SMetroHawkeye
Full Fledged Farker
Very cool thread. El Luchador - I appreciate your candor. Very supportive community here. Stick with whatever works best for you... but keep on cookin’!!
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Done with the stick burners
- Thread starter el luchador
- Start date
I have a serious case of cooker OCD. I started on charcoal, went to stick burning, then moved out west wher wood costs a fortune to buy. So, I went to baby logs (pellets), then back to charcoal, then pellets, and recently acquired my good friend's Klose pit after he passed away (RIP Bull). I Love ALL of it! I get what you're saying for sure, and in the end you just have to be happy. There isn't anything like sitting behind a firebox shooting the shtt with your friends/family, and the food can be amazing.....but in the "real" world a lot of people just don't have the time anymore, which is sad.
With all that said, I solved the problem I was having between which cooker to use. I bought one of each! Sort of. Still don't have a water cooker. I love them all! My abilities and cooker racial eyes are blind:razz:
Suddenly, I feel the urge to fire up the Klose (baby bull).
With all that said, I solved the problem I was having between which cooker to use. I bought one of each! Sort of. Still don't have a water cooker. I love them all! My abilities and cooker racial eyes are blind:razz:
Suddenly, I feel the urge to fire up the Klose (baby bull).
tom b
somebody shut me the fark up.
I really don't have much to add but I run my pit pretty much like txsmkmstr described, that said I do not always have time for that, that is why I have options.
SDAR
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I started cooking with my egg around 2005. I had a heavy Oklahoma Joe prior to that that I never really learned because I didn’t take the time. The egg made it it so easy. I still have that same egg. Next, I bought a Traeger Texas. It was even easier. I plugged it in and tried to set it and forget it just like the commercials said. Like a post above, I could never let any of those cookers be. I guess you can say that I never “trusted” any of them.
To this day, I’ve had a Pitmaker Vault, Yoder YS640, PBS and a Gateway drum on top of all of the above cookers. I never learned to trust any of them...and was able to go to sleep or the kids or grandkids “games”. I have always needed to know “where it’s at”.
I’ve won several GC’s and RC’s at competitions while winning at Sam’s, IBCA, LSBS and KCBS competitions. I’ve qualified for and attended the American Royal Invitational as well as the World Food Championship when it was in Las Vegas.
I have always been too anal to allow myself more than probably more than 2 hours without checking my cooker.
What I am saying I guess, is if you trust whatever tool you choose to do the cooking for you; you are more of a relaxed cooker than I have ever have been despite the multiple attempts and the thousands of dollars I have spent in that pursuit.
Me? I give up. I’ll sit by the fire and feed it.
To this day, I’ve had a Pitmaker Vault, Yoder YS640, PBS and a Gateway drum on top of all of the above cookers. I never learned to trust any of them...and was able to go to sleep or the kids or grandkids “games”. I have always needed to know “where it’s at”.
I’ve won several GC’s and RC’s at competitions while winning at Sam’s, IBCA, LSBS and KCBS competitions. I’ve qualified for and attended the American Royal Invitational as well as the World Food Championship when it was in Las Vegas.
I have always been too anal to allow myself more than probably more than 2 hours without checking my cooker.
What I am saying I guess, is if you trust whatever tool you choose to do the cooking for you; you are more of a relaxed cooker than I have ever have been despite the multiple attempts and the thousands of dollars I have spent in that pursuit.
Me? I give up. I’ll sit by the fire and feed it.
bryonlr
is one Smokin' Farker
As been stated repeatedly, and what it really comes down to, it's the cook, not the cooker.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
Thank you. btw, I was on your website and saw the whole hog you cooked in the cinder block pit using nothing but charcoal. It was great to hear that some of your friends thought it was the best they had ever tasted. :thumb:
lol Thanks! :-D
There's an underground pig there too, using fence posts and hard wood. :thumb:
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
yes sir. one trend I think Im seeing in this thread, is it seems almost everyone, even the diehard stick guys, have an "easy" cooker as well, be it charcoal or pellets.
sounds like bbq is a serious hobby for you! congrats on the gc and rgc wins. Im sure getting to that level takes a lot of effort and talent.
for me, bbq is not my hobby. Cooking is. all kinds of cooking. I love smoking, grilling, I LOVE my wok burner, baking, braising,searing etc. I guess I like to eat, so I like to cook. I want it to taste great, but Im trying to eat, not necessarily to take the scenic route.
btw, Im sure it wont help you, but just in case, a heatermeter is a very cheap tool and it will show you your cooker temps anywhere you have internet access. it will even text your phone or email you if your cooker goes below or above a set temp.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
I saw that one too --but you were burning wood! - and I didnt see any best ever comments on that one so.... :-D
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
I have a follow up question since you compete , and win.
by the time its all said and done, how much of a difference does the cooker make to the flavor. in your opinion. ie stick vs charcoal vs pellets etc
70monte
is Blowin Smoke!
I have several cookers but the one that I smoke on the most is my Good One Open Range. I also have a Good One Marshall for larger cooks.
On my last cook using the Open Range cooking some pork butts, I had to go to a town 35 miles away to do some errands and I was gone for over three hours. I monitored temps using my smoke thermometer with the Gateway app and the thing just chugged along. I was using Good One lump in it. I can usually go five to six hours before reloading and this thing keeps pretty steady temps. I know some people who have gone up to 10 hours on one load of lump.
Wayne
SDAR
Quintessential Chatty Farker
It all tastes good when done right. As far as the flavor from the “fire”, the drums add the drippings effect. The offsets add the increased airflow effect which in my opinion is noticeably better to me. I’ve won more with the “public” judges than I have with the CBJ’s of KCBS. Most of my wins came off of the Vault.
DubfromGA
is Blowin Smoke!
They sound like what you are looking for in a grill that that smoke, grill, seer. You'll make amazing brisket, pulled pork, ribs, wings, chicken, steaks and the best pizzas on the planet.
Make sure you get one with a lifetime warranty.
You will never regret a BGE, Kamado Joe, Primo or other.
Absolutely anything that you can cook in an indoor oven can be cooked with ease on your ceramic kamado.
You can also go the route that many, myself included, have gone....buy a Akorn kamado from Char Griller. Can be had for $299.
Air flow is the same as it's ceramic cousins....it is slightly more finicky if you overshoot your target temp, so more care is needed in how you start your fires for slow'n'low cooks. That being said....once you lock into the temp you are golden.
I bought an Akorn and found myself using that bad boy several times a week for three years. I simply wore it slam out. My family went nuts over my grilling in ways they'd never done before. In my opinion.....it's the best grilling money I've ever spent.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
Hi, Ive never heard of that cooker before. I had to look it up. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting on the airflow angle. I hadn't considered that. But you have a point. That could impact the taste. Thanks.
The kamados are nice, just quite expensive. And fragile. I'm way too rough on my stuff to ever own one.
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
So I washed my hands of the stick burner and I'm back to charcoal. I did my first charcoal cook in a month today. OMG it's sooo easy compared to stick.
So here is the wife's verdict.
First, I wanted to cook ember style with roaring natural charcoal and no wood in sight. No chunks, no chips, no pellets no sticks, nothing wood. I just wanted to understand what pure charcoal tastes like by itself.Just lump charcoal. I bought what was available at home Depot which is Royal oak.
Ok compared to kb briquettes lump has almost no visible smoke.
I brought a chimney full to red hot and dumped it in the cooker. I added a fresh chimney about every hour. All intakes wide open, 1.75"" of exhaust wide open. Temp would get to 310 and slowly die down to 225 then I would add another chimney of lump.
I knew it was going to be good because there was no visible smoke for 90% of the cook and the heat smelled so clean.
Anyhow, four hours later the ribs are ready and this is where it gets interesting.
I asked my wife if she could taste smoke and she said yes. I asked her is it lighter than normal she said yes. So I asked do you like it better, she said "yes I like the light smoke better but I know you like your food smoky so..."
So I ask again do you prefer this smoke and she said yes that the light smoke was not interfering with the meat and she felt like she was tasting meat with smoke instead of smoke with some meat.
What????!!!
So confirmed to myself that the cleanest smoke is using no wood at all and just "embers"
So here is the wife's verdict.
First, I wanted to cook ember style with roaring natural charcoal and no wood in sight. No chunks, no chips, no pellets no sticks, nothing wood. I just wanted to understand what pure charcoal tastes like by itself.Just lump charcoal. I bought what was available at home Depot which is Royal oak.
Ok compared to kb briquettes lump has almost no visible smoke.
I brought a chimney full to red hot and dumped it in the cooker. I added a fresh chimney about every hour. All intakes wide open, 1.75"" of exhaust wide open. Temp would get to 310 and slowly die down to 225 then I would add another chimney of lump.
I knew it was going to be good because there was no visible smoke for 90% of the cook and the heat smelled so clean.
Anyhow, four hours later the ribs are ready and this is where it gets interesting.
I asked my wife if she could taste smoke and she said yes. I asked her is it lighter than normal she said yes. So I asked do you like it better, she said "yes I like the light smoke better but I know you like your food smoky so..."
So I ask again do you prefer this smoke and she said yes that the light smoke was not interfering with the meat and she felt like she was tasting meat with smoke instead of smoke with some meat.
What????!!!
So confirmed to myself that the cleanest smoke is using no wood at all and just "embers"
One Drop
Knows what a fatty is.
I'm not sure that is the right conclusion. You were burning charcoal, not embers. Food tastes different cooked over lump charcoal than on an Argentinian grill, to illustrate this.
And wood can burn so clean and with so much airflow that the smoke profile can remain very light indeed.
As with everything fire it's really complex, and the amount of oxygen and rate of combustion have as much to do with the resulting flavour profile as the material being burned, IMO.
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JokerBroker
Knows what a fatty is.
After reading through 7 pages of this thread, I don't think anyone's mind is going to be changing about what type of smoker they like to use. I would just like to say to all of you who might be thinking of buying an offset at some point, either buy a good one made of at least 1/4" thick steel or don't waste your money. I didn't see where the OP actually mentioned what model smoker he had but I saw the name Pecos mentioned by Czar. Regardless, the OP did say that when he added a split, the temp would spike from 250º to 400º if he didn't adjust the vents. I don't need to know the brand to determine he's using a COS. One split won't spike the temps in a quality smoker much more than about 5%. In my opinion, this thread should have been titled "Done with poorly designed stick burners". I think someone who is highly skilled in fire management can get decent results from a COS but in the case of offset smoking with wood, people learning the craft are better off with really good equipment because they are much easier to use.
sudsandswine
Quintessential Chatty Farker
bonz50
Take a breath!
not to be a nitpick, honest question, how is this different than adding a split every hour in a stick burner?
el luchador
is Blowin Smoke!
Im not going to disagree with you. but, keep an open mind and try it. you might like it :wink:
