- Apr 11, 2008
- 29
- 10
So I purchased the new "Char-griller" DUO and assembled it on Saturday afternoon. My first attempt at smoking w/ the new toy wasn't bad but was not what I knew I could achieve. On the menu was some baby back pork ribs, a beef tri-tip and a whole chicken. I started out by placing some lump charcoal in the chimney and let it preburn for a good 10-15 minutes. I then threw the preburned lump coal in the SFB and then started to preburn some of the hickory chunks that I bought.
So overall, w/ preburning the chunks, there were some fire flare ups that would cause the temp to rise up!!!!! The only thing I could do was splash some water on the fire. The temp spiked the highest to about 350f......I would have to open the lid and throw water on the fire, now keep in mind I was only using maybe 4-5 decent sized chunks. So about 3 hours later, everything seemed to be cooked, so we start eating and right away I notice there is not enough of a smokey taste, more of a BBQ taste than anything.
Sunday, went back to our local Ralphâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s, as the tri-tip and bb ribs were on special the whole weekend, lucky for me, and started on round 2. So somebody else mentioned another method of placing the preburned charcoal inside the SFB and placing the wood chunks around the edges, I tried that and the flare ups still were present, so a little water had to be splashed. I also had some left over wood chips from my electric smoker that I was throwing in to produce more smoke, the chips were working pretty good. One good thing was that the temp was not going over 280f, I was able to control the temp a little bit better this round. I was however getting the billowing white smoke that I have read about and knew it wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t too good. So about 3 hours later, we tested the tri-tip and to my dismay, I was happier because now we have a smokey flavor that I can tell is there. The bb ribs were also more tender and more smoke flavor.
Monday, went back to the market and found a 5.5lb pig shoulder for .99 a lb, so it was about $5.75 for the shoulder and I also picked up some beef ribs for about .99 a lb. Got home and did some more reading from the site, I searched for some topics and noticed the on-going debate on the soaking of the wood in water issue. So not to “flare up†any battles, I gave it a shot. I went back to Loweâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s and purchased a bag of mesquite chunks and a bag of mesquite wood chips. I started to soak the wood chunks in water, and started to preburn 3/4 lump charcoal and ¼ of some wood chunks in the chimney. At that time I put a dry rub on the shoulder and beef ribs. So about 15 minutes later I dumped the preburned items in the SFB and waited till it got to the ideal temp of 250f……..I then placed the meats in the smoking chamber and noticed the temp did dip to about 220f. I placed a piece of the soaked wood chunk on top of the coals in the SFB and found that it will smoke a bluish tint right at the exhaust and will be white, this time it was a thinner white smoke which was good. So I was finally able to keep the temp below 250f, mainly around 225f for about a 4 hour period.
So, all in all, I think the soaking of the wood chunks is going to work for me, pictures soon to follow.
So overall, w/ preburning the chunks, there were some fire flare ups that would cause the temp to rise up!!!!! The only thing I could do was splash some water on the fire. The temp spiked the highest to about 350f......I would have to open the lid and throw water on the fire, now keep in mind I was only using maybe 4-5 decent sized chunks. So about 3 hours later, everything seemed to be cooked, so we start eating and right away I notice there is not enough of a smokey taste, more of a BBQ taste than anything.
Sunday, went back to our local Ralphâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s, as the tri-tip and bb ribs were on special the whole weekend, lucky for me, and started on round 2. So somebody else mentioned another method of placing the preburned charcoal inside the SFB and placing the wood chunks around the edges, I tried that and the flare ups still were present, so a little water had to be splashed. I also had some left over wood chips from my electric smoker that I was throwing in to produce more smoke, the chips were working pretty good. One good thing was that the temp was not going over 280f, I was able to control the temp a little bit better this round. I was however getting the billowing white smoke that I have read about and knew it wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t too good. So about 3 hours later, we tested the tri-tip and to my dismay, I was happier because now we have a smokey flavor that I can tell is there. The bb ribs were also more tender and more smoke flavor.
Monday, went back to the market and found a 5.5lb pig shoulder for .99 a lb, so it was about $5.75 for the shoulder and I also picked up some beef ribs for about .99 a lb. Got home and did some more reading from the site, I searched for some topics and noticed the on-going debate on the soaking of the wood in water issue. So not to “flare up†any battles, I gave it a shot. I went back to Loweâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s and purchased a bag of mesquite chunks and a bag of mesquite wood chips. I started to soak the wood chunks in water, and started to preburn 3/4 lump charcoal and ¼ of some wood chunks in the chimney. At that time I put a dry rub on the shoulder and beef ribs. So about 15 minutes later I dumped the preburned items in the SFB and waited till it got to the ideal temp of 250f……..I then placed the meats in the smoking chamber and noticed the temp did dip to about 220f. I placed a piece of the soaked wood chunk on top of the coals in the SFB and found that it will smoke a bluish tint right at the exhaust and will be white, this time it was a thinner white smoke which was good. So I was finally able to keep the temp below 250f, mainly around 225f for about a 4 hour period.
So, all in all, I think the soaking of the wood chunks is going to work for me, pictures soon to follow.
