Monday Tri Tip

Did a tri tip on the UDS today. Used some Pappy's seasoning.

Here it is with a little Pappy's on it. Wife and the kids don't like too much. Tastes pretty salty if you get carried away with it.

Here it is on the UDS.

It was still cloudy and rainy out. Sorry about the dark pic.
Here it is about an hour later when the sun came out for a couple of seconds.

And here it is sliced.

I'm still kind of experimenting with the Kingsford Comp Briquettes. I have a hard time keeping the temps below 260° with it. (My drum has 3 3/4" intakes and 8 1/2" exhaust holes.) I tried the standard 1 cap off and valve about 1/3 open. I only started 8 briquettes in the chimney, and brought it up real slow and things were going along at about 245° until I lifted the lid to put the meat on. It shot up a bit and dropped a bit but didn't want to come down past 255° or 260°. Now at this time the temp is being measured somewhat off center of the grate because the meat is on the center of the grate. Ended up running most of the time with 2 caps on and the valve all the way open but I didn't want to choke it down anymore. I am a little gun shy about choking the air off too much.
When I lifted the lid again to check the temps it bounced up and wanted to run about 285°. I wasn't too worried since I usually cook them at much higher temps anyway but I would like to be able to keep the Kingsford Comp stuff under control. I am going to do a 10.5 pound brisket on Fridsy and I don't know if I should chance it with the new stuff or just go with some RO briquettes that I have had good luck in the UDS with. I'm kind of leaning towards the RO right now.
Dave

trp1fox said:

Very nice job.

Where's far northern California?

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Corning. :biggrin: About 100 miles north of Sacramento

Norcoredneck said:

Lid not sealing I would bet.

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Lid seals insanely well. Feels like opening a refrigerator door when you lift it off. Close all the intakes and the temps drop like a rock. In fact, it still had coals in it, I had the intakes all open and the thermo on the side was reading about 260°. Closed all the intakes and less then 5 minutes later it is reading 230° and dropping.

At first I thought my exhaust holes were too big. I drilled out the 1/2" holes to 3/4" right before I tried the Kingsford Comp for the first time several weeks ago. Since then I have put 1/2" close nipples back in the exhaust holes so the opening is smaller and the stuff still wants to creep away from the 225° - 250° range. Maybe I need to start even fewer coals or use my skinny tall basket to keep the fire from spreading out.

Dave

trp1fox said:

Can you score some olive wood?

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My coworker has an olive orchard. I'll have to ask. Stuff is pretty oily and burns pretty hot from what I hear people say -- at least in their fireplace. Not sure how it would be in a smoker.

Norcoredneck said:

What I do is I start coals, 1 off, valve open. Put lid on, grate in. I get ready with meat. I wait until gauge on side is @200. I open, lift grate add flavor chunks, run brush over grate and add meat. I close up as quickly as possible. I shut valve almost all the way. First 1/2 hour make adjustments with valve to maintain 200-210 on side gauge. At times i have had to put cap on and just go 3/4 -to full valve. If it clinbs too high It takes a while to get it down. Thing about tri-tip is depending how yuo like it it doesn't take long. See most who use it put a large load, 1-2 putts at 6-8 lbs apiece Vs your 3-3.5 lb. tri tip. This helps dampen initial overshoot. Most temp adjustments should be small and given 20-30 min stabilization. A few adjustments and the 1 1/2 -2 hours to cook tri-tip is gone. Remember 200-210 on gauge = 240-250 center.

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Thanks, Norco. I was wondering if more meat mass would help. The other times I have used the new K stuff there was only a single rack of ribs on. Doing a 10.5 pound brisket this weekend and haven't decided whether to use the new K or RO briquettes. If I use your startup procedure, maybe I'll try the new K.

bowhnter said:

I am kind of surprised by the price of that Tri-tip as I thought it was less expensive in CA?
Looks good.

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I got it at the local Safeway. I think meat is a bit more expensive there. :biggrin: I was kind of surprised when I saw it myself.

Dave

Norcoredneck said:

What I do is I start coals, 1 off, valve open. Put lid on, grate in. I get ready with meat. I wait until gauge on side is @200.

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How long does this generally take?

Dave