what to repalce with...looking for advice

[dr k]

Rabbithutch, in my fondest dreams I would love a rig like Brazos. The rap against the chip offset smokers is that the metal's too thin, not at all like pro rigs. But here in the Puget Sound area we're still trying to string more than just a few dry days together. That's why I chose a small MES 30 as my first smoker. My neighbor's got his old, rusted Char-Griller just inside his front gate waiting to be recycled or something. 

My very good friend, jted, has been proselytizing about using the snake method for years. I think I'll give it a try this year since I like to experiment. But it's so quick and easy to just dump a chimneyful of briquettes on the charcoal grate and then to throw a couple of steaks on the cooking grate on the Weber. I'll have to plan ahead to use the snake method along with wood chunks. And speaking of wood chunks, almost bought a bag last year but I think I will this year at Lowe's (we have one in town). Hickory should be easy to find. Hope mesquite is as easy. I gotta either flag or copy/paste your how-to in this thread to refer when I try this out. With my Weber, it was an OTS but I bought the cooking grate with the hinged sides and the enclosed ash catcher. My beloved wife bought me a lid holder that attaches to the kettle so in essence I upgraded my Silver to a Gold. Don't need the therm in the lid; I got a Maverick Laser Infrared gun therm for that. 

Do you use lump charcoal for smoking in your Weber? I use it for regular grilling but it turns to ash sooner than briquettes. 

Lump is so light, less dense and fragile. It has to burn more quickly. I hate loosing unburnt lump shards and fragments through the grate. Your Dr. Blonder link you sent me a couple years ago explains pros and cons of charcoal vs. lump. I do not see myself buying lump when I can get Kingsford standard blue bag at $.25/lb. It's all good. What ever people like and grew up with.
-Kurr

 

[daricksta]

Howdy, Ricksta!!

The Old Country smokers are made in Mexico and sold throughout the country by Academy Sports. There are a number of different smokers in their line. The Brazos is a 40 x 19 side firebox offset make entirely of 1/4" steel. It is a beast weighing about a quarter ton. The Pecos looks just like it but is made of 1/8" steel. The Brazos sells for $1000US, the Pecos for $300/400(?). Mine was a Christmas gift from daughter and son-in-law. Both smokers can sometimes be had for less as seasons change and stores change their stock. Here in central Texas they stock and sell them year-round. Never forget CL as a potential source.

I really like my Brazos. It is my first and only stick burner but it has been super easy to use and to maintain temps. The mass of the steel seems to moderate both spikes and drops making it quite forgiving. It is a stick burner and has the usual stick burner issues with hot spots and the need for tuning plates. It comes delivered with a baffle plate welded in place in the cooking chamber. It has a flat, ventilated coals grate for the firebox that I used for a tuning plate. Works like a charm! I kludged up a firebox grate from universal parts I found at Lowes or Home Depot. I will have a welder make me a grate when I have the dosh.

It took some experimenting and trial and error for me to get the hang of smoking on the Weber. The first thing I learned is that you have to use the snake method of laying, lighting, and burning the briquets. I'll leave you to look into this further; but suffice it to say that it involves laying the briqs around the perimeter of the kettle and none in the middle. You light the ring at one end and let it burn progressively around the circle. You place wood chunks (not chips or pellets) on top of the briqs at intervals that will ensure a good wood smoke for at least the first couple of hours. I always do the whole circle knowing that any meat will quit absorbing smoke flavor at some point. I like smoke flavor. If you don't, then use trial and adjust to suit your taste. I do not soak or wet the wood chunks. I use mostly hickory, some oak, some pecan and occasionally mesquite but I find it too strong for my taste for most meats and definitely too strong for poultry. But that's just me.

Getting the right amount of charcoal is critical. Too much and the heat will tend to run too high. Too little and you'll burn the whole ring before you reach your desired IT. My starting point is to lay a double row of briqs side by side around the perimeter leaving a gap of about 3-4" then I lay another row of briqs on top of the double row trying to ensure that the top row spans the gap above the lower double row. The idea is to get enough contact that as one group of briqs (4,5,6 maybe) burn they will ignite the next ones in the ring. I usually fill my charcoal chimney about half full and light it off and wait until I get good red and gray-covered briqs which I then pour over one end of the unlit briqs. I then lay my wood chunks at intervals that look right. I open the bottom vent and top vent all the way at first and wait for the 'snake' to get a good burn going. I then put the lid on the kettle. I have a thermo in the lid of my OTG (I put it there; it's not stock) and the Performer has a stock one. I watch these to see how relatively hot the fire is. With a good snake well lit, it will get higher than I want. To cool it I start closing the vents starting with the top vents. If half closed works and the heat levels out, I leave well enough alone. If it's still too hot I start closing the bottom vents. Go slowly at it closing the vents about 25% each time until you get the temp you want. If temp spikes - and it will - just take the lid off and let some heat out. If it drops open the vents that you previously closed a bit. If that doesn't solve the low heat problem, light some more briqs and place them where you think the snake needs them. That is all a bit more 'fussy' than an electric, of course; but you get the smoke ring and I think you get a better smoke flavor. The real plus to me was to gain more control than I had with the MES and AMAZN pellets. I'm not knocking that method, just sayin' I like the Weber better and the Brazos even more so. I use only oak in my Brazos, BTW.

The Weber is an inexpensive way to smoke and gives results that I've had folks rave over ('course, they could have just been polite). If you stock up on charcoal when Lowes and Home Depot run their half-price deals you're golden. I buy my wood chunks at the local supermarket. If yours doesn't carry them, you'll have to look elsewhere. I hope this explains a bit of what I learned by trial and error. Buy a whole chicken, spatchcock it and give the method a try. It's best to use inexpensive meats while learning to lay the snake and control temps.

Good luck. Post back if you have questions and I'll try to answer. If I can't it's almost a guarantee that someone else here will.

Rabbithutch, in my fondest dreams I would love a rig like Brazos. The rap against the chip offset smokers is that the metal's too thin, not at all like pro rigs. But here in the Puget Sound area we're still trying to string more than just a few dry days together. That's why I chose a small MES 30 as my first smoker. My neighbor's got his old, rusted Char-Griller just inside his front gate waiting to be recycled or something. 

My very good friend, jted, has been proselytizing about using the snake method for years. I think I'll give it a try this year since I like to experiment. But it's so quick and easy to just dump a chimneyful of briquettes on the charcoal grate and then to throw a couple of steaks on the cooking grate on the Weber. I'll have to plan ahead to use the snake method along with wood chunks. And speaking of wood chunks, almost bought a bag last year but I think I will this year at Lowe's (we have one in town). Hickory should be easy to find. Hope mesquite is as easy. I gotta either flag or copy/paste your how-to in this thread to refer when I try this out. With my Weber, it was an OTS but I bought the cooking grate with the hinged sides and the enclosed ash catcher. My beloved wife bought me a lid holder that attaches to the kettle so in essence I upgraded my Silver to a Gold. Don't need the therm in the lid; I got a Maverick Laser Infrared gun therm for that. 

Do you use lump charcoal for smoking in your Weber? I use it for regular grilling but it burns out sooner than briquettes. 

Lump is so light, less dense and fragile. It has to burn more quickly. I hate loosing unburnt lump shards and fragments through the grate. Your Dr. Blonder link you sent me a couple years ago explains pros and cons of charcoal vs. lump. I do not see myself buying lump when I can get Kingsford standard blue bag at $.25/lb. It's all good. What ever people like and grew up with.
-Kurr

I agree with all you said. Yeah, there's a lot of waste in a bag of lump charcoa since so much of it is pieces too small to use that just fall thru the charcoal grate. I'm very particular about when I use it because it imparts a more mesquite-like flavor than regular charcoal briquettes. When I grill Santa Maria-style tri-top roasts or steaks, I like tro use lump charcoal along with mesquite wood chips, pellets, or--new to me this year--wood chunks! I want to replicate the open pit BBQ that's so popular in that central CA town. I've also used lump charcoal with grilled ribs and grilled pizza. I just like to have options so I like to have bags of both briquettes and lump on hand. 

 

[rabbithutch]

I use Kingsford blue bag charcoal briquets. I've never seen any advantage to using lump and there are disadvantages.

 

[daricksta]

I use Kingsford blue bag charcoal briquets. I've never seen any advantage to using lump and there are disadvantages.

For the most part, buying a bag of lump charcoal is a waste of money because about half of the bag is filled with broken pieces too small to use because they fall thru the charcoal grate on any grill. But as I stated, for certain types of grilled meats or pizzas, I like the that brief shot of hot temp and the flavor imparted by the lump which is totally unlike charcoal briquettes. I make it a point to have have both lump and briquettes for grilling every summer.