Murillo Metalworks Initial Impressions / Biscuit Test

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Brought home my new Murillo Metalworks 24 x 60 offset this past weekend and wanted to share some initial thoughts from the seasoning process and the biscuit test.

Pedro Murillo, the builder of my pit, warned me at pickup that the existing white paint patina on the firebox would dramatically change color during the first cooks…he was right. My firebox changed from white to a deep brown during the seasoning process. For that, I used canola oil and rubbed down all the raw surfaces inside and out and brought the pit to around 350 internal (about 330 lower rack, 355 top rack). I had the pit pretty well opened up (stack damper full open, door vent full open and door cracked open). I think I’m going to take a wire brush to the fire box and just make that more of a bare metal / seasoned steel finish rather than watch the paint continue to discolor.

After the initial seasoning, my son and I ran a ‘biscuit’ test, although we used croissants instead (Costco had a great deal on them and had no biscuits in stock). As you’ll see in the pictures, the cooker ran very consistent during that test and only demonstrated hotspots right near the firebox. The top rack hotspot was larger than the main rack, as to be expected, but it ran pretty consistent with the main rack as it moved closer to the smock stack. We closed the pit off for this test, with the damper half closed and the firebox door fully closed with the door vent cracked open. We observed temps of 225 on the bottom rack and 245 on the top rack via the installed thermometers on the pit near the smoke stack. On the last picture here, I’ve removed the burnt or inedible croissants from the racks to visually show the hotspots.

Overall, it performed beautifully.

 

[Connor_Macleod]

Looks like you will have a ton of usable space; that's a great looking smoker - congrats! Do you have any after photos of the browned firebox? I wouldn't see that as a negative as that would happen to any uninsulated, painted firebox. Also, does your pit have a clearcoat exterior finish?

 

[Vision]

Looks perfect.

 

[Stingerhook]

Congrats.

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Looks like you will have a ton of usable space; that's a great looking smoker - congrats! Do you have any after photos of the browned firebox? I wouldn't see that as a negative as that would happen to any uninsulated, painted firebox. Also, does your pit have a clearcoat exterior finish?

I didn’t get a good picture of the firebox after the burn-in but will get one and post before I hit it with the wire brush. The pit is, to answer your other question, coated with high-heat clear coat that performed great. All the bare metal on the firebox looks great with no signs of issues with the clear coat. The multiple old layers of paint on the firebox are what is failing, which as I said was expected. I just don’t prefer that look, per se, and am just going to brush most of it off and season it with oil.

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Looks like you will have a ton of usable space; that's a great looking smoker - congrats! Do you have any after photos of the browned firebox? I wouldn't see that as a negative as that would happen to any uninsulated, painted firebox. Also, does your pit have a clearcoat exterior finish?

 

[Twangzer Mike]

Slap some butter on those biscuits and douse them in gravy !!!

 

[elcoyotecapitan]

Looking good!

 

[SmokinAussie]

Initially I thought using croissants for a biscuit test was stupid.

Now I am hungry and I want to eat them all.

Nice smoker too by the way.

Bill

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Initially I thought using croissants for a biscuit test was stupid.

Now I am hungry and I want to eat them all.

Nice smoker too by the way.

Bill

They WERE delicious. lol. And thank you. We really enjoy it already.

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Slap some butter on those biscuits and douse them in gravy !!!

A smart game plan.

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Some pictures from our first cook on the Murillo pit. We re-smoked a Costco Spiral Ham, smoked some some park ribs and some plant based meats, all for a somewhat-large Thanksgiving gathering. The Murillo performed really well during the cook and held consistent temps for a LOT longer than I expected.

Some observations: the Murillo pit showed a 40-50 degree difference between the top and bottom grates when the pit was ‘open’…as in smokestack damper fully open and the pipe vent fully open on the firebox door. There is a gap all the way around the firebox door that pulls air, too, in addition to the pipe vent. When we closed it off a bit, like damper half-closed and the pipe vent on the door 3/4 closed, the difference between top and bottom racks was only 15-30 degrees. Please note it was quite cold for this part of California that morning, with temps dropping below freezing.

I will NEVER warm a Costco ham any other way. It was exquisite. EVERYONE loved it. I cooked to recommended temp, spritzing with Pepsi, apple juice and some apple Tarani syrup after glazing with the packet and some whiskey halfway through the cook. The ribs were cooked using a 3-2-1 approach and took about seven hours to be right.

Theirs is some smoke leakage during initial warm-up on the top corners of the main chamber door, but they basically disappear once the pit is at temp and flowing well to the smoke stack. We found we were holding temps without new logs for about 75 minutes. After the initial warm-up, we were pre-blazing the splits in a Breeo fire pit and adding them to the firebox fully blacked. This resulted in GREAT, consistent blue smoke.

We used local Mulberry wood for the cook.

 

[ChrisM2097]

Any more cooks on your smoker? I'm in the foothills between Fresno and Yosemite, and have been considering getting the Murillo 24x60. The other smokers on my short list are:
The Solution by Jeremy Yoder (Mad Scientist BBQ)
Workhorse 1975
Blue Smoke

I just don't know that I can justify spending $700-$900 on shipping. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about the 1975, but if I can spend less money, get a bigger cook chamber, and get the same cooking results, then I'll definitely go local.

I mostly slow-smoke briskets, pork ribs, and pork shoulder using blue oak from my property. I also cold-smoke cheese and home-made bacon. I've been BBQ'ing for nearly 20 years, but I wasn't quite ready to drop thousands of dollars on a cooker until now. What pushed me over the edge was an event a few months ago where I was asked to cater for 100 people. I smoked 3 briskets and 4 chickens for a BBQ taco bar. My Oklahoma Joe isn't big enough, nor is my 24" Camp Chef pellet grill. I I used both of those, plus borrowed a friend's Green Mountain pellet grill to get the job done, but I would love to have used a single stick burner to cook everything. I also like to host BBQ's at my house for 30-60 people several times a year.

I know the tie-breaker for you was that it was made in CA. I'm not a CA native. I'm from NY, CT, and FL, but have been in CA for the last 27 years. I'm not loyal to any state, region, sports team, or business. I just want the best bang for the buck, but I also believe in "buy once, cry once", so I'm willing to spend a little more for higher quality.

If you have any more cooks under your belt with this smoker, or at least have any other insights you found during your search, I'm all ears and would love to hear from you.

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Any more cooks on your smoker? I'm in the foothills between Fresno and Yosemite, and have been considering getting the Murillo 24x60. The other smokers on my short list are:
The Solution by Jeremy Yoder (Mad Scientist BBQ)
Workhorse 1975
Blue Smoke

I just don't know that I can justify spending $700-$900 on shipping. I've heard nothing but fantastic things about the 1975, but if I can spend less money, get a bigger cook chamber, and get the same cooking results, then I'll definitely go local.

I mostly slow-smoke briskets, pork ribs, and pork shoulder using blue oak from my property. I also cold-smoke cheese and home-made bacon. I've been BBQ'ing for nearly 20 years, but I wasn't quite ready to drop thousands of dollars on a cooker until now. What pushed me over the edge was an event a few months ago where I was asked to cater for 100 people. I smoked 3 briskets and 4 chickens for a BBQ taco bar. My Oklahoma Joe isn't big enough, nor is my 24" Camp Chef pellet grill. I I used both of those, plus borrowed a friend's Green Mountain pellet grill to get the job done, but I would love to have used a single stick burner to cook everything. I also like to host BBQ's at my house for 30-60 people several times a year.

I know the tie-breaker for you was that it was made in CA. I'm not a CA native. I'm from NY, CT, and FL, but have been in CA for the last 27 years. I'm not loyal to any state, region, sports team, or business. I just want the best bang for the buck, but I also believe in "buy once, cry once", so I'm willing to spend a little more for higher quality.

If you have any more cooks under your belt with this smoker, or at least have any other insights you found during your search, I'm all ears and would love to hear from you.

I’m actually smoking a brisket today for the first time. I have a few other cooks on my Instagram (search Army_Of_Smoke on the site) that you can see, but to summarize what I’ve done aside from what you see here, I’ve done several reverse-sear 2” ribeyes, a turkey, pork-butts, and some soy-based proteins like Tofu and vegan mock-meats.

Overall, the initial impressions have been what I’ve seen pretty consistently. The original prop pane-tank patina burned off the firebox very quickly, making it dark brown/black. The round-rod grates have been amazing, making it easier to remove the vegan proteins that would have normally stuck to the expanded metal. I used the cowboy firebox with the reverse-sear ribeyes and was very happy with the high temp I was able to get in that setting.

The turbulence of the smoke seems to be working wonders, and the cooks have been very even. As I mentioned above, the more the pit is closed-off (via firebox and smoke-stack damper), the more even the top and bottom seem to be. I consistently see 15-25 degree variations anyways between the two, but the more it’s closed off the closer they get.

Feel free to DM me to connect with any specific questions. I am SUPER happy with the value for what I got. The workhorse bit was thicker metal, but I don’t find we really need that in California. It was also smaller than what I could get for the money with Murillo Metalworks. Pedro really checked all the boxes for me.

 

[ChrisM2097]

I’m actually smoking a brisket today for the first time. I have a few other cooks on my Instagram (search Army_Of_Smoke on the site) that you can see, but to summarize what I’ve done aside from what you see here, I’ve done several reverse-sear 2” ribeyes, a turkey, pork-butts, and some soy-based proteins like Tofu and vegan mock-meats.

Overall, the initial impressions have been what I’ve seen pretty consistently. The original prop pane-tank patina burned off the firebox very quickly, making it dark brown/black. The round-rod grates have been amazing, making it easier to remove the vegan proteins that would have normally stuck to the expanded metal. I used the cowboy firebox with the reverse-sear ribeyes and was very happy with the high temp I was able to get in that setting.

The turbulence of the smoke seems to be working wonders, and the cooks have been very even. As I mentioned above, the more the pit is closed-off (via firebox and smoke-stack damper), the more even the top and bottom seem to be. I consistently see 15-25 degree variations anyways between the two, but the more it’s closed off the closer they get.

Feel free to DM me to connect with any specific questions. I am SUPER happy with the value for what I got. The workhorse bit was thicker metal, but I don’t find we really need that in California. It was also smaller than what I could get for the money with Murillo Metalworks. Pedro really checked all the boxes for me.

Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to hear it's been working out good for you. About how many full briskets do you think you could realistically cook on there simultaneously at about 250º? By the looks and measurements, I would assume at least 4, maybe even upwards of 6, while avoiding the hot spots. When you have the stack and intake mostly closed off, are you still making thin blue smoke? What temp does the cook chamber settle in at when you have it mostly closed off?

 

[Orland Offset Newbie]

Thanks for the quick reply. Glad to hear it's been working out good for you. About how many full briskets do you think you could realistically cook on there simultaneously at about 250º? By the looks and measurements, I would assume at least 4, maybe even upwards of 6, while avoiding the hot spots. When you have the stack and intake mostly closed off, are you still making thin blue smoke? What temp does the cook chamber settle in at when you have it mostly closed off?

I honestly think you could get two rows of three, plus a third row of two with the middle space missing. So I really think 8 trimmed briskets on the bottom rack is doable. You could also do a few on the top rack if you were rotating them, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

As for thin, blue smoke, I’d say this does what I want it to do. Sometimes I want the fire a little dirtier for more smoke flavor (Mad Scientist BBQ has a great video on YouTube covering that). It really has a lot to do with the wood you’re using, too. If the wood isn’t kiln-dried or preheated, it’s going to off-gas more in the form of smoke. I have pre-charred a lot of splits that seem less dry just to prevent dirtier smoke.

As for temp, that has a lot to do with the fire. If I move the coal bed and splits closer to the door, it’s cooler than if I run the pile closer to the main tank. And of course the amount of wood/coals in the firebox dictates the temp plays a big role. Generally speaking, configuring it the way I do and managing the fire the way I do, I can keep it consistent between 225-250 pretty easy. I can hold in that range for over an our without adding splits.