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Maiden Run with Stacker - Brisket

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RangerJurena

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Thought I would give the new pit a run and try out a brisket.  10.5 lb Packer self trimmed.  Had lots of fat,is probably closer to 8lbs now.




Loaded up the Pro Q with a 9lb bag of Kingsford. Plenty of room for that.  My UDS will run 10 -12 hours with this amount of charcoal so I wanted to compare burn times. They are both vertical smokers so I'm interested to see.



While the coals were getting ready I rubbed the brisket down.



And the ProQ is smoking its way to temperature.  Which I must say is taking quite a bit longer than the UDS. I'm going to assume its due to there being a giant water pan full of water?  This is my first attempt at using a smoker with a water pan, so it will be a learning experience.  Its 8:00 and I've thought I would have this brisket on at 7:30, but the ProQ is at 190 degrees and slowly climbing.  My guess is if I took a stacker off it would be closer to temperature but I wanted to see what happened with all stackers on.

More to follow as the day progresses.



#1 - May 11, 2009, 08:10:42 am
2 Award Winning UDS's
Pappa Charlies Barbeque

RangerJurena

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Well, either 9lbs is not enough or something is wrong.  Lit about 15 coals attempting the minion effect similar to the UDS. Added the wood and all the stackers and the lid.  3 bottom vents running wide open.

At 8:30, roughly one hour after lighting it was still at 180 -190.  So, I took one of the stackers off and it jumped to 200 with all vents open, so I figured we were on the way up and went ahead and put the brisket on, I usually start around 200 anyway.

45 minutes later, still with all 3 vents wide open, it will not go past 190.  And with all 3 valves open, I'm seeing no minion effect, I see all gray and burning charcoal and this leads me to believe I'm going to have to reload before this brisket is done or I should have added considerably more charcoal.
#2 - May 11, 2009, 09:15:58 am
2 Award Winning UDS's
Pappa Charlies Barbeque

Crash

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A few observations Wesley.

1) Just eyeballing those unlit coals, it does not look like enough to heat the Excel to 225-250 with all three stackers on it.  We havent cooked with all three stackers yet, but have with two.  With two stackers, we load the charcoal basket full to the top and then apply the Minion method. 

One thing about the Excels, they demand a lot of fuel.  The more surface area (stackers), the more fuel you will need to get to the desired temp.

2) What temp was the water in the water pan when you started?  We prefer to put the hottest water we have in the water pan.  That way, the fuel isnt wasting it's energy heating the water and can work on getting up to temp easier.

3) For smaller cooks, ditch one or even two of the stackers and you will have a much easier time getting to temp.

Is the brisket done yet, and how did it turn out?
#3 - May 11, 2009, 01:09:10 pm
I love animals.  They're delicious!
VRM Pit Crew

KidCurry

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I also just filler up I would rather have too many coal then no enough.  I agree with CRASH, a lot of energy is expended in heating the water.  That water pan is huge!!!

You know on both the WSM and the Excel 20 that i have cooked on, I have never put water in the water pan (just foil to help with clean up) and the temps have been great...a little hotter on the lower grate but that is to be expected.

Anyone else ever tried that?



#4 - May 11, 2009, 01:34:21 pm
KidCurry@AZBarbeque.com
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Mike boils his ribs....pass it on.

RangerJurena

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So here is the update.

I figured out that the amount of fuel was not sufficient. So, I added about 8 lbs of Stubbs.  Its 2:45 now and everything has been humming along quite well, though I will say its at 225 and no more with all vents wide open.

The hunk o' meat is holding at 160 for the last 1.5 hours.  I'm concerned about the amount of fuel left as we wait for the brisket to "break through".  As for adding the fuel, it was pretty easy, unlatched the stacker and the lid, removed the water pan, added the coal and hit it with the weed burner.  It took about 10 minutes, but still not something I want to do on a regular basis.

I'm about to add some chicken thighs for the home stretch.

For sure a learning experience, the "modularity" is a great feature, but the UDS sure eats less fuel and is closer to "set and forget". 

As to the Water Temp, I got 2 gallons out of my truck that were left over from Hesperia..yes, I know along time ago, but its a truck.  I figured the odds are at a competition those gallons will be closer to temp than me heating or using hot water.

More to follow to include pics.
#5 - May 11, 2009, 02:53:28 pm
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Pappa Charlies Barbeque

SlantedBBQ

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Every time I have cooked on my Excell 20 I have never used a water pan period. On Saturday night I started my grill with about just on layer of the basket with Kingsford and then used some lump that was laying around and then dumped about 30 hot glowing coals over the top and that was still not even close to the top of the basket. Well in about 20 minuets the smoker was in the 300 degree range and climbed all the way to 410. I had all the vents closed and started tapeing of the temp probe holes to get the temp to fall. I learned never to use lump coal again.
#6 - May 11, 2009, 03:12:40 pm

Mike (AZBarbeque)

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For those of you who don't use the water pan, do you still leave it in or do you remove it completely?  If you leave it in, what do you do with it?  Cover with Foil, Add sand, ???
#7 - May 11, 2009, 03:17:21 pm
Michael J. Reimann
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If God wanted us to be Vegetarians, why did he make animals out of meat??

BBQCZAR

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For those of you who don't use the water pan, do you still leave it in or do you remove it completely?  If you leave it in, what do you do with it?  Cover with Foil, Add sand, ???

I leave my pan in, and sometimes I use water,I have used sand,and I have used gravel,anything for a heat deflector.I normally use Bi Green egg lump or BBQ Galores lump,at Stagecoach I used Kingsford,first time in a long time and I did not like it so it's back to lump for me,works much better,I think.
#8 - May 11, 2009, 03:21:38 pm
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RangerJurena

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Well if your not using your pan...then I should have stuck with my drums.  Because economically, 1 9lb bag of charcoal is alot cheaper than the 20 something pounds I'm using today.

Anyway..here we are at 7.5 hours in



My thoughts were that the water smokers were much more like offsets versus my UDS that cooks over direct heat.   Anyway, I'll figure it out and things are moving along.

More pics to follow...
#9 - May 11, 2009, 04:15:42 pm
2 Award Winning UDS's
Pappa Charlies Barbeque

Crash

  • Karma: 20
For those of you who don't use the water pan, do you still leave it in or do you remove it completely?  If you leave it in, what do you do with it?  Cover with Foil, Add sand, ???

I leave my pan in, and sometimes I use water,I have used sand,and I have used gravel,anything for a heat deflector.I normally use Bi Green egg lump or BBQ Galores lump,at Stagecoach I used Kingsford,first time in a long time and I did not like it so it's back to lump for me,works much better,I think.

We leave our pan in for everything except chicken and have always foiled the pan.  We have always used water in the pan for the other 3 meats.
#10 - May 11, 2009, 04:45:50 pm
I love animals.  They're delicious!
VRM Pit Crew

Thom Emery

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We were using rocks in the water pan on the Spicebox
I wonder if it would work on the Pro Q
#11 - May 11, 2009, 05:57:48 pm
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What Wood Jesus Q

RangerJurena

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We were using rocks in the water pan on the Spicebox
I wonder if it would work on the Pro Q


Allegedly, the intent of the the water pan is to deflect the heat and add moisture.  You can deflect the heat with sand, rocks, cement..whatever, but I don't see any moisture "add" in those items. 

What I will say is this.  My UDS is much more user friendly and economical than the ProQ.  Granted, I'm a novice with 2 competitions under my belt so take my comments with a grain of salt. 

Should the finished product get done tonight, I'll post the pics.
#12 - May 11, 2009, 06:15:48 pm
2 Award Winning UDS's
Pappa Charlies Barbeque

KidCurry

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I think the two smokers turn out a different tasting product.  Butts cooked on the the EXCEL and the WSM with no water in the pan (PAN IN PLACE and COVERED IN FOIL) have a different flavor than a butt cooked on the UDS not better IMHO but without a doubt different.  (I believe due to the no fat dripping on the fire).

#13 - May 11, 2009, 06:19:33 pm
KidCurry@AZBarbeque.com
KCBS CBJ
Mike boils his ribs....pass it on.

Thom Emery

  • Karma: 2
I think the two smokers turn out a different tasting product.  Butts cooked on the the EXCEL and the WSM with no water in the pan (PAN IN PLACE and COVERED IN FOIL) have a different flavor than a butt cooked on the UDS not better IMHO but without a doubt different.  (I believe due to the no fat dripping on the fire).




Rockys been selling that
 I love the  smell of  Briskets on a BDS in the morning

Charlie Dont Surf
#14 - May 11, 2009, 07:21:58 pm
Catering, Competition Cooking and Community Service

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BBQCZAR

  • Karma: -7
I havent used a pro-Q yet,but I do have the stacker for the WSM and when using it I have found it doesn't seem to use anymore charcoal than a plain WSM.The 2 units are similar in design so I wonder what the reason is that the temp won't come up on that unit or why it is using so much fuel. I do have one coming and also a Digi-Q to connect to it so I will be doing a test a few weeks after the Boulder comp to see first hand how the Pro-Q works compared to a WSM.I can't imagine using a WSM or a Pro-Q for long slow cooks (not high temp cooks like for chicken and steaks) and not using a water pan,the temps would be really hard to control without a waterpan filled with something,anything . I will try a few tests in a few weeks and let everyone know what my experience is on the Pro-Q,I hope it is a good.
#15 - May 11, 2009, 08:47:05 pm
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