Summer means smokers!

[Eric]

It's looking like I'll be doing a bunch of smoking in the next month/month-and-a-half.  We're having our local friends over for a Halloween get-together on Oct. 22nd, and they've been pretty demanding about wanting pulled pork each time we have them over( ). Sara's parents will be visiting the week before Thanksgiving and so I know I'll be doing, at the very least, some pulled pork and smoked turkey breast (if not the whole turkey).  Plus, I haven't done much in the last couple months, so it may be time to throw on some wingletts and drummies  for our own enjoyment.

I'm once again strongly considering buying one of those controllers just to babysit the smoker.  I'd also like to also try smoking the chicken wings at a higher (350-375F) temperature and see if I can get the same quality in a quicker time without needing to open the smoker every hour to baste.

I just don't know if I want to spend $271 on a Digiq DX or go with a cheaper model that's not as nice, but might be enough to do it's job -- which is to maintain a smoker's temperature.

In fact, the Auber Instruments Temp. Controller looks interesting. It's currently $130.70.
I have my Maverick thermometer to show me the food's internal temperatures.

Ahh, the perfect melding of modern and caveman technologies.   


ETA: The Pitmaster IQ110 also looks interesting for $140.

[AdmiralDigby]

MMM Barbecue !

( I know - smoker , but Homer doesn't do smoker . Well except for that time at the DMV )

[Eric]

MMM Barbecue !

  Pearl just said I should use that for my ringtone.

[Eric]

I couldn't resist the temptation.  I went with the PitmasterIQ IQue 110 for $140 (plus $14 S&H, which was rather painful).  The main reason I went with it was because it's very simple to set:  Just turn the dial.  The other controllers out there all seemed to either use a complex system of button-pressing or pressing an up/down arrow and trying to keep track of how many presses (no LEDs to tell you what temp it's set to). Granted, the latter (the NanoQ) defaults to a 225F temp, but it was also $40-50 higher.

[Eric]

Got my iQue110 this evening.  I want to try it out tomorrow with a few pounds of drummies.  Instead of doing it low-and-slow like I'd done before, I'm going to try it in the 325-350 range for about an hour then toss them on the hot grill for searing.

I mainly want to be able to infuse some apple-wood smoke into them and not need to baste every hour.  If it weren't for the smoke, just using the oven or grill would be tempting. 

Of course, this is really a test run for Saturday's twenty-pounds of Boston Butt.   

If you show up, bring beer!

[AdmiralDigby]

Of course, this is really a test run for Saturday's twenty-pounds of Boston Butt.   

If you show up, bring beer!

Gack !

D&D weekend here .

[Eric]

D&D weekend here .

That sounds fun too.

[Eric]

Little update:  I think I made a SNAFU by being a cheapskate and using the old charcoal I left in the smoker for the majority of the coals. It's been a couple of months, so they may have soaked up some humidity.  The little iQue110 can't seem to push it higher than 235 (so far).

[Eric]

Threw in some fresh charcoal, got it to 290 when I put on the ~4.5lbs of wings/drummettes (35 total). It probably averaged about 250F for the 90 minutes of smoking.  Two minutes per side on the grill to crisp-up, and they taste good.

Next time I do these, I'll probably do it without water in the bowl since that may have held it down some. Oh, and fresher charcoal.

[Eric]

This little iQue110 jewel is pretty awesome so far. Sub-50F temperatures last night, but it held the temp well. My only issue is not with the iQue, but rather that the Maverick's smoker probe may have gone bad.  It registers about 30F higher than it should. I think probes going bad are pretty typical for any of these, including the iQue's.

Two 10lb bone-in Boston Butts. Put them in the smoker at 11PM EST for an approximately 14-16 hour session.  I'll have the faux cambro ready in case I need to pull them off earlier and need a good way to keep them warm w/o drying them out.

Next time I may just see about getting 5lb boneless butts, as the Amazingribs.com guy suggests.  Less cooking and more bark.