Fingers Crossed on Decent Weather


 
LMichaels

LMichaels

TVWBB 2-Star Olympian
Well Tommy Skilling has indicated end of the week here will be VERY nice temps and weekend will be crap. So, Just pulled the second of the 2 pork shoulders I bought a couple months ago in the sink submerged in cool water to thaw. Fingers crossed tomorrow morning I can at the very least get it onto the Member's Mark (though would prefer BigZ for it's level of control). But, I'll live with the MM just not as convenient to use if I need to leave the house during the cook. Hoping I can get it done tomorrow with a nice all day smoke and then take a ride out to McHenry to bring a treat to my dad. Don't think I want to be driving all the country back roads it takes for me to get from here to there in the bad weather Tommy is saying to expect (cold temps along with pineapple express moisture) are not my cup o tea. No interstates between here and there. So he'll have to be happy with my visit on Thursday. (if I can make it happen). We shall see.......
 
Well BigZ gave me my first cause for concern this AM. Of course it's only about 30 deg (maybe 33 when I fired it) this am about 0730. (I guess they don't like cold as much as I don't like it :D) Anyway I fired it up. Everything seemed normal walked away to prep shoulder. Looked back to put it on. Greeted with LEr on control panel. Well of course it's *** is this?! Outta me :D. So, I went ahead and turned off power and turned on again. Noted ambient probe reporting 80F internal temp. So I fired it up again. (Yeah, I found out later not bright idea). Anyway fired up, set to 220F and see what happens. This time temps began coming up. Slooooooooowly. But, it was rising. I also stuck the end of my T/Works Smoke into the RTD probe opening. It too reported temps rising. Also it may be I have a RTD that gets flaky when cold. As I am noting the Smoke is reporting temps about 15 deg higher than the RTD. In any case it came up, and things running now. Have the Z set to 195, Smoke is telling me it's in the 210-215 range. Close enough for hand grenades and pork butts :D I did put a drip pan under on the lower shelf (no water just empty pan). A guy on Z Grill FB group says a water pan throws everything for a loop. But, I put a drip pan under because the last shoulder I did, got a little bit of a "crusty" bottom. So, I figured this might be good to do. I also wanted to keep the deflector a little cleaner so I did not have grease to clean off when I vacuum the grill out. IDK if starting the grill with the drip pan gave me (or set me up for) the LEr. In any case maybe some time after lunch I will open it up and insert one of Big Z's probes into the meat.
 
The water pan is a personal preference thing and doesn't throw anything for a loop. That's like saying don't cook on high humidity days. Just silly. I always put water in the drip pan for Butts and they always cook fine.
 
Lew Newby said:
The water pan is a personal preference thing and doesn't throw anything for a loop. That's like saying don't cook on high humidity days. Just silly. I always put water in the drip pan for Butts and they always cook fine.
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I am just wondering if the SmokeFire is different animal with that. But, in this case IDK if I saw the need for water. Though I did cook my last brisket in BigZ with a water pan and had no issues.
 
I used water pans in my RecTec, Camp Chef, and Smokefire. It adds moisture and collects the grease in the Smokefire.
 
Lew Newby said:
I used water pans in my RecTec, Camp Chef, and Smokefire. It adds moisture and collects the grease in the Smokefire.
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I added some water. I also bought some very nice looking shortribs of beef at Costco. So I fired up Member's Mark in front and those are in and over a shallow water pan as well. I know I could work without them but, hoping to just make my cleanup a little easier. This way all I need do is vacuum the ash. No greasy mess just pull the pans and done.
Current situation with pork butt (BTW it's a plain S&P rub). My probe from the Smoke is reading 217 currently.
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Speaking of water pans. What do you use in the Smokefire on top of the flavorizer bars? I bought some large foil pans from Costco but they are a little too tall.
 
Well, pulled everything. Shoulder has been resting along with the short ribs in a warm oven the last couple hours now. Probe fell through that shoulder like hot knife through butter. Gonna tuck into some tonight
 
Greg Ross-MN said:
Speaking of water pans. What do you use in the Smokefire on top of the flavorizer bars? I bought some large foil pans from Costco but they are a little too tall.
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Some people use half sheet baking pans. I use foil pans that are about half the height of standard pans. I found them at Publix Supermarket.
 
Greg Ross-MN said:
Speaking of water pans. What do you use in the Smokefire on top of the flavorizer bars? I bought some large foil pans from Costco but they are a little too tall.
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I don't use a water pan, but if I did, I would put it on the bottom grate and cook on the top grate. Or, what Lew said. lol
 
Bob Erdman said:
I don't use a water pan, but if I did, I would put it on the bottom grate and cook on the top grate. Or, what Lew said. lol
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That is what I did for both the short ribs and the shoulder. Shoulder was my dinner tonight. It was incredible. And re smoke? Smoke flavor was all the way through, The kitchen smells incredible. Just finished pulling the shoulder apart and wife is going to freeze it in serving portions tonight. Each rib will be frozen whole and individually. The beef smells incredible as well. Struggling to not "pig" out
 
I've been dying to try short ribs but the selection at my local supermarket is weak. I want meat on them bones.

I don't get using a water pan in a pellet smoker. Nothing I ever made on the SmokeFire made me think I needed to add a water pan for moisture. Now in my 14.5 WSM that's another story, I always used water in the pan, but mainly as a heat sink. With the controller on the SmokeFire I never worry about temps getting away from me. I'm sure there must be some benefit to using one in a smoker because people do use them.
 
Bob Erdman said:
I've been dying to try short ribs but the selection at my local supermarket is weak. I want meat on them bones.

I don't get using a water pan in a pellet smoker. Nothing I ever made on the SmokeFire made me think I needed to add a water pan for moisture. Now in my 14.5 WSM that's another story, I always used water in the pan, but mainly as a heat sink. With the controller on the SmokeFire I never worry about temps getting away from me. I'm sure there must be some benefit to using one in a smoker because people do use them.
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Actually I have done with/without a water pan. And got quality Q both ways. I only used the pans yesterday because doing cleanup as it gets colder is more of a chore. So they were primarily there as grease catchers so that today all I need do is uncover big Z, clean the RTD and vacuum the pit. Same with Member's Mark (except no cover it's in the garage). Really that was the major reason for the water pans. And the water was only there to prevent the drippings from burning and crusting in the pans. Otherwise in nice weather I would simply use the open pit, and do a full cleanup of the deflector along with a vacuum. This was just to make cleanup easier. Not for quality of the results in any way.
 
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