Found 2 New Braunfels Banderas

[chad]

I found 2 NB Banderas in boxes at a local WalMart. $248 - that's the price they were all season and they haven't come down a bit.

I dropped the hint to the spouse - figure the odds of getting the OK to buy but who knows??

If anyone in the Clearwater/Tampa Bay area is interested it's the WalMart on Missouri between Clearwater and Largo, just south of Rosary.

[BBQchef33]

oh just buy it and tell her it fell off a truck.


:twisted:

[chad]

I wish! I had a '55 Ford F-100 with a 460 Lincoln follow me home one day back in '91. She's already afraid a Klose trailer is going to follow me home one of these days :D

I figure if they haven't sold yet they'll be around -- and I'll be checking for clearance real, real often.

[willkat98]

Or better yet, buy it and tell her someone sent it in the trade post

[SoCalCraigster]

David,

talk to the store manager. I bought my 2 from 2 different Walmarts. They were both already assembled and I got them for like 220.00 each. Ask for a 10% discount off.

Maybe the manager would even assemble them for you as well.

Good Luck

[parrothead]

Maybe the manager would even assemble them for you as well.

No, that would fark things up. Better off doing it yourself.

[JP_in_STL]

When Wally World was starting (early Sept) their summer stuff clear out I picked up an assembled Bandera for $180 here in St. Louis, MO. They had 2 left in the box @ full price of $248 and was told things would be getting cheaper mid October.

Mine had some minor surface rust and chipped paint. From what I'd heard here most of the paint ends up needing some repair eventually anyway. A couple of hours drinking beers on a Sat and ScotchBrite pad cleaned up mine and then I did a dry run fire for 5 hrs with some cooking oil and you can't tell.

HomeDepot here has them for $330 Assembled. Youch!!

I'd keep an eye on them @ Wally World as they'll be needing shelf space as X-Mas gets closer.

- JP

[Mark]

Hey JP_in_STL: welcome. where in STL are you? I thinks there's about 6 of us now
Mark (STL)

[Oldtimer]

DFLittle,

I would try to talk them down a bit looks like a lot of mark up to me. I hear you are rather windy so it should not be a problem. Let me know if you need tit's I mean tips. Sorry

[JP_in_STL]

I'm in St. Louis Hills just behind DuBourg HS. I've only had the Bandera for a few weeks now and am having trouble keeping up with the output by myself. The wife's back in country now so I'm firing up some ribs on Sat. As much fuel as it uses I think I'll just load it up and smoke a months worth of meat at a time.

Any other Bandera's in South City??

- JP

[BBQchef33]

I'm in St. Louis Hills just behind DuBourg HS. I've only had the Bandera for a few weeks now and am having trouble keeping up with the output by myself. The wife's back in country now so I'm firing up some ribs on Sat. As much fuel as it uses I think I'll just load it up and smoke a months worth of meat at a time.

Any other Bandera's in South City??

- JP


JP

Begore ya go hogass wild, let us know if you did the basic mods for temperature control. 1) the firegrate, 2, the baffle and 3) a probe thermometer. Download the Bandera 101 dicument and it will explain the benefits of each.

The firegrate brings the fire up about 4 inchs and gives it better airflow,

The baffle distributes the heat better. Without the baflle, heat runs up the side wall and out the top, the baffle redirects the heat under the wateran and distributes around it going up the chamber. If your not inclined to make the one in our files section using the template, then fashion one out of heavy aluminum foil. Alos, a few memebrs have been successful using prefab dryer vents that fit the opening available at Home Depot.

And that door thermometer has been know to be off by as much as 50-70 degrees. You may think your running at 220 and your really at 280 and dumping in more fuel. That baffle makes a world of difference.

Also, stick with kingsford charcoal or real lump, the cheap wally world stuff just burns away and leaves a ton of ash.

hope this helps a little.

[Mark]

Any other Bandera's in South City?? I dont' think so. Arnold is probably the closest. As for what to burn, the stuff Phil recommended cost money. Good hardwood is free if you use your head. Besides there's carcinogens in some manufactured charcoal (including Kingsford).

Mark (STL)

PS: Phil. I respect your input but also must respectfully disagree.

[BBQchef33]

Mark, I agree with your disagreeing!!! I only recommended he use charcoal because JP said he's only been using the bandera for acouple weeks. I read into that and assumed he's new to our hobby. (That may have been wrong to do... JP, are you a beginner?) . But keeping that in mind, for beginners, using charcoal will take away some of the guess work because it will give even heat till he gets the hang of the banderas traits, damper settings, response, etc.... Then will come the art of fire managment and using all wood. I would always recommend a beginner use charcoal with wood chunks for smoke the first few times till he gets the hang of it.

I guess when he said hes using tons of fuel, I assumed he was using charcoal, and if he was, was just pointing out the cheap stuff burns up faster.

I'm an all wood person myself, and just use lump when i need to replenish a bit of coalbed.

[StLouQue]

...Then will come the art of fire managment and using all wood. I would always recommend a beginner use charcoal with wood chunks for smoke the first few times till he gets the hang of it.

I'm an all wood person myself, and just use lump when i need to replenish a bit of coalbed.

Waaaaaait a minute. I've gotten the impression that hardwood logs were best left for the Klose--that the Bandera's smaller size produces meat overwhelmed by all-wood smoke. You mean I don't HAVE to use lump and chunk?

What's the procedure for moving to all log cooking? I aasume you don't want to just toss a cold hickory log on kindling and start cookin'?

[StLouQue]

I'm in St. Louis Hills just behind DuBourg HS. I've only had the Bandera for a few weeks now and am having trouble keeping up with the output by myself. The wife's back in country now so I'm firing up some ribs on Sat. As much fuel as it uses I think I'll just load it up and smoke a months worth of meat at a time.

Any other Bandera's in South City??

- JP

JP,

First, welcome muh brutha. Second, a single (pre-CharBroil) Bandera remains at the South County Home Depot (Lindbergh and Lemay Ferry). The box is open and marked as "missing a handle." Check the contents to make sure the remaining parts are in there and ask for a discount nevertheless. (That sucker has been sitting there for at least four months.) Then I'd call New Braunfels/CharBroil and request a free replacement for the missing part(s). Another tip: The poorly assembled floor model has disappeared. It too was missing parts. So, check that box real close, because someone may have picked parts from it to complete the floor model for sale.

Finally, I have to agree with Greg...assemble it yourself. If you could've seen the job some H-D knucklehead did on that floor model...you would have had to partially tear it apart and start over anyway. Plus, you can do the baffle mod as you're putting it together. If you need another pair of hands putting one together, shoot me an email.[/code]

[Mark]

Steve:
Personally, my BD has never seen a briquette or lump of charcoal and its been 4 years. In that time, the only screw up was a grease fire due to the extreme fat content of Schnucks brats. Geez that farker is smoking alot I thought.


Since I use everything from 1" twigs to sawer-up log chunks of hardwood, I guess I'd say that the weight per piece should be the rule-of-thumb: roughly 1 to 3 pounds per piece. I've gone considerably heavier; once a bed of coals is well established. I strart with newspaper and splinters/chips that are left over from splitting and sawing.

I don't want to give the impression that this is technical because its art and the "feel" is aquired with practice. Guess it's a Zen thing. Hope this helps.

Mark (STL)

[BBQchef33]

...Then will come the art of fire managment and using all wood. I would always recommend a beginner use charcoal with wood chunks for smoke the first few times till he gets the hang of it.

I'm an all wood person myself, and just use lump when i need to replenish a bit of coalbed.

Waaaaaait a minute. I've gotten the impression that hardwood logs were best left for the Klose--that the Bandera's smaller size produces meat overwhelmed by all-wood smoke. You mean I don't HAVE to use lump and chunk?

What's the procedure for moving to all log cooking? I aasume you don't want to just toss a cold hickory log on kindling and start cookin'?

I'm gonna split the thread here. This is a good topic for everyone.

See new thread, "Moving to all wood."

[JP_in_STL]

I've been burning Kingsford in it with hickory chunks for flavor. I did the baffle mod and made a charcoal basket out of expanded steel before I even fired it up the first time. I don't have a temp probe yet, but I did score some oven thermos from Target that hang nicely on the individual shelves. The NB Door Thermo is fairly accurate for me if I keep the tip cleaned. I just use it as a rough indicator and check the chamber temps when I spritz with Apple Juice.

The Bandera I got @ Wallly World in Sept. was missing a few parts. I called Customer Service and got replacements promptly. It was put together fairly well so Ijust double checked things and @ $180 for it I wasn't going to bitch too much.

I think I'll be helping the 'Rents to cut wood a little more often and be making some Red Oak wheels as I'm usually going through 20lbs of Charcoal in 6 hrs or so. I do need to raise my Charcoal Basket up a bit to 3-4 inches because I'm getting too much ash build up which is probably why I'm using so much Kingsford.

All in all it's better than Propane :-)

- JP

[willkat98]

Wow, 20# in 6 hours.

I used about 8#, and about 2# lump. That lasted me a full 6 hours, then my meat was done and I kept moving down my heat shield. with nothing in there, I spiked to 310* just to see how hot I could get the litttle fuel left burning, and moving the heat shield to just below the door.

The heat shield will save you a ****load of fuel, if you don't have a full chamber.

Before I played with it at the end, 6 straight hours of 238-260 (260 right after throwing in a split.)

I think the heat shield is listed in the mods, but I just take an extra rack and wrap 3/4 of it in HD foil, placing the 1/4 open on the wall opposite the vent, forcing airflow from right to left (I have the baffle too)

Had the pork tenderloin on top, when that was done, moved shield down above Chicken breasts. Crisps them up too. When they were done, it was time to wrap ribs and pork loin. wrapped them, pork loin back closer to water pan, ribs could above that, heat shield above that.

Loin done by 2pm, and in the cooler at 190.

ribs out there till 3:30. moved the heat shield down right below the door jam, and bam I hit 310*. That shield is an awesome tool for controlling heat, especially in a 10-20 mile hours winds like today.

[cheez]

Steve, I'm far from an expert here - I'll defer to Phil and many others on that point - but I'll be happy to weigh in on using all wood for cooking in the Bandera. It's definitely the way I do it. I will use one chimney of charcoal (preferably lump, though that gets hard to find around here from now 'til spring) to bring the chamber up to temp and to provide a coal bed for the wood to ignite cleanly. After that, it's all wood for me, even on those days when it's an "all day, two big briskets, a butt or two and some chickens" cook. Do I throw in a whole log? No. I use split pieces about (these are guesses and approximations) 8 inches long, maybe 3 to 4 inches in cross-section. Basically, I get these pieces by cutting a normal "fireplace length" log in half lengthwise, then spliting as necessary with a maul. I preheat the pieces on top of the firebox, and find that they will ignite virtually instantly when added to the fire (even when the fire has gotten lower than I'd like through my own inattentiveness). I add then one or two at a time and find that I can control the fire and temp pretty well just by adding wood and making SMALL adjustments to the firebox damper. Indeed, the damper is usually much closer to closed than open (like it seals tight anyway, with all those gaps and holes). Of course, the damper on the cooking chamber is always open all the way. Oh - yes, I have on occasion had "preheating" splits on top of the firebox actually catch fire, and yes I will add "whole" logs of the above mentioned length if they are only a few inches in diameter (like some nice pieces of apple - mmm). I consider myself far from an expert cook, but I will say this - my Dad lives in Texas Hill Country, and aside from other visits comes up every year for a big volleyball tournament in PA. The last two years he has asked me to Q a big brisket for him to take to the "gang". Must be doing something right :-)

Cheez

[cheez]

DUH - Guess this is what I get for not paying attention. I write and submit the post above, THEN see there's a second page in this thread, THEN I find where Phil split the thread...... sheesh!! Oh well - I hope you find the info helpful Steve - if everyone else hasn't already said the same things to you five times over! :oops:

[StLouQue]

Cheez,

I appreciate your taking the time to share your technique. I feel like I'm moving up to the sophomore class.