the red silicon.

 

[Zackjsimpson]

Do any of you use fire brick in the firebox? I don’t know if it’s worth the trouble or not. I haven’t even lit a fire in mine yet since we’re moving in a week and it’s still at my in laws, but the suspense is killing me.

 

[Kevin Haynes]

Do any of you use fire brick in the firebox? I don’t know if it’s worth the trouble or not. I haven’t even lit a fire in mine yet since we’re moving in a week and it’s still at my in laws, but the suspense is killing me.

I have never used fire bricks, nor really know anything about them. My best results have been placing that smoker facing a good way that will get plenty of air flow into the firebox and not from the other end (that will choke out the fire) then throw a chimney of roaring hot coals in the very bottom of the firebox (no ash tray piece, nothing keeping it up off the bottom) I run the fire on the bottom of the FB and haven't turned back yet. As for using the fire bricks, I assume you are using them to insulate the firebox in a sense? I personally wouldn't go out of your way to do that. Try to just dial your pecos in with what it has. I've had success. Even been doing some catering until my 500 gallon is finished. Let us know how it all goes!

 

[Zackjsimpson]

I’ll probably go without the fire brick, but that’s what I was referring to. I’ve heard it keeps the firebox in better shape since the metal doesn’t get as hot. mine will be inside the garage, or smoking, so I’m not too worried about rust though.

I have never used fire bricks, nor really know anything about them. My best results have been placing that smoker facing a good way that will get plenty of air flow into the firebox and not from the other end (that will choke out the fire) then throw a chimney of roaring hot coals in the very bottom of the firebox (no ash tray piece, nothing keeping it up off the bottom) I run the fire on the bottom of the FB and haven't turned back yet. As for using the fire bricks, I assume you are using them to insulate the firebox in a sense? I personally wouldn't go out of your way to do that. Try to just dial your pecos in with what it has. I've had success. Even been doing some catering until my 500 gallon is finished. Let us know how it all goes!

 

[Kevin Haynes]

I’ll probably go without the fire brick, but that’s what I was referring to. I’ve heard it keeps the firebox in better shape since the metal doesn’t get as hot. mine will be inside the garage, or smoking, so I’m not too worried about rust though.

Oh okay. Yeah I have cooked on mine maybe 20-25 times and it has always been covered. I have always dumped the ash out after a cook. The metal in the firebox has certainly changed colors and the door may have just warped a tiny bit but it's held up.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Do any of you use fire brick in the firebox? I don’t know if it’s worth the trouble or not. I haven’t even lit a fire in mine yet since we’re moving in a week and it’s still at my in laws, but the suspense is killing me.

Funny you should ask. I just put fire bricks in the FB of my Brazos and I did a short four cook yesterday to try them out.

First, I don't use the grate in the FB. I build the fire in the bottom. For that purpose, the fire bricks worked well. They protect the bottom of my FB and also change the angles inside the box. That made for a better coal bed and how the splits lay across the coals. I like that aspect.

They also do provide insulation. As to acting as a heat sync and evening out temps, I don't know yet. It will take a few more cooks and especially, some long cooks to conclude.

But I did get a better coal bed and that's worth a lot.