She went way faster than I expected. About 12 hours and hit 205. Fork tender all over except for the end of the flat, which wasn't too resistant. Heard grass feed prime, like this one, can go fast but this was a shock.

Taking the wisdom of a much older Texas cook though, "Boy don't second guess yerself, it hits 205 and is tender or tender nuff, pull that sum***** no matter how much time its had"


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IMG_20130622_093103 by kydsid, on Flickr


In the cooler she goes. We will see what she's like in about 5 hours.
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I'd say something, but I'd just end up slobbering all over, so I'll just say:

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:-)

That looks good Jason!
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Hi fellas, I'm new here, lol. Or it has been so long since I smoked some meat, I might as well be new.

Kroegur had their house brand chicken on sale, I guess the kind super-injected with salt water or whatever they
do to it. So I picked up a pack of drumstix and had a pack of beef ribs left over from when I swore off of em.

Set up the grill the only way I ever do, indirect smoking.....

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actually forgot to put the hickory chunks on there...washed the car, and thought, man, that's some THIN smoke
I got working there. Rectified that and let everything go another hour while I put a polymer coat on the car.

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Pulled up the lid and saw something much better the second time around.

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Pulled em and let em pose for one more shot. Sad thing about the whole deal is, my smoked chicken
is usually almost purple it takes so much smoke. Letting it get half-cooked without any smoke really
hurt the patina, but the meat was good, JUST enough smoke to make it delicious, and at least it wasn't
over-smoky in flavor.

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Ralph says "HELL, YEAH, cut that S*** up man, I ain't gettin no younger over here.

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Actually, there was no way he could eat that right off the grill, and those big beef bones hold heat even longer,
so he had to wait awhile, but he's a hell of a smoker dog. He enjoyed the cool breezes of the back yard which
is a real oasis in the hot summer with all the tree canopy and the pond and the waterfalls. The backyard breeze
was actually COOL today, and believe me, it is HOT out there today. He eventually got his meat, I got my shower
then I got my long-awaited lunch. Dang that shizzle is gizzle.

I used a DSLR for the first time on these shots, testing out a 50mm 1.8 I picked up used for my sister,
so I apologize for the shallow depth of field. Looks cool enough, but I should've stopped down a bit.
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Dang there was some good lookin' eats made yesterday!!
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Damn, Jason, that brisky looks good.
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Brad,

That's some good lookin Q. My dog had a smile on his face like that all day too.



Thanks. It was perfect. Only a little bit of the flat was dry. Was a super fatty brisket though. Pre cook weight was 11.5 lbs. Pulled 4.2 lbs of fat off and 4 lbs of meat. Guess the angels were hungry cause their share was over 3 lbs.
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Tried some pork loin today. Injected with apple juice and butter mix. One has a sweet and tangy dry rub, the other just went with sea salt. About 3 hours between 210-250.
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OH CRAP, that loin looks delicious
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Great looking BBQ everyone:-)

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I just ate and y'all making me hungry!!!
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I LOVE this thread. I'm finally getting some work done on my UDS build. I bought some parts, drilled my intake holes on the bottom, did a high heat burn to remove paint/oil from it's previous occupation, and started putting my charcoal basket together.

Here's the inspiration for my design:
http://mancavemeals.net/the-uds/

However, I'm making a few mods. I'm cannibalizing some parts from a Weber knockoff 22.5" grill I've had for years, and from a tabletop charcoal grill. My basket will have the same 3" legs as his pictured here:
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but they'll be bolted to an 18-19" ash pan made from the bottom of the tabletop grill. I'm hoping this way I won't have to flip the drum over to clean out ash after each use.

It's going to look something like this when completed
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I loved his idea of piping the intake valves up to be easier to reach. Although I am a noob so I have no experience, it just looked/sounded like a good idea. It will have two cooking grates, about 7" apart. I read the bottom one needs to be at least 24" from the bottom of your charcoal basket. So, that's what I'm trying to achieve.

I still need to wire-wheel the remaining paint/rust off, paint, bolt ash-pan to basket, and more. I'll post some of my own pics soon.

That said, what kind of thermometer's I should get? I ask because I know there is a ton of experience in this thread. I can get inexpensive analog BBQ replacement ones that bolt through a hole in the drum but I'm not sure if the analog ones are accurate, and if so which ones. Also, I'm considering a remote digial meat thermometer. Any and all suggestions on thermometers and/or my build are welcome.
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Mike,

I've found that inexpensive analog thermometers are a crap shoot. Sometimes they work, sometimes they are about as bad as the el-cheapo analog hygrometers that come with many humidors. I've seen many that don't work well, yet I have two inexpensive "Grill Care" (something that Home Depot sold years ago) that are actually pretty good, while they are slightly off, they are consistently off. I figure it's only a matter of time though before they go kaput due to being exposed to the elements all the time.

The industrial / food machinery service large analog gauges are generally very good, but also very expensive.

The Maverick dual probe wireless is a popular choice for digital. I believe the model # is ET-732.
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Going to try something different tonight.

Seared ahi.

Take the Traeger as high as she'll go with a pizza stone during pre-heating.
Before everyone goes apeshit, I've cooked fish on my Pampered Chef stones before with no lingering fishiness.
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357... After a bit of experimenting you'll find temp variances between the edge and the of your cooking grate. Temps can vary as much as 75F from grate edge to dome top, or anywhere in-between. A short stemmed gauge mounted at grate level will give you a false reading. A removeable side thermo with a long 12" is one option. I used to have my UDS set up with a 12" fryer thermometer.
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x2 I love mine. Accuracy, and peace of mind during the cook are priceless.
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Let see some pictures of everyone's smoker... I'm sure they have been posted before I just didn't come across them yet I guess.

This is my modified ecb. I have been looking online a lot the different smokers.
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Anyone have a ecb? For my limited 2 years messing around with it, I'm very happy with it. Just seeing what tips some of the experienced people have. So far I added a charcoal grate, damper on the lid, real thermometer, and holes in the charcoal pan.
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While this is true, they tend vary consistently. Meaning, if you're pit is, whatever, say 50F low at the side from the center, then it tends to always be about that difference from center to side.
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Best accessory I have purchased!!!
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http://americanfood.about.com/od/sea...una_Recipe.htm
No pics but it was gooooood.
About 2 min each side.

The balsamic reduction was tasty.
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