Don't tell my wife this. Sometimes a guy needs an excuse to be in the backyard for a bunch of hours crushing beers.
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Which grill?
- Thread starter Hair Warrior
- Start date
Don't tell my wife this. Sometimes a guy needs an excuse to be in the backyard for a bunch of hours crushing beers.
I would say the same, but the back of our house is all windows and my camouflage ability is sub-par...
I've got the Big Joe which i also assume is a BGE clone. It does great but sure burns through charcoal.
Great at cooking anything from about 250°- 900°, mine doesnt seem to do real slow smoking well. It's hard to balance the temp below 250 without snuffing it out. Might just be the Florida heat at the moment.
I had an akorn Jr for about 5 years that some Italian flight students gave me. I loved the little metal thing and kinda wish I had sprung for the Weber Sumit which is a loose equivalent in full size set up. a friend said it's a great grill, but I've never seen them for less than 1100.
The best smoker ever made, and my go to, is This. Best briskett I've ever eaten was made this way.
Yes, this is true. Need the right charcoal first and foremost. Don't want to overload the basket either. And then catch it on the upswing in the low 200's after it "lights off". Might be a little different on the Big Joe (I have a classic 2), but I then set a narrow finger width on the bottom inlet, and then modulate right at/or around the furthest left tic mark on the top exhaust thingie. Can now hold 190-220 all night long. But yeah, it was kinda tricky to figure out. And I don't have FL heat here either.
I have a Weber Spirit gas and Performer charcoal. I liked the idea of the gas assist for charcoal, but the little propane tanks are annoying and I just use the wax blocks with a chimney starter.
I think if I had to do it again I’d get the Weber pellet grill and then a regular Weber charcoal. Can smoke, high sear, and griddle. Charcoal when I want that super hot sear.
BGE is an oven, not a grill. I never understood the obsession and have yet to eat something from one that couldn’t be done elsewhere.
I think if I had to do it again I’d get the Weber pellet grill and then a regular Weber charcoal. Can smoke, high sear, and griddle. Charcoal when I want that super hot sear.
BGE is an oven, not a grill. I never understood the obsession and have yet to eat something from one that couldn’t be done elsewhere.
I haven't had a ton of experience with it trying to hold the lower temps.
Today's effort with the brisket was a first on this rig. I probably should have started earlier, and not tried to mow the lawn while doing it. The hot sun and humidity probably doesnt help either.
Thanks for the tips, ill give that a try next time I use the thing as a smoker.
What type of charcol do you use for that?
I've been pretty happy with the Fogo "low and slow" line (its in a desert/tan bag). You can pick it up at Ace Hardware. Or honestly, either the BGE premium or Big Joe Lump are pretty decent too. I think the bigger influencing factor is not putting 10 lbs of fuel into the basket, and also catching it before the dome really heats up. I like to wait until the exhaust stack is burning pretty clean (sometimes when it isn't, you can smother the fire if you neck it down too quickly), which normally happens around 250 degrees. For low/slow, I forgot to mention that I use the SloRoller accessory, or at least the ceramic plates. If you hit 250-300 without any of that, by the time you open it up and throw everything in, provided you necked down the intake and exhaust, the dome will stabilize in the low 200s. It for sure takes some dedicated attention early on to nail the desired temp. Like you said, it's happy place is probably 400 deg, if you really don't do anything to intervene. Other thing I do is put a couple lumps of the smoking wood at the very bottom of the charcoal pile, and I will occasionally add some chips to the ash tray as well. That seems to keep the smoke moving once the grill is up to temp and cooking. I'd like to say that I am a lot more knowledgeable than I actually am. I picked up most of this stuff on the "Smokin Dad BBQ" youtube channel. He's a Canadian dude who specialized for a long time on Kamado Joe products/techniques. He has recently reverted back to his start with the BGE.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
My first smoker was that way, I had a hard time getting it less than 250, the one I have now no issues holding low temps at all, I can also control it from my phone which is new to me.
I don’t cook with anything that looks like it requires its own NATOPS!
