Qviews of my 1st Butt(s) in ProQ Excel 20

[seapup]

The length of stall is relative to the size and number of major fat deposits embedded within the butt. Both of mine had a major, fist-sized deposit smack dab in the middle. Not complaining here... it makes for a juicier, tastier end result and it's a lot easier to remove one blob of fat out before you pull than to have to sift through a bunch of small deposits. I'm not sure why multiple stalls occur. That was 1st for me.

 

[seapup]

I seriously considered the WSM while looking for a bullet smoker. I even borrowed a friend's current 18.5" model for a few test drives/smokes. The WSM is an awesome smoker with renowned quality. The ProQ Excel 20 is just more versatile for my personal uses. I love the extra large door in the WSM, but I love the ProQ's configuration more. The multiple ProQ doors are smaller so heat retention is better and heat distribution is spot on regardless of where you place your food. The ProQ's multiple stacker rings (I have three) mean you can grill, or smoke small or large without wasting fuel. Depending on the size of the butts, I can smoke up to 9-12 butts at once or remove stacker rings and just do one butt with about 1/3 of a bag of coal. It's more portable because it breaks down smaller. The latest version of the ProQ Excel 20 appears to be porcelain coated on all surfaces, whereas the WSM appears to be porcelain coated only on the bottom bowl and lid. This played a huge factor with heat retention this winter when temps dropped down to the teens at night. I had a hell of time keeping the WSM @ 220F when it was below freezing while using the water bowl, especially if the wind was above 5 mph. I've had no problems with my ProQ even in single digit temps with 20 mph winds. What sealed my decision though was that I happened to get in on a deal that cost me half the price of the WSM. I got all my ProQ goodies including shipping for less than $200. Kind of hard to pass up on that deal. I own multiple Weber products and can testify to their quality and long-term durability. I can really only speculate about ProQ as I've only owned this smoker since last October. Time will tell, but the ProQ is looking like a winner so far...

 

[roller]

You did a great job on this whole thing. I am going to save this to use as a guide for my first one next week.. Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[seapup]

I love the lava rocks!

Keep in mind that the only reason I'm using them is for additional heat retention and stability for smokes that involve opening the lid every hour for spritzing/mopping. I tried sand, foil-wrapped bricks and ceramic firebrick with little to no benefit. I have 2 boxes of inexpensive lava rock (real lava rock) in that water bowl. When smoking at ~225-230F, removing the lid for 1-2 minutes drops the temp by 50-60F. Put the lid back on and it's right back @ 225-230F in less than 5 minutes.

 

[seapup]

Hey!!! Great "seeing" you here! Thanks for all your help... from personally recommending the ProQ Excel 20 (I never would have considered it if it wasn't for you), to watching you use it, to sampling your awesome Q, and most importantly... for all your pulled pork mentorship before I gave this method a try!

U da man!

 

[seapup]

I posted a lengthy reply but got a message saying that my response was queued waiting for a moderator to approve it. I'm a noob here so I'm not sure what's up with that.

Hopefully it will show up soon.

 

[brutalgrandpa]

Your welcome. However, it appears that I may be calling you for advice now

 

[andrew82]

damn that looks good! Very very nice bark! How did you achieve that?

 

[scarbelly]

Great looking smoke - Got me drooling

 

[skully]

now thats got some bark.....

 

[awest74]

hopefully this thread isnt too old, I was wondering about yout Excel, I have one too and CANNOT maintain temp with water in the bowl. Have you tried a half full bowl? Mine starts at a perfect 225 once setup, then after an hour or so drops to 160 with all the vents full open, minion method start. I wont go back up unless I leave the top cracked. I have been using it for over a year, probably 20 or more smokes. I am working on finding mods that let me go overnight with a water pan. I can hold temp with a ceramic base in it, but thats not why I bought a vertical water smoker, to eat up a shelf with an extra water tray. Any thoughts would be great, so far I have modded the pan by drilling holes on the perimeter, hoping that more air flow would help.

 

[beer-b-q]

Butts Look Great...

 

[SmokinAl]

This is really an old thread, but those butts & the PP look amazing!