I got to stop my day dreaming


 

Bruce

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
I am doing a few racks of ribs on my Genny 1000 with rotisserie this afternoon. I have my Thermoworks Smoke remote thermometer tracking my internal cookbox temps and keep the remote with me to monitor any lows and highs in temps. But, I was thinking I should go out and see if the smoke is still coming out of it or if I need to reload the smoker box. It is nice not having to go out and check it very often on cold days like today.

Then I get to thinking, maybe I should install a surveillance camera pointing at my grill that I can monitor with my smart phone to monitor things like smoke output, flare ups, rotisserie operation, etc......

Then, I woke up to reality. But this kind of coooold weather sure promotes some off hand thinking.
 
The Thermoworks Smoke sure beats sleeping out on the couch with an alarm going off every half hour to get me up out in the back yard to see how my all-night pork shoulder is doing;)!

In my case it is avoiding mosquitoes, hot sticky air, and wondering what is slithering out there in my yard in the wee hours of the AM...Maybe a surveillance camera with motion sensor to boot!
 
Boo hoo! Part of the fun is lifting the lid, having a look, and going back inside!

I'm being facetious of course, it's pretty cold here in PA too, but at least when you lift the lid there's a little heat you can grab for a second!
 
Snow in Tallahassee, but not likely to get to freezing in my part if South Florida. Enjoyed grilling out in the very cool air tonight - a refreshing change!
 
Enjoy sir!

We are in bitter cold conditions up North, with a weekend of worse temperatures forecast. The grill can overcome the cold, but gol dang: It's COLD!!!
 
It's why I have at least one in the garage and 2 on the deck. On pleasant days with no precipitation deck grill(s) are used with garage as "backup". ON bad days garage grill(s) are used. Though I have not had time to get after converting that Genesis I bought a while back to LP from NG. Then I'll need to find another rotisserie for that one as I gave my Genesis rotisserie setup to son in law.
 
I grilled some steaks last night in 10 degree weather. They turned out great.

One of the things I like best about my 2 weber grills is the minimal flare ups. In frigid Temps I'm able to throw something on and go back inside for a while. With my old pre weber grills (char broil, kenmore, members mark ) unless I constantly watched over what I was grilling it was likely to get incinerated by a flare up. Consequently I just didn't grill much in the winter.
 
Yah, yesterday when I did my ribs, they worked out great, except for the final ten minute glaze. I put them on high after basting with BBQ sauce and went back in 5 minutes to check and had a roaring fire going. Needless to say, the BBQ sauce was a little beyond the "glaze" stage, but they were good still. I think my mistake was three burners on High. If it hadn't been so cold out, I would have stayed out there and watched them closer.
 
Not trying to rub it in for all my friends in northern winter...It's just that we work so hard putting up with a six-month-long summer that it sure is nice to have cool weather. In the 50s today. I cleaned three grills; one to give to a friend and two to get ready to list for sale. Still had enough time to grill some chicken:

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This will probably be my last "free" Saturday as my second job is income tax preparation. Tax season is looming:(.
 
I did a batch of Chicken Breasts on my Q100 last night. Temps below zero. It isn't that it keeps us from grilling up here, it just makes it less enjoyable. But, I agree, 50 degrees would be awesome grilling weather.
 
I have been using my cast iron Lodge grill pans. I have 3 of them. Long 2burner 2 sided, square "breakfast griddle" and square grill pan for single burner. I think I will be grilling out today. We're having a heat wave. It's 23 deg YES! Shorts and flip flops! At the temps we were having I was afraid to even twist the valves for fear they'd break off in the -15 (actual temps) we were having
 
I actually do have an IP camera pointed at my patio where are housed my smokers and grills, lol. We have an unfinished walkout basement. There's a 10'X12' slab outside and 9' above it is a deck that we access from our upper level. I hung tarps--attached to the deck posts--which shield that slab from wind and precipitation and that is where I do my smokes and grills. When I finish a smoke I clean the unit(s) and store them in the basement. I added that camera because I already have several of them to monitor other areas on the property, so the added cost was negligible. It adds peace of mind to make sure nothing catastrophic happens if I go next door to the In-laws but it is an indoor camera shooting through a window. I believe I'm making a short story long but once I achieve the desired quality of smoke there is often not enough contrast to see it via the camera from the exhaust vent. So if you add a camera, you might need an outdoor unit to better monitor smoke. But, while I am not an expert, I was taught that meat does not benefit from smoke beyond a certain internal temp and I am not aware that I have ever exhausted smoke from a few wood chunks beyond that point. Mainly, I use this camera to monitor that no intended fire occurs.
 

 

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