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Digital_Jesus posted:Also everyone who buys a WSM should get the cajunbandit replacement steel door and stop using the lovely pressed aluminum one immediately. I just got a 18.5 WSM and bought the replacement door but haven't had a chance to test either yet. I noticed that there is a small gap between the replacement door and the smoker on the top two corners of the door. Is this something I should be concerned with? Should I try to bend the door a little bit to make a tighter fit? I'm not near it now, otherwise I'd take a picture.
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Jan 13, 2014 19:07
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Digital_Jesus posted:You're fine. That small gap will go away on it's own as the steel heats and expands a bit. Make sure you take the white plastic off the door though! Thanks. I plan on seasoning it this week and then doing a pork shoulder and maybe a brisket this weekend.
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Jan 13, 2014 21:49
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Crazyeyes posted:The 18.5" model is 300 and worth every penny. I occasionally long for the larger version but for most anything done ibn a back yard the 18.5 handles with ease. Couldn't agree more with this. I got mine for Christmas and have already gotten plenty of use out of it. Getting better with it each time...
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May 22, 2014 20:12
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Here's my brisket from this weekend. Around 6.5lb for 9hrs. Probably my best yet. And here are some baby backs I did the weekend before:  
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Jun 11, 2014 15:24
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EngineerJoe posted:How do you all get the bark so black? What are you putting on the brisket? I'm jealous. I only use salt and coarse ground black pepper for the rub and not much at all. Then, I used Royal Oak lump charcoal along with some good size chunks of pecan and hickory, and I misted it a couple times with a 50/50 mix of water and worcestershire sauce. All in all, nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary.
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Jun 11, 2014 15:51
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jason posted:First thing I noticed was that pretty bark. Even on the ribs. Are you using water in the pan? Foiling the meat? I did the brisket without foil for the entire cook on the smoker. Once it got to around 200, I took it out, wrapped it in foil and put it into a 200 degree oven until I was ready to serve it (about 30 min). For the ribs, I did 1.5hrs uncovered, 1.5hrs wrapped in foil and then 1 hr uncovered at the end. I basted the ribs lightly with BBQ sauce with about 15 minutes left on the smoker. I plan on testing out butcher paper for my next brisket and wrapping it right around the stall until the end of the cook. I'm sure I will sacrifice a little bark doing that but it should help retain more moisture. For both the brisket and the ribs, I used water in the pan underneath. If I'm only doing something on the top rack, I tend to put a disposable foil pan filled about half way with water on the middle rack, which makes for a much easier cleanup. Random Hero fucked around with this message at 14:08 on Jun 12, 2014 |
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Jun 12, 2014 13:58
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Doom Rooster posted:If you're willing to stand in line from 8am until they open, go to Franklin's in Austin proper. It is consistently rated as the best brisket on the planet. It was starting to slow down (only an hour wait!) until Anthony Bourdain showed up, and tweeted that it was the best thing that he had eaten in his entire life, and the line has been back to 3+ hours ever since. Seconding this. Franklin's definitely doesn't have the history that the places in Lockhart have, but after visiting those 3 places in Lockhart, I'd much rather have Franklin's or La BBQ in Austin. I haven't tried J Mueller's off E. 6th yet, but I have heard good things as well. Anyways, here's my brisket from the weekend: 
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Jul 7, 2014 22:07
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McSpankWich posted:Yea the 18" WSM is probably your best bet, as you can usually get them in October/November for between $200-$300, they're super easy to use, maintain temp awesome right out of the box, and cook amazing food. The only thing you can't do is a decent size full brisket, as the larger ones are usually longer than the cylinder is wide. This. I love my 18" but after using it for brisket several times now, I know my limits and kind of wish I had the 22.5. That being said, I will probably get an offset smoker in the next year or two to go along with my WSM. Here's some pulled pork I did yesterday... Turned out great:   
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Aug 18, 2014 15:38
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sellouts posted:Does someone want to build my heatermeter for me. I don't have a good soldering iron and am lazy. I would like to build my own HM because it seems like a fun project, but the only piece I'm having trouble finding more info on is the connector from the fan to a 18 WSM. I'm probably just not looking in the right place but any help here would be appreciated.
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Aug 19, 2014 17:43
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Ahdinko posted:The HeaterMeter has fan control built in where you can set a target temperature and it'll vary the fan speed between 0-100% to try to maintain the temperature. If i recall correctly, you can control alot of variables like minimum/max fan speed, how quick/slow it ramps the fans up, etc. Thanks for the idea and sweet Paint drawing.
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Aug 21, 2014 18:23
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Smoked Hatch Green Chili Meatloaf with bbq sauce glaze... Turned out incredible. I will definitely be doing this more often, and I would absolutely recommend it for anyone that likes meatloaf but wants to try a different take on it.
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Sep 2, 2014 14:53
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Jamsta posted:Wowzers, got a recipe? Well, about that... It was actually a premade meatloaf from Central Market (everything there is hatch right now) that I smoked for around 3 hours with some hickory and apple wood. Towards the end, I spread some Sweet Baby Rays on it to get the glaze.
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Sep 2, 2014 23:15
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Woof! Woof! posted:My new smoker project (an 18.5 inch WSM) is still underway and I took receipt of an Auber instruments smoker controller with 6.5cfm fan, as well as a thermoworks two channel thermometer with alarm. Lots of guys use these to monitor the smoker and their protein, but I'll be wiring it up with two food probes to monitor those temps since the Auber will be monitoring/managing the smoker temp on it's own. Please keep us (especially me) updated on this. I have all the parts ordered to build a HeaterMeter with a RotoDamper for my 18.5", and I'm hoping to piece it together this weekend. I'll be very interested to see how your build goes.
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Sep 4, 2014 21:45
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Flatulence Jones posted:I tried asking on tvwbb.com and did not get a favorable response, so I'll ask here. Anyone know a good place to get a heatermeter 4.0 case printed? Shapeways.com seems ridiculously expensive. I got a great case printed and shipped to me by Ralph on tvwbb. I can't remember the exact price but it was very reasonable with quick shipping. He has also been very helpful answering some of my other HM questions.
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Sep 5, 2014 20:33
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Woof! Woof! posted:There's plenty of packers that'll fit on an 18.5, maybe find a smaller one by weight or trim it up? I have done several full packers in the 9-12lb range that fit just fine on an 18.5". If they run a little long, you could even put something underneath the center of the brisket to put a slight hump in it basically reducing the length.
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Nov 20, 2014 04:09
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Bone_Enterprise posted:Beautiful day here South of Houston, TX. Everything looks great. What kind of smoker you have there?
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May 3, 2015 18:24
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I have a 18.5" WSM that I like a lot but I plan on getting an offset sometime in the next 6 months so I was just curious.
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May 4, 2015 19:03
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Trastion posted:A pork butt is a pork shoulder. Not sure why its called a butt when it comes from the shoulder area. And yeah pulled pork is what you would be making with it most likely. If you have Sam's Club/Costco or someplace like that you can probably get a good amount pretty cheap. From http://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/pork-101/ posted:Why is this cut sometimes called “pork butt” when it doesn’t come from the actual rear end? “The word butt has its roots in old English, which is a quasi Germanic language, and butt means ‘the widest part,’” says Mylan. “On a pig, the widest part is the shoulder, not its actual rear end. And that’s why it’s called the butt.”
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May 7, 2015 20:26
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Inovius posted:I'm making a trip down there at the end of April specifically to hit Franklin (and then a few other's as well). Can't wait to just gorge and try everything! IMO, LA BBQ is the 2nd best in Austin. Their moist is very close to Franklin's and the line is a little more manageable. I work just down the street from it and the line is usually ~1hr and they have a free keg going most days. LA BBQ's sausage is definitely better as well.
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Feb 23, 2016 17:50
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sellouts posted:Franklin's brisket is where it's at. I've had better pork several other places. This. His brisket really is as good as people say, but the rest of his stuff (pulled pork, sausage, etc) is good, not great.
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Mar 23, 2016 14:41
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Ben Nevis posted:Admittedly, I haven't been to Salt Lick in a few years, but unless they've really upped their game recently, it's always topped out at "pretty good" for me. Generally, I think Salt Lick is all about the experience and sheer gluttony and the best cole slaw. This. Salt Lick is fun for the experience. BYOB with a group and actually watching the open pit is cool, but the end product is nowhere near as good as Franklins or LA BBQ.
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May 11, 2016 18:28
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Another mod that I highly recommend is replacing the door handle with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Southco-SC-6...mpression+latch I just did that over the weekend and ran my first cook with it in place. With that and the gasket installed, I get zero leaks and I maintained 225-250 for around 10-12 hours on my 18.5" with almost no maintenance. Here's a good post on it: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?45886-Fixed-door-handle-replaced-with-compression-latch
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Jul 11, 2016 14:39
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lifts cats over head posted:I upgraded to the steel door and compression latch. It works well but the handle gets too hot to touch. It was only a few hours, did you notice any potential damage to the handle during the 10-12 hr cook (ie melting)? It does get a bit hot, but I didn't notice any damage to the handle at all. I saw where some people wrapped the handle in heat resistant tape which I might still do. As for the gasket, I attached it to the smoker so there was no gasket on the inside of the door closer to the flames.
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Jul 28, 2016 20:50
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Tezcatlipoca posted:
Any sliced pictures?
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Nov 9, 2016 23:36
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Smoked some hatch green chile meatloaf and some jalapeno/cheddar sausage: I love smoked meatloaf... 
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Aug 21, 2017 15:25
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Smoked meatloaf is one of my favorite things to do:  I usually use a foil tray with holes in the bottom to drain but I had plank laying around that time.
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Jul 18, 2018 15:30
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Huge_Midget posted:Fair warning sousviding before smoking will limit the amount of smoke flavor you get. Cold meat absorbs smoke much better than cooked meat. Some of the best pulled pork I've ever made was sous vide for ~20hrs and then smoked for 2-3hrs. You're right that it isn't as smoky as doing it on the smoker for the entire cook, but I was making ~30lbs for a party and the convenience of sous vide was great. I wanted to put all my focus and attention towards the brisket anyways...
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Jul 20, 2018 02:27
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Canuckistan posted:What kind of SV machine do you have that can handle 30 lbs? My Anova says that 22 liters is the maximum amount of water it can handle, but reading up on it there seems to be people who've pushed that up to 50 or 60. I'd also worry if the Anova could heat the water enough with the thermal load of 30 lbs of meat . Also is there a maximum thickness for SVing cuts of meat? My thinking was that some butts are so thick that the inside may stay too long in the danger zone and turn bad. Is that actually a worry? Googling didn't come up with a good answer. Subjunctive posted:I can't speak for Random Hero, but I have two circulators, and I think each could handle 3x5 or 2x7 butts. I worried about the thickness issue too, but apparently it's fine? Surely Kenji wouldn't kill people. What Subjunctive said basically. I have two Anova's and two large Cambro containers so I used those. I got all the butts from Costco and split each in half to probably 4-5lb chunks and vacuum sealed each individually. I don't think the thickness matters much when you're talking about a cook in the 18-24hr range. That's plenty of time for the heat to get through the entire chunk. Another thing that came out of this smoke was I probably had 3-4lbs of cooked pulled pork leftover and I vacuum sealed those in .5lb portions and then froze those. Any time I wanted pulled pork, I'd take one or two packs out of the freezer and use the sous vide to heat them back up. Most methods of reheating pulled pork tend to dry it out and change the texture but using the sous vide to reheat is a game changer.
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Jul 20, 2018 17:07
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qutius posted:A little bit of a re-rub after the bath and before the smoker seems like a good idea to me, especially if you have something with no salt. When I did the sous vide first approach, I put on a pretty solid rub, and then when I took it out I patted it dry and applied a fresh thinner coat. I also started the butts two days before so they were done the night before, put those in the fridge and then finished them on the smoker the next day. That helped a ton with the stress because I also had two large briskets and plenty of sausage to cook as well.
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Jul 20, 2018 17:55
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RisqueBarber posted:Is there a beginner sous vide guide someone can endorse? I'm not even sure I know how to pronounce it. https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-101 https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/01/first-thing-to-cook-with-sous-vide-immersion-circulator-essential-recipes.html Chefsteps has some good content too: https://www.chefsteps.com/
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Jul 20, 2018 19:43
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Infinite Karma posted:I usually just put some liquid smoke in the bag before the SV, and then finish on the smoker. The first smoke seems to get mostly washed away by the SV process, in my experience, so liquid is just as good. This but don't go too heavy on the liquid smoke.
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Jul 23, 2018 19:38
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First time doing pork belly burnt ends! These went on the smoker on racks for ~3 hours, into foil covered trays for ~1hr and uncovered for 30m before pulling them off.    Served with rice and some quick pickled cucumbers and radishes:  Everything was great and I will definitely be doing these again.
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Sep 27, 2018 19:49
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Trastion posted:drat that looks good. What did you use for rub? Is the liquid in the pan pic just the juices from the meat or is it something else? I tried to with a bit of a sweet & spicy Asian style so the rub was a fairly standard pork rub (salt, pepper, garlic, onion, brown sugar, paprika, cayenne) with some five spice mixed in. After the initial smoke, it went into a tray with a little more of the rub, some Korean BBQ sauce and a little butter.
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Sep 27, 2018 22:12
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Colostomy Bag posted:That's impressive. How tender were they and what temp did you use? Texture was perfect in my opinion... Just before melt in your mouth so there was a little bite to them but no chew. I had the smoker pretty stable between 250-275 most of the time.
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Sep 28, 2018 20:19
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Made bacon for the first time! Picked up some great looking belly and for my first go at this I followed this recipe: https://jesspryles.com/recipe/how-to-make-bacon/   After a week in the fridge, I got the Green Egg going at ~200˚F with some oak lump charcoal and chunks of apple and cherry and smoked each until they hit 150˚F internal.   After ~3 hours, I pulled both and chilled them in the fridge and then freezer before slicing. I left one slab whole and vacuum sealed that for later. I sliced the other and vacuumed up half of the slices for the freezer as well.   I fried up a few slices but they didn't last long enough for pictures. Overall, this was pretty simple and the bacon is delicious. I really want to try some other recipes and seasonings to see what you can do with it.
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Feb 3, 2019 02:42
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Subjunctive posted:Both times I’ve made bacon it ended up too salty. I’ll try that recipe next time! I think this recipe is a solid start and I rinsed it very well to make sure I got as much salt off as possible. And yeah, I have an awesome butcher near me that asked what I wanted the belly for and when I said bacon, he went back and cut it fresh off a pig they had in the back.
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Feb 3, 2019 03:49
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baquerd posted:Beauty of a bacon. Since once it's smoked, it's technically cooked, did you try any "raw"? Always wanted to do that. Yeah, I did. It was very "hammy" and didn't have near as much chew as I was expecting.
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Feb 3, 2019 15:54
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Hub Dirt posted:You goons have any advice on a wsm 22"vs. the 18"? I've been following this thread and done some real nice cooks on my Weber 22 grill + Slow and Sear but I want some more capacity for cookouts. I've read that the 22" runs hot, but maybe not if you know what you're doing? Is there a real big difference between the cookers? I have the 18" and have never used the 22", but whichever one you get, here are a few upgrades I did to mine that made a huge difference with leaks, efficiency and controlling temps. I would do all of these again in a heartbeat. Cajun Bandit Steel Door Compression Latch WSM Gasket Kit Water Pan Lid (More about convenience than function)
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Feb 13, 2019 16:20
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Doom Rooster posted:If you have the 18", you have to cut up rib racks like a heathen. The 22" can squeeze three full racks per level. Ribs are definitely a little tricky on the 18" but manageable, and it fits a trimmed packer from Costco so it hasn't really held me back for the size of the cooks I'm usually doing. I could see myself getting a 22" sometime in the future but I would probably still use my 18" for most things.
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Feb 13, 2019 20:46
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atothesquiz posted:18" barely fits a ~10lb(after trimming) packer brisket. That's my only complaint about it. Yeah, I usually buy 12-13lb packers and trim to around 10lb so that sounds right. I did the same thing with mine but with a Heatermeter. I have done several overnight and all day cooks before getting the HM. I don't always use and I never feel guilty when I do. I can't get behind the pellet smokers though. My next smoker will either be a 22" or a proper offset.
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Feb 13, 2019 22:23
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