Two Butts!
Janet Wilder
needed the space so I defrosted them and put both on my smoker today. I
have a Brinkman Delux bullet smoker.
The bottom butt got very crusty. I had to remove it as it didn't pull
well. The meat pulled easily and it's packed away.
Butt number 2, which was on top is still wrapped in foil and towels in
the "free" 'Omaha Steak' cooler. I'll probably pull that one in a
little while.
The smoker ran around 250� and the meat smoked about 10 hours. Butt
number one spent another 3 in the "cooler" and Number one will have
spent about 4 hours extra.
BTW the first butt was still very hot when I took it from the cooler.
Is there a way to prevent the bottom butt from getting so crusty?
Happy new year.
Janet
--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
Janet Wilder
> On Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:30:04 -0600, Janet Wilder wrote:
>
>> I had a package with two butts from Sam's Club in the freezer and I
>> needed the space so I defrosted them and put both on my smoker today. I
>> have a Brinkman Delux bullet smoker.
>>
>> The bottom butt got very crusty. I had to remove it as it didn't pull
>> well. The meat pulled easily and it's packed away.
>>
>> Butt number 2, which was on top is still wrapped in foil and towels in
>> the "free" 'Omaha Steak' cooler. I'll probably pull that one in a
>> little while.
>>
>> The smoker ran around 250� and the meat smoked about 10 hours. Butt
>> number one spent another 3 in the "cooler" and Number one will have
>> spent about 4 hours extra.
>>
>> BTW the first butt was still very hot when I took it from the cooler.
>>
>> Is there a way to prevent the bottom butt from getting so crusty?
>
>
>
> BTW: It's a Brinkmann Gourmet, not a Brinkman Delux.
>
> -sw
The water pan has sand in it. Is that why it got crusty?
Nunya Bidnits
It's probably just because it was closest to the heat source. That will
happen in almost any stick or charcoal burning cooker. You can rotate the
meat, place the thickest side towards the heat (hard to do in a vertical
cylinder though), or try to modify the lower rack so it sits higher up in
the cylinder. Also I have noticed that in cylinders they tend to be hotter
towards the perimiter of the cylinder than towards the center so be sure the
meat is placed square in the middle of the rack.
If you're not using a minion method to start the charcoals, the fire may
just be getting too hot all at once.
MartyB in KC
Janet Wilder
Marty,
Could you kindly explain "minion method"
I start mine in a chimney
Tutall
Lots of stuff on the web on this one, it's pretty widespread. (like
some butts, heh)
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=minion+method&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g8g-s1g1
Brick
My offset smoker has a somewhat similar characteristic. The firebox
end is quite a bit hotter then the smokestack end. I swap the meat
end for end about midway in the cook to even it out. You ought to
be able to do the same with your bullet. It only involves opening the
cooker one time and if you plan ahead you can do it very quickly.
Just my 2�.
--
Brick (Youth is wasted on young people)
Janet Wilder
I kind of do that but with lump, not briquettes. I put some unlit lump
on the bottom of the charcoal holder thing (on top of a small layer of
lava rock) then I put the lighted ones from the chimney on top.
It does keep me from having to add fuel for a while, but I do have to
add fuel as I smoke. I guess it's because I'm using lump?
All y'all told me to use lump (not Cowboy brand) so that's what I do
Janet Wilder
The next time I do two of them, I'll try swapping. I know that I will
*not* be able to do it quickly.
Nunya Bidnits
Cylinder smoker manufacturers tend to recommend standard charcoal seasoned
with wood chips or a few chunks, but you're correct, lump will burn faster
and hotter, so maybe you should give regular charcoal a shot, with a few
pieces of hickory, pecan, or apple tossed in for smoke flavor.
Unfortunately, you can't damp down the draft in an ECB so you pretty much
have to take it as is, and adjust your fuel, and the way you start the fire
instead. That's where the WSM has a distinct advantage over an ECB, you can
control the draft.
MartyB in KC
nailsh...@aol.com
difficult for me to transition to a bullet cooker. Until I got my
WSM, I thought only weenies used anything but wood they cut and
seasoned themselves.
Now that I am middle aged and tired all the time, some concessions
have been made. ;^)
I was trying to decide which new pit to buy, as the old one finally
fell apart after 15 years of great service. I settled on the WSM, but
read a lot about all the bullet cookers along the way.
Like Marty said, the bullet cookers were designed for use with
charcoal. Almost all of them were designed in the 50's, and charcoal
was the newest, latest and greatest thing to cook on. So their roots
are in their fuel.
When I cook on my WSM, I like to use Royal Oak charcoal with 4 - 5
fist sized chunks of well seasoned wood in the mix. Also as Marty
said, the Minion method is a must. THAT is how you get the perfect
fire in these bullet cookers.
My best buddy has bought several ECB smokers and loves them. He found
that his worked best on a mix of charcoal (NOT lump) and wood. Easy
enough to solve as all hardwood charcoals seem to be easily available
these days.
We noticed something different from his ECB to my WSM. The middle
rack of the WSM runs cooler than the top rack (my results confirmed
with many other WSM users) as the bulk of the heat goes around the pan
and sits up in the heavy lid (mine is squeeze tight to fit - no leaks
around the rim) waiting to escape through the open vent. Dual thermo
monitoring has proven this out many times.
But on his ECB, the UPPER rack is cooler. Only our considered opinion
after many beers, but we both opine that the ECB having a much thinner
lid and a more "airy" construction lets the heat and smoke out much
faster. In that case, the rack closer to the fire gets the most heat.
Swapping out the racks should take care of that as it has for him. We
calculate that about 1/3 of the way into the smoke (about the time he
has to add more fuel) is the time to swap. We also turn the meat on
his end over end when we swap, so the top end is now facing down.
Works like a champ!
Robert
Brick
On 29-Dec-2009, Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:19:37 -0600, Janet Wilder wrote:
>
> > Brick wrote:
> >
> >> My offset smoker has a somewhat similar characteristic. The firebox
> >> end is quite a bit hotter then the smokestack end. I swap the meat
> >> end for end about midway in the cook to even it out. You ought to
> >> be able to do the same with your bullet. It only involves opening the
> >> cooker one time and if you plan ahead you can do it very quickly.
> >> Just my 2�.
> >
> > The next time I do two of them, I'll try swapping. I know that I will
> > *not* be able to do it quickly.
>
> That's the biggest drawback of the ECBG - swapping racks. The
> easiest way is just to get some silicone or otherwise heatproof
> gloves and a large tray.
>
> -sw
What Steve said. I was using a pair of heavy vinyl?? gloves until
they converted to solid plastic. I recently found a new pair of PVC
gloves to take their place. The old and the new have gaunlets that
extend a third of the way up the arm. The trick is to make a place
to stage the butts for a few seconds while you exchange them. Grab
the top butt and move it quickly to the staging place. Let it go. Wait
about five seconds for the gloves to cool a bit. Grab the second butt
and move it to the staging place. Again give the gloves a few seconds
to cool. Move the first butt to the bottom rack, replace the top rack
and finally move the last butt to the top rack and replace the lid.
Shouldn't take more then about twenty seconds. I'd hate to try it
without the gloves. I would tear the meat up too much without them.
Nunya Bidnits
> On 29-Dec-2009, Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:19:37 -0600, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>
>>> Brick wrote:
>>>
>>>> My offset smoker has a somewhat similar characteristic. The firebox
>>>> end is quite a bit hotter then the smokestack end. I swap the meat
>>>> end for end about midway in the cook to even it out. You ought to
>>>> be able to do the same with your bullet. It only involves opening
>>>> the cooker one time and if you plan ahead you can do it very
>>>
>>> The next time I do two of them, I'll try swapping. I know that I
>>> will *not* be able to do it quickly.
>>
>> That's the biggest drawback of the ECBG - swapping racks. The
>> easiest way is just to get some silicone or otherwise heatproof
>> gloves and a large tray.
>>
>> -sw
>
> What Steve said. I was using a pair of heavy vinyl?? gloves until
> they converted to solid plastic. I recently found a new pair of PVC
> gloves to take their place. The old and the new have gaunlets that
> extend a third of the way up the arm. The trick is to make a place
> to stage the butts for a few seconds while you exchange them. Grab
> the top butt and move it quickly to the staging place. Let it go. Wait
> about five seconds for the gloves to cool a bit. Grab the second butt
> and move it to the staging place. Again give the gloves a few seconds
> to cool. Move the first butt to the bottom rack, replace the top rack
> and finally move the last butt to the top rack and replace the lid.
> Shouldn't take more then about twenty seconds. I'd hate to try it
> without the gloves. I would tear the meat up too much without them.
Trick: Jersey gloves with latex gloves over them work a lot better than you
would expect as heat insulation, at a lot cheaper price than silicone, and
you can move your hands. And those heavy duty industrial jobs that you're
describing have fingers and work pretty well, but getting the cloth lined
insides of them clean is nearly impossible.
MartyB in KC
Brick
> On 29-Dec-2009, Sqwertz <swe...@cluemail.compost> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:19:37 -0600, Janet Wilder wrote:
>>
>>> Brick wrote:
. . .
Trick: Jersey gloves with latex gloves over them work a lot better than you
would expect as heat insulation, at a lot cheaper price than silicone, and
you can move your hands. And those heavy duty industrial jobs that you're
describing have fingers and work pretty well, but getting the cloth lined
insides of them clean is nearly impossible.
MartyB in KC
? ? ? I've never had to wash the inside of my goves. I can barely
get large latex gloves on at all and even with Xlarge I'd have trouble
getting latex on over Jersey gloves. The stores I buy from don't
have any latex gloves larger the Xlarge. ( I buy from O.U.C.
Medical).
The PVC gloves that I'm using now aren't particularly expensive.
I can't remember what I paid, but I would if it hurt my wallet.
Nunya Bidnits
The one's I'm thinking of are industrial gloves, prolly more complex than
just PVC, and extend about halfway up the forearm. They've got an inner
cloth liner. You can hold a 400F pan for almost 30 seconds wearing those bad
boys. Trouble is if you're cooking a lot of stuff and grabbing and such, and
forget to wash before putting them on, they'll get nasty inside sooner or
later. They can be laundered, but the inner liners never seem to dry, even
if run through the dryer several times.
There's also a thin insulated glove my buddy bought somewhere which works
fairly well, but not nearly as well as the industrial stuff. However you
still have to pull on a latex or PVC food service glove over them, or again,
they get nasty in a hurry because they are fabric. I don't know what they
are... kevlar or something?
I've got fairly big hands but manage to get the XL latext gloves on over the
jerseys, snug, but it works. The other benefit is that the jerseys soak up
some of the sweat you get inside from just wearing latex, which makes hands
wrinkly and hard to re-glove, and the jerseys launder easily.
MartyB in KC