I did some experimenting with tri-tip today on the new offset. I like to smoke and then reverse sear my tri-tip, but the problem I've had with both my WSM and my pellet pooper is that tri-tip cooks so fast that I never really get enough smoke flavor for my taste. So today, I played around with it on the new offset. The goal was to keep the pit temp as low as possible while maintaining a clean fire.
So I started with 1 chimney full of lump charcoal and dumped it on top of an unlit pile of lump in the fire box. I added one of the thinnest splits I could find in my wood pile (white oak) and let the split catch completely before closing the firebox door, then I let the smoke roll. The pit temp got up to about 205 and held steady for about 40 minutes and then I added a second split, this time a little thicker. The temp kept pretty steady but peaked at about 220 for about 15 minutes before settling down. After about another 40 minutes the IT of the tri-tips were at about 120 so instead of adding more wood I just let it ride for a while. Without adding any more wood, the IT didn't creep up much higher, even though the pit temp was still just under 200.
I fired up another chimney of lump and got my 22 inch kettle ready, put my grillgrate's on, and once the IT of the tri-tips came up to 125 I pulled them off the pit and put them on the kettle to reverse sear for about 3-4 minutes per side.
They came out pretty darn good! Even though the IT temp was a little higher than I usually prefer at 140ish, the one I cut into was still a perfect medium rare. The second one is for another experiment. I got a new Vacmasater 360 vac sealer this week (my first ever), and I plan to seal and freeze the second tri-tip, and some time next week I plan to see if I can reheat in a water bath and bring it back to life without taking it past medium rare. I have friends that are bugging me for BBQ and I'm working on an idea to smoke it, vac it, and give to them with reheat instructions. Tri-tip is a favorite so this is the first test.
And finally, here are the pics from tonight's cook!
So I started with 1 chimney full of lump charcoal and dumped it on top of an unlit pile of lump in the fire box. I added one of the thinnest splits I could find in my wood pile (white oak) and let the split catch completely before closing the firebox door, then I let the smoke roll. The pit temp got up to about 205 and held steady for about 40 minutes and then I added a second split, this time a little thicker. The temp kept pretty steady but peaked at about 220 for about 15 minutes before settling down. After about another 40 minutes the IT of the tri-tips were at about 120 so instead of adding more wood I just let it ride for a while. Without adding any more wood, the IT didn't creep up much higher, even though the pit temp was still just under 200.
I fired up another chimney of lump and got my 22 inch kettle ready, put my grillgrate's on, and once the IT of the tri-tips came up to 125 I pulled them off the pit and put them on the kettle to reverse sear for about 3-4 minutes per side.
They came out pretty darn good! Even though the IT temp was a little higher than I usually prefer at 140ish, the one I cut into was still a perfect medium rare. The second one is for another experiment. I got a new Vacmasater 360 vac sealer this week (my first ever), and I plan to seal and freeze the second tri-tip, and some time next week I plan to see if I can reheat in a water bath and bring it back to life without taking it past medium rare. I have friends that are bugging me for BBQ and I'm working on an idea to smoke it, vac it, and give to them with reheat instructions. Tri-tip is a favorite so this is the first test.
And finally, here are the pics from tonight's cook!