I just hire a new employee

I've just cooked for the second time on the new FEC, I have a tasting at noon and I have not tried the meats yet but I think that I have put my finger on one key difference between a stick burner and the FEC. I believe a major difference in the smoke comes from the fact that there is much less humidity in the FEC. When I first cooked on the FEC there was a noticeable smoke difference, I first thought that it was due to a much cleaner burn and I still believe that is a part of it but last night I put two butts on at 225* with a heavy coat of rub on them but instead of waiting for the rub to liquefy I put them straight on the pit. Sometimes if I am in a hurry I do this on the Lang as well. This morning at 7:30am the butts were ready to come off the pit yet the top layer of the rub still looked raw in a lot of areas. If I do this on the Lang they will liquefy and bark up nice. This leads me to believe that the firewood going in the lang has more moisture. I did read that the pellets are 8% moisture but I do not know what the moisture content of firewood is and we all know that more moisture will result in more smoke. My next cooking I will place a water pan on the top rack below the convection fan so that it hits the moisture and see if this makes a difference. My only problem with doing this is that I bought the cooker based on it holding at least 150lbs of meat and I would loose one rack to a water pan by using this method so I will mainly use it to see if it makes a difference and try to figue something out from there. The cooker makes great barbecue just as it is but I do think with some learning curve and adjustments this thing can cook awesome barbecue. Oh and the best part is I slept all night last night :clap:
 
Is it possible to put a water pan on the bottom? I don't think you would need it right near the fan. As the water evaporates it would circulate with the other air. I am looking at getting a pellet smoker also. It is good to see that quality is not sacrificed for convenience. My reason for getting a pellet smoker is so that the staff can put meat on at close and it would be ready in the morning.
 
Pyle on the FEC120 the heat source comes in on top and a convection fan blows the heat down and exhausts on the bottom. The grease drip holes are on the bottom so I am not sure a water pan would work down there but I will investigate that. I am very happy with the unit but it is just one of 3 cookers that I have and the other two are stick burners. There is a difference in the BBQ from the pellet cooker vs the stick burners, not better or worst just different. I'm just trying to tweak things to get the finished product closer to each other so that the finished product is not drastically different when cooked with pellets. I'll try but it may not happen.
 
I'm really not worried about having all the same product. It will be my main cooker and I really don't think anyone would notice.

If you are doing mostly pulled pork on different cookers, I would take a but from each cooker and mix them together and see how it turns out. Just like painter mix different batches of colored paint to make sure there isn't a color difference.
 
1st here let me say that I am keeping this post going and loading it with info on the FEC120 because I found as a caterer a lack of detailed info on the unit other than "it's great" and I want other caterers who are interested in it to be able to see some real life cooking info on the unit.

I had cook last night for a drop off today, we had a blizzard of an ice storm that started yesterday morning. I had some worries about cooking with a down pour of sleet and ice. I went out at 8pm last night to start the FEC, I had a cover over it but for a brief time yesterday it blew off. So when I went to turn the unit on the switch was frozen with ice, I laid my hand over the switch for 30 seconds and this gave me enough heat to thaw the switch to turn the unit on. Then I went to open the firebox door and it was frozen shut and I wanted to make sure the fire started so I went in the house and grabbed a hair dryer to thaw out the door. By the time I got back out side I could see the smoke rolling and the heat from the fire had thawed the door. I did have to heat the slam latch to get all the ice off of it because it was frozen and would not latch the firebox door. I went back inside for 30 minutes and the temp came up to 220* and I put the butts on. About 6am this morning my tv went to a snowy picture (I left it on so I would know if the power went out) The unit had reset and stopped cooking so I had to reset it, all went well after that and butts came off at 9am. So far I will say the unit uses closer to 1lb of pellets per hour and not the 1/2lb that is listed in the specs unless warmer weather will make a difference (I'm sure it wont hurt). One issue that I do not like and I am going to have to put a safe guard in place for is that if the electricity does go off and come back on the unit defaults and stops cooking. So if I went to bed with 150lbs of meat on and the electricity went out at 1am for a minute I would wake up at 7am with a huge problem. I am going to rig up my Maverick and get an alarm to put in my bedroom that plugs in a wall outlet and sounds an alarm if power is interrupted. I found a great deal on the Chargriller Pellets and have used them the past 2 cookings and they seem to be working as good as the Cookshack Pellets and with shipping they were half the price.
 
I have an FEC 100 that I use for competition cooking. Just a couple of comments from my experience that you might find helpful:

Foil the bottom of your cooker with each use. Put multiple layers of foil. MAKE SURE YOU POKE THE DRAIN HOLE THROUGH THE FOIL. And if you find the need to make a big increase in temperature, you can just pull off the top layer of foil and you have a clean cooker right in the middle of the process and only had the door open for a few seconds. Aside from making the cooker easier to clean, it will reduce your risk of grease fires.

To increase the smoke flavor, you can start off big meats at 180 degrees for 6 or 8 hours. The pellets do not burn as efficiently at the low temp, and put off more smoke. Competition cooks will often go 6 to 10 hours at 180 to 190, then wrap the meat and bump the heat up to mid 200s. (Remember, this is the FEC100 I am talking about, you may have to adjust your results.)

Are you opening the door much? If so, that explains your pellet use. When you open that door you loose a HUGE amount of BTUs that must be replaced. After you learn your cooker, stay out of it.

All pellets are not created equal. Stay away from Traeger, no matter how cheap they look. Mostly filler wood, less BTUs, less smoke. It takes more pellets to cook and impart less flavor.
I hear lot of good things about BBQ Delight, but I have not used them yet. I bought a large stash of 100% hickory (no filler woods) from Fast Eddy last time I was in Kansas City. I also hear good things about cookingpellets.com.
 
One more thing. Fast Eddy told us this weekend that he puts his brisket trimmings in the empty spots in his cooker. He thinks its increases moisture and flavor. It will increase your cooking time, but no more so than having to heat a water pan; you may wish to consider that solution before you resort to a water pan. If you use trimmings - see my comment on foiling the bottom.....
 
Know Bull said:
One more thing. Fast Eddy told us this weekend that he puts his brisket trimmings in the empty spots in his cooker. He thinks its increases moisture and flavor. It will increase your cooking time, but no more so than having to heat a water pan; you may wish to consider that solution before you resort to a water pan. If you use trimmings - see my comment on foiling the bottom.....
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Very interesting.

I too have an FEC-100 I use for competitions occasionally and doing some cooking for the masses for my son's cub scouts etc.

You can put a battery backup UPS of some sort on to handle the electrical issues. Just make sure it can handle the amperage draw and for how many hours you'd like to be covered. If the 120 is much like the 100 it will draw very little amperage after igniting the pellets. I'm thinking 1/2 amp or so based off my memory.

I really like this thread, and hope you post some more as you use it more. One modification I made to my FEC-100, which I don't think would work for the 120 is a small grate of expanded metal attached to the outer side of the firebox for me to add wood chunks for more smoke.

7520360530_d7898ac51a_c.jpg
 
jasonjax said:
Very interesting.

I too have an FEC-100 I use for competitions occasionally and doing some cooking for the masses for my son's cub scouts etc.

You can put a battery backup UPS of some sort on to handle the electrical issues. Just make sure it can handle the amperage draw and for how many hours you'd like to be covered. If the 120 is much like the 100 it will draw very little amperage after igniting the pellets. I'm thinking 1/2 amp or so based off my memory.

I really like this thread, and hope you post some more as you use it more. One modification I made to my FEC-100, which I don't think would work for the 120 is a small grate of expanded metal attached to the outer side of the firebox for me to add wood chunks for more smoke.
7520360530_d7898ac51a_c.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh, man, this is great! Exactly how did you attach the metal to the firebox? That's the only problem I have with my FEC...how to get more smoke flavor! Thanks in advance! Oh, and do you just hang the chunk slightly over the firebox to get it started?
 
Know Bull - I never open the door so heat BTU's getting out that way. I bought it so I could sleep and I have been sawing some logs :becky:

Weardc - I like your smoke adapter I have thought about adding something small like that. There is room in the firebox for it, the firebox is on the back of the 120 where I think it is on the bottom of the 100. I could add a few chunks of wood for the first few hours, then go to bed.
 
early mornin' smokin' said:
i'm looking at a pair of 120's for my place, what's your average capacity? max?
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I have not loaded it down yet as I have only had about 3ish weeks. It will hold 4 buts per rack and has 5 racks however they say not to blanket load the bottom rack (not sure why) So if you put 2 butts on bottom rack then you can get 18 butts per load.
 
HBMTN said:
Know Bull - I never open the door so heat BTU's getting out that way. I bought it so I could sleep and I have been sawing some logs :becky:

Weardc - I like your smoke adapter I have thought about adding something small like that. There is room in the firebox for it, the firebox is on the back of the 120 where I think it is on the bottom of the 100. I could add a few chunks of wood for the first few hours, then go to bed.
Click to expand...

HBMTN, the adapter actually belongs to Jasonjax. I want one, though! I just couldn't tell exactly how he had attached it, and I don't want to go drilling holes in a the wrong place! :oops:
 
wearcd said:
Oh, man, this is great! Exactly how did you attach the metal to the firebox? That's the only problem I have with my FEC...how to get more smoke flavor! Thanks in advance! Oh, and do you just hang the chunk slightly over the firebox to get it started?
Click to expand...

I used the existing screws from the firebox. You just have to lift up the sheet metal. SUPER easy.

As for placing the wood chunks, exactly, just place them a bit away from the pellets dropping into the firebox and the heat takes over from there.
 
wearcd said:
HBMTN, the adapter actually belongs to Jasonjax. I want one, though! I just couldn't tell exactly how he had attached it, and I don't want to go drilling holes in a the wrong place! :oops:
Click to expand...

Cookshack now makes a piece to hold the extra wood chunk for additional smoke in a FEC100. Simple bolt on, no drilling or cutting required. When I got mine a few months ago, it was so new that it did not even have a part number yet. Call sales or customer service.
 
Well it looks like one of my biggest fears with buying the FEC has come true with barely having it a month. I went out and started up the cooker to put some butts on that I want done in the morning. After about an hour I was outside and checked on it (as I was still gun shy about it not running properly) and low and behold the unit was off. I checked the power supply and it was good. The FEC is currently DEAD :cry::sad::confused: Unit does not power up at all. The manual says there is a high temp cut out to check but it does not tell you where it is and I have removed the panels and checked everywhere and can not find one. I was only cooking at 200* so I can't imagine it got too hot. So I fired up the trusty old Lang 84 and put the butts in it. I guess I'll call CookShack in the morning to see what is up. Glad it happened now vs once I went to bed or I would have been dead in the water for my catering job tomorrow.
 
OK I may have jumped the gun a little but I still like to post the real world cooking on one of these units so people can see "real life" operation of one.

The story - when I found the unit had turned off I went and checked where it was hooked to the outlet and it was mostly unhooked "I think my kids may have kicked the cord" but after hooking it back up the unit still would not turn on. Me being an auto mechanic by trade for 27 years could not let it rest and I went back to seek out and find the high temp kill switch and I finally found it. There is a black plastic piece on the back of the pellet hopper and as it turns out is simply a cap and when I twisted it hard it came unscrewed to reveal a push button under it and I heard it click when I pushed on it and I turned the unit on and it is now working. My theory is that when the power cord was close to coming unplugged it cause the high temp switch to trip. I am going to run and monitor it for a couple hours meanwhile I have the meat on my Lang and if all looks good I will switch the meat back over to the FEC before I go to bed. I will then get up and check on it a couple times throughout the night to make sure that is all it was. On a good note- Those butts getting a few hours on the Lang is a sure fire way to get smoke in them :)
 
The FEC run all night with no high temp tripping issues. Last night was the first time that I have tried the cook and hold feature with the meat probe. I had it set so that when the meat internal temp was 195* the cooker would back down to 140* and hot hold for me. I went out at 6am and it was in hot holding mode. About 8am I decided I am very gun shy of the thing right now so I am going to go probe those butts. I checked them and they were not even close to done. I have read nothing nor can I find anywhere I that I need to calibrate the meat probe. I kicked the cooker temp to 325* and at 9am I pulled the butts and tried to have pull the meat and it took force so I pulled it down to smaller chunks and foil wrapped them meat in a pan and kicked the cooker temp to 350* and now I am praying. I have to pull that meat at 10:45am to have time to get to my drop off. This will be my closest call in 4 years in business. I know when I get this thing dialed in that it will be a good cooker but I sure am gun shy right now.
 
HBMTN said:
The FEC run all night with no high temp tripping issues. Last night was the first time that I have tried the cook and hold feature with the meat probe. I had it set so that when the meat internal temp was 195* the cooker would back down to 140* and hot hold for me. I went out at 6am and it was in hot holding mode. About 8am I decided I am very gun shy of the thing right now so I am going to go probe those butts. I checked them and they were not even close to done. I have read nothing nor can I find anywhere I that I need to calibrate the meat probe. I kicked the cooker temp to 325* and at 9am I pulled the butts and tried to have pull the meat and it took force so I pulled it down to smaller chunks and foil wrapped them meat in a pan and kicked the cooker temp to 350* and now I am praying. I have to pull that meat at 10:45am to have time to get to my drop off. This will be my closest call in 4 years in business. I know when I get this thing dialed in that it will be a good cooker but I sure am gun shy right now.
Click to expand...

Hold on, let me see if I understand this. You did a probe cook, setting internal meat temp to 195, with a holding temp of 140. At some point in the night the cooker went into hold mode and dropped down to 140. You don't know when this happened, but at 6am when you looked for the first time it was already in holding, and at 8am you probed and the internal on the meat was south of 195.

Well, what I would think happened is, at some point the meat did finish at 195 (which may not have ever been cooked enough for that piece of meat, we know these things are variable) and then at that point it went into hold mode for some unknown amount of hours more than at least 2. Once the temp of the cooker drops below the internal temp of the meat, the meat temps will also drop as the meat will not stay hotter than the oven. After sitting in a 140 oven for a few hours, your meat is now below it's internal high temp of 195.

The hold feature at 140 is meant to keep food above the danger zone, not keep the internal temp of the meat at your set internal temp.

Does this sound plausible?
 
As it turns out TailgateJoe the meat was not done. My best figures based on what I have found since is that it went to hot hold when the meat hit about 1605-175* I called Cookshack and they said they are having a problems with the processors not recognizing the meat probe temps properly and they were aware of the issue and correcting it. As soon as they get the updated processors finished they would ship one to me that would correct the issue. I asked if there was a way to calibrate the meat probe and they said no. Lucky after breaking the butts down to smaller pieces and keeping them wrapped they turned out perfect just when needed so my catering job went off great!
 
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