I am officially a Bandera Brethren

[jgh1204]

My wife and mom got me one for my BD today. Went with the $198 import from Academy.

Any Yankees want to escape the cold to come down and assemble. It was 85+ degrees today. Should be a little cooler tomorrow.

 

[BrooklynQ]

Happy Birthday dude. Congrats on the Bandera.

Speaking of Texas, I just posted something about it on my blog. Take a look.

 

[jgh1204]

Academy did have a new model smoker that looked real nice and with a heavy gauge steel, but, it was $785, a little too steep for the budget for right now. It was an offset with a long horizontal chamber then a vertical chamber. Kind of like a cross between a bandera and a longhorn. Had real nice expanded metal shelving. I believe it was called a Laredo, did not see the manufacturer.

 

[ggeilman]

Congrats! Welcome to the club!

 

[The_Kapn]

Academy did have a new model smoker that looked real nice and with a heavy gauge steel, but, it was $785, a little too steep for the budget for right now. It was an offset with a long horizontal chamber then a vertical chamber. Kind of like a cross between a bandera and a longhorn. Had real nice expanded metal shelving. I believe it was called a Laredo, did not see the manufacturer.

I saw that cooker at Academy in Austin.
Pretty impressive workmanship amd materials.
But then, I thought--"4 Dera's or 4 WSM's" for the money

Just did not see the benefit since it still is a "small" cooker.
Well done though.

TIM

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

Good deal bro!!! Now you're cookin'!

 

[C-Town Smoker]

What...no WSM on hand??

 

[icemn62]

Congrats on the BD and the smoker. now get it put together, and cook some meat, you will enjoy the rest of your life.

 

[Jorge]

My wife and mom got me one for my BD today. Went with the $198 import from Academy.

Any Yankees want to escape the cold to come down and assemble. It was 85+ degrees today. Should be a little cooler tomorrow.

Congrats. I hear there is a lot of unburned wood in College Station 8)

 

[jgh1204]

Yeah, I heard the stack did not burn well this year.

FYI, the axle now comes predrilled and supplied with cotter pins.

 

[jgh1204]

The beast is assembled and will be seasoned tomorrow night. Will do a brisket, butt and ribs sat or sun. I am a little worried about fire control, but I think I can make it work.

 

[JasonF]

Good luck! And enjoy the new Bandera!

(I wish it weren't going to be so cold here this weekend, or else I'd like to do some que)

 

[Neil]

You got a good woman there. Mine did the same for me two years ago and she still tells everyone it was the best present she ever got for me. Let the addiction begin.

 

[jgh1204]

The bandera is on its seasoning burn right now, I am getting the temp pretty hot, around 400, since there was a NASTY rancid oil coating & I want to make sure I get that burned off!

I started off slow with a charcoal starter full and it hit 225 and held there for about 30 minutes, then I added a bunch more charcoal and let it climb. Now I have shut the vents to 1/2 to cool it down a bit and let it burn itself out.

So far 1.5 hours and I think it will go another 3 or 4 easy with what I have in there.

 

[jgh1204]

With the vents half closed, the heat has been knocked down to 340.

 

[jgh1204]

I certainly learned first hand the need for the modified fire grate.

As stated before, I had dumped a lot of charcoal and the temps spiked, the I shut the vents and they hung at 325 for another 30 minutes, then the temp plummeted to 180 despite there still being a lot of red hot coals and small flame.

I had not made the grate yet, I was working on it during the seasoning burn. The coals and ash were choking themselves on the wimpy supplied fire grate and ash pan.

I will let the fire die out and start over with the new fire grate with the butt and brisket.

 

[jgh1204]

The bandera is fired up and the meat is in. The temp spiked at 260 and is now holding at 234. I am doing a 10lb butt and a 9lb brisket(a very small packer).

This is a lot more work than gas!

I am going to switch the meat over to the gas smoker once they are foiled.

 

[jgh1204]

The brisket is at 165 and foiled the butt is at 135, it is a small packer. Almost lost my fire, got busy doing something else and temp dropped to 120. Luckily, had some wood heating on the firebox.

 

[jgh1204]

Surprising, the brisket is done and in the cooler. The butt is at 155 and will be foiled soon.

 

[qman]

Surprising, the brisket is done and in the cooler. The butt is at 155 and will be foiled soon.

Sounds like you are having a good cook, jgh. Bet your neighborhood smells good about now.