all 4 meats 1 cooker 1st timer

[boogiesnap]

greeting everyone. have greatly enjoyed browsing these forums for the last few weeks now and had been wanting to get into competeing for some time...well, i have pulled the trigger(small gun for now, but anyways)and have entered my first comp and am gathering material and equipment for it now. btw, it will be the johnny black cook-off at manns orchards. ok, to my question...
i bought a 22"wsm and need to cook all 4 categories with it. i have never done this before with a deadline. here's what i think i will do, let me know if i am going down the right path...please.
put brisket and butt on the heat, when it comes time to put ribs on, foil the brisket and butt so they don't get oversmoked(creosote and what not). take off the foil once ribs got their smoke, pull the brisket and butt off when done, wrap and cooler them, and throw on chix. wow, that was long. soooo, basic timeline:
12AM brisket and butts
7AM foil brisket and butts/ribs go on
9AM foil comes off brisket and butts
10AM brisket and butt go in cooler/chix go on
12PM chix and ribs come off
thanks everybody for all your help.
d.

 

[Rich Parker]

If this is a KCBS sanctioned event with the normal turn in times you are probably going to want the chicken and ribs done before noon.

I can't really help you with anything else.

 

[boogiesnap]

thanks i can understand that. the times can move around as needed for turn in and are just estimated cook times. really now that i give it another minutes thought i couldv'e boiled the question down to "will foiling large meat while smoking other meat in the same cooker prevent the large meat to get "oversmoked"?".......waaaay simpler question.

 

[Alexa RnQ]

You're a braver man than most! I have no doubt it *can* all be done in one WSM, but finessing that on the first time out is going to be quite a trick!

Since these are just estimated cook times, I would suggest doing numerous practice cooks at home so you can nail down some hard numbers for exactly how long your products take by your method. Once you can replicate those results on a consistent basis, you will be able to cobble together a schedule that lets you dovetail the cook times as necessary.

And yes, once things are foiled we move them around the WSMs to make room as necessary -- at that point all the meat cares about is what temperature the cooker's at, not what else is going on around it.

 

[boogiesnap]

and now, come to think of it, the question is now in the wrong forum. should be in "Q". farkin new guy.
anyway, not a big fan of the foil crutch so i don't use it, thus the question about it.
thanks to everyone, i'll think more before i speak in the future.

 

[paydabill]

I would say - practice - practice - practice. That is the only way you are going to be able to do it. You are going to need a back up place - maybe a weber kettle or something just in case things do not finish in time
?

 

[KC_Bobby]

I'm with Diva, I'm sure it can be done but I don't think it allows much room for variables.

Account for opening the lid a lot more with the multiple meats in the same cooker at the same time - especially for ribs and chicken. Do you have access to/room for a Weber Kettle in addition? I think that would help to cook chicken separately.

 

[boogiesnap]

agreed to all. i plan on 3 practice attempts b4 the comp and as suggest in other threads at least 1 full one completely outdoors.
i will also have a backup kettle.
thanks again everyone.

 

[timzcardz]

For a few bucks you can add some valuable rack space to your cooker with these:

http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/thunder-group/slrack1734/p366851.aspx


They're great for when space is at a premium.

 

[Redheart]

I have done all 4 meats on a single smaller cooker. I would do a practice run and I would start my butts and brisket at 10pm or maybe earlier. The mass of hot meat between the butts and brisket will keep them HOT for much much longer than you think in a cooler box, or wrapped in packing blankets. Best of luck~!

 

[Lake Dogs]

As they said, it's not that it cannot be done, however you REALLY want to practice this.
Practice with turn-in times set that you're trying to hit, 30 minutes apart. More than
likely you'll need multiple practices to get it down. I'd hate to see you go through all
that effort only to miss a turn-in window by a few minutes and have your entry DQ'd.

 

[BBQ_Mayor]

I've done a KCBS cook all on a Backwoods party once. I suppose about the same size as the 22" wsm. Your about on the right track. Get your butts and and brisket going, I assume your only doing one brisket? Thats all I had room for. Anyway get the big meats going early so you can have them done and holding by the time the ribs and chicken goes on. They just pray everything turns out.
BTW, I finished 3rd overall in that contest with 1st in Ribs.

 

[boogiesnap]

practice, eat, practice, eat. it's all good. i have been using an el cheapoish off set for a number of years, but it didn't have the capacity for all things q all at once. i'll dial it in a few times out back and hope for the best come game day.:boxing:
thanks everybody for the encouragement.

 

[ique]

greeting everyone. have greatly enjoyed browsing these forums for the last few weeks now and had been wanting to get into competeing for some time...well, i have pulled the trigger(small gun for now, but anyways)and have entered my first comp and am gathering material and equipment for it now. btw, it will be the johnny black cook-off at manns orchards. ok, to my question...
i bought a 22"wsm and need to cook all 4 categories with it. i have never done this before with a deadline. here's what i think i will do, let me know if i am going down the right path...please.
put brisket and butt on the heat, when it comes time to put ribs on, foil the brisket and butt so they don't get oversmoked(creosote and what not). take off the foil once ribs got their smoke, pull the brisket and butt off when done, wrap and cooler them, and throw on chix. wow, that was long. soooo, basic timeline:
12AM brisket and butts
7AM foil brisket and butts/ribs go on
9AM foil comes off brisket and butts
10AM brisket and butt go in cooler/chix go on
12PM chix and ribs come off
thanks everybody for all your help.
d.

I would target getting the butts and briskets done a LOT earlier. 4 things going at the same time you'll be going into that cooker too much... checking if the butts are done, misting the ribs, putting chicken on etc. The top will be off that cooker more than you want and it will screw up your timings which are based probably on cooking only 1 meat at a time.

Get the butts/briskets DONE by 7-8am. Make sure they are not too hot and then into your cooler. They will hold fine. Keep a polder probe in one of your butts or briskets to make sure the big meats do not temp down too much while holding in the cooler.

 

[boogiesnap]

thanks ique, i WAS concerned about a long holding time for the butts and brisket. never done it before. so i was trying to keep things all moving at the same time. and fresh at the end. i'll be running a stoker with meat thermometers so i shouldn't have to lift the lid much for meat temp checks.
i think i'll do chicken on a separate grill. i can cook a good chicken, but never tried one at bbq temps. i'll go with what i know.chicken will be my achilles heel. pork my red herring.

 

[boogiesnap]

reread your post, yes, i'll moniter temps in cooler as well. and yes, mostly 1 meat at a time(although always thro in a rack of ribs...)

 

[boogiesnap]

i reread your post, i will moniter cooler temp, which is what you were taliking about, thank you. and yes, my cook times*estimated*were mostly from 1 meat cooks, bt always have at least 1 rack o rib too.
will you be at this smaller comp?