New 270 KC

[InThePitBBQ]

Great pics! Can you show how the chimney works on these to get the direct versus reverse flow?

These cookers don't get the love they deserve, I'd really like to have one for smaller cooks and winter time use.

[rwalters]

Killer! What temple were those wings cooked at? They look fantastic!

[KevinJ]

Pic's are worth a thousand words.

[Home Farm BBQ]

275 is what I cook at. Let it go up to crisp up the wings and sausage.

I’ll try to document how this works with some pics tomorrow. Got brisket, pork belly, pastrami and jalapeño poppers.


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[wmarkw]

Originally Posted by InThePitBBQ

Great pics! Can you show how the chimney works on these to get the direct versus reverse flow?

These cookers don't get the love they deserve, I'd really like to have one for smaller cooks and winter time use.

If you want to cook "direct" you close off the back part of the chimney and the smoke will exhaust straight up through the front port. To get the convection effect you close off the front part of the chimney. In the pic w/ the sausage you can see the rear chamber that will give you the convection heated draft effect which will circle heat/smoke in the cook chamber while exhausting out of that chamber through the rear port of the chimney. I always use this method and have never tried the direct. The convection method pushed meats through stalls and cuts cook time down quite a bit. I usually keep my temps between 250-270 and I can get full size packers done in about 8 hours the same with butts.

I love the new racks they are using! Jelly lol

[SmokerKing]

what part of Iowa do you live?

[Fsonicsmith]

I've owned the 270 for three years-same model as you have. I like it but man-o-man does this thing have it's own peculiarities that require learning to overcome/accommodate. For starters-it wants to run at it's own temp-which is right around-you guessed it-270. You basically need to man-handle the thing to get it to hold a lower or higher temp. It seems inherently suited to cooking brisket and pork shoulders but not ribs or chicken. Now you might be thinking if yours truly is trying to say that there is something about the 270 temp inclination and the difficulty of cooking ribs on the 270. No, not really. In truth, I think that there is just something about the way the heat circulates in a 270 that doesn't suit ribs. Ribs come out mushy and a bit rubbery. Ribs are my specialty. I have cooked ribs on every design of smoker under the sun and never had a problem-except with the 270. I can cook ribs on a $90 Walmart Weber-knock-off from China and produce better ribs.
Separate from all of the above, the designer/owner of 270 was present when I bought mine from Mason-Dixon BBQ in PA during the annual April contest/sale. He told me my 270 was designed to be used with water pans on the bottom surface under the lowest shelf. There is no way to get a long cook without opening the cooker and adding water every three or four hours. The water simply evaporates/boils off too fast. As the water level lower to almost dry, there will be a temp spike unless you ward it off with water additions. I've tried elevating the water pan to the lowest shelf and that helps but does not eliminate the problem.
Like any smoker, you need to learn to accommodate the little piccadillos of your particular smoker. I'm just saying the 270 has some significant ones.
I like my 270, I just don't love it.

[wmarkw]

Originally Posted by Fsonicsmith

I've owned the 270 for three years-same model as you have. I like it but man-o-man does this thing have it's own peculiarities that require learning to overcome/accommodate. For starters-it wants to run at it's own temp-which is right around-you guessed it-270. You basically need to man-handle the thing to get it to hold a lower or higher temp. It seems inherently suited to cooking brisket and pork shoulders but not ribs or chicken. Now you might be thinking if yours truly is trying to say that there is something about the 270 temp inclination and the difficulty of cooking ribs on the 270. No, not really. In truth, I think that there is just something about the way the heat circulates in a 270 that doesn't suit ribs. Ribs come out mushy and a bit rubbery. Ribs are my specialty. I have cooked ribs on every design of smoker under the sun and never had a problem-except with the 270. I can cook ribs on a $90 Walmart Weber-knock-off from China and produce better ribs.
Separate from all of the above, the designer/owner of 270 was present when I bought mine from Mason-Dixon BBQ in PA during the annual April contest/sale. He told me my 270 was designed to be used with water pans on the bottom surface under the lowest shelf. There is no way to get a long cook without opening the cooker and adding water every three or four hours. The water simply evaporates/boils off too fast. As the water level lower to almost dry, there will be a temp spike unless you ward it off with water additions. I've tried elevating the water pan to the lowest shelf and that helps but does not eliminate the problem.
Like any smoker, you need to learn to accommodate the little piccadillos of your particular smoker. I'm just saying the 270 has some significant ones.
I like my 270, I just don't love it.

Good thoughts. I agree the smoker has some quirks but I've got them down now and have owned them for almost 4 years. I have no problem cooking ribs; i might not add as much water to the pan as a normal long cook. Yes you need to pay attention to water levels on a long cook as it can boil off after 4-5 hours. You dont have to open the door to refill; just pour down the back chimney and it will dump right into the pan. When doing pork/briskets i never look/open until the 5 hour mark. I can get a visual inspection of the water pan and normally it will need a refill at this point. I might try sand just to experiment. At my last comp it was kicking off some serious steam and took a while for my bark to form than what i was used too. Also had to do with the cooler weather last month in GA. I never have issues locking in a temp. I can get it to hold 250-260 for hours.

[Home Farm BBQ]

Originally Posted by SmokerKing

what part of Iowa do you live?

NE.


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[Home Farm BBQ]

Pastrami sliced. Added some Cajun. It has some kick.



I’ll try to explain how this smoker works in reference to question above. It has two ways of smoking.

The smoke comes out the bottom front into chamber with the meat. That doesn’t change either way. The vent on top has two openings. The one vent used can be direct smoke and out the top. That would be used for colder smoking temps for salmon or jerky.

Most of the time you are going to be using convection which uses other vent. The smoke/air comes up the front and back down to the bottom where you see a square chamber that goes back up to the top.

The back wall of cooking chamber has air behind it above the fire. It heats it and it is partly why it holds temps consistently.








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[Sooner21]

Way to break it in! I'm really liking the style of that 270 - this thread just put them on my short list.


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[Twisted T's Q]

Originally Posted by Monte Cristo

Awesome! You're going to love it. I can't wait to see some pictures. Get cooking!

Originally Posted by Fsonicsmith

I've owned the 270 for three years-same model as you have. I like it but man-o-man does this thing have it's own peculiarities that require learning to overcome/accommodate. For starters-it wants to run at it's own temp-which is right around-you guessed it-270. You basically need to man-handle the thing to get it to hold a lower or higher temp. It seems inherently suited to cooking brisket and pork shoulders but not ribs or chicken. Now you might be thinking if yours truly is trying to say that there is something about the 270 temp inclination and the difficulty of cooking ribs on the 270. No, not really. In truth, I think that there is just something about the way the heat circulates in a 270 that doesn't suit ribs. Ribs come out mushy and a bit rubbery. Ribs are my specialty. I have cooked ribs on every design of smoker under the sun and never had a problem-except with the 270. I can cook ribs on a $90 Walmart Weber-knock-off from China and produce better ribs.
Separate from all of the above, the designer/owner of 270 was present when I bought mine from Mason-Dixon BBQ in PA during the annual April contest/sale. He told me my 270 was designed to be used with water pans on the bottom surface under the lowest shelf. There is no way to get a long cook without opening the cooker and adding water every three or four hours. The water simply evaporates/boils off too fast. As the water level lower to almost dry, there will be a temp spike unless you ward it off with water additions. I've tried elevating the water pan to the lowest shelf and that helps but does not eliminate the problem.
Like any smoker, you need to learn to accommodate the little piccadillos of your particular smoker. I'm just saying the 270 has some significant ones.
I like my 270, I just don't love it.

a few things I will add that may help

1: I don't use lump I use briquets , I will add that I didn't have a problem using lump as far as temp spikes or drops goes I just kinda like the extra flavor that briquets impart over lump ( lump a little light on smoke flavor for me ) … but you may gain some other benefits from the briquets as far as temps and bark formation ect ect

2 : I don't use water either , I do put a pan in the bottom to make clean up easier , it is lifted up off the convection plate by a rack to create an air gap to reduce grease burning in the pan … may also gain some benefits as far as temps and bark formation ect ect

ribs never mush or rubbery if anything ( until I learned how fast the smoker cooks ) a little dry from being overcooked until I got use to how fast it cooks

I love chicken off of the 270 , I do bump my temps up a little on chicken to about 300

for me once the smoker settles in it will pretty much hold whatever temp I want for hours and not budge