Yeah can't comment on the quality of that particular grill. I can see the usefulness in a dual smoker/grill. Smoking usually usually go up to the 300, my pellet goes to 500 but you nee 600+ to grill and sear steaks or burgers. I think some of the higher end pellet grills have built in propane sections just for this issue.
That thing will rust out and be useless in a year... when it comes to a BBQ, weight is a key ingredient. That is sheet metal at best. You may want to go find a dedicated, high-end BBQ place and ask the sales guy to sell you on a high-end BBQ... just so you can see what stuff he points out to you. Educate yourself on what makes a reasonable, or even great, BBQ, and then go back to the one at Home Despot and run through that list. I know you're probably trying to save some cash, but if you ask me, you'll be replacing that in a year. You either save money in the short term, or in the long term. Personally, I subscribe to the mentality that I can't afford to buy it twice. Or, just give it a shot, and go in with the lowest possible expectations. Worst case is you become pleasantly surprised at how not-shitty it actually might be.
A good smoker should be about 1/4 inch thick steel throughout. The thing should weigh a shit-ton. It’s important for temperature control and for longevity. You can throw some coals in it and use it as a regular grill instead.
Yep... thermal mass. Best thing I ever did was weld up my own BBQ Grill out of 2.5" square rod. The grill weighs about 120lbs. It takes a while to heat up, but once it does, it stays there for a long, long time. Throw a steak on it and it doesn't stop sizzling. I bet if he opened the lid on that BBQ the grill is enamelled coat hanger at best. You'd be hard pressed to grill hot dogs, never mind a steak.
What's the general consensus on brining a pork butt? I've done a few butts and I remembered brined butts tasting awesome and I remember brined butts tasting like ham. It'll be smoked on a BGE if it matters. Thanks idiots.
I smoke on a BGE and I have done about 10 pork butts on it and have not brined a single one. Pork butts have a ton of fat on them, so unless you have a reason why you cant keep moisture levels up, I wouldnt bother if youre cooking low and slow.
Pork butts are beyond forgiving. As long as you apply something loosely defined as "heat" and cook it to the proper internal temp (I am for 190-195 though the health dept says it's *safe* at 145) then you'll be fine. I guess you can brine it if you want, but if you absolutely need extra moisture just spritz it with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, coffee, whatever, or mop it with whatever sounds good. Imo the combination of a heavy layer of dry rub and all that fat rendering out keeps it perfectly moist. I've never brined one, though I'd think with all that salt it would taste drastically different, and not in a good way.
It's a damn good thing pork is so forgiving as I screwed up the fire. I put the butt on at 8PM and got the dampners dialed in. Checked it at Midnight and it was good. Set my alarm for 3:30AM just to be safe and it had dropped to 200*. Usually when I do a butt (giggity) I completely clean out the Eggs fire box and start loading big lumps of charcoal at the bottom to keep airflow open. Smaller lumps can break down faster and clog the fire plate. Unfortunately, the remaining bag of charcoal I had didn't have any large lumps so halfway through the night the embers snuffed out and I had to get the fire going again. Thankfully I was able to just open all the vents up, blow in the bottom vent and get them re-lit. It reached an internal temp of 195* around noon and pulled apart like butter. It wasn't a huge group of people so I have a lot of leftovers and God damn, pulled pork quesadillas are out of this world.
I did the best ribs I've ever done last night. Started off with them in the sous vide, at 180°F for about 8 hours, with only salt, pepper, and a few drops of liquid smoke in the bag while they cooked. Pulled them out, put on some home made BBQ sauce, and on a low grill for about 30 mins to caramelize the sauce and get some searing action. You know when you see people dig into really good BBQ, and their eyes go wide, and some inner lizzard-brain thing kicks in and they go into full-on caveman "must eat meat!" mode? Yeah... that happened. No asking if anyone wanted the last pieces... just "I have to eat faster so I get more than you do". It was crazy simple, with minimal fuss, and they turned out awesome.
Sounds delicious. It's easy to get caught up in the fancy ingredients and you end up overwhelming the flavor of the meat. That's why I like Texas-style BBQ: salt, pepper, maybe some paprika for the rub. Let the meat speak for itself. Good BBQ starts and ends with high-quality protein, and getting the actual process of cooking it down pat. Trim it right, right length of time, temp, tenderness. Of course I've done my fair share of fancy rubs and they have their place, but generally-speaking I look at that stuff like I look at the super hoppy IPAs and crap. Breweries just do that to cover up for a sub-par beer. Cut that shit out and get the water, barley, yeast and hops right.
8 pork butts, 4 hours in the smoke and then vacuum packed and in the custom sous vide cooler....er I mean the cheapest 48 quart cooler amazon had. Working great so far. Sous Vide 165 for 18 ish hours.
Looking good. I just sawzawed the corner off a coleman, looks like Freddy Kreuger got in a fight with it. Still works awesome. I did a bunch of summer sausage and it turned out mother fucking 165 degrees perfect.
Kind of a long shot here, but anyone have or at least had some experience using a Yoder Smoker? Kinda curious if they're worth the price/hype.
You mean the specific brand or pellet grills in general? I cant speak to the brand. My write up on pellets in general is on the previous page from a few years ago, I havent had much better results. Ive stopped retyping/laying out the inherent issues Ive had with them. They are super popular and people are dead set on them.
I’ve found that the people who swear by pellet smokers are the ones who live in perfect climates with consistent temps and relatively low humidity. California, specifically. Or Canada. Last weekend I did two pork shoulders. It went from hot and humid to raining to hailing to chilly then back to fucking hot as hell. All I had to do was put the pop up canopy over my offset, add a bit more oak to the fire and that was all she wrote. Added maybe an hour to the cook time if that. offset and oak for the win. I’ve tried other woods but they burn too fast, don’t get as hot and I can’t tell enough of a difference. Keeping everything consistent let’s you focus on the food.
I posted this in one of the weekend threads, but this is what I've been using lately with great success. All the benefits of a pellet, without the pellet. https://www.masterbuilt.com/pages/gravity-series-1050 I did get these modifications just to be extra safe, but you can get away without needing them. These were based on some of the reviews on the smoking/grilling forums, but those guys are SERIOUS about their BBQ and are probably a bit over exaggerating some of the issues based on the amount of use they are putting into their smokers. Firebox Drop In Charcoal grate replacement Seal replacement The thing is as set it and forget it as you can get with a grill/smoker. It has all the benefits of my former electric gun safe smoker box, but with charcoal instead of wood chips.
The specific brand; not pellet grills in general. I've used a few other brand of pellet grills before and have had okay to good results on different models, so I was wondering if the "top of the line" Yoder's were worth the hefty price tag. I already have a Masterbuilt electric smoker (perfect, by the way if you ever want to make your own bacon. You can just smoke it for 24 hours and still get it to a safe food temp without overcooking it.) and my gigantic 250 gallon custom built smoker, but that thing is a PITA to get going if I want to do something small like a few racks of ribs or a single brisket/pork shoulder.
Finally getting around to doing a brisket. Picked up a 15lber from Costco. Also got a DigiQ temp controller for the Egg. It has two temp probes; one for the meat and one for grate temp and works by having a fan and electric damper, if the temps start to drop, the fan kicks on to bring in more air, temp gets away from me, damper shuts to cut off air. Now I don't have to wake up throughout the night to make sure the temp is stable. Plan is to get it in the Egg around midnight, foil it in the morning, continue until 190* when I start checking it for "doneness", pull it when ready, wrap in some towels and throw it in a cooler for a few hours. Thoughts? And apparently CostCo now sells whole goats.
Costco briskets are usually pre-trimmed so that should make it easier to prep. Rest sounds good! What’s your run going to be? Salt and pepper?