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Was figuring that I'll probably end up with a PartyQ at some point, but I'm going to play around with managing the temp manually first. Feels like cheating to jump right into automatic control.
Honestly, I'm just as excited to have a charcoal grill for high-temp stuff - only had gas for several years now. I'll have to post a TR of my first chickens I'm planning to grill over charcoal this weekend (Vietnamese style).
Been lazy about taking pics, but I have done a couple of rounds of grilling on the Big Fake Egg (Chargriller Akorn), and last weekend finally had time to smoke a pork butt and a brisket.
The verdict: FKNA, this thing is awesome. For grilling it's great, especially if you do a slight mod and buy a charcoal grate for a Weber 22" kettle - it sits perfectly about 3" below the iron cooking grate in the Akorn, so you can raise the fire up right underneath something you want to get a good sear on (like skirt steaks, mmmm). For medium-temp grilling, the regular setup works great - did a couple of chickens and they were perfect with crispy skin and juicy meat. It's super efficient on the lump charcoal - cook for as long as you want, then shut down the vents and it goes out almost immediately. I've been reusing the same charcoal for 2-3 grilling sessions each time.
For smoking, I'm still getting the hang of maintaining temp. First try it hung at 220 for a while then suddenly shot up to 350 when I wasn't paying attention, and in trying to get it back down I put the fire out. I restarted and paid more attention - it seemed like it really wanted to settle around 300 but after some back-and-forth I was able to get it sitting at 240 pretty steadily (bottom vent open 1", top vent closed as far as possible with a thermometer probe cable running through it), and it hung there the rest of the day. Amazingly, there was still charcoal left after the 11-hour smoke. I think my next try I should be able to manage the temp a little better, though a Party Q will likely be in my future at some point. The pork and brisket were easily the best I've done.
My only real complaint is that there isn't a good place to run thermometer probe cables - I ran them out of the top vent, but this means you can't quite close it all the way plus it requires running them a long distance (up, in, down) so it means the transmitter unit is dangling in the air. Anyone got a clever hack to solve that one?
I assume that the gasket is replaceable on that Akorn just like it is on the BGE. If that's the case then buy a Rutland Gasket to replace the cheap stock gasket. The Rutland is thicker and somewhat less dense so you can run your probes right in without compromising the air seal between the lid and the body of the cooker.
How to link: http://www.nakedwhiz.com/rutlandgasket/gasket.htm
My gasket is pretty crusty and burned but I still just run the probes between the body and lid and haven't had any issues with temp fluctuations.
To be honest, I think its more important to take a few minutes extra and place your lump in by hand, using the bigger pieces on the bottom and getting smaller as you fill it up. If I am doing an overnight smoke, I will empty the bag of lump into a cardboard box and sort it that way. That will ensure better air flow and consistent burn, at least in my experience. I just build a fire, adjust the temp and go from there. I have a remote temp thermometer that I keep on my nightstand when I do an overnight smoke, and it will go off when temps fluctuate to far in one direction or the other. I've also had my best luck with the "nature's own basque hardwood lump". The BGE brand is OK, Cowboy burns too hot too fast, and the rest seem to be junk. YMMV
The egg is great, I love mine, use it three times a week. But man, the amount of accessories they try to rope you into is second only to GoPro...
Bought a party q for my weber kettle which is set up with a smokenator. Used it first time last week. Maintained a steady 225 as set, with no having to deal with temp variations. Closed the bottom and binder clipped the lid down all around. Plenty of fire left after 5.5 hrs, started with 55 coals, plus some wood. Burned through a set of batteries. If you're gonna use a lot, you might want to go rechargeableQuote:
Originally Posted by Pegleg
Nice to be able to let it go for an hour or so without watching it all the time
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pegleg, I need to see that thing in operation
I put 2 ~9.5# pork shoulders on the egg last night with a mix of apple and cherry wood and then set the controller for 230* and went to sleep. This morning, 11 hours later, the egg is just chugging along at exactly 230* with 0 intervention on my part (yeah, I love the hell out of the Party-Q). Swine is up to 169* internal temp and should be hitting the stall shortly. Right on track for our neighborhood end of summer party this evening after the donkeys at the sea chickens. Gonna be a good day!
Pics to follow...
Cruiser...did your batteries last the whole night?Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruiser
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Yup, usually I can get 40ish hours of low and slow use out of a set of decent brand AA batteries before the low battery indicator pops up. I've found that I can maximize battery life by getting the egg up to cooking temp manually before turning the controller on (which is good practice anyway). But other than the initial heating phase of a pulled pork cook the egg requires very little input from the controller in order to maintain temp. Since I don't open the lid at all during a pulled pork cook the controller only kicks the fan on for about a half second puff of air a couple of times a minute in order to keep it chugging along at 230* or whatever I have it set at.
things of beauty
Hey experienced Egg people - I had a 7lb pork butt smoke go out overnight. Now egg temp is 'zero' and meat temp is ~110-115. Before I went to bed, egg was at 230-240, meat was at 150-160
Question #1: toss it, or re-ignite and bring back up to 200? If the question were "do you want to pay $30 to make sure you're not going to get food poisoning," it would be a clear "yes." I don't want to roll the dice, but all internet arguments for tossing it don't address how grilling it for several more hours is not going to re-kill any new bacteria
Question #2: how do I prevent an overnight from going out in the future? I was cruising at 230-240 easily for 6+ hours before going to bed. Initially had filled with charcoal up to the fire ring, maybe a little below -- should I just expect to need to refill for overnights? Party-Q?
I'd be concerned about the quality of the finished product. Yeah, going to 200 ought to keep you from getting really sick, but I think you're virtually guaranteed to get a poor result if you try to take it back up to temp at this point. Best to chalk this one up to experience and then take the lessons learned from this cook into the next one.
Word. Too bad, I had grand plans for that pork butt...
So... what are the lessons, other than "get a Party-Q and forget about your problems?" Do you find that you need to refill charcoal for a long cook?
I ran out of charcoal about a month ago during a low and slow cook. But I had the maverick thermometer (with the wireless remote) in the egg and as soon as I noticed the temp dropping I knew there was an issue. Got it reloaded and didn't lose much time in the turn around. But it reminded me that it's important to clean out the ash and refill the egg with a good load of lump before doing a longer cook like that. I was lazy and just tossed some fresh charcoal on top of whatever was left from the cook before and that caused the egg to run at less than peak efficiency which ran me out of fuel too quickly. With a full load of good lump charcoal in a nice clean egg there's no reason it shouldn't be able to run for >24hrs at 250*ish.
Pretty much what cruiser says. Clean the egg first, load up on charcoal, and get a maverick to monitor. I go about 16 hours with a pork butt at 200-225 and still have charcoal left.
Supper's gonna be mighty fine at Chez Cruiser tonight!
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...psceb5d496.jpg
Wow, that reminds me that I haven't tried pizza on my Big Fake Egg yet. Gotta give that a go soon, looks great.Quote:
Originally Posted by stearnsn
^^^ Oh yeah! Mighty fine lookin'.
Anyone ever smoked tuna belly before?
Never tried it but I'd use cherry or alder wood and very low temp...like 120-140 degrees.
Looks good! How was it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruiser
Anyone getting the new BGE mini max? Size of a mini but cooking area of the small.
If there are any Utah mags with BGE's or other smoking apparatuses, I have about 350-400 pounds of apple and sweet/orchard cherry chunks and chips that would be ideal for using with a smoker. Shoot me a PM if you're interested. I'll even deliver if you're south of 33rd and east of Highland.