My first year of serious Q

[jcm2m9]

I can not tell you guys how much I have learned from this site over the last year. I only joined the site around 6 months ago, but I spent a good six months browsing the site before I decided to join.

Since I was little I grew up making Q with my dad. It was never anything serious. I grew up watching my dad and learning (come to find out some things were completely wrong). My dad smoked on an original Oklahoma Joes Smoker. I have only seen a few like it since. When I was in teens my Uncle, Jack Gibbs, was very involved with the KCBS and the barbeque scene in Kansas City. He has since passed away, but everyday I wish I would have spent some more time talking to him about Q. He was know around the BBQ scene for wearing his pants a little too high and if you ever gave him trouble for it he would just pull them up higher.

(Fast forward about 15 years).

I find out that a buddy at work is really starting to get into smoking. He just purchased a 22.5" WSM and loving it. This really peaked my interest so I started reading on this site and other about the famous "UDS" I did several months of research and finally built my own.

My buddy and I chatted just about every day about Q. After a few months we decided that we were going to try to talk a few friends from work into doing the Lenexa BBQ competition with us. (In case you don't know the Lenexa BBQ is a huge competition. I believe there were around 180 teams entered this year.) WE decided to dive in heard first. We built a few more UDS' and practiced our Q all spring.

Our spot

The next 36 hrs were a whirlwind with only a few hours of sleep to be had by all. On Friday night we had a full blown party with around 75 guests. After we kicked everyone out around 11 pm we started prep for the comp meats. We finally were able to take a siesta from around 2 am to 4:30.

The next 8 hrs were fast and furious. Here are pictures of some of our turn ins. I don't think we did too bad for our first completion. BTW, I don't think we mentioned our team name: Double Entendre BBQ.......

That's it for now. More to come soon....................

 

[Boshizzle]

Great story! A lot of us wish that we paid more attention when we were young. So, don't feel too bad about it. There is time to fix it! Honor your Dad and uncle with what you are doing and they will be happy about it where ever they are right now!

 

[tish]

I love that you took the bull by the horns, and jumped right in. Bet you guys are having the time of your lives, too. Great job! :thumb:

 

[IamMadMan]

Thanks for sharing the story, I wish your team well in future competitions...

 

[charrederhead]

Great story, nice build, and excellent Q. Thanks for sharing, and good luck w/ your comps.

 

[MisterChrister]

From the backyard to the American Royal! Great story, thanks for sharing, good luck!

 

[Teamfour]

I hope I can write a similar story a year from now. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[jcm2m9]

Thanks everyone! Funny you mention the American Royal. We have something in the works for the Open right now.

More to come later today.

 

[SmokeFan]

Great post! Look forward to hearing more about your progress!

 

[jcm2m9]

The continuation.......

Here is a link to the 2012 Lenexa BBQ Results.

http://www.lenexa.com/parks/pdfs/bbq_results.pdf

Double Entendre BBQ Results:
Overall: 144
Chicken: 128
Ribs: 137
Pork: 154
Brisket: 113

After the Lenexa BBQ I decided it was time to build a controller for my UDS. The UDS has stable temps, but not stable enough for me to feel comfortable getting 5 or 6 hrs of sleep. I look at all of the available options, but was not happy with any of them for one reason or another. I decided DIY was the way to go.

I surfed the internet and found a link to this sous vide controller and used it as a basis of design.

http://www.ice8420.com/blog/2012/01/diy-pid-control-for-bbq-sous-vide-mash-tun-whatever/

I used two PID controllers one to control the pit fan and the other to monitor meat temps. I also use my Maverick as a backup temp monitor. I purchased all of the required components and mounted them in a spare plastic ammo can that I had in the garage. I arranged the components so I can add more PIDs in the future. I would like to eventually monitor relative humidity (via wet bulb temp) and possibly control a water mister to raise the RH during winter months (more on this later). Here are a few pictures.

This is comparable to several controllers out on the market today, but I like mine for the fact that it is DIY and I can expand in the future and have everything contained with one plugin. The controller is amazingly stable. After it runs its autotune function it will keep the pit within 2-3 degrees. That is stable enough for me.

To be continued.......

 

[jcm2m9]

The continuation.....

Now that I am fully immersed into cooking I decided it was time to build a "NSUDS" (not so ugly drum smoker). I am not going to bore you with too many words here. but I will give you a brief run down of what I did.

-Welded 22.5 weber lid to original drum lid and then cut out the center.
-Welded the original weber lid hanger to new custom lid.
-Added 10" pneumatic tires and fenders to bottom on drum.
-Added leveling leg at the front of the drum
-Added 1" intake, ball valve and union to faciliate the removal of my controller fan.
-Added 3 grate levels inside the barrel

This picture shows inside the drum. I laid the center of the original UDS in there to see if it would work has a heat deflector. We shall see....

Now that I am getting into Q again. My dad has the bug as well. We have decided to build a BBQ trailer and mount his Oklahoma Joes smoker to it. We purchased a 20' boat trailer over the weekend and I am drawing up plans now. This build will be slow but I will keep the progress posted here.

Finally, I used the UDS for the first time over the weekend. I am overall very impressed with it. The controller did a great job and the pork and fatty came out fantastic. I will pull the pictures off my phone later and share.

 

[1911Ron]

Nice NSUDS:biggrin1: love the fenders, you need some chrome tho, need to make it faster and all:thumb:

 

[jcm2m9]

Nice NSUDS:biggrin1: love the fenders, you need some chrome tho, need to make it faster and all:thumb:

Thanks!

I am looking to add some color just not sure what I want to do yet. I am thinking maybe some brushed aluminum.

 

[mr dirts bbq]

great post, great story! keep it up im looking forward to hear how your bbq addiction progresses:thumb:

 

[jcm2m9]

I competed at the American Royal this year. I will post a few pictures of the event soon.

 

[jcm2m9]

As promised here are a few pictures.

 

[jcm2m9]

I cooked at the 2012 American Royal for my company. Their team name was "Engineers and Steers"

Here are our results.

Overall: 290th
Desert: 17th
Beans: 17th
Chicken: 244th
Ribs: 509th
Pork: 92nd
Brisket: 176th