Now I know why "they" said not to invite people over the first couple
of times! I thought we had mesquite briquette, but we had 2 bags of
lump. I've never - ever cooked with lump. Not using lighter fluid
wasn't the problem. The amount to use was. It took me two hours just
to figure out how to get my cooking chamber (the heat comes from
elsewhere) up to "temp". This meal is going to be finished off in the
oven tonight (thanks for the tip Cheri) and it will still be 9PM!
Live & learn.

Wishing myself better luck next time.


--
Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.

sf wrote:
>
> Now I know why "they" said not to invite people over the first couple
> of times! I thought we had mesquite briquette, but we had 2 bags of
> lump. I've never - ever cooked with lump. Not using lighter fluid
> wasn't the problem. The amount to use was. It took me two hours just
> to figure out how to get my cooking chamber (the heat comes from
> elsewhere) up to "temp". This meal is going to be finished off in the
> oven tonight (thanks for the tip Cheri) and it will still be 9PM!
> Live & learn.
>
> Wishing myself better luck next time.
>
> --
> Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.

For your amusement, my 2004 post to AFB:

An improvised (relative) newbie Q story and the value of groups such as
AFB...

First some background. I've been cooking regularly since I was about 8
or so (now 35) so I know my way around the kitchen fairly well; I had
not however tried to do any "real" BBQ before. The closest I had gotten
was smoking some pork tenderloin in a gas grill with a little smoker box
(came out quite good).

Fast forward to mid Aug '04 when I moved from CT to TX. Somewhere late
afternoon on Friday September 3rd all of two weeks after the move, I'm
talking to my coworkers and realize that Monday is Labor Day and of
course I have it off. At this point I start thinking that I ought to do
something to celebrate my move and take advantage of the day off. The
idea of doing some "TX BBQ" comes to mind however at this point even my
regular gas grill has not made it down to TX yet. I continue to think
about this the rest of the evening while doing other stuff like
unpacking.

Saturday late morning rolls around and I look around a bit at what I
have one hand to do BBQ with. I spot the homemade grill sitting outside
that has been left by the previous owners. I wander over and take a look
at it to assess its usefulness. It's made of about 1/8" aluminum and
rectangular at about 42" wide x 24" deep x 12" high. Opening the hinged
upper half (and watching out for any wasps) I see that inside there are
two grills made of (now rusty) expanded steel mesh. The lower grill was
apparently intended to hold the charcoal and is about 2" off the bottom
to allow for ashes to fall through. The upper grill is just below the
middle point where the top hinges. There are no thermometers or dampers,
only a trap door to clean ashes from the bottom.

Looking at this grill that was clearly not intended as a smoker I
decided that it could be adapted to use as one, so I drag it over to the
shop and clean it up a bit. The first thing I conclude is that the full
width upper grill won't cut it for smoker use since I need to be able to
tend the fire so I grab the sawzall and promptly lop off the left third
of the top grill. This gives me a way to tend a fire on the left side
while smoking on the right side.

Having resolved the fire management issue I then decide that it needs
some temperature monitoring and start rooting around in the shop to see
what I can find. Looking around I promptly find (in different areas) two
0-250 degree stainless thermowell type thermometers left behind by the
previous owners. Perhaps these were intended for a smoker that never got
built? I measure the stem on the thermometers and then go and drill two
holes in the front of the grill towards the right side, one at close to
grill level and one about 3" above it. This should give me a good idea
of the temperature at the smoking end and how even the temperature
levels are.

Looking at the rusty grills I conclude that they can't be cleaned up to
a useable level without a lot of work so I go and grab a couple of oven
racks from the kitchen. These racks sit nicely over the rusty mesh with
a decent gap so nothing would touch the rust.

It's now Saturday evening and satisfied that I have something that now
has a reasonable chance of working as a horizontal smoker I wander into
the house to read AFB and the FAQ. Noting that everyone seems to prefer
lump charcoal I add that to my shopping list along with some smoking
wood chunks. Reading some more I see that brisket is the "official" TX
BBQ. I'd never done anything with brisket before so I decide that I
should do ribs as well (backup). I read about the various trims of
brisket and their relative merits and also about the various types of
pork ribs. More surfing and I conclude that the brisket should have a
dry rub (this is my preference anyway) and I review a dozen or so dry
rub recipes to see what's in them. I make some more notes on the grocery
shopping list and then make something quick for dinner.

Sunday morning and it's time to go shopping. I get to the store and
proceed to get the various spices on the list, a mid size packer trim
brisket (~4#) and a nice 5# rack of spare ribs. Wandering over to the
charcoal isle I find B&B Texas style lump charcoal which I recognize as
one of the brands that folks on AFB seemed happy with so I get a couple
bags. I continue down the isle to find some mesquite chunks (read that
chunk was preferred over chip on AFB) and a little box of fatwood
(lighter fluid is a no-no on AFB). Some beer and other odds and ends
rounds out the shopping trip.

I get home and promptly call up and invite the WMD (woman of my dreams)
over for BBQ on Labor Day (tomorrow). I of course had read the
recommendations to never invite folks over for your first attempt at
BBQ, but I'm not one to listen to such advice

It's now Sunday afternoon and I head to the kitchen to mix up a big
container of dry rub. I didn't use any particular recipe; I just
followed the overall theme until I was satisfied with the result. I used
some brown sugar, paprika, store chili powder, chipotle chili powder,
garlic powder, onion power, cumin, pepper, etc. I prep some of the other
incidentals and then go out to review the smoker situation.

Looking over my supplies I decide I need a chimney starter for the
charcoal. I wander to the shop again and after dumping out some random
nuts and bolts I emerge with two 3# coffee cans. Back to the kitchen to
grab an opener and punch a ring of openings around the base of each can.
Realizing I'll need a way to handle the hot cans I grab a pair of
channel lock pliers. Some old newspapers and a Bic aim-and-flame round
out the supplies. Reviewing the expected cooking times I conclude I need
to start at about 4am so I have some dinner and call it a night.

3am Labor Day morning I get up and make a cup of coffee (gotta keep your
priorities straight) and get started. Having read that the meat should
be brought to room temperature first I pull out the ribs and brisket and
put them on the counter. Also having read that applying the dry rub and
letting it sit for a while helps it develop a crust, I wash and dry the
meat and apply the rub. Out to the improvised smoker I load up a bit of
newspaper in the bottom of each starter chimney, top that with a couple
pieces of fatwood and then top up to the brim with lump charcoal. I
place the cans on a cinderblock and light the newspaper with the
aim-and-flame. After waiting a few minutes for it to get going and
getting impatient I fire up the leaf blower and speed things up a bit
(rather spectacular in the dark). As the charcoal gets going and settles
down I top it up some more. Using the channel lock pliers I pick up the
cans and place them in the smoker sitting on the lower shelf on the left
hand side. I spray the racks on the right with a bit of oil the help
keep things from sticking and close the lid to let things warm up.

Adjusting the bottom trap door I get the temperature stabilized at about
220 degrees and let it sit there for a bit. At about 3:50am I give the
cans a shake with the pliers, top up the charcoal and add a couple
chunks of mesquite on top. 4am I put the meat in the smoker and head
inside. I can see the thermometers through the kitchen window so I keep
checking periodically and going out to adjust the "damper" as needed to
maintain 220 as closely as possible. Watching the smoke coming out the
gaps of the lid I add a chunk of mesquite from time to time. A few times
the temp is going up a bit too much so I use the pliers to pull one of
the cans of charcoal out for a few minutes. Around 6am some rain comes
through and even with both cans I'm having trouble maintaining 220
degrees. I look around and find a couple moving blankets that I
"inherited" in my move so I fold one up and use it to cover the right
side of the smoker. The extra insulation does the trick and its back up
to 220 in short order.

Later in the morning I start probing the ribs and brisket with my
instant read thermometer. More fire tending the rest of the morning
while preparing sides and whatnot. Around noon the ribs are up to around
160 so they get pulled, wrapped in foil and a towel and put in a cooler
(more wisdom from AFB and the FAQ's). I watch the brisket until it gets
to reasonable temperature and then pull it off as well to let it sit.
Somewhere around 1pm the WMD arrives and we serve up the BBQ.

The results - Everything came out perfect, tender and flavorful all
around. The dry rub was perfect, no sauce needed. Not bad at all for
first time improvised Q All of the information gleaned from AFB and
the FAQ was very helpful. The end result was definitely better than Red
Hot and Blue and they are pretty decent most times (Plano is better than
Dallas BTW).

Around the end of October I did this once again, this time for the WMD
and family. This time I did two 5# racks of ribs, another 4# brisket and
a 1.5# salmon fillet (diet compatible). Since I was doing this for
dinner on a Friday I started at a little more reasonable time in the
morning. Being a workday I had to spend most of my time in the office (I
work from home).

Being in the office at the other end of the house it was a little more
difficult to keep an eye on the smoker. To resolve this problem I
grabbed my netcam, a tripod and a long Ethernet cable. I set the camera
on the tripod near the smoker and plugged everything in. In the office I
put my laptop next to my work PC and brought up the live feed from the
camera. I was able to watch both temperature readings and also the
amount of smoke coming out while I was still at work.

Once again everything came out perfect, so good in fact that the only
leftovers I had was the top section that I had removed from the brisket
and put aside before carving the rest. The dieter loved the salmon, and
also about half a rack of ribs The remaining brisket was gone by the
end of the next day.

Pete C.

On Sat, 13 Sep 2014 23:14:46 -0500, "Pete C." >
wrote:

>
> sf wrote:
> >
> > Now I know why "they" said not to invite people over the first couple
> > of times! I thought we had mesquite briquette, but we had 2 bags of
> > lump. I've never - ever cooked with lump. Not using lighter fluid
> > wasn't the problem. The amount to use was. It took me two hours just
> > to figure out how to get my cooking chamber (the heat comes from
> > elsewhere) up to "temp". This meal is going to be finished off in the
> > oven tonight (thanks for the tip Cheri) and it will still be 9PM!
> > Live & learn.
> >
> > Wishing myself better luck next time.
> >
>
> For your amusement, my 2004 post to AFB:
>
> An improvised (relative) newbie Q story and the value of groups such as
> AFB...
>
Thanks Pete! I'll never start BBQing at 3AM, but the good news is I
didn't finish it at 3AM today. )


--
Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.

On 9/13/2014 9:49 PM, sf wrote:
>
> Now I know why "they" said not to invite people over the first couple
> of times! I thought we had mesquite briquette, but we had 2 bags of
> lump. I've never - ever cooked with lump. Not using lighter fluid
> wasn't the problem. The amount to use was. It took me two hours just
> to figure out how to get my cooking chamber (the heat comes from
> elsewhere) up to "temp". This meal is going to be finished off in the
> oven tonight (thanks for the tip Cheri) and it will still be 9PM!
> Live & learn.
>
> Wishing myself better luck next time.
>
>
Nothing wrong with lump charcoal. I use it all the time in my smoker.
Royal Oak brand.

--
From somewhere very deep in the heart of Texas

On 9/13/2014 11:14 PM, Pete C. wrote:

> The results - Everything came out perfect, tender and flavorful all
> around. The dry rub was perfect, no sauce needed. Not bad at all for
> first time improvised Q All of the information gleaned from AFB and
> the FAQ was very helpful. The end result was definitely better than Red
> Hot and Blue and they are pretty decent most times (Plano is better than
> Dallas BTW).


AFB has been my "guru" for smoking. I even named my home made BBQ sauce
"AFB Barbecue Sauce" in their honor.


--
From somewhere very deep in the heart of Texas

On 9/14/2014 12:39 AM, Sqwertz wrote:
> Maybe you should shut the **** up until you have something useful to
> say about your new vibrator-cooker.
>
> -sw
>
> OK, that's the final straw. I'll never read or post to this group
> again! After 26 years, I'm through here!
>
> -sw

On 9/13/2014 8:49 PM, sf wrote:
>
> Now I know why "they" said not to invite people over the first couple
> of times! I thought we had mesquite briquette, but we had 2 bags of
> lump. I've never - ever cooked with lump. Not using lighter fluid
> wasn't the problem. The amount to use was. It took me two hours just
> to figure out how to get my cooking chamber (the heat comes from
> elsewhere) up to "temp". This meal is going to be finished off in the
> oven tonight (thanks for the tip Cheri) and it will still be 9PM!
> Live & learn.
>
> Wishing myself better luck next time.
>
>
This is where a Weber would have shined. That said, once you get temps
up you will be fine.

If you can get some Georgia fatwood for the initial lighting you may
find things go more quickly:

http://www.fatwood.com/

On 9/14/2014 12:39 PM, Sqwertz wrote:
> Every HEB around here carries the El Arriero brand.
> OK, that's the final straw. I'll never read or post to this group
> again! After 26 years, I'm through here!
>
> -sw

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:40:40 -0500, Janet Wilder >
wrote:

> On 9/13/2014 9:49 PM, sf wrote:
> >
> > Now I know why "they" said not to invite people over the first couple
> > of times! I thought we had mesquite briquette, but we had 2 bags of
> > lump. I've never - ever cooked with lump. Not using lighter fluid
> > wasn't the problem. The amount to use was. It took me two hours just
> > to figure out how to get my cooking chamber (the heat comes from
> > elsewhere) up to "temp". This meal is going to be finished off in the
> > oven tonight (thanks for the tip Cheri) and it will still be 9PM!
> > Live & learn.
> >
> > Wishing myself better luck next time.
> >
> >
> Nothing wrong with lump charcoal. I use it all the time in my smoker.
> Royal Oak brand.

I was going to use a combination: start with a bed of briquettes and
put the lump on top. I had two bags and thought one of them was
briquettes - but both were lump. Starting them was much easier than I
thought it would be, thanks to the Blox - but I didn't have a clue
what amount of lump to use so I erred on the side of caution and had
to build it up.

The place I bought my chips from also sell sawdust. I didn't buy it
because I didn't know why I'd need it. I think I've figured it out:
to use to make fire starters. Do you make your own? I like these,
they are 1.5 or 2 inch squares that are only maybe .25 inch thick.

I didn't "tune" my box much because it's not set up to be a
combination grill/bbq in one unit (I'm discovering that's what the gas
side is for) - but I used a couple of unglazed quarry tiles as a
baffle and I think it worked out very well!

I need to find a screen to lay over the drip pan, then I might be able
to convert it into a charcoal grill. One of the videos I watched on
youtube said to never grill in the firebox because it creates a mess
that's hard to clean out, so I'm thinking that my "notebook" grill
will be getting more use than I thought.


--
Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:56:55 -0600, Mayo > wrote:

> If you can get some Georgia fatwood for the initial lighting you may
> find things go more quickly:
>
It was just part of the learning curve.


--
Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.

On 9/14/2014 1:39 PM, Sqwertz wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:40:40 -0500, Janet Wilder wrote:
>
>> Nothing wrong with lump charcoal. I use it all the time in my smoker.
>> Royal Oak brand.
>
> Every HEB around here carries the El Arriero brand.
>
> http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=sz76z6&s=8
>
> 6.6 pounds for under $3/bag. Sometimes they have 20lb bags for $7.
> It's good lump and convenient. I have never seen Royal Oak even at
> Walmart where everybody says they get it.
>
> -sw
>

I get it at Home Depot

--
From somewhere very deep in the heart of Texas

On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 13:39:57 -0500, Sqwertz >
wrote:

>On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:40:40 -0500, Janet Wilder wrote:
>
>> Nothing wrong with lump charcoal. I use it all the time in my smoker.
>> Royal Oak brand.
>
>Every HEB around here carries the El Arriero brand.
>
>http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=sz76z6&s=8
>
>6.6 pounds for under $3/bag. Sometimes they have 20lb bags for $7.
>It's good lump and convenient. I have never seen Royal Oak even at
>Walmart where everybody says they get it.
>
>-sw

I am familiar with it from Wisconsin. I never see it out here. Lowes
will sometimes carry lump in a hidden corner if you look for it.
Walmart used to carry it in a hidden corner. Kingsford has got the
market buttoned up out here.
Janet US

On 9/14/2014 2:20 PM, sf wrote:
> On Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:56:55 -0600, Mayo > wrote:
>
>> If you can get some Georgia fatwood for the initial lighting you may
>> find things go more quickly:
>>
> It was just part of the learning curve.
>
>
Kinda fun, ain't it?

On Sunday, September 14, 2014 10:46:32 AM UTC-7, Mayo wrote:
> On 9/14/2014 12:39 AM, Sqwertz wrote:
>
> > Maybe you should shut the **** up until you have something useful to
>
> > say about your new vibrator-cooker.
>
> >
>
> > -sw
>
> >
>
> > OK, that's the final straw. I'll never read or post to this group
>
> > again! After 26 years, I'm through here!
>
> >
>
> > -sw



My mental health professional has directed me to apologize to this group at
large and to Marty and Steven in specific for acting out here. A change in
my medications is being made to address a disorder I have been experiencing
this summer. I will be monitored, but I am no longer allowed to engage in
certain activities I previously have enjoyed as they exacerbate my
condition. I apologize for being disruptive, in a better state of mind this
was generally not an issue for me.