Got my first Bandera: Some noob questions please...

[cayenne]

Hi all!

Ok, went last night to Academy Sport in NOLA. Got my Braunfels smoker...was $199..great deal. They also had pecan, mesquite and hickory in not only chunks..but, mini-logs..got some of the logs.

It is still in the back of my friend's SUV, and I won't get it home till end of week..so, can't read instructions or assemble till this weekend.

A few questions for a noob owner please...so I can hit the ground running this weekend and do some smokin'

1. I've seen a couple posts here referring to 'seasoning' the smoker. I'm guessing this is similar to seasoning a cast iron skillet. Can someone give me some links/suggestions best method for this? I want to do this asap after I assemble it so I can use this weekend.

2. I've been smoking in a weber bullet smoker for about 10-11 years...but, that is direct heat smoking, and was wondering if I could get some pointers, timing differences, etc with indirect smoking. I won't be having any mods to the box right off to bat..so, will be out of the box use. I hear that use of a mop is recommended....as opposed to the bullet smoker where you really didn't want to open the thing at all. I'll read the recipes, but, was wondering how often you put the mop on....

How much are cooking times extended with the indirect method? In the old bullet smoker...ribs were about 2-3 hours, chicken was about 4 hours, turkey breast was about 4-5 hours...brisket...8-9 hours.

3. Fuel: This has a much larger firebox than I'm used to. In the past I used charcoal briquettes, and soaked wood 'chunks'. I added both every 1.5 hours or so. In the Bandera...what fuels are best? Do you start with charcoal....do you prefer briquettes or hardwood charcoal (as I just recently found in this area of the country). Do you use chunks of wood...or the log type things I just found? Do you use all wood fires? What are pros/cons of this?

4. Temperature: I originally thought this unit came with a thermometer on it, but, didn't see one on the box when I bought it. How do you keep track of temperature? Is there an easy way to mount a thermometer on the smoker box? I had thought about one of those thermometers you hang inside of your oven...but, figured that would get smoked up and illegible rather quickly...

I am really psyched about this new smoker...and would appreciate any tips or tricks you might have for a noobie on his first outing. One thing I am looking forward to...is finally being able to do a good smoked pork butt roast. On the bullet smoker...just never got enough smoke penetration. I strike that up to being too hot for the cooking time needed for this cut.

Again, thanks for all the response so far...and thanks in advance for any help on these (or any other topics) you can give me...

Cayenne

[chad]

Download and read the Bandera 101 file.

We own a lot of different smokers around here - and a lot of us make EXCELLENT pulled pork on ECBs, Weber Smokey Mountains, Black Diamonds, NB Quicksets, etc. etc. -- it ain't the cooker, it's the cook!

Welcome to the forum and hang on for a wild ride!

1. See Bandera 101 - basically a long not smokey burn it to season the steel and burn off paint, oils, etc.
2. Mob (or spray) to season the meat and keep it from drying out - check out the recipes
3. Use charcoal, wood, charcoal & wood, wood only, etc. -- don't soak it!!
4. Get a couple of electronic thermometers from Bed, Bath & Beyond, Linens & Things, etc. Pyrex makes one for about $9-15 bucks. Buy at least a couple - put one probe in the chamber (down the chimney is what a lot of guys do) and one for the meat (butt, brisket, chicken, etc. -- don't need on in the meat for ribs :D) Oven thermos work ok but yeah, they do smoke up and get hard to read.

Read a lot of the "archives" but be aware that around here the adage obout *******s and opinions is definatley true! :twisted:

[parrothead]

I'll cover the curing. Ya gotta give it a good cure. It's gonna take 4 to 6 hours to do it right. Cover every single speck inside that smoke chamber with oil. Peanut, crisco, etc. You are gonna be building a fire that is different than you will want when smoking. You are gonna want lots of smoke and high temps. Get a good hot fire 400 plus inside the smoke chamber is what you are aiming for. Try to keep that going close to that temp for an hour or so, then you can let it die back down to a normal temp. Then get it back up to that temp again. When doing this the color of your smoke does not maatter much. Get some good hardwood to burn to help get those temps.

Those temps are for opening up the pores of the steel to let the smoke and oil soak in and protect it in the future.

[chad]

Oh yeah, get ready to do the modifications -- baffle, heat shield, and some kind of charcoal basket. You'll need 'em and the sooner you do them the happier you'll be.

[parrothead]

Yeah what he said. The baffle is probably the absolute most important and should be done before curing.

[BBQchef33]

Hi all!

1 - . I've seen a couple posts here referring to 'seasoning' the smoker. I'm guessing this is similar to seasoning a cast iron skillet. Can someone give me some links/suggestions best method for this? I want to do this asap after I assemble it so I can use this weekend.


The Dave Klose recommended method of seasoning... Coat the ENTIRE cooker, inside, outside top to bottom. Alternate the fire between high heat, heavy smoke for at least 4-6 ours. hotter the better.

2. I've been smoking in a weber bullet smoker for about 10-11 years...but, that is direct heat smoking, and was wondering if I could get some pointers, timing differences, etc with indirect smoking.

Even bullet smokers are indirect, they have waterpans or heat sinks to cause the offset effect.

I won't be having any mods to the box right off to bat..so, will be out of the box use. I hear that use of a mop is recommended....as opposed to the bullet smoker where you really didn't want to open the thing at all. I'll read the recipes, but, was wondering how often you put the mop on....

all personal preference. I dont mop, i spray. feel mopping takes off the rubs or pools them around.

To avoid some initial frustration, make a temporary baffle out of heavy duty foil or a piece of sheet aluminum. Instructions are in the bandera 101 document. You will also need tpo raise the fire grate for your first burn. If you cant make a grate, use some stones, or brick to raise the grate a few inchs off the chamber floor. the existing grate doesnt have enuf room underneath for ash.

How much are cooking times extended with the indirect method? In the old bullet smoker...ribs were about 2-3 hours, chicken was about 4 hours, turkey breast was about 4-5 hours...brisket...8-9 hours.

Sounds about right... 250 is 250 no matter what kind of chamber you use. difference with the bandera is ya may open it a little more when your adding fuel and can afford some heat loss.

3. Fuel: This has a much larger firebox than I'm used to. In the past I used charcoal briquettes, and soaked wood 'chunks'. I added both every 1.5 hours or so. In the Bandera...what fuels are best? Do you start with charcoal....do you prefer briquettes or hardwood charcoal (as I just recently found in this area of the country). Do you use chunks of wood...or the log type things I just found? Do you use all wood fires? What are pros/cons of this?


personal preference.. again, hints in the bandera 101 documnet. Bandera needs babysitting.. add wood every 45mins to an hour. NEVER WET WOOD!!! dont ever soak another piece of wood again!!! I use lump or kingsford for the initial coalbead and then 7-8inch splits about 2-3 inchs wide after that. Small clean fire is what you want. preheat wood on top of the firebox so it ignites immediately whn you put it in and avoid the white smoke.

4. Temperature: I originally thought this unit came with a thermometer on it, but, didn't see one on the box when I bought it. How do you keep track of temperature? Is there an easy way to mount a thermometer on the smoker box? I had thought about one of those thermometers you hang inside of your oven...but, figured that would get smoked up and illegible rather quickly...

Probe types work best where you drop the probe down the smokestack. get a few one for meat, one for air. Or better, look at the nuTemp in our links section, you can get a brethren discount from them.

Most important..ENJOY it... your coming into a different world from set and forget with the bullets. Firemanagment is one of the keys with the bandera,, takes time and practice, but its most of the fun.. and then comes eatin.. :)

[kcquer]

I'm going to offer a second opinion on seasoning. There are two seperate goals in seasoning. 1 to cure the paint on the outside of the cooker. 2 to season the inside a parrothead described above. I did my first burn according to the manufacturers instructions, Brinkmann in my case. My paint seems to have held up much better than what others have reported with cookers newer than mine. I did Phil's method of alternating hour periods of high heat then heavy smoke on the second burn for the benefit of the inside.
Just my $.02 worth.

[kcquer]

A note on digital thermometers. Big Lots has acu-rite digitals for $5.99 with a battery. If the stores in your area have them this price is hard to beat. If you were planning on spending $20 on a thermometer 3 of these is a steal for that price, 1 for the chamber temp and two for checkin meats and you're pretty well set up.

[The_Kapn]

Ok, went last night to Academy Sport in NOLA. Got my Braunfels smoker...was $199..great deal.
First off- I'm jealous :twisted: I paid $298 and have been "discussing" it with CharBroil ever since.
I should have shopped even harder!
All of the stuff above is "dead on".
Memorize "Bandera 101"! It is full of the truth.
High on the list of Mods is to get the fire grate off of the bottom of the firebox, anyway you can :!:
I started with just putting one of the origonal smoker shelves on the bottom rung and going from there. Used that as a fire grate for a while.
But, however you do it, the Bandi needs air under the fire :!:
Just my $dollars worth (Inflation and all).
TIM

[BigAl]

Welcome to MOD city!

[cayenne]

Welcome to MOD city!

Thanks one and all. Been reading over the '101' primer....and got some great insight. Thanks for telling me about that one. One thing I'm a little confused on...the temporary baffle.

I've seen diagrams, pics and templates of the permanet baffle....and I have a friend with all kinds of metal working tools and figure I'll trade off some good "Q" in exchange for some help.

But, I'm gonna be starting without that, and want to do the temp. baffle. I didn't see in the '101' or in my searches of the files section reference to how to mount a tin foil temporary baffle to the inside so it would keep shape and stay attached to the inside of the smoker...I'm guessing even duct tape wouldn't work..??

I've gotten the seasoning part down from reading and all the responses here. I'll also manage to do a temp solution to raising the fire grate up somehow till I get a permanet solution fabricated.

Oh..and thanx for the suggestions of DRY wood...I've always soaked it for the bullet smoker...would have done that here too if not for suggestions and reading.

Anyway, if someone could give me insight on how to do the temp foil baffle, I think I'm ready to get a bottle of Wild Turkey, and fire that sucker up....(after assembly of course...)
:-)

C

[rusold]

My number 1 - raise the grate

R

[midnight]

I gota disagree on soaking the wood! I use only wood in my dera and I ALWAYS soak 5- 10 fist size chunks of hickory or apple to add during the first couple of hours of the cook. Never had a problem with it.

You can cook with it right out of the box( I did for over 1 1/2 years) but the mods need to be done sooner or later. If you don't put in a heat baffle you will have hot spots along the side closest to the fire box, from top to bottom. As a temporary heat shield I used heavy duty aluminum foil folded several sheets thick. Fold into shape to cover sides and top of opening to smokebox. I renforced mine with some heavy wire inside the foil. It won't last very long but will work for 4 or 5 cooks. It should be heavy enough to stay in place next to the wall of the smoker without having to attach it.

Does yours have a hole for a thermometer in the door? If so throw away the one that comes with the unit and buy a better one. Better yet get a digital one.

If using wood for fuel you can burn up to about a 5- 6 inch thick log approx 12-15 inches long as long as you have a good bed of coals. Wood chunks about the size of your fist work well also but don't last as long. You will need to add wood every 40- 60 minuets or so. Let your cooker tell you when and how much wood you need. It takes some practise.

I spray a simple mop of apple juice, olive oil, and worchestshire sauce once every hour or whenever the meat starts to look dry.

This is just how I do things, everyone has thier own way of doing it and it wont be long before you figure out what works best for you.

Good luck.

[jt]

Cayenne, I did the temporary foil baffle for a few cooks before I installed a permanent one. Get some of the 18" long heavy duty foil. You'll want it anyway when you're foiling meat. Pull off enough to double it and then make something that resembles the baffles in the 101 document. Now just "hang" it on the bolts connecting the firebox to the smoke chamber so that it forces the smoke down under the water pan. Just keep pinching the foil around the bolts and pushing it against the smoke chamber wall until you form a half-decent seal. The smoke will follow the path of least resistance and you'll be fine. My first one lasted 2 smokes before I tossed it and did another. But you'll want to do the permanent soon so you don't have to fark with it anymore.

[cayenne]

Cayenne, I did the temporary foil baffle for a few cooks before I installed a permanent one. Get some of the 18" long heavy duty foil. You'll want it anyway when you're foiling meat. Pull off enough to double it and then make something that resembles the baffles in the 101 document. <snip>

Thank you very much, I think I'm gonna be ready to go.

One last question on this thread, with reference to the above quoted.

What does 'foiling' the meat mean? I've not ever heard that term before. Do you wrap your meat in foil while smoking it?? I'm not sure I understand...I've never covered my meat while cooking in my bullet smoker....is this an indirect smoker trick?

Many thanx,

cayenne

[jt]

Depends on the meat being smoked. Pork Butts I smoke to 160 degrees, wrap in foil and take to 190-200 then drop in a cooler and let it set until its A)160 again, B)I'm hungry or C)I wanna go to sleep. Brisket is much the same way. After a few hours it won't really absorb any more smoke and there's a big 'hump' around 170. Meat will just sit there for hours sometimes. Foiling it preserves all the moisture & juices and helps get the internal temps up where you want them. Lots of info on the site about this. Some guys foil, some don't. Sometimes you can take it back out of the foil and smoke it a bit longer to add more bark to it. For me, once I get it to 200* it's close to falling apart anyway so the foil lets me move it to the cooler without leaving it on the ground for the dog!

[Qczar]

What I did with my Bandera when I first got it was lube every sq in as described by the other`s. Then lined the bottom of the fire box with heavy foil and kept the ash pan off the bottom using 4 small, ½" high, flat stones to insulate the bottom. Then I used the grill grate, hooked in the bottom brackets of the fire box to build the fire.

Plus I used alum flashing material to create a temp baffle. Not a big deal.

Good luck, I know your gonna enjoy!