Rotisserie


 
THyde said:
Bruce, I agree: Jon, you've got a world of flavor waiting for you! Plus, the rotisserie brings you into a slow cook, as opposed to high heat sear markings, etc.

Oh, and Bruce, seriously this style is SO much easier to clean than the basket.
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Definitely looking forward. I am also a slow cook barbecue person when it is not tax season. Mostly Weber Kettle and Green Egg, but I have never done rotisserie. The pictures you guys have been posting have got me ready to learn!:o
 
Jon, it's a lot of fun, and you're not out there constantly, you just want to keep an eye on the internal temperature. Definitely getting used to cooking this way takes a little time. I find myself checking the temperature less frequently now, and I give myself an extra half hour to hour on top of the "20 minutes per pound" rule of thumb, maybe I'm at a lower temperature or something, but so far on the rotisserie it seems to take me an extra hour or so on top. In any event, that leaves plenty of time to cook rice or whatever else you are serving, so it's a pretty low pressure cook. Except the first time, when you will be checking it every two minutes!

Tim
 
If you have a little money to spend, I suggest you consider purchasing the Thermoworks Smoke remote thermometer. It is extremely useful and takes the guessing out of temps. The thermometer on the lid just isn't accurate at the cook level and it takes too long to respond every time the lid is opened and closed.

I can dial my grill in to a small temp range and monitor it from inside the house. No constant walking outside to check or having to sit next to the grill. I can easily do a 5 hour set of ribs and be able to continue doing other things the whole time. The Smoke has dual thermometers. One for tracking the temps at grate level and one for the meat. (Of course you can't use the meat thermometer while the roto is going). But you can stick it in and get an accurate internal temp reading with in a few seconds. You can set the themometer for temp ranges and it will beep whenever the measured temp of either probe goes outside the range set. You don't have to constantly open and close the grill which screws up those long slow cooks.
There are other, less expensive remote thermometers, but the Thermoworks Smoke is king and costs a bit under $100. Also, you can get one that doesn't have the remote monitor, but has the local monitor only and those are quite a bit cheaper.

Something to consider....maybe a B-day present? Or use the profit on one of your rehab grills to buy one! :)
 
Maybe that's why I'm having such long cook times. I do open the lid kind of often to take the temperature of the meat ... It's too bad that there doesn't appear to exist a thermometer you could leave in a piece on the rotisserie.
 
They are da' bomb but useless on the new Weber grills. Thanks to the dumb idea of running the burners a different direction. When they had them going across they had the perfect cooking machine. it could be a straight up "grill" a smoker, an oven and a damn good rotisserie machine. But now without having a dedicated burner across the back or front it's not effective
 
Yes, the age old "east west" vs. "north south" burners! When I first started using Weber gas grills, only about 5 years ago, it did take me some time to get accustomed to the heat zones being front to back. It doesn't take long to adjust, and now I prefer the east west burners not just for how awesome they are for rotisseries, but I like leaving the back of the grill hotter than the front for regular grilling. I feel like it stays hotter back there even after opening and closing the lid. I don't know why I think that, but I feel like the lid is "more over" the back of the grill. A long winded way to agree with you, LMichaels.

Tim
 
THyde said:
Maybe that's why I'm having such long cook times. I do open the lid kind of often to take the temperature of the meat ... It's too bad that there doesn't appear to exist a thermometer you could leave in a piece on the rotisserie.
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Even without a remote thermometer, that can be lessened quite a bit by simply not checking every five minutes. You should have a good idea how long it will take to get the temps to where you want them and checking them too often in between is counter productive. If it is expected to take 3 hours, you shouldn't even bother to check until about 1.5 hours. Then maybe every half hour after that until your temps start getting close. But, if you are checking more often than 10-15 minutes even at the very end, then you are hurting your cook schedule. And when you do it, get in and get out quick. But, like I said, the remote therm takes out all the guess work. But, again, they won't work on a roto.

https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke?tw=VWB&chan=TVWBB

https://www.thermoworks.com/ChefAlarm?tw=VWB&chan=TVWBB

https://www.thermoworks.com/DOT?tw=VWB&chan=TVWBB
 
Looks really interesting. We expect a full review after you buy one and use it. ;)

I always wondered why the Thermoworks Smoke didn't use a smartphone interface. It would be convenient and probably lower the cost.
 
Bruce said:
Looks really interesting. We expect a full review after you buy one and use it. ;)

I always wondered why the Thermoworks Smoke didn't use a smartphone interface. It would be convenient and probably lower the cost.
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They have a blue tooth gateway that you can add on, so it is actually MORE expensive. I have just the regular Smoke. Thermoworks seems to be a very classy company that makes quality products. My friend has the iGrill 4 and gets miserable reception with the bluetooth. I also understand that Weber changed the iGrill interface in an unpleasing way. My Smoke on the other hand works in my backyard and picks up great in my kitchen or living room. A cool tool!

I have wondered if anyone has a way around getting a temperature reading in a spinning rotisserie. I guess that is where the ThermoPen comes in. I don't have that, but a good friend gave me a ThermoPop and I think is a perfect moderate cost solution. Quick and easy to read.

I would think if you keep your grill monitored you wouldn't really need to open it up that often, at least not until the last stage when you are closing in on your target temperature.

Soon!!!!!!!!!!
 
What is really needed is a thermometer that measures the temps and allows you to read them while the meat is spinning without ever having to open the lid. Perhaps incorporating sensors right into the rod
 
Yah, I can't justify the Gateway addon for the smoke. Although that would allow you to monitor your cook from anywhere. But, if you think about it, what are you going to do if you at the grocery store and suddenly your temps start spiking. By the time you get home, you are likely to be looking at a nuclear melt down. So, I just can't justify the cost.

But the https://store.meater.com/ that THyde posted does seem to allow for a ROTO since it is a wireless probe.
 
That Meater looks like it would fit the bill. When I get back to work I may think about one ..
 
Bruce said:
Yah, I can't justify the Gateway addon for the smoke. Although that would allow you to monitor your cook from anywhere. But, if you think about it, what are you going to do if you at the grocery store and suddenly your temps start spiking. By the time you get home, you are likely to be looking at a nuclear melt down. So, I just can't justify the cost.

But the https://store.meater.com/ that THyde posted does seem to allow for a ROTO since it is a wireless probe.
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Yep, I agree. I think the regular Smoke is all you need. I also have a cheaper Ivation wireless that I got from Amazon at an incredible price. So low that I went for the 4-year warranty. I have to say that in my last BBQ I had both running simultaneously and they were each very nice. The Smoke does feel more solidly made and will probably last longer and give more accurate results. But for the price the Ivation so far is perfectly fine.

My friend's iGrill definitely does not impress; its lapses even ruined one of his cooks. I think regular wireless is better than bluetooth for backyard grilling.

Very interested in feedback on the Meater contraption. I guess someone DID come up with a solution:o!
 
In the smoking world and any other world you never want to open the lid. I have the Maverick Maverick Redi-Chek BBQ Thermometer Set - Maverick ET732 Special Edition Black mine is not the special edition. In my UDS I drilled a hole at grate level since that is the real temp not above why not just thinking drill a hole close to where the bottom of the meat or chicken normally would be you wont be exact but close enough.

Its a wireless unit 2 pieces, smoking ribs I can sit watching a football game with the receiver in my basement so I can see the temps. It also has a probe for the meat temp but I do not use that I swear by the therm unit I posted earlier in the thread for meat or anything.

Have to say I need to find a rotis for my 1000 the cooks look amazing.

Brian
 
Yep, opening the lid on slow cooks delays the cook by a lot, in addition to other potential issues, like uneven cooking etc. What I like about the Meater thermometer is it gives both meat and grill temps, inside the meat and outside it. I like that feature.
 
The Maverick does also so how when you are spinning on a rotis could you have the meat therm inserted into the meat maybe I am misunderstanding?
 
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