Nicely Done
Excellent vid, documentation, and end result. Very well done! I have found similar with my 1975 over the last year or so..Jirby, Chud, and Mad Scientist have all helped me as well and I cook mine about how you described and have had some very good results. I think your video is one of the best I have seen describing the affects of a "lazy fire" vs a roaring fire (air movement, convection, temps, moving of the hot spot, etc). Outstanding!
Thank you! That's great to hear that a similar technique on your 1975 is working for you - helps me feel more confident I'm doing it right. Like I mentioned in the OP, I've cooked over a dozen briskets in the last 10 weeks, and this last cook was the first time I cooked two at the same time. But the last 4 cooks I switched to using the damper, and I was shocked by how much the flavor has improved - night and day difference. I thought to myself, "Damn, why didn't I listen to Jirby sooner" haha. Up until then I would always run my pit with the stack wide open.
I'm going to try a similar approach with some Duroc St. Louis ribs on Thursday and see if I can tell the difference in a shorter cook. I'm thinking the first two hours I'll cook with the low & slow 2/3 closed damper, and then high convection/stack wide open the rest of the way. Thanks again!
:thumb:
I also liked how you discussed how damper position can affect the location if the hot spot on the grates. I think firebox door position can have the same effect, depending on how open/closed you run the door. It seems like the commercial pit builders don't want to talk about this as they want to say temps run even on the temp gages on both sides.