No, no problems with temp. It was a 10 lb butt, so 16 hours is inline with the 1-1.5hrs/lb estimates most people quote for pork butt. Plus the butt was cold when I started (48F) because I forgot to set my alarm to get up early and pull it out of the fridge

 

what smoker did you use?

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/cooking.../#post15810734

 

Nice! That does look like a good smoker for the money!

 

hey Chad, how did you get your chicken so dark? I did a turkey breast and that thing was so light in color.

 

Took some time to look into the pellet grills. So one of these things could replace my gas grill and MES? Thinking about it now

Any idea what it would cost in pellets to run one a year? I normally go through about two bottles of propane a year with mine. That's about $40.

 

From what I've been able to gather, pellets might be a little more expensive per year, dunno. Quality pellets can be bought for ~ $0.90/ lb.

A Guide to Pellet Grills - Barbecuebible.com

 

I would not recommend buying a pellet grill to replace a gas grill. They are more a smoker / slower cooked than a grill. Pellet grills provide indirect heat which isn't great for burgers and steaks and you won't get the grill marks because of it.

 

Bought some hickory this weekend in preparation for some cooks next week!

 

Itching to use my new smoker, have to find time to season it. Maybe tonight if it doesn't rain too bad

 

FYI, my cousin and uncle both cook steaks, chicken and burgers on their Traegers and it all comes out fine. And my Camp Chef will have the propane side grill as well

 

I'm sure they come out fine for some people but i like to cook my steaks and burgers over direct heat and as far as i know most pellet grills are indirect which is ok for some but not for all.

 

Trust me I wish a pellet grill could replace my gas grill and electric smoker, that would be awesome!

Before I got my Weber gas grill I looked into pellet grills and did a lot of reading about them and a lot of people said that no matter how you look at it a pellet grill will never be the same as a gas grill. After my MES dies I am thinking about getting a pellet grill for smoking meats, seem like it will be great for that.

 

Seasoned my new Brinkmann on Monday night, going to do another dry run with woodchips tomorrow night and then ribs on Friday

 

ChaChing!! Done deal, it will be here next week $686 shipped for the smoker + sear burner

 

That's what opening the door and mopping/spraying gets you. BARK. You're constantly adding new material on top of old material to get smoked. In the end, especially if sugar is involved, you'll end up with a very dark heavily smoked bark.

 

Going to season my meat tomorrow.

 

Looks great! How often did you have to mop / spray?

 

Smoked a rack of ribs last night. Used the famous daves rub and hickory with the 3-2-1 method. These turned out fuckin phenomenal, way better than the last rack I smoked.

Pic show paired with garden grown green beans steamed.

 

Ribs look great! Now i'm hungry for some ribs.

 

Made my first thing on the new replacement Brinkmann, and the ribs came out fantastic. After I butchered them and removed the membranes I decided to cut them before doing the rub because it's always more of a pain to cut them the next day.

IMG_20160818_235838540_zpskqyg7tdd.jpg

Applied the oil and rub the night before to let them set over night

IMG_20160819_241354274_zpsdkfdh4m4.jpg

Here's the next day as they're getting to room temp

IMG_20160819_151837728_zpsssnbxnvo.jpg

I ended up doing the 2-2 method and they were some of the best ribs I've ever made. Here's after 2 hours of smoke when I wrapped them and threw them back on

IMG_20160819_180653771_HDR_zpsisymgdty.jpg

New smoker smoking away, didn't realize the lid was crooked before I took the pic

IMG_20160819_180719561_HDR_zpsw8ingspy.jpg

And here's the finished product, bones are completely clean and that smoke ring

IMG_20160819_202058294_zpsggsiars4.jpg

Having them again for dinner tonight

 

Ack - ribs look fantastic for 4 hours of smoking / cooking.

 

Thanks, I had a shorter time-frame then I wanted, but I made it work. The new smoker keeps temp very well and gave me a lot more steady heat and smoke, so I was very happy with the outcome. I did a dry run smoke Thursday night and was very impressed with how it performed. I still want to drop the 3 or 400 on a Weber, but for now, the $40 Brinkmann is doing great in the meantime.

 

I agree with you on the Weber Smokey Mountain, that will most likely be my next smoker if I don't decide to get a pellet smoker. I have the MES40 and I love it for the room that it has but the uneven temperature is horrible.

 

Nice! Do you usually put rub on the night before or was this a one time thing? I feel like I want to get an Amazn tray for smoke rather than the chips because it'll last longer without my intervention but I'm too much of a cheap skate to do it.

In any case, the in-laws are in town so I'll be smoking a pork shoulder this week as well and maybe a chicken too!

 

I always do the rub the night before, cover in foil and let them sit in the fridge over night.

 

same here, i think it gives it a nicer flavor.

 

To sum up the descriptions I got on Friday for my ribs, my buddy said they were "Unbelievably awesome" his wife said they were "Heavenly" and my gf said "I didn't think that anything could be better than the last ribs (from July 4th) but these were even better"



That's what I call a success!

 

what do you think made them come out that good? 4 hours in the smoker vs 5 or 6?

 

Not sure, could be the rub that I threw together when I was drunk the night before

I think it was just having the new smoker and being able to control the temperature and smoke better. My last one was really bad toward the end, and it was like night and day with the new smoker. I used the same charcoal, same type of woodchips, and same BBQ sauce at the end, so I definitely think it was the smoker that made the most difference.

 

Old smoker vs new

IMG_20160725_163037398_HDR_zpsofnd0zqq.jpg

The new one was SO clean and shiny and new that I almost felt guilty getting it dirty

 

I just saw a Brinkman smoker just like yours on CL for $65 brand new... tempting..

 

Not a bad deal, they're pretty good for the price. I couldn't believe mine was brand new for 40 bucks, I couldn't pass it up

 

I'll have to ask maybe i can get it for $50. How hard it is to operate? Does it work well out of the box or need quite a bit of mods to get it to smoke and hold good temp?

 

Not hard at all, I haven't done any mods to it, just seasoned it.

50 is reasonable, there's someone selling one here for 50 on CL as well

 

 

how many racks of ribs can you fit in the brinkman?

 

I fit 3 in there no problem, could definitely fit more if I had to. I've also fit a whole brisket and 2 london broils at once

 

^ Do you just stack them on top of each other like in your pic? It doesn't look that big on the inside...

 

Nope, it's 2 tiered, 2 shelves

IMG_20160815_221647765_zpsey9la7ef.jpg

I cut my racks in half so they're easier to move around, but if you did the curl or snake I'm sure you could fit even more.