Summer means smokers!

[AdmiralDigby]

I wanna eat at your house .

[Eric]

I wanna eat at your house .

You and Joy are welcome any time (as is anyone else!).

FWIW, people may be going hungry tonight if the pork's internal temp. doesn't start rising faster soon ... 

[TinkTanker]

To heck with D*C '12, let's invade Sarric's place!

[AdmiralDigby]

To heck with D*C '12, let's invade Sarric's place!

[Eric]

We have spare beds and sleeping bags. 

I ended up cranking up the fire for the last couple of hours and about thirty minutes longer than I had planned, but the pork was a hit. Alton Brown's recipe, with a few changes of my own, was really good.

Lessons learned:

• I'll probably stick to the 1.5 hours/lb @ 225F formula (for simplicity's sake)
• I need to have spare thermometer probes because apparently they do fail often (the new probes should be better)
• The 5lb Boston Butt actually did seem to taste better, though I'm not sure if it's from the cut of meat or because I let it get to a higher temp. (190F vs 185F) before I pulled it off the smoker
• May as well load up the smoker and just cook extras for later
• Sleep is for the dead

   

[Eric]

I'm seriously thinking of taking this to the next level and making some modifications to the Weber.

Must have:

• Weber Smokey Moutain Eylets

Running the probe wires through the bullet's top vent is a pain, especially when taking off the lid, and just running them between the lid and the body leads to kinks and possible failure. This simple and inexpensive modification looks like a great solution.

• Maverick ET-732 Redicheck Wireless Thermometer

While pretty much every complaint people have with the previous-generation ET-73 (very short range, lost connection w/o indicating as much, iffy probes, on/off switch hassles, alarm settings reset every time turned off) happened to mine this weekend, it's still portends well for the new generation.  When the 73 worked, it was great-- it's just really nice glancing at a remote inside to see the smoker temperature, or listening for preset alarms if it's too cold or hot; no needing to pull off the smoker lid to find the meat's internal temperature.  The ET-732 is said to fix most of these issues, or at least make them less-likely to fail (as with the probes).  I'll keep the original for times when I might want to do two different types of meat at the same time.  I may forgo this if I get the next item, the Digi Q.

Really want:

• DigiQ DX

Checking and adjusting the vents every thirty minutes -- sometimes less -- is a real pain.  The DigiQ DX is one of several blower controllers out there  which would monitor both the smoker's and meat's temperatures and maintain the heat within a few degrees of the target temp.   It'd be nice to be able to pack the WSM 'bullet' with 4-6 Boston butts the evening before and have reasonable assurance that I could take a nap without the temperature getting too low or high. Unfortunately, the cost for the DigiQ DX, the 10CFM blower and the WSM adapter is $271 -- $40 more than I paid for the whole smoker itself.

Tried-and-true (for anyone else interested):

• Wicked Good Hardwood Lump Charcoal

Zero chemicals used; low ash (most of the wood burns-up), nice heat. Their briquettes version seems to work well too, and also have no added chemicals.
May be hard to find locally, though possible.  I ordered my last three bags directly from the website instead of the hour drive to where we bought the first bag (though it's a nice drive).  Alternatives are Cowboy Lump Charcoal and Kingsford Champion briquettes.

• Bear PAWS

I was finally able to test the shredding ability of the Bear PAWS I had bought a couple months ago.  These things are awesome. No more using forks or fingers to shred pork.  My Bear PAWS made short work of the meat, and were scary enough to keep food pickers away until I put them down. They really do a great job and much quicker than the other ways.
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[TinkTanker]

Thanks for sharing! I really need to clean up my smoker and grill. I know we didn't cook out any last year and I don't think I did any the year before. I'm afraid this might be in store when I got out to the patio.

http://bit.ly/oGwdi

[Eric]

Yikes!

There are easier ways to get honey for BBQ, ya know ...

[TinkTanker]

We don't have that much problems with bees so much as wasps. A few years back I was moving the trash can out to the street and saw there was a nest started, probably about a dozen or so. That evening there were two nests going and about 50 or so. Ann is allergic so I knew I had to knock those suckers out. Got TWO cans of the wasp killer spray and went at them guns blazing, one can in each hand.

[AdmiralDigby]

Thanks for sharing! I really need to clean up my smoker and grill. I know we didn't cook out any last year and I don't think I did any the year before. I'm afraid this might be in store when I got out to the patio.

http://bit.ly/oGwdi

I has a sad for teh beez .