site set-up tips to share?

What about judges? I take Tylenol, soap, a clean t-shirt, and a clamp on umbrella. I have judged comps where, due to some screw up by somebody, there was no place to wash your hands and you had to use hand sanitizer. Getting a headache in 100+ degree weather sucks and, I need a clean shirt because I always end up getting chicken or ribs on my shirt.

The bolt on umbrella comes in when your seat is in the sun, which I have experienced. Plus, it comes in handy if it starts to rain.

Also, get to the comp early and scope out the seating. Find out where the air flow is based upon where the fans are located and grab a seat in the middle of the table that gets the best air flow. Middle seats are always either the 3rd or 4th pick from the turn in box.

Don't put your fingers that you have been licking all over the entries that you are not eating when picking out a piece of meat from the box. Don't take up so much room at the judging table that the ones sitting beside you are cramped. Be considerate of the other judges.

When judging, consider the fact that the team that cooked that meat toiled over it and put a lot of time, money, work and care into it. Take it seriously. You are not there merely to eat good BBQ.
 
I bring a sheet metal dryer wall vent cap that will fit the stack on my pit. If it's windy I place it over the stack and turn it so that the opening is downwind, so that the wind won't back draft into the cooking chamber.

Heater for cold weather comps.
 
Use a tablecloth on your prep table (either a disposable one or several sheets of foil). Makes cleanup so much easier.

Towels w/caribiners (golf towels).

Bring a pair of waterproof boots (if it doesn't rain, your neighbor will surely get carried away with the water hose).

Band-aids.

Earplugs (count on your neighbors partying into the wee hours).
 
Here's a great tip I got from another MD team (Pork and Deans...gotta give credit). For our dishwashing/sanitation system we use a Camp Stove along with 8" steam table pans to both heat the water and also use as a table to hold the pans. I wish I had a pic of our setup, but we basically put the steam table pans on the stove, fill with water, turn on the burners and we usually have scalding hot water in about 5 minutes. The best part is, the steamer pans nest together and the camp stove folds up so it takes up very little space.

Here's some links:
Camp Stove
Steam Table Pans
We got about 11 of these pans at auction for about $6 apiece. We use the other pans for meat prep, especially injecting. The deep walls of the pan keep the mess contained real well.
 
It will rain and there will be a power failure. Prepare for both.
Ponchos and side walls for your EZ-Up (tied down of course).
Small car battery to run the fan controller(s), a quiet inverter generator if you need more power.

A very comfortable reclining chair so you can catch some ZZZZZs
Crocs for your feet. Super comfortable and OK if they get wet.
 
My contribution is this. KISS!!!! (keep it simple stu....) The more stuff you take and get out at a contest, the more you have to clean up. I have gotten my set up down to about 15 min of set up time and about 30 minutes of clean up. Makes it SOOOOOO much easier than the days of lugging everything you could imagine around the country. I use the motto that if I dont use it at every contest I dont take it.

Clint
 
as someone who would love to compete one day, these are great. watg, are you going to make your article available here? IMO, this would make a great sticky so the tips can help many people now and in the future. Mods?
 
Yes I found that very informative as we are also getting ready to join the comp ranks
 
I mounted my paper towel holder(the folding plastic kind) in the recess under my folding table. It keeps the towels dry and they dont blow in the wind.

When folded closed for travel, it is thinner than the recess, so it cant get broken.
 
I trim everything at home and have a knife for each category that needs slicing. That leaves me with about 8-10 dishes that go in a bus tub and home to the dishwasher. Most of those 8-10 are used during turn in so they are not sitting around long.
 
ZILLA said:
Wear two pair of latex gloves and just remove the dirty pair. Much easier to get a new pair on.
Click to expand...
I put my pork and brisket on the same smoker at the same time. Doing this I can load the smoker much quicker and only have to open it once.
 
chambersuac said:
as someone who would love to compete one day, these are great. watg, are you going to make your article available here? IMO, this would make a great sticky so the tips can help many people now and in the future. Mods?
Click to expand...

We have too many stickies as it is, but I will add this to the KCQuer Roadmap To the Competition Forum so it can be found easily.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13677

Thanks, Dan!
 
chambersuac said:
as someone who would love to compete one day, these are great. watg, are you going to make your article available here? IMO, this would make a great sticky so the tips can help many people now and in the future. Mods?
Click to expand...


I will keep you posted on the article, got some great stuff here, thanks again to everyone for your suggestions.:p
 
Boshizzle said:
What about judges? I take Tylenol, soap, a clean t-shirt, and a clamp on umbrella.

And a wet wash cloth in a baggie. I also bring masking tape to hold down the plate on windy days and toothpicks (the plastic ones with floss).

Middle seats are always either the 3rd or 4th pick from the turn in box.

I like the end seats - fat guy mod.

Don't put your fingers that you have been licking all over the entries that you are not eating when picking out a piece of meat from the box. Don't take up so much room at the judging table that the ones sitting beside you are cramped. Be considerate of the other judges.

Ditto on the fingers - yuck! As for taking up too much room, see above comment ;>)

..... You are not there merely to eat good BBQ.
Click to expand...

You are 100% right on that! Take at least two good sized bites of each piece so that you can give a fair score.
 
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