The Official Smoker Thread!

Getting ready to cook two 14 oz Japanese wagu and two 8 oz American wagu for my 18th wedding anniversary today. Any ideas of temp I should use or just cook like a normal steak.20231029_154716.jpg
 
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heavydoc said:
And it is bubs approved. My dog loves it
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And this is what bubs will snack on tonight minus the bites he got while we were eating 20231029_174335.jpg
Yes I know he is spoiled.
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He is my best friend and eats whatever I eat.
 
This batch came out a bit hotter than usual. I couldn't find dried cascabel chiles for my chili powder, so I used guajillo chiles instead. I read that they aren't as hot as cascabels, so I may have overcompensated by adding more arbol chiles. The smoke flavor is awesome! I'm definitely cooking chili this way again!
 
Went and got myself a new smoker the other day. I've been smoking stuff for years on a Weber Smokey Mountain. But, over time I've sort of gotten away from it because it takes a lot of time to monitor a charcoal smoker. Its tough to maintain temperature and so forth for 14 hours.

So, after a lot of research and University of Tube videos, I went with a Pit Boss.

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Studentofthegun said:
Went and got myself a new smoker the other day. I've been smoking stuff for years on a Weber Smokey Mountain. But, over time I've sort of gotten away from it because it takes a lot of time to monitor a charcoal smoker. Its tough to maintain temperature and so forth for 14 hours.

So, after a lot of research and University of Tube videos, I went with a Pit Boss.

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Looks great especially for your first time on a new smoker!

You probably already know but the temp gauge on those are normally off. My pit boss is sometimes 10-20° off from where the probe is to where my meat is sitting so I run a probe just to verify temp at my meat rack. If I don't clean the probe it'll be even more off.
 
Squanchy said:
Looks great especially for your first time on a new smoker!

You probably already know but the temp gauge on those are normally off. My pit boss is sometimes 10-20° off from where the probe is to where my meat is sitting so I run a probe just to verify temp at my meat rack. If I don't clean the probe it'll be even more off.
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I ain't even sure I trust the probes the thing came with either. The little grate clip things that everyone uses don't look like they would work on mine because of the way they attach, but they are cheap so some are on the way from Amazon. Maybe there's a way.

The temp varies and the smoker has hot spots for sure. There was a significant cook time difference between the pieces of meat, but of course no two shoulders are the same.

My favorite thing to use is the iGrill 2 for monitoring temperature of the meat and smoker.

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Studentofthegun said:
The little grate clip things that everyone uses don't look like they would work on mine because of the way they attach
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They are really thin and flexible you should be able to make it work with some adjustment if necessary. Before I realized they sold them I made one out of an tactically acquired street sign. They make probes that are blunt on the end specifically for measuring smoker temperature. I don't have one so no idea if they are better or not.

I have a vertical pit boss, also coming from wood/ charcoal I tell you it's a severe life difference. Really interested in hearing if you grill on it how it works. My dad wants one but not sure if gets hot enough to sear a steak. My mom likes hockey pucks 🙄
 
Squanchy said:
They are really thin and flexible you should be able to make it work with some adjustment if necessary. Before I realized they sold them I made one out of an tactically acquired street sign. They make probes that are blunt on the end specifically for measuring smoker temperature. I don't have one so no idea if they are better or not.

I have a vertical pit boss, also coming from wood/ charcoal I tell you it's a severe life difference. Really interested in hearing if you grill on it how it works. My dad wants one but not sure if gets hot enough to sear a steak. My mom likes hockey pucks 🙄
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One of the big reasons I ended up with a Pit Boss over a Traeger is the ability to open the grate and get some flames. This is the video that finally swayed me in favor of the Pit Boss and makes me wonder if I'm going to use my gas grill that much from here on out.

 
Studentofthegun said:
Went and got myself a new smoker the other day. I've been smoking stuff for years on a Weber Smokey Mountain. But, over time I've sort of gotten away from it because it takes a lot of time to monitor a charcoal smoker. Its tough to maintain temperature and so forth for 14 hours.

So, after a lot of research and University of Tube videos, I went with a Pit Boss.

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You will love it!! I gave away my upright and my sidebox smokers after I got mine.
 
Going with a quick (for a smoker) and easy meal tonight. London broil. We’ll pull it off at 135° and slice it real thin.


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We keep trying different marinades, and this is the one we’re going with tonight:

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Thanksgiving!

Two spatchcock turkeys and four cream cheeses on the smoker!

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I just put 10 pounds of pork belly on for dinner...

About 7 pounds is in a Garlic Pepper Rub, and 3 pounds just salt. Both pieces have yellow mustard as a binder.

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Bout one more hour to go!
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Moving this from a thread I started in Off Topic to here for easier searching by other Akorn owners:

Akorn kamado grills are great smokers but have an Achilles heel. It's also their most celebrated characteristic: Their double walled (triple walled if you count the fire box) steel construction makes them ridiculously well insulated, more so than even ceramic based kamados. Ceramic has it's own advantages, biggest one in my book over ceramic's insulating properties is its thermal mass which helps to keep the burn rate and temperature steady. Akorns don't have that thermal mass but are even more well insulated which together causes an interesting issue.

Those of us that have Akorn kamado grills know that it's often difficult to maintain a truly low (225 F) temperature. The reason is that due to the level of insulation in this grill maintaining that low a temp requires very little fire, so little that sometimes it will or come perilously close to going out (what I call a "pitfall" :) ). Well I just learned a great tip from a guy on youtube.

All we need to do is add a second heat defector/smoking stone so it takes more fire to achieve the desired temp at the grate (this is called "double indirect" by youtube grill aficionados). So now we need to open up those vents a little more to let in more air to make a hotter fire in the fire box to achieve the same temp on the grate. Now it's running a bigger and hotter fire with no more danger of flaming out, and it's moving more air/smoke to the food. The Akorn is so efficient there will still be more than enough charcoal for a long low and slow cook. Just thought I'd share this for other Akorn owners on here.

If you're interested in doing this I've determined that 16" is about the right diameter of round stone to use in an Akorn as the top diffuser. The original cooking stone fits in the firebox where it is 17" in diameter, but the round portion of that stone is only 13" diameter, so spacing a 16" stone an inch or so above the original should do it. The firebox itself is 18" wide at the top and there has to be room for good airflow.

This pizza stone is perfect IMO:

Amazon product ASIN B07ZV3NPR7
 
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Just did my first low and slow using my new grill temp controller. I bought myself an Inkbird ISC-007BW and tried it out last night on a 8lb pork butt. Everything worked out great but it took some head scratching to figure out the best way to use it for my particular grill. There is nothing in the manual other than basic setup info. So this gets a little technical but bear with me if you are interested in one of these things that basically turn your charcoal grill/smoker into a set it and forget it device so you can go out for the day, let it run overnight, etc. without worrying about flameouts or runaways. I'll give a quick primer on how these things work that should cover any similar device. One additional thing to note: This device works by controlling airflow so your grill/smoker needs to be relatively tight, if it's a leaky grill it will not work as well or even at all.

The main thing you have to keep in mind is that it is a thermostatically controlled fan that blows air into the grill's intake, therefore it can only increase the temp of the grill, it can not actively reduce the temp. Since it takes over the intake the only control you have left to adjust manually is the top/exhaust vent. It appears to let some air past the fan when it is not running, so you can adjust the top vent similarly as you would to get the grill up to temp before turning it on. It's best to bring it up to temp and get it stable manually so the device doesn't overshoot, and it will, and it will take a long time to bring the temp back down.

Since the device can only add heat, when you are ready to turn it on and let it run the show it's important that you shut down the top vent a little more than where you would normally have it to obtain your desired temperature, this ensures the temp will not run away when the fan is off and gives the device some working room to control the temp completely with the fan. My Akorn Kamado is very insulated/thermally efficient and I often have problems maintaining low temps like 225 without the fire on the edge of going out. So even when I set my temp at 235 I had to choke it off almost completely at the top vent.

Looking at the graph of the grill temp I noted that the fan duty cycle became more dramatic in wavelength and amplitude towards the end and I wonder if that was because of the outside temp dropping overnight? I don't think I have it dialed in optimally yet but it was good enough to produce a real tasty and juicy result. I put it on at 8:30pm and took it off at 6am at 203 internal. Anyone that is interested in a device like this I'm happy to answer any questions.


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It's Sunday, so that means the smoker is going!

I just put a 5lb Angus Beef Tenderloin on... It's got mustard for a binder and the rub is salt, black pepper, and garlic that Jeanine picked up on her last business trip to Texas.

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