A little background as I started with a Weber 22.5 Kettle. My venture into the low and slow methodology was with a Brinkman also known as ECB and then I tried a cheap offset smoker. While I was able to cook some decent ribs, I quickly realized that these two were a dead-end. After reading the good advice on the Amazing Ribs site, I ordered the Smokenator 1000 and a Party Q. This really was beneficial, but limited, so I moved to a WSM 22.5. The WSM is great piece of equipment. Just the same, I found my briskest lacking. After learning about UDS via You Tube and reading the various articles on this web site and others, i.e., reverse flow and the review of the PBC, I thought that hanging meat in a vertical cooking environment might be the way to “kick my brisket up a notch.” While Weber has a smoking rack, it is in my opinion too flimsy to support the likes of a brisket or four or more racks of ribs. The PBC seem to be the next step; however, being too old and frugal to drop $300 on “maybe”, I decided to alter an old Weber grate as a test. With the help of a neighbor, who has an arch welder, I was able fabricate a raise a circular hanging bar 5 inches above the original grate. The added 5 inches keeps those larger briskets a few inches above the hot charcoal. With some hooks from the Internet I was now able to hang the brisket vertically in the WSM. My first cook was a 12 pound packer from Costco trimmed to about 10 lbs. directly over the charcoal (no water pan or heat shield). The drippings from the meat hit the hot coals and are vaporized keeping a moist environment in the cooking chamber. I used the Party Q, as I always do on the WSM, with the top vent about half open, to maintain 275 degree cook. After two hours and the brisket had a good color, I sprayed it with apple juice and BBQ sauce mix and every hour thereafter. With the hinged top it is easier to partly open that heavy lid and get a good-quick spray without too much temperature change. It reached 165 F in 4 hrs. At that point the Hanging Grate was switched to the standard grate, after a foil wrap the brisket went back on the WSM until it was at 200 F, which took 65 minutes. The foiled brisket was wrapped in a towel and placed in the Coleman. After resting for 3 hours we ate the best brisket that I have ever cooked and my wife, who very picky about her Que, said, “it was as good as or better than any she had tasted in the Austin, TX area.” (We have not endured the 3-4 hour wait for Franklin’s BBQ and never will.) The burnt-ends were great also. The next cook was spare ribs (4); began spraying after 2 hours and every ½ hour thereafter until done, total time 4 ½ hours without a wrap during the cook. After removing from the grill, the ribs were basted, wrapped in foil and rested wrapped with a towel in the Coleman for an hour. Again, great ribs according to my neighbors.
I have cooked two brined-split chickens and a couple of tri-tips. Removed the tri-tips when they reached 120 F; rested for 10-15 minutes, then put them on the grill for a 4-6 minute reverse sear on each side with a final internal temperature of 140-145 F.
I found virtually no difference between the hanging grate or the standard grate when cooking pork butt, whole turkey or whole chicken.
What started as a “hopeful” experiment has turned into one of those “eureka” moments that has extended my capabilities with the WSM and gave me the brisket that I have always hoped to cook. With these shared experiences and accumulated data it can be hypothesized that the vertical hanging cook method is superior for amateurs, like me, when cooking meats with a long axis, i.e. briskets, ribs and split fowl, with a lesser to no advantage for those meats that are rounded in nature—pork butts, whole fowl, etc. Hopefully these shared corporate experience will continue to shed light on better ways of doing what we all enjoy—cooking some Q.
I have cooked two brined-split chickens and a couple of tri-tips. Removed the tri-tips when they reached 120 F; rested for 10-15 minutes, then put them on the grill for a 4-6 minute reverse sear on each side with a final internal temperature of 140-145 F.
I found virtually no difference between the hanging grate or the standard grate when cooking pork butt, whole turkey or whole chicken.
What started as a “hopeful” experiment has turned into one of those “eureka” moments that has extended my capabilities with the WSM and gave me the brisket that I have always hoped to cook. With these shared experiences and accumulated data it can be hypothesized that the vertical hanging cook method is superior for amateurs, like me, when cooking meats with a long axis, i.e. briskets, ribs and split fowl, with a lesser to no advantage for those meats that are rounded in nature—pork butts, whole fowl, etc. Hopefully these shared corporate experience will continue to shed light on better ways of doing what we all enjoy—cooking some Q.
