Calling all Pitmaker users... Need help

[SGH]

I think I'm going to try wood chunks vs wood splits. That way not as much wood will burn at a time.

I find that chunks work much better in the Vault vs splits. Much easier to get them to burn clean. Also I limit the size of them to no bigger than my fist. That said, I will burn small splits if I'm running 350 or higher. Even then it's still easier to burn clean with chunks.

 

[Brisket73]

Chris it was a pleasure speaking with you last night. I wanted to share a few of the things I discussed with you here for other Vault users as well. First let me say that this is what works well for me. For me to get a good quality smoke, I run the exhaust wide open. I never close the exhaust at all. Never. Once I started leaving the exhaust wide open, my problems went away. Next, I never run water in my Vault. A dry pan is the way to go in my opinion. With a dry pan, you use considerably less fuel. I always preheat my Vault with a weed burner to within 25 degrees of my target temp. This is also a huge fuel saver. Once the Vault is preheated, it takes very little fuel to keep it at temp. Especially if you don't use water. As far as wood use in the Vault. I use it religiously. I have found that if I keep my chunks on top of the charcoal instead of buried or mixed in, I get a much cleaner burn. Also with a cabinet style smoker, I find that using well seasoned wood is much more important than it is in a offset. Green wood does not perform well in the insulated verticals. Of the things I listed above, leaving the exhaust wide open is what helped me the most in producing near offset quality bbq in the Vault. I still can't quite match the deep smoke flavor that I get with ease on my Shirley offset. But the average Joe wouldn't be able to tell the difference. With patience and a little practice, the Vault will turn out very large loads of high quality Q with minimal fuss or attention. Once dialed in, it's truly set it and forget. Again it was a pleasure speaking with you last night and I hope that I was able to help my friend.

Thanks again Scottie! I forgot to ask. Do you just close the valve to choke the fire out if you have coal remaining. Or how do you reserve the left over coals?

 

[SGH]

Yes sir. Close the ball valve and this is the only time I close the exhaust. The fire will snuff right out and then you can use the remaining coal for the next cook. It helps to close the exhaust damper if you are wanting to put the fire out. Just remember to open it back wide open when lighting and cooking.

 

[spedly]

I've got a good cook going on in my Pitmaker right now. I thought I'd quickly capture what I did:

Outside temp: 28F (-2C)
Fuel: Kingsford blue briquettes
Target temp: 275F
No water

I create a full upside down U shape in the charcoal basket 3 briquettes wide. I left about half of the front, left side of the U empty to add preheated briquettes.

I preheated the inside of the cooker in 45 second intervals: 45 secs on each side, then 45 secs for the rear/cooking grate. I started at the top and worked my way down. When done this took the cooking chamber to about 325F. NOTE: This temperature is baloney. In my experience it ALWAYS drops.

Added about 40 lit briquettes at bottom left, then put a fist sized chunk of cherry wood con top. I put two more fist sized chunks on the outside of the charcoal basket (to the right, furthest from the lit charcoals). I left the charcoal door open for about 10 minutes to get things really going. The air intakes were open 100%.

I opened the door of the cooking chamber a few times to drop the temperature down. It settled in at about 255 or so. Left the air intake open 100%. Added meat. When the temperature got to about 275 I closed the air intake 50%.

When I could no longer smell smoke I moved a preheated chunk to the hot coals. It ingnited immediately and continued with nice sweet smoke.

The smoke appears white and thick but it smells sweet - just like TBS should. I blame the cold ambient temperatures for messing with the appearance of the smoke.

Things are looking pretty darn good. Hopefully someone finds this information useful.

 

[grantw]

I use fully lit coal basically in any of my smokers, eg light 1/4 bucket of coal and have it fully lit put it on the backside and fill it in with a coal pile that is not too deep, otherwise it will smoulder because it's naturally going to light bottom up this applies to a snake and just lighting an edge. You can do a minion as well make a pile then remove coal from the centre of the pile and fully light that. For longer cooks in my cabinet I use minion but for ribs and things I light a side or corner and the unlit coal cannot be piled high go like 3 brickets high or 4 max