Did my first real cook on Sunday on my new/used P&S Ultimate Upright offset smoker. A 12lb turkey, a pork shoulder, and a couple of lean round beef roasts. Went about 6 hours. Had to move turkey to vertical chamber after about 5 hours to keep from over cooking. More about that in a moment.
Turkey and pork were moist and tender. The beef roasts had great flavor, but a bit dry. I expected that. Just not enough fat in them. Sliced thin, the meat is excellent for sandwiches. Very nice, smoky flavor in everything.
Some observations about the smoker's (and my) performance:
1) Maintaining an indicated 225 to 275 on the main cook chamber thermometer turned out to be pretty easy. Took about 40 minutes to get the rig up to temp (ambient air temp about 60 degrees). Adding a stick every 30 to 40 minutes was all that was needed.
2) Unfortunately, 225 to 275 on the standard Pitts & Spitts thermometer was 50 to 75 degrees lower than what was happening in the smoker (center and left side...away from firebox). Disappointing, because the P&S thermometer's probe end is perfectly positioned at grill level, near the center. Should have been more accurate, IMHO. I was using a rack thermometer inside the smoker, and it was reading consistently much higher than the P&S thermometer: How fast the turkey cooked was the tell. The smoker was definitely running hot.
I moved the oven grate surface thermometer around the cooking chamber to verify what I thought was happening. Never moved it close to the firebox, but that section of the chamber was very hot. I had a small water pan on that side. Will probably use a larger pan in the future. Hoping to avoid needing to make a tuning plate.
Hoping for feedback on the following:
- Your own experience with factory thermometer accuracy, particularly ones installed near the grill level
- Should I be running a smaller fire? I had a good bed of coals throughout the cook, and typically one to two sticks (typical / avg firewood sized sticks, red oak) burning at a time. The firebox was by no means full, but it was running hot
- I ran the dampers most of the way open, trying to keep the smoke clear. Maybe 3/4 to 7/8 on the stack damper, and almost always all the way open on the firebox damper. The P&S damper is nicely designed for fine adjustments, but it's hard to tell, visually, how much of an opening there is. A few times, when I was getting high on temps, I dialed it back slightly and that helped keep things in hand.
- Last but not least: Recommendations for digital/remote thermometers? At this point, I need to build a knowledge base of what's happening on different portions of the grill, to aid in temp management of future cooks.
Thanks in advance for any comments.
Turkey and pork were moist and tender. The beef roasts had great flavor, but a bit dry. I expected that. Just not enough fat in them. Sliced thin, the meat is excellent for sandwiches. Very nice, smoky flavor in everything.
Some observations about the smoker's (and my) performance:
1) Maintaining an indicated 225 to 275 on the main cook chamber thermometer turned out to be pretty easy. Took about 40 minutes to get the rig up to temp (ambient air temp about 60 degrees). Adding a stick every 30 to 40 minutes was all that was needed.
2) Unfortunately, 225 to 275 on the standard Pitts & Spitts thermometer was 50 to 75 degrees lower than what was happening in the smoker (center and left side...away from firebox). Disappointing, because the P&S thermometer's probe end is perfectly positioned at grill level, near the center. Should have been more accurate, IMHO. I was using a rack thermometer inside the smoker, and it was reading consistently much higher than the P&S thermometer: How fast the turkey cooked was the tell. The smoker was definitely running hot.
I moved the oven grate surface thermometer around the cooking chamber to verify what I thought was happening. Never moved it close to the firebox, but that section of the chamber was very hot. I had a small water pan on that side. Will probably use a larger pan in the future. Hoping to avoid needing to make a tuning plate.
Hoping for feedback on the following:
- Your own experience with factory thermometer accuracy, particularly ones installed near the grill level
- Should I be running a smaller fire? I had a good bed of coals throughout the cook, and typically one to two sticks (typical / avg firewood sized sticks, red oak) burning at a time. The firebox was by no means full, but it was running hot
- I ran the dampers most of the way open, trying to keep the smoke clear. Maybe 3/4 to 7/8 on the stack damper, and almost always all the way open on the firebox damper. The P&S damper is nicely designed for fine adjustments, but it's hard to tell, visually, how much of an opening there is. A few times, when I was getting high on temps, I dialed it back slightly and that helped keep things in hand.
- Last but not least: Recommendations for digital/remote thermometers? At this point, I need to build a knowledge base of what's happening on different portions of the grill, to aid in temp management of future cooks.
Thanks in advance for any comments.