NEWSFLASH... THIS JUST IN.............

[Mike(Mi)]

Dateline: January in Michigan...

CONFESSION: "CHARCOAL BASKET BOY" NEEDS MORE PRACTICE!!!

Well, instead of doing a careful analysis of basket divider spacing and burning times, it turned into "How the heck do I get enough fuel burning fast enough in here to keep this darn meat from freezing on me?"

Actually, I really was pleased at the first results under much less than ideal conditions, I could go a LONG TIME (2-3 hrs) without looking at the beast (I didn't, old habits you know). But, I could not get the temp much over 180 for the first 3 hrs, and found myself wishing I had allowed 2-3 hours for preheating before I started. It was 6 degrees when I fired the Dera up and never got a heck of a lot warmer.

I put the meat in at 9:45 and it was 3:00 before I was "Spiking" to 225-230, but I was then able to hold that temp. I burned about 20 lbs of Kingsford, some hickory chunks and apple splits and finally resorted to my good old Ozark Oak to get the temp up to cooking proportions. Just as reference, with my usual methods, my Q challenge is working to keep the chamber UNDER 275.

I did a full chimney in the basket third closest to the cooking chamber, left 1 1/2 or a little more inches space between the dividers and filled the larger portion with unlit Kingsford (both sides had wood mixed in.) The unlit side was burning by 1 1/2 hours and after that I just kept pouring on fuel to both sides trying to get the temp up, I played with the air intake with some success and I did not have a problem at all with ash build-up. All in all, I want to try this again when its really, really warm out ....say 30 degrees.

The good news is we had chicken, ham, ribs and sausage for dinner, the bad news is we had chicken, ham, ribs, and sausage for dinner. (Chicken and ham was dry and overdone, the Bronto ribs were GREAT (aren't they always at Mike's?) and ...well, you can't really hurt sausage. I'm not used to cooking at real low temps and I did not adjust well, also, I did not check the Q often enough , but everytime I did I lost 50 degrees and lost another half hour or more of sizzling 200 degree cooking. It was a lot of guesswork and adventure ...you know ...FUN :D

Anyway, the Basket DOES work, but I need to wait till warmer weather to get serious about mastering it. 2 unknowns at once was more than I could handle today. Its almost felt like learning to Q all over again.

The basket Big Al makes fits the Bandera firebox perfectly and I am certain that with experience (and warmer breezes) I will get the long unattended cooking I'm looking for.

[parrothead]

2 words. leafblower mod. Or if you prefer, hair blower mod. Both will help you get up to temp when you need it. Only downfall is ash flying around landing on your food. Take a hunk of anything to block of the opening between the firebox and the smoke chamber, blow the hell out of your coals and you will raise your temps by 100 degrees in no time.

Sorry if this sounds extreme, but I've been there. Started with to few lit coals, whatever, wind power baby, wind power.

Just my 2 cents brothers.

[Mike(Mi)]

The whirling wind mod!

I had some strange results playing with the air intake..after I opened it some the temps would rise. But then after a bit, the temp started falling again. I think I was at the point where the volume of cold air coming in to stoke the fire was actually working against me because it was so cold out. Strange experience.

[slat]

Try a small fan blowing across the chimney. The increased air flow will pull more heat into the cooking chamber.

[Mike(Mi)]

Now that I think about it ..and chew another bone, these are some of the best spares I've ever made. Done nice and natural looking on the outside, moist and tender, but not falling right off the bone, and damn tasty. I used Head Country rub last night and then as they came off, splashed them down with a sauce mixture of OK Joe, BBQ Shack and some spicy hot sauce I got for Christmas.

Damn, wish I had paid better attention ..not that I would want to replicate this experience everytime I cook ribs! I can see the billboard now: "Perfect Spareribs in ONLY 8 hours!!" :shock:

[parrothead]

Ok, I was saving this until I could buy one and try it out. Checkout bbqguru.com. They make a thingamajig that hooks up to just about any cooker that you can imagine. It has probes and dials and such that check the temperature, and when it dips, it turns on a fan that blows on your coals to bring the temp up. Was planning to mess with one sometime during the winter, but have not as of yet.

Anybody else try one of these yet?

[Saiko]

Hehe, this all reminds me of my Christmas turkey this year, using wet apple wood. I forgot to cover my wood when I went away and it rained like hell. Spent 6 damn hours blowing on the fire trying to keep it going. Didn't even think of a friggin hair dryer! Next time I'll be ready :D

[2Fat]

Anybody else try one of these yet?

been looking at that guru thingee for the BWS Comp--folks have told me 11hr burn times with that gizmo vs 7hrs or so without. but its another $225 toy for bbq

Buzz

[willkat98]

Hehe, this all reminds me of my Christmas turkey this year, using wet apple wood. I forgot to cover my wood when I went away and it rained like hell. Spent 6 damn hours blowing on the fire trying to keep it going. Didn't even think of a friggin hair dryer! Next time I'll be ready :D

If I ever figure out how to post a picture that is not friggin humongous, I will post my hair dryer mod.

Warning, use it exclusively for Q. Grabbed my daughters hair dryer 3 years ago, used it once on my ECB, put it back and heard "Oh my god my hair smells like a smoker" the next morning.

Now, its just for Q and is loaded with ash and ****. I use it to blow all the ash out of my firebox the day after Q.
And the end is all melted and **** from being close to the heat.

[Saiko]

If I ever figure out how to post a picture that is not friggin humongous, I will post my hair dryer mod.


I posted about this earlier, but I'll host any pics anyone needs for the web. I can also resize them for easier viewing. Send me the pic as an attachment to:
m.redman@mindspring.com

I'll resize and upload it to my server. The URL will be:
http://www.markredman.net/pics/filename

[BigAl]

:idea: Next time, if it is that cold outside, you might want to fill the left side about half full (1/2 left - 1/2 right divider spacing) of lit coals on the bottom, unlit on top of the lit and move dividers farther appart with unlit on the right. This way will give you more heat sooner and still futher delay the self lighting on the right. Here, one divider gives me about a 4 hr delay before the right side self lights. Once the basket fine tuning is learned, the ideal divider spacing will allow the right side to self light before the left is burned up and the temp in the smoke chamber remains just about constant. And if you need a longer burn after the left side is empty and the right is lit, just refill the left side and it to will self light before the right is gone. :wink: :D

[Jorge]

Try a small fan blowing across the chimney. The increased air flow will pull more heat into the cooking chamber.

Once had wind coming over the top of the house and blowing down into the chimney and then into the firebox. For several reasons moving the rig wasn't an option at that point. Fortunately I had an old 300W power supply and case fan from an old computer. Placed the power supply on a couple of bricks to keep it cool and placed the fan on top of the chimney. Worked like a champ for the day.

I've considered placing a variable resistor in between the power supply and the fan so that I could adjust the flow of air in the chamber, but it is down the list of Wanna-Do things.

[Davewey]

Bill CO

"Warning, use it exclusively for Q. Grabbed my daughters hair dryer 3 years ago, used it once on my ECB, put it back and heard "Oh my god my hair smells like a smoker" the next morning."


This is the kind of Story that should be in National Lampoon’s next movie, JULY 4th VACATION.

Cousin Eddy/ Randy Quaid, would of course play Bill.

I love Bills Family stories. All the Family stories. If I was a screen writer I’d have one hell a movie from this sight.

[stlmike]

been looking at that guru thingee for the BWS Comp--folks have told me 11hr burn times with that gizmo vs 7hrs or so without. but its another $225 toy for bbq


I tried a BBQ Guru in my BWS Party Model. I currently get a five hour burn using the Minion method. With the BBQ Guru, I got six hours. Maybe I did something wrong. I sent the BBQ Guru back for a refund.
StL Mike