Post by indashmp3 on Aug 2, 2009 11:14:04 GMT -5
First of all, I want to think Don for absolutely amazing customer service and shipping speed. I ordered right at/after cutoff for same day shipping, and it was out the door that day. He sent from California on Wednesday, and it was at my home Friday! Thanks again, Don.
So I have recently become obsessed with this whole smoking thing. I am a very competitive person, and a couple weeks ago, a friend brought in some ribs he made on a cheap ol' Wal-Mart smoker. They were amazing! I decided that weekend to give it a go on my Weber using simple indirect cooking. I put a large drip tray under the ribs, piled the charcoal to one side, lit it all, and controlled the temp with the upper vent. The drip tray was full of apple juice. The ribs came out VERY good and at that time I was hooked. Realizing the potential of my Weber (which I have been grilling on for 10 years), I looked for some sort of device I could use to make it more of a "smoker", and I found the Smokenator. I was undecided if I needed it, so I tried again without one last week. Tried two racks of ribs and a brisket. I had the HARDEST time maintaining a steady temperature, so I decided to take the plunge and buy the Smokenator. Yesterday I gave it ago.
I put 45 Kingsford standard briquets in the Smokenator, and lit 15 in my charcoal chimney. I placed a couple handfuls of Hickory chips in the Smokenator cavity, and placed them throughout. I put the lit charcoal in the cavity and stirred it around with the skewer. I place the steam tray with HOT tap water and let the grill warm up to about 210. I placed two rubbed pork butts on the cook grate, and hoped for the best.
I noticed the temp gauge on built into the lid of my Weber had a hard time getting past the 210 degree/TEST mark. I stirred the coals, opened the upper vent a little more than the "pencil width" I started with in an attempt to get it a little harder, but the temperature just didn't' want to climb that much. I haven had 5 binder clips around the upper/lower domes to keep a tight chamber. I found the temperature constantly dropping and I had to stir again. I decided to add about 8 more briquets in the cavity. Added water once in the first 5 hours. Here's what 5 hours of sub 240 dome temp looks like:
Looks good right? I added more smoke chips through the first 5 hours. Keep in mind I started this at 10:15 AM with the hope of eating around 6:30 PM. I have learned NOT to plan for a specific dinner time when smoking....(bad idea). Long story short, to maintain a temperature above the TEST mark on the grill, I had to add pre-lit coals several times in the last few hours (no joke). The upper vent was FULLY open! I had a digital thermometer probe that I put in one of the butts, and after 8 hours we were only at 160 degrees. I was striving for 190. I decided to just let it go, adding coals, stirring them, etc... Once the meat temp hit 190 (11 hours total), I took the butts out, wrapped them in foil, and placed in my unwarmed oven to rest. 30 minutes later I was hoping to have some good fall apart pork, but I had to tear it off the bone. The color wasn't really a nice white color, but more of a dark brown (not a big deal).. I did have great smoke penetration, and bits I tasted were good. I was very disappointed in how my temps were not really where they needed to be. I just purchased the Maverick 73 Dual probe remote thermometer for the next cook. I'm thinking I should be trying to maintain the Grill Rack temp instead of the dome temp? I know the Smokenator is a great add-on, I just need to know how to better use it.
So I have recently become obsessed with this whole smoking thing. I am a very competitive person, and a couple weeks ago, a friend brought in some ribs he made on a cheap ol' Wal-Mart smoker. They were amazing! I decided that weekend to give it a go on my Weber using simple indirect cooking. I put a large drip tray under the ribs, piled the charcoal to one side, lit it all, and controlled the temp with the upper vent. The drip tray was full of apple juice. The ribs came out VERY good and at that time I was hooked. Realizing the potential of my Weber (which I have been grilling on for 10 years), I looked for some sort of device I could use to make it more of a "smoker", and I found the Smokenator. I was undecided if I needed it, so I tried again without one last week. Tried two racks of ribs and a brisket. I had the HARDEST time maintaining a steady temperature, so I decided to take the plunge and buy the Smokenator. Yesterday I gave it ago.
I put 45 Kingsford standard briquets in the Smokenator, and lit 15 in my charcoal chimney. I placed a couple handfuls of Hickory chips in the Smokenator cavity, and placed them throughout. I put the lit charcoal in the cavity and stirred it around with the skewer. I place the steam tray with HOT tap water and let the grill warm up to about 210. I placed two rubbed pork butts on the cook grate, and hoped for the best.
I noticed the temp gauge on built into the lid of my Weber had a hard time getting past the 210 degree/TEST mark. I stirred the coals, opened the upper vent a little more than the "pencil width" I started with in an attempt to get it a little harder, but the temperature just didn't' want to climb that much. I haven had 5 binder clips around the upper/lower domes to keep a tight chamber. I found the temperature constantly dropping and I had to stir again. I decided to add about 8 more briquets in the cavity. Added water once in the first 5 hours. Here's what 5 hours of sub 240 dome temp looks like:
Looks good right? I added more smoke chips through the first 5 hours. Keep in mind I started this at 10:15 AM with the hope of eating around 6:30 PM. I have learned NOT to plan for a specific dinner time when smoking....(bad idea). Long story short, to maintain a temperature above the TEST mark on the grill, I had to add pre-lit coals several times in the last few hours (no joke). The upper vent was FULLY open! I had a digital thermometer probe that I put in one of the butts, and after 8 hours we were only at 160 degrees. I was striving for 190. I decided to just let it go, adding coals, stirring them, etc... Once the meat temp hit 190 (11 hours total), I took the butts out, wrapped them in foil, and placed in my unwarmed oven to rest. 30 minutes later I was hoping to have some good fall apart pork, but I had to tear it off the bone. The color wasn't really a nice white color, but more of a dark brown (not a big deal).. I did have great smoke penetration, and bits I tasted were good. I was very disappointed in how my temps were not really where they needed to be. I just purchased the Maverick 73 Dual probe remote thermometer for the next cook. I'm thinking I should be trying to maintain the Grill Rack temp instead of the dome temp? I know the Smokenator is a great add-on, I just need to know how to better use it.
