Information Overload - Craigslist OTS Kettle Slow n Low Set up/1st smoke debrief


 
Charlie L

Charlie L

TVWBB Super Fan
First started smoking with an ECB which was quickly replaced with a Mini WSM
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?34646-S-J-Silver-Gold-Mini-WSM-Smoker-Part-2.

Hoping to simplify the set up and clean up process, I recently grabbed an 22.5 OTS off craigslist primary for slow and low. I know it will never be a WSM but it was $8!

I saw a ton of posts here and other sites on set ups but i noticed alot of posts were old and some posters had since abandoned those methods for better ones. What are the best method(s) now adays? Im looking for the method(s) that will provide the most temperature stability and the longest cook time (said every pit master ever).

I've seen the snake/ring of fire (unlit around the edges, lit coals at one end).
I've seen the one side banked coals minion method with a drip pan.
I've seen charcoal rail/basket (foiled or unfoiled) with foiled grate on the meat side.
I've seen firebrick divider with foiled grate on the meat side.
I've heard pavers are used in place of firebricks but they can explode if there's moisture. Anyone have experience with this? Is this urban legend, overcautious, or just solid advice? I have a few pavers left over from a patio install. Im still looking for fire bricks...

Which of these still get used nowadays and why?Does anyone do a mix of those above? I've done chicken and rib on my mini with good success but i want to get up to doing a butt but want to get to the point where i can manage temperature better.

I did my first trial run over the weekend.

I did STL ribs on a rack and chicken pieces. Based on Harry Soo's Q&A here on the site, i was shooting for 275 degrees for both. For Ribs i wanted
275 degrees for 3 hours, Foiled for another hour, Quick Char to finish. For chicken i was going to let it go until it hit proper temperature but i was expecting it to take ~90 minutes.

One thing ive learned is its easier to bring temp up rather than bring down. I took a conservative approach and did the snake and also foiled half - 2/3 of the coal grate. I started with snake of Trader Joe Briq's on 1/3 of kettle. three rows: one on wall, one on grate, one of top of those two. with apple chunks mixed in. Food side of grate was foiled and an empty foiled Water pan from an ECB was used as a drip pan under meat (wanted an aluminum pan but pan went missing night before cook...) I lit 12 Briq's to start the snake. I had my maverick ET73 monitoring grate temp and food temp for the chicken.

Due to time constraints (breakfast for my 1 year old) i did not get grill fully up to temp before meat went on.
IMG_2835_zps3965946c.jpg


With food on and both vents full open it slowly climbed and got stuck at 195. After an hour or so i thought the combo of the snake and the foiled grate might be too restricting so i mixed the coal and added some more to get the temp up. It worked, but it was overkill. I started shutting bottom vents to 80% closed when i hit 250 hoping to settle at 275, but it kept rising. For the next two hours i battled the heat as it shot up to 325. Took chicken off when it hit temps and foiled ribs after three hours. Both were a little darker then i hoped due to the higher heat at 325 and because my coal was closer to food than i wanted due to the new coals that were added.

Once the ribs were foiled and smoke was no longer being applied i move the vents over the coals and cracked the lid a quarter inch on the coal side. allowing all the excess heat to escape on the coal side provided the preferred 275 on the food side for the final hour in foil.

The food came out fine. Very Edges were overcooked due to the higher heat but 95% ribs were fine. Chicken was slightly dryer then ideal but still tasted ok.

OK now the debrief:

Would allowing grill to hit 275 before adding meat prevented the stall that led to the overkill of new charcoal 60-90 minutes in? Do you let smoker hit temp or due you allow a predetermined amount of time to preheat before putting food on?

Was the snake and foiled grate combo overkill? Does one or the other work better?

Would having water in the catch pan helped? Can you use water at 275 or do you need to stay at 225 to use water?

Water would have kept the runaway temp down i'm sure, but i couldn't get temp up as it was, would water have only made it worse?

Would using firebricks have helped level off temps?

I noticed a significant amount of smoke leaking out of the kettle rim. I've seen the "binder clip" solution, does this make a difference or is this just the drawback of kettle smoking? Is truly controlling temp on a kettle with vents wishful thinking? The damper bladed on this kettle are a little beat up and im not sure how air tight they are. would covering 2 of 3 vents with aluminum tape or magnets and using one good vent be more effective once the temps get rolling?

Is the ultimate solution controlling the amount of lit coal better then controlling tempt with air (the ECB method).

This showed me I can make some decent BBQ with less than ideal temp control but the less babysitting i do, the more the family will enjoy it, and the more we will use it.

Any suggestions, advice, feedback on set up and managing temps would be appreciated.

This and other boards are the only reason i even attempt slow and low cooking. If not for the fellow members i'd be eating well done burgers on a gas grill completely oblivious to the awesome Q thats possible with a little practice.
 
The Stall is "Evaporative Cooling" which means the meat is sweating. When meat sweats, it cools it which causes the stall (meat seems to hold temperature for long period of time)

To answer your question, no. Allowing the grill to hit 275 before adding meat would not have prevented the stall, the stall will occur as part of the cooking process. However that said, the stall period can be reduced by increasing cooking temperature. That said, increased heat takes away from the "low and slow" cooking technique
 
Charlie, I posted here about using a basket of coals and getting decent temperature control with this method.

Since the post at the link I have been able to get more consistent temps. It's a matter just getting practice with your method of choice. Fire control is about managing lit coals and air flow. For example I crack the lid when I want to coals stoked for higher temps.
 
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John, your posts were definitely some of the many that i read and may try to emulate.
You made good points: Basket is harder to control but more even heat, Snake is long and easy but you get hot spots and meat should be moved.

In your opinion which is easier, which produced better results ?

Ironically you had success cracking lid to get temp up by introducing air, i had to crack lid to get temp down once ribs were foiled by allowing heat to escape on the coal side and keeping food side at target temp.
 
I agree with J Reyes in that you should choose one method & stick with it to perfection. For me, it's the fire brick method. That large mass acting like a heat sink to control (wild for me!) temp fluctuations... just plain works! The only downside is that I wish I had more cooking space.
I also put an aluminum pan of water over the coals. Although it's debatable weather or not this keeps your meat moist, I see it as more heat sink.
As far as using a "real" fire brick, I don't. I went to Lowe's & found an almost perfect size brick (little too tall) & have been using it successfully for the past 1 1/2 years. Mind you, my brick has never been wet. When I bbq with it, I foil it (more for appearance sake) & I keep it in the garage the rest of the time to keep it dry.
Whatever you decide, have fun 'Qing!
 
I have some left over pavers. They been outside so they've been exposed to moisture in the past but if I put them in the garage for week or would they definitely be dry?
 
Charlie Lauer said:
John, your posts were definitely some of the many that i read and may try to emulate.
You made good points: Basket is harder to control but more even heat, Snake is long and easy but you get hot spots and meat should be moved.

In your opinion which is easier, which produced better results ?

Ironically you had success cracking lid to get temp up by introducing air, i had to crack lid to get temp down once ribs were foiled by allowing heat to escape on the coal side and keeping food side at target temp.
Click to expand...

I started doing the coals on side many years ago (like 30 or so), went to using fire bricks, and WSMs when I joined the board and now back to just using a Kettle for most cooks. The fire bricks do help maintain temps. You cna also buy the half thick ones. Also see this post from a few years ago.

The heat is pretty consistent with the basket method. I prefer it becasue I can use more of the grill versus most if not all other methods. I am cooking a 15 lb briket tomorrow except will use a Rotisserie ring as a Stacker/Spacer.

Adding a related thread here
 
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