UDS and heat diffuser?

[Hook_Line_and_Sinker]

Originally Posted by N8man

That bird looks righteous!!!
Nice Job!!! So, with that perfectly
cooked turkey under your belt,
why would you want a diffuser now, if I may ask?

I'm with N8man , it ain't broke ....

I have a extended mini WSM ( think 2 tamale pots )
I smoked the thanksgiving hame in it this year, I started with a defuser in the bottom of the top pot ( I figured I see what all this defuser talk is about) the bottom therm showed 375 and the top therm showed 200. It ran for several hours like this with no real change. The ham was not cooking well and I had to remove the defuser to finish the cook.

The end result was 175 degrees were wasted at the defuser, sure there was even smoke and temps in the top pot, but with the intakes wide open I could only manage to reach 200 in the cooking chamber. The ham was cooking too slowly, 3 hours in and the IT was below 90.

[Drh7003]

That is a good looking turkey. It looks like mine did. I only wish I had taken a photo :(
I used a big roasting pan under my bird as my heat diffuser the plus side is I got great gravy!

[sbramm]

i use a diffuser when i do things like a fatty or MOINKS as they have a lot of fat that renders out. and for a diffuser i just use a sheet of aluminum foil on the second rack and poke a few holes in it. wad it up and chuck it when the cook is done.

[New Pal Frank]

Good looking bird. The main thing is that it tasted good. I have a tough time with turkey skin in the smoker alos.

On my turkey this year, I used an enhanced bird( no brine required ) and injected it the night before with creaole butter.

Useing a turkey cannon, I put about 8 oz of my injection in the cannon. Cooked at 300-325 for about 2 1/2-3 hours then wrapped foil all around the bird then cooked until the internal breast temp hit 165.

End results was alot of very happy eaters and no one complained that I took most of the skin off.

[Cooter]

That turkey looks great.

BTW - the USDA now recommends 165 on both the thigh and the breast. So, you should be good.

[PorkQPine]

I bought a really nice diffuser from a guy on the Arizona BBQ Assn. website. Works great!! Also, the new approved temps for meat have changed in the last few years so check that out because overcooking turkey is pretty common.

[Just BS]

Originally Posted by Drh7003

That is a good looking turkey. It looks like mine did. I only wish I had taken a photo :(
I used a big roasting pan under my bird as my heat diffuser the plus side is I got great gravy!

I don't use a diffuser, but this is how I do my turkey's. I also cover w/foil when the skin starts to get too dark.

[swamprb]

Blasphemers!!

Use a smaller diameter charcoal basket and offset it in the drum - no need for a diffuser.

[GreenDrake]

My diffuser is just the former lid from the barrel itself. The rim was cut off to attach to the Weber dome lid and the inner circle of the former lid has a rebar hoop on it so I can grab it out with a turkey hook. It sits directly on top of my charcoal basket, no holes in it, nothing. Seems perfect to me.

[smokingj]

Originally Posted by Rich Parker

I use a terracotta pot base on a third rack to catch grease and diffuse the heat from the center.

I do something similar, but I use the water pan out of a ECB to diffuse the direst heat as well as catch any drippings to use at the end of the cook. Sit's on a 3rd rack @ 6-8 inches above the firebox.

[HogFan]

Diffusers will always be less efficient. On some cooks I use them and others I don't. I started out using a 16" perforated pizza pan but now I use a 14" solid pizza pan with 1/2" holes drilled in it. I used it on a 15lb brisket smoke for Thanksgiving. I don't yet have a 3rd rack to lay the diffuser on and haven't made any type of holder to keep the diffuser a couple of inches off the charcoal basket so I didn't quite fill the charcoal basket so the diffuser would lay flat on the basket. I opted for a low and slow overnight smoke after 16 hours, I ran out of fuel and the brisket wasn't quite done. I added fuel and the brisket still turned out fantastic.

So what was the difference using a diffuser? The temperature is more consistent from the center of the drum to the outside. The end of the flat seemed to get more heat and cooked more evenly with the point.

[willbird]

Originally Posted by HogFan

Diffusers will always be less efficient. On some cooks I use them and others I don't. I started out using a 16" perforated pizza pan but now I use a 14" solid pizza pan with 1/2" holes drilled in it. I used it on a 15lb brisket smoke for Thanksgiving. I don't yet have a 3rd rack to lay the diffuser on and haven't made any type of holder to keep the diffuser a couple of inches off the charcoal basket so I didn't quite fill the charcoal basket so the diffuser would lay flat on the basket. I opted for a low and slow overnight smoke after 16 hours, I ran out of fuel and the brisket wasn't quite done. I added fuel and the brisket still turned out fantastic.

So what was the difference using a diffuser? The temperature is more consistent from the center of the drum to the outside. The end of the flat seemed to get more heat and cooked more evenly with the point.

I have never found it to be "less efficient"...I have never noticed my UDS using more fuel with one than without, although I have never weighed the charcoal before and the leftover, and calculated lbs per hour or anything like that.

......but it does remove a lot of radiant heating from the equation

Bill

[cmwr]

I bought a cheap perforated pizza pan today. I may take my 1/2 drill bit and open up every hole. I can see using a diffuser for certain smokes but maybe not for every one. That's why it will be removeable lol.

[Nemo]

I use the pizza pan covered in foil sitting right on my basket as a diffuser almost all the time now. For Thanksgiving did a 17lb brined bird with a couple chunks of applewood on the UDS for the first time. Temps kept at 375-400 with all vents open and the valve maybe 2/3rds open. Put stock, apples, carrots, celery, onion and fresh sage in the pan the rack / turkey was sitting on. Also put same aromatics in the bird. About 2.5hrs in I checked the breast temp and it was at 160 already! I was expecting the pan below full of liquid / stuff to stretch the cooking time but it certainly didn't. Bird was done a full hour before I expected it to be.

So for me and whatever little differences my UDS has (it's pretty standard though I think), a diffuser doesn't seem to make temp variations etc. I think I understand why some like to have the drippings add a flavor dimension but when I went without a diffuser, I got flare up pretty damn quick but with that said, it was usually when I left the lid open too long so it was my fault

Anyway here are some before and after pics.

[J-Rod]

ahhh the many mysteries of que'ing....