Second B-Day Present Arrived Today


 
Jose Suro

Jose Suro

TVWBB All-Star
Hi All,

I turned 60 on Tuesday. Wow! I'm old now :).

My first birthday present was two tickets to the NASCAR finals at Homestead. Three day tickets with pit passes and great seats in the Speedway Club - The works:cool:!

Today my second one arrived. It is huge!!

i-m8gNZZN-L.jpg


Assembled
i-H4bV9H9-XL.jpg


Dry Run
i-5NGhSKZ-XL.jpg


Everything is going well. I'm keeping 270 degrees with 2 vents closed, the third 1/2 way, and the top full open - water in the pan and about a third of a load of charcoal lit with the minion method.

Can't wait to put some food it!!!!!

Best,

Jose
 
Jose Suro said:
Hi All,




i-m8gNZZN-L.jpg


Assembled
i-H4bV9H9-XL.jpg


Dry Run
i-5NGhSKZ-XL.jpg



Can't wait to put some food it!!!!!

Best,

Jose
Click to expand...

DON'T wait!!!!! Quick, throw some raw meat on that thing, before you loose any more heat. It came cured from the factory, and if not, you might as well eat!!!!!!!!

MArk
 
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mkevenson said:
DON'T wait!!!!! Quick, throw some raw meat on that thing, before you loose any more heat. It came cured from the factory, and if not, you might as well eat!!!!!!!!

MArk
Click to expand...

ROFL!

I had to run it dry so I could study the temp control. Not much there. It holds temp beautifully. I'm definitely ready for some Q now though :).
 
Dwain Pannell said:
Happy birthday! I do Talledega and Atlanta every year. Homestead is on the bucket list.
Click to expand...

Even though I rode in Jeff Gordon's car for three laps I have never been to a race. Always wanted to and my sweetheart came thru with a great present. I can't wait!!!
 
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happy b-day jose. I know you will enjoy both your gifts. my only cup race was riverside 1970-ish. I think I had a sippy cup in my hand.
 
Happy Birthday.

I'm interested in hearing whether or not you have any problems maintaining temp. I've read that the 22.5 is more difficult to control, and uses more fuel, than the 18.5, which I have. I understand the part about using more fuel, because it's a bigger unit; but, difficulty in maintaining temp is what interests me.

Enjoy your new toy...use it well.
 
Eugene A said:
Happy Birthday.

I'm interested in hearing whether or not you have any problems maintaining temp. I've read that the 22.5 is more difficult to control, and uses more fuel, than the 18.5, which I have. I understand the part about using more fuel, because it's a bigger unit; but, difficulty in maintaining temp is what interests me.

Enjoy your new toy...use it well.
Click to expand...


Thanks! And a very good question. I was kind of concerned myself because over at the Amazing Ribs website Meathead only gave it a silver, not a gold like he did for the 18.5. He says that the temp wont come down from 275 degrees. Well, In the test I ran I can say that his is a false statement. And this is with a brand new smoker with no food in it.

I believe that he might have lit all the coals, and not used the Minion method. For my test I used very little charcoal, just about a single layer on that huge coal ring. I used a Maverick 733 probe on the top grate. The coal ring on this thing is is huge and could easily hold almost a whole bag of charcoal. That's the beauty of this thing. If you are going really long you will never have to add charcoal.

I used the Minion method for the test run, again with very little charcoal. My target temperature was 270 degrees without meat in it. Meat would make it go lower. It burned steady for almost 4 hours. I took notes and graphed the run:

i-Ms9zk9x-L.jpg


I started with all vents open. At a half hour it hit 270 and I closed one bottom vent. 15-minutes later it was up to 290 and I closed another vent and closed the top 50%. The temp started dropping quickly so I opened the top vent back to full. After that it pretty much went stable. After four hours at 5:35pm I pretty much ran out of coals so I opened all the vents and the side door. That is the spike you see at the end. The average temp for the whole run was 267 degrees.

My take? I can control this thing with no problems. It's all about how many coals you're burning at any point in time, and that is easy to control. For shorter cooks I'm thinking about using the two coal baskets from my 22.5 performer. Those should hold enough coals for a 5 hour smoke, and I wont have to buy a smaller rings as some are doing.

Best,

Jose
 
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When I first got my 18.5 I also did a dry run to play with the temp. Once coals were lit and in unit I had very little problem getting to my target temp of 225. My problem came with me not paying attention and next thing I knew the temp was almost to 300. I closed the vents and took the entire lid off once or twice and got it down to target and it held steady. I was and am still very pleased with how easy temp control is.
 
Happy Birthday. 60 is the new 40! I've done Homestead Race before - great track. If you have upgraded seat look for the "GO Girls".
 
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