Firedial


 
JoshZ said:
Dustin, what do mean an air pocket with the foil? Can you share a photo of that? How does the air pocket help?
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Not Dustin, But I think he means he puts foil over his water pan. But he doesn't wrap the pan tightly. Leaving a pocket of air between the foil and the bottom of the water pan. Which keeps the grease that drips down into the foil\pan from burning.
Burning grease is what i was after when I bought the fire dial. But I still have yet to use it again just because after that first cook with it i honestly don't like the smell. I think grease dripping down into the fire where it immediately burns is one thing. But having it drip down into a dry water pan,or on top of the fire dial is another. Like if your cooking pork you get a burnt bacon smell. And I am sure if you have enough meat on there you get a burnt bacon taste.
That is why so far i have only tried my fire dial once. Maybe I havn't given it much of a chance. But I think my terra cotta saucer foiled and sitting on top of the dry water pan is the best way for me to go. Which pretty much does what Dustin is talking about. It leaves a huge air pocket in the water pan. So the grease that drips down doesn't burn.
 
Not to horn in but that's what I do when foiling my dry water pans. My foil has a concave shape when in place and I leave substantial dead air space between the foil and pan bottom. This also reduces the use of foil.
 
JoshZ said:
Dustin, what do mean an air pocket with the foil? Can you share a photo of that? How does the air pocket help?
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I somehow totally missed this, but Fred adequately explained it. I saw a video with Phil in Florence using a firedial on his Kettle for some reason. He may have another with the WSM. It's kind of interesting but I find that the pan works fine. I occasionally do use water, just not very often.
 
Hi All Would the Firedial work sitting on the water pan brackets and hanging some ribs in a WSM 22"?
Also where can I buy the Firedial and a couple of meat hooks from the same online store?
THanks Dan
 
Hi All I just pulled the trigger on a Firedial and meat hooks..Hope the FD lives up to it's hype.
Dan
 
DBono said:
Hi All I just pulled the trigger on a Firedial and meat hooks..Hope the FD lives up to it's hype.
Dan
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I think your view on all of the hype is very distorted. As far as I know I am the only person to try one in this thread,and I have only used it once,and the results weren't really what I expected. But only using it once I havn't really given it much of a chance either.
I hope it works out for you. Let us know how it turns out
 
Happy Memorial Day everyone! I bought a fire dial and am planning to give it a whirl tomorrow while hanging some baby backs. First time I hung baby backs in my 22" WSM I had some grease fire issues. I salvaged my ribs and they were pretty tasty' but would rather not worry about major flare ups, so I haven't tried it again. My main reason for hanging ribs was to see if was a better way to smoke several racks vs other methods. My plant for tomorrow is to build a minion style fire with briquettes and stick the fire dial right on top of the charcoal ring and see what happens. I will post some photos later this weekend to let everyone see the set up and results. I'm also planning to use the FD for a fast & hot brisket cook sometime soon.
 
I thought hanging the fire dial would be better than setting it on top of the charcoal ring to make it easier to add wood chunks. Modifications were pretty cheap, simple, and no damage to the WSM. Taking my WSM to my buddies place and we're going to set up both of our 22 WSMs and smoke up some ribs and chicken. Hanging fiire dial, vs on the grate over a dry water pan. I've posted some photos of my modifications for anyone interested. More photos and mark ups later this weekend! Smoke em' if you got em! :)
 

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Here are a few pics and comments from Saturday's cook at my buddy's house. Before I started cooking, I lit the WSM and burned the oil off the fire dial. I opened the vents and let it get up to around 450F or so and it took about 45 minutes before the nasty oil smell went away (more comments later). Next we throttled back the temperature to about 275F and hung the baby backs. The end of the rack was about 2 or 3 inches above the fire dial. We hung a pair of chicken halves beside the baby backs just for fun. Before hanging the ribs on my smoker, on my buddy's WSM, we set it up with a dry/foiled water pan, set temp at about 225 and put on the same meat, same seasoning, same smoke wood (cherry, from the same bag) and some jalepeno peppers to make an afternoon salsa snack with.

Hot and fast "hung" baby backs , vs. low and slow baby backs. Which was better? What were the differences? Everyone (wives and kids) agreed that they were both good, but no once could really tell a big difference between the hot fast hanging method and the low and slow method. The hot fast hanging ribs were darker, and more red, but the flavor was very similar to the low and slow. We did foil the low n' slow rack for about the last 45 minutes or so to help it finish cooking, which didn't seem necessary on the hot n fast ribs. I will definitely use the new hanging fire dial again and probably do some foiling on those ribs to make them a bit more tender.

The fire dial worked! It became a flavorizer bar in my WSM and prevented the flare up problem I had experienced before when hanging ribs without the FD. I'm looking forward to trying a hot and fast brisket using the fire dial. I think the fire dial MIGHT make temperature control a little easier (time will tell). If you do buy a fire dial (available at bbqsmokermods.com ) don't forget to burn off the oil/rust inhibitor. I would probably try using some simple green and hot water on it first to see if that wouldn't reduce the burn off time. There are some good youtube videos out there on the fire dial, but none of the youtubers talk about the burn off, and the fire dial did not come with any instructions about removing the rust inhibitor. Forgetting to burn this stuff off would definitely ruin your BBQ.
 

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Instead of a pan of water, how about wrapping some bricks with foil and putting them on the grate over the firedial as a heat sink....just like using sand
 
After a few cooks on my WSM 18, I have to say I really like how the FireDial works.

Being flat, it obviously solves the overly deep water pan problem in the 18. Seems to even out the temps between the lower (usually cooler) rack and the top grate. Also seems to even out the heat side to side (due to its perforations) -- as compared to a dry pan that funnels the heat up the perimeter of the barrel. As with a dry pan, it is good for 240F and higher. If I want to cook at 225, I still use water.

Most of the grease hits the hot metal and sizzles (like how a flavorizer bar works on a gas grill). I guess a bit goes through the cut outs and goes down into the fire. But not enough to make a mess. I don't really notice a big smell/taste difference (like burnt bacon), but I like that flavor generally.

Best thing is the clean up. Unlike the Hunsaker vortex plate, the FireDial is a completely flat disc of metal. So just scrape it with a spatula or putty knife (again like a flavorizer bar) and that's it. No foiling needed. I haven't messed around with the fold up tabs, since that would get in the way of the easy clean up of the flat disc. That seems like a gimmick to me.

I also put it down on the charcoal ring when I'm doing 4-5 racks of chicken pieces/wings hot and fast to (like a flavorizer bar) prevent flare ups. I haven't tried to hang ribs yet, but I'd probably use the FireDial on the ring for that too.

It is pretty thick and heavy. Fits the WSM perfectly. For $30, it is a good option as compared to foiled dry pans, pizza pans, planter saucers, bricks, etc.
 
I thought about putting the Fire Dial (FD) right on top of the charcoal ring but thought it might smother the fire a bit too much, also figured it would restrict ability to add wood chunks, so I hung it with chains. I guess one could reach in and lift the FD with tongs or a gloved hand and then add smoke wood with a free hand and it would work out OK.

Either way, I agree that the FD is a nice WSM accessory that prevents flare ups while evening out temperatures between top and bottom rack. I've cooked chicken pieces over the charcoal ring both with and without the FD and much prefer using the FD (no contest). It really does prevent flare ups and grease fires.
 
I splashed out on a FD a few months ago. It's now gathering dust on a nail in the shed. The first cook went well no issues. During the second cook I noticed the pit temp dropping for no apparent reason. Upon investigation, it was found that the drippings from the pork shoulder had dripped through the FD and stifled the briqs with drippings, (Minion). This happened on the third cook too. Yes I could have put a drip pan on top of the FD, but this would have negated the working of the FD as advertised. I was getting grate[sic] results with a foiled terracotta plate. Why did I change my tried and tested method with the foiled terracotta plate? You tell me. :rolleyes:
I now use a solid 1/4" stainless steel plate. Works perfect. All drippings get zapped into smoke or drip down the side of the plate. Why didn't I revert back to the tried and tested foiled terracotta plate, instead of the SS plate? You tell me. :ROFLMAO:
If it aint broke, don't fix it!
 
Upon investigation, it was found that the drippings from the pork shoulder had dripped through the FD and stifled the briqs with drippings, (Minion).

I have not had this experience with multiple pork shoulder cooks using the FD.

So you think grease (i.e. flammable liquid) dripping into a hot fire...puts your fire out?
 
I just got a WSM the other day, and my FireDial came in yesterday. These are just my anecdotal experiences so far:

First cook (without FireDial) it was snowing, windy, and about 30 degrees outside. My fire would die after about 3 hours, and I had a hard time getting past 250 in the WSM.

Second cook (with FireDial) no snow, but still in the low 30s. My temps were able to climb much more easily, allowing me to control the temp with the dampers. It even got as high as 330 at one point. My WSM isn't insulated, and my fire would die about 4 hours in.
 
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