Saturday's smoke

[mpeachhead]

Here is what I did Saturday. First off, I'll show you the modifications I made: I rolled up some aluminum flashing to lower my smokestack, made a baffle out of it, and put a drip pan with some water to act as a tuning plate. I also raised my grate level in the firebox with an old pizza pan.

 

[mpeachhead]

Here are the results. I had a lot of trouble with wind that day. 30 miles per hour for most of the day. I eventually removed the baffle and removed the new grate (I didn't feel like enough air was circulating underneath it). The wind was not in my favor. It messed up my temps. Instead of doing 3-2-1 on the ribs, I did something more like 5-1-1. The corned beef brisket took a lot longer than it should have also. I did a fatty in about three hours (my first), and I threw some stuffed porkchops and chicken on for my parents.

All in all, I think lowering the smokestack was an excellent modification. It definitely helped. I'm going to try the baffle again in less windy conditions. I'm also going to try the new grate in better conditions. The elements were against me, but I still made some tasty barbecue!

 

[gooose53]

That looks like some mighty fine eating you got there!! Hope everyone enjoyed..

 

[bb53chevpro]

Looks great.
Andy.

 

[jerkyaddict]

regardless of mod's lookin tasty

nice job , and great qview !!

 

[mpeachhead]

Thanks. I think I'm going to try some beer can chickens and another fatty this weekend.

I'll have this baby figured out by springtime!

 

[cowgirl]

Looks great mpeachhead!

 

[low&slow]

Very nice looking q-view. You're right, it is hard to smoke in the wind with the SNP. Looks like you got it licked.

 

[mpeachhead]

I didn't have it licked then, but I licked it last Saturday. My Smoke 'n Pit comes with two large holes in each side of the lid. I'm not sure what they are there for (to install some sort of rotisserie attachment?), but I sealed those babies up with some aluminum flashing and JB Weld. I cooked again this Saturday for around 9 hours, and I only had to add a little more charcoal every hour or so. I maintained a near constant temp of 225 all afternoon. It almost never spiked; it dipped a few times but came right back up if I added some more fuel and opened the vent a little wider.

I went through one 10 pound bag of Royal Oak and a few oak sticks from my yard for flavor all day, so that smoke cost me 5 dollars in charcoal. I can live with that.

I made another corned beef brisket, another fatty (bigger and fattier!), a tray of ABTs, and some brined chicken breasts. Everyone was well pleased. It couldn't have gone better. Really happy with this smoker now.

 

[low&slow]

I wondered the same thing about those holes in each side of the smoker. I figured it was some sort of rotisserie attachment thingy too. I dont know where you live but the smoker gets even easier to use the hotter it gets outside. In the winter time here in TX I use an entire bag of charcoal on a brisket smoke. In the summer time it gets 108 degrees here and it only takes about a 1/4 bag of charcoal on a long brisket smoke.

 

[mpeachhead]

I live in South Georgia, so I guess I can look forward to it getting easy this summer also. My guess is the humidity will give me a few problems though.

Thanks for all your advice. I know who to turn to about my Brinkmann now.