cleglue
Head Chef
On Saturday I smoked a Boston butt and chicken thighs. I was also working on fire management again on my Bar-b-Chef smoker. I used a method found on the homebbq.com knowledge base by Dan Colmerauer. http://www.homebbq.com/content.asp?cont ... wledgeBase
I already had a charcoal basket made before reading his article. I was able to get a steady temperature between 220 and 250 for 5 ½ to 6 hours. I reload at that time with about the same amount of lump I started with (a basket full unlit lump and a chimney load of lit lump. The heat remained steady until I finish both the Boston butt and the chicken thighs (which I pulled at about 5:30 PM.). I put the butt on at 5:33 AM and pulled it off the smoker at 3:40 PM.
I placed a few chucks of wood in the basket to begin with. When I tried adding more a little later I would get that ugly smoke. I couldn’t get that wonderful blue smoke without leaving the fire box door open with would have used up the lump charcoal.
It still took a lot of lump charcoal for this cook. It took about 15 to 20 pounds for a 12 hour cook. Is this normal?
Here is a chart of the cook. http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Apri ... Medium.JPG
The other week I tried to use sticks after the initial startup. I had to use very little sticks and keep the door of the fire box cracked to keep a steady flame. This saved a lot on charcoal and it worked but it took a lot of babying. I think I’m going to try this again. It was a little windy that day.
I’m told that these small offset smoker are hard to use a just stick burner. I know other have tried but I guess it is my turn.
I also made another batch of lump charcoal.
Here are some pictures of the entire day.
http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/April22006/
These pictures may not always be available because my free account is filling up.
I already had a charcoal basket made before reading his article. I was able to get a steady temperature between 220 and 250 for 5 ½ to 6 hours. I reload at that time with about the same amount of lump I started with (a basket full unlit lump and a chimney load of lit lump. The heat remained steady until I finish both the Boston butt and the chicken thighs (which I pulled at about 5:30 PM.). I put the butt on at 5:33 AM and pulled it off the smoker at 3:40 PM.
I placed a few chucks of wood in the basket to begin with. When I tried adding more a little later I would get that ugly smoke. I couldn’t get that wonderful blue smoke without leaving the fire box door open with would have used up the lump charcoal.
It still took a lot of lump charcoal for this cook. It took about 15 to 20 pounds for a 12 hour cook. Is this normal?
Here is a chart of the cook. http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Apri ... Medium.JPG
The other week I tried to use sticks after the initial startup. I had to use very little sticks and keep the door of the fire box cracked to keep a steady flame. This saved a lot on charcoal and it worked but it took a lot of babying. I think I’m going to try this again. It was a little windy that day.
I’m told that these small offset smoker are hard to use a just stick burner. I know other have tried but I guess it is my turn.
I also made another batch of lump charcoal.
Here are some pictures of the entire day.
http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/April22006/
These pictures may not always be available because my free account is filling up.