Produkt
MemberGot rid of the matchlight.
I recently got myself the Chubby 3400 and used it for the first time yesterday. I made a risky choice and cooked prime rib for my first cook. I followed the instructions from the Backwoods YouTube video on how to light it.
I filled a charcoal chimney 1/4 full of Kingsford briquettes, let it burn until the edges of the coals are white, then poured it into the back left corner of the charcoal pan, and covered the rest of the bottom of the pan with unlit charcoal.
I opened up both side dampers and the top chimney all the way while the heat built. Once it got to about 210 I closed the side dampers down until they were each open about a centimeter. The temperature continued to rise until it steadied at about 259. This is hotter than I wanted to cook so I tried topping off the water pan with cold water, tried closing the vents completely, but it stuck to 259 for the duration of the cook.
Another thing I noticed is that even though the charcoal pan was mostly filled up with charcoal, by the time my meat hit 130F it seemed most of the charcoal has been completely used up. It only took about 3 hours to burn through. Shouldn't it last a lot longer than that?
My questions are:
1. Any tips to keep the temperature closer to 225?
2. Any tips on how to make my charcoal last longer? I'm aware that longer cooks may require refilling the charcoal but I think they claim that one full pan of charcoal should last around 8 hours.
3. Any tips for removing a full water pan after cooking? I let it cool down a bit but the pan is very heavy and has to be lifted from the bottom, making it almost impossible not to slosh water everywhere, including into the firebox. I'm thinking of just using a length of hose to siphon it out most of the way and then I can lift it out easier.
I appreciate any help you guys can offer.
I filled a charcoal chimney 1/4 full of Kingsford briquettes, let it burn until the edges of the coals are white, then poured it into the back left corner of the charcoal pan, and covered the rest of the bottom of the pan with unlit charcoal.
I opened up both side dampers and the top chimney all the way while the heat built. Once it got to about 210 I closed the side dampers down until they were each open about a centimeter. The temperature continued to rise until it steadied at about 259. This is hotter than I wanted to cook so I tried topping off the water pan with cold water, tried closing the vents completely, but it stuck to 259 for the duration of the cook.
Another thing I noticed is that even though the charcoal pan was mostly filled up with charcoal, by the time my meat hit 130F it seemed most of the charcoal has been completely used up. It only took about 3 hours to burn through. Shouldn't it last a lot longer than that?
My questions are:
1. Any tips to keep the temperature closer to 225?
2. Any tips on how to make my charcoal last longer? I'm aware that longer cooks may require refilling the charcoal but I think they claim that one full pan of charcoal should last around 8 hours.
3. Any tips for removing a full water pan after cooking? I let it cool down a bit but the pan is very heavy and has to be lifted from the bottom, making it almost impossible not to slosh water everywhere, including into the firebox. I'm thinking of just using a length of hose to siphon it out most of the way and then I can lift it out easier.
I appreciate any help you guys can offer.