Competition Advice for a Newbie

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Pantseatflyer

Is lookin for wood to cook with.
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The KCBS Great American BBQ Tour is making a stop in my city at the end of September for Bikes, Blues and BBQ (Fayetteville, Arkansas even).

I am toying with the idea of entering the contest with a BBQ buddy of mine and I need some advice from the brethren.

Will I be fooling myself bringing three UDS's and a flat bed trailer? What equipment is necessary to compete? Tables, tent, chairs, etc?

I think we put out some pretty good "Q", but am I biting off more than I can chew for such a competition?

Thanks!

PSF
 
Pantseatflyer said:
Will I be fooling myself bringing three UDS's and a flat bed trailer? What equipment is necessary to compete? Tables, tent, chairs, etc?
PSF
Click to expand...

We use 2 UDS's and an egg. And you will need all of the Tables/chairs/etc that you have. A tent is optional but we use one cuz the nights are long and the sun is hot.
 
I say sign up and go for it, have fun and good luck!
 
Your equipment is fine, some great teams out there cooking on trash cans. I would advise a canopy though - rain or sun get old fast and a table raised up to bar/counter height to help eliminate bending. PVC works great on the legs.

The hurdle for us during our first few competitions was timing and having a plan. Do a practice run through at home with set turn in times to make sure you have every category ready to turn in on time and have all the necessary tools listed. So if you have to run inside to get anything - add that to your list to take. (with the exception of the head)
 
We use three WSM's, a kettle and put everything in the back of my Suburban--we don't even use a trailer. We have a canopy, two large tables, two small, a propane burner for heating water and sauces, three plastic totes to put misc. supplies, three coolers, and a three drawer plastic bin to put spices and utensils. So far this "Po-Boy" system works great for us. Sometimes it works well to keep things simple. That is not to say we aren't in the market for an enclosed trailer ;-), but the point is you can roll-out and be relatively successful even if your set-up pales in comparison to someone rolling in with their commercial rigs towed by RV/Coach Bus etc.

Dive in the water is great! Good luck!
 
As a non-competitor so far, this may be naive, but what about the triple sink setup?
Wash, rinse, sanitize.
 
the smokin guns website has a check list on what to bring, that helps us alot just go and have a good time.
 
Another low-budget-rollout team here. All you need is the stuff to cook and keep things clean, the rest is determined by your comfort level. We're old and fat, so we travel heavy on shade and tables and chairs. We use pretty much the same list as musicmanryann above, with the addition of a Coleman water heater (which we got after we decided we'd do this a few more times).

Every time we have to pack up or unload, I think of all the guys who seem to do this out of a truck bed comfortably!

One last thing -- go to KCBS's website and download a copy of the current rules and read them. Which may seem overly obvious, but we've seen two different teams this spring get set back by something that was in the rules -- and both had been competing years prior!
 
enjoy the ride because you will get hooked after the first one:-D

some good advice already like diva said get a copy of the rules and I would go look on the picked pig site for help with boxes he has a great tutorial their good luck:wink:
 
I did a "Competition BBQ 101" series on my blog for just such an occasion. I hope these help.

CompetitionBBQ101_Sm.jpg


The Gear

How It Goes Down

Tips For Success

Oh, and I do the entire competition on two UDSs. Easy! I haul all my stuff in the bed of my F-150 (with a shell).

John
 
Last edited:
PSF,

I will be doing my first comp this summer on three UDS cookers as well. I will probalby be using a rented trailer. All of the advice above is spot on. Read the blogs and search the site here. I was lucky enough to cook with SIDE and BBQ Gnome a few weeks ago and it taught me so much. It is hard work but a ton of fun. Jump in and have a great time.
 
Besides a dry run, try to visit a comp between now and then just to see the different setups and talk to the competitors.
 
Excellent advice! Thanks Brothers!

I already have two 'willing' recruits. Definition of 'Willing': I buy the beer! :eek:
 
Only thing I wish we would have had this past weekend at our first was more shade. My face looks like fish scales right now (peeling). We have a 10x10 easy up. Going this weekend to purchase one with sides that raise up.
The three bus tubs worked out for us pretty well. Just heated up some water on the propane cooker.
We did several practice runs, at least 6. Timed with getting everything in boxes and we were still a little off on getting our pork ready too soon. We are going to do 2-3 before our next comp. We plan on entering one in July.
If you go through the practice runs, you will see the things you need pretty clearly.
 
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