Ok Guys, here goes.
1st up, I set this cook up to be easily accessible to everyone, no secret ingredients, bargain basement charcoal, a few chunks of wood.
I started off with the old ring out of my 22inch WSM (Not necessary, but I wanted to try it for airflow) and filled it with Royal Oak Lump Charcoal. I bought this bag for 10 bucks. I HATE Royal oak, because I have never gotten a bag without 80% being small enough to fall through the weber grate once I start pouring, and I fought to make it work this time too. For wood, I used two fist sized pieces of Cherry, and one of Hickory spaced evenly around the center inside the coal.
Please note that the WSM ring just slides in under the grate support tabs by a hair.
Starting off for a low and slow, I never want to get too much charcoal burning. Its easier to work up to a temp and then control it, than take extra time to bounce back and forth with your dampers.
If I was using the normal Kingsford BB I normally use, this would be equivalent to about 4 or 5 lit briquettes. On goes the grate and stones, to slowly come up to temp for the next hour while I do my other preparations.
Yes, I forced a small pan in under the grate to catch the drippings. Sitting on the stones gave an interesting result later.
Now onto the ingredients. One 4lb Choice Chuck Roast, one bottle of generic brand horseradish sauce(Like Arby's horsey sauce) for a binder, and one WEBER COWBOY seasoning and rub shaker. It took about 25% of the bottle for the meat.
Again, nothing fancy, this is something everybody can do. (PS~ on the right you can see where I trimmed the end of the roast slightly to square it and take a thin end off, but it was a very thick roast)
And let there be smoke. One hour after lighting the grill, and approximately 37 or so minutes with the rub sitting on the meat, the kettle is rocking along at a solid 250 to 260 degrees on the Thermometer, a little cooler at great level but not by much with those stones sitting directly over the fire and having soaked up heat and now sending it straight up in a controlled fashion.
Just a quick shot to show relative Vent positions. If anyone wants to see what this looks like from inside the grill I will take more photos on request to show it better.
The top vent is maybe a quarter of the way open, and the bottom vent is barely cracked open off of fully closed. For the temps in the mid 50's to 60's, this worked for me even though I was fighting wind.
Several hours later, I did my first check and just short of the stall temp. Flipped the meat, and back on for another 35 minutes.
158 degrees, and time to wrap. Notice the pan, some of the drippings hit it with the heat of the stones underneath and sizzled into smoke, further adding more smoke to the meat. Back on, and still holding 250 sure and steady.
At 5pm, about 6 hours in on the nose the Roast probed tender at 203 degrees internal. Time to pull it, and set it aside to rest. I used my WSM for this, with just enough coals in a minion basket to bring the heat up to just shy of 170 degrees.
Ultimately, I barely had to feed the minion basket, and let the temp slowly drop over the next 6 hours.
So here is what I had still in the Kettle once I pulled the roast. Let me tell you, get some heavy duty welders gloves before you handle the plates. THOSE THINGS WILL BE SEVERAL HUNDRED DEGREES HOT! You've been warned.
Ultimately during the cook, and the subsequent hour after I used for Cheddar sausages, I used maybe half the coal I started with, with quite a few chunks falling into the ash bucket due to small size. Closed off the vents, and the grill shut down within the hour, saving the coal. Honestly, I need some expanded metal grate to fit in over my charcoal grate if I want to use this stuff in my kettle again. It does burn faster than Kingsford for me, and a bit hotter, but I did ok with it using the Aura.
11PM The roast is rested, it is juicy, it is almost falling apart as I unwrap it and is just as squishy as can be filled with juice.
Not once did I spritz this chunk of meat, there was no water in the kettle, no moisture was added at anytime once it went on the grill. Chilling in the fridge overnight it firmed up for slicing at work the next day, but even fully cold once cut it was like biting into butter. Reheated, those that got to taste it had their eyes bug out. I got comments on how good it smelled and how amazing it tasted, including a few who emailed me after because they didnt get to say anything before I left work monday afternoon.
Good barbeque is accessible to anyone who owns a weber Kettle, even without an Aura KZCS. You dont need a Smoker to get good results, and you dont need a $1000 to $2000 kamado setup either. A stock OG 22 inch Kettle is currently listed on Weber's site as going for $130 US dollars. Add on the same for an Aura, and you are in for $260, or about the same cost as a Master Touch. For that you get a grill, smoker, steak searing, baking combo that cant be matched for versatility or value at cost pretty much anywhere else on the market. And the Aura is just an extra. Anyway, that just covers brand new, and there are a good number here who have picked up kettles for $35 to $50 used and in great shape. (This last is for those new to the site, as I am sure the rest of us are very familiar to Weber already and what it can do. For those browsing because they are looking to get their first Charcoal grill, I hope this helps and gives you the confidence to learn a skill that is both wonderfully American, and also as old as mankind itself. Safe Grilling to you all, God bless.)
