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Sadly the OH can’t have butter, so I wont get that perfect browned finish. I’ve had some success with the bow torch giving a nice sear but the sous vide was for far too long and the consistency came out like liver. I’ll stick to 1-2hrs max depending on thickness. I’l also go for 53/54degC max as well.

Hah, I literally just ordered the Super Fire 2 and a couple of MAPPs this morning. I did a 4 hour sous vide steak last night, but it was somewhat over done on the BBQ trying to get a decent finish on the outside, so I’ll try the same again with the torch once it’s here. But thanks for giving me a good feeling that I got the right one! I’m also thinking a 6hr sous vide at 55degC to make it a bit rarer than the 57degC I started with.

Hello, I’ve been wasting away lots of hours on YouTube following smokers and sous-viders alike. Every time I’ve tried steak in the sous vide and sear on the pan I end up over cooking it, so I can only assume I need more heat for a shorter amount of time. I’m looking to get a decent blow torch as the diddy one I have is probably only good for crème brûlée and in the chimney starter. I’ve looked at loads, ranging from the stupidly sized thing that Guga uses in Sous Vide Everything, which must surely require a pilot’s license to operate, all the way down to stander plumber’s torch with small butane tanks. I like the look of the SearzAll and the SearTec but think they would need the Bernzomatic TS8000 which seems difficult to get over here. Does anyone have any experience or recommendations? Thanks.

Thanks for this, I’ve finally plumped for it at that price - finances be damned.

Same, I feel I still need to dial in my ProQ before I risk £50 on a brisket, so I’m sticking with ribs and shoulder for now.

I didn’t realise they were at that price point. Bargains!

Factor in a decent set of temperature probes, chimney starter and any other incidentals into your budget as well.

On the ProQ, my probes are too big to go through the rubber grommet, so I just hang them in there. Ideally, I’d thread the cable through and use the diamond grill clips that come with the probes, but it’s not an option. I often thread the cables through the top vent, but that limits the stack/length range. The other option is to use fire tape under the rim of each stacker/lid and that’ll help seal where each cable goes through. One day, I’ll get a Meater+ and all my probe-lems will be solved. As for the door, I’d consider taking it off and see if you can flatten it out little a bit with some ‘gentle persuasion’, otherwise the tape might still not be enough.

I saw a video recently, it might have been Pitmaster, I can look it up if needs be and they preferred butcher paper, then no cover, then foiled. However, the guy’s wife preferred foiled, then paper then no cover. Their conclusion seemed to be it’s all down to personal taste. My conclusion is it’s chef’s choice or go hungry because you won’t please them all.

Fascinating stuff, thanks for sharing Wade. That’s a hell of a lot of solar gain. When I get 5mins to completely redo the back garden, I’ll have to put a protective enclosure in to take the rain and wind factors out.

Same problem as you JP, either settling at 90 or when the pan runs out it’s north of 150. I wasn’t convinced that external air temp or wind would have such an effect on the Frontier with hot coals in, but Wade argues a good case. I’ve bought sand, but I’ve not had the chance to give it a dry run. IceFever recommends you dry the sand out before first use or it’ll add an hour to your cook. I’m hoping that if I try a few cooks with varying amounts of sand I’ll nail a steady 105 for hours. One can dream. Also, cover the sand with foil to aid clean up.

Reubens takes me back to the first time I tried one in Seattle and we’ve been recreating ever since. That was an awesome trip, dialled in plenty of breweries as well.

Welcome from just south east of you. Pics of the fancy rig please!

Also, the pan is there mostly to act as a thermal buffer, not avoid hot spots whether water or sand. It’ll take on excess heat if your coals are too hot and keep the temps from sharply dipping if the coals start to die down. It flattens the peaks and troughs.

It’s mostly for clean up, so lining the pan. I’ve done a few without and rarely learn so have to scrape the fat and carbon off the next day. The trick is to get it not to float on the water. I think the moisture would find it’s way out of the foil so it won’t stop evaporation, possibly slow it at best. @Wade says that the water doesn't really help keep food moist (brining might be more important?), it’s there for temperature control. I wouldn’t start with two kettles full, go with one and aim to top up every 1.5 hours in my experience - I find 2 kettles takes longer to get the ProQ up to temp. I’ll try and do a compare and contrast when I give sand a go.

Foil is just there to make it easier to clean up after as all the fat drips into the pan. I guess your issue could be a combination of things, but thanks for the heads up, I’ve got the sand but I’m yet to use it in anger so I’ll add an extra 1/2 hour wiggle room onto my next cook. Or I might use the kettle (Weber) to get the sand dry/up to temperature at the same time as firing up the ProQ. At least with water it’s just flash up the kettle (Morphy Richards).

Good point, probably a safer bet!

I recently ordered play sand for the next cook and it’s sat in the shed probably going damp, so thanks for the heads up. I might chuck it in the oven a day before I plan on using it then.

Yeah, 3-2-1 is just a guide, there’s too many variables unless you can fix your temp exactly. You have to go by look. I’ve had ribs where I’ve foiled too early and they’ve gone too mushy for them to properly caramelise for the final hour and other attempts where 3 hours is too much and the bark is already over where I’d want it to be. It’s trial and error before you understand your equipment and preferences, much like my Uni days.

Maybe take some tin snips to 3 of the vents to make 3 larger triangular ones on both the inner and outer? Then you’d have close to bullet/Weber controllability?

Based on what Wade has said on various bullet smoker threads, those vents look a little small to me. However, bullets tend to be higher than wider so the draw might be different than on a short/wide kettle.

Yes, I think when I looked into it before, another place had said use the sous vide, then cool, then reheat/smoke like this one, so that must be the correct approach. I wonder if that’s for texture or food safety? My thought was get the internal up to temp and finish the outer in the smoker for the ring/bark, though there’s a risk of taking the temperature too high. I guess the above way means that the sous vide gives you the ideal texture and then the smoker gives you the finish, and even though 3 hours on what looks like a hotter cook will not hit the magic internal temp for the perfect texture, it’ll be warm enough and you’ve already attained that texture temp via sous vide. Thanks for the link. I’ll start here and adjust if necessary.

Yep, just need to decide what to make now! If it means I can sous vide overnight and then only have to focus on the smoker for a few hours of finishing, it’ll be ideal (I don’t have a smart fire or anything on the ProQ) and hopefully best of both worlds. The only thing I need to give some thought to is to what temperature to set the sous vide to. I see 2 options using a pork shoulder example. Bang on 93 in the sous vide then risk the smoker taking it over for the barking or aim for safe temperature for pork of 63 then let the smoker barking to take it higher and hopefully hit the 93. I might have to try both to see where I get. The only thing that might mess all my planning up is stall, I’m assuming that the sous vide keeps the moisture in, so the moisture driven stall might prevent the internal temperature going up enough. Maybe there’s a third option, sous vide to the halfway point at 78 and then smoke until 93. Dunno, thinking out loud here, the proof of the pudding is in the cooking I guess.

Fair point, I can worry about a longer term solution further down the line!

Pretty sure they are two high, just the photo doesn’t show it clearly. I have done one shorter ribs cook with a double high inner and single high outer ring which seemed to last fine for the 6 hours of a 3-2-1.