StuieUK

hi all, Been a while since i posted, so just a post to show what i did (and i think i got this one good this time! :D ) I used briq's (bar-be-quick) and some weber charcoal, minion method, and throughout the 6hr smoke, added more briq's and moved the coals around to break up the ash, with the occasional sticking my head into the door to blow air in (typical, no wind on the day i get the smoker out!) I got 3 racks from a butcher (£5 per rack from a butcher van), cut them into a st loius style, then bought a rack from sainsbury so i could try another new rub.. I used different flavour rubs from Smokey Carter & 1 from Angus & Oink..... rubbed 3 days prior to cook... Got my temp to about 270f, and managed to keep it that way... Used full pan of boiling water, with a top up at 4hrs...... Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, put ribs on, let them be for 4hrs, took them out, wrapped in tin foil, put them back in smoker for 2hrs... End Result ? WOW, and i mean WOW !! they were soft, awesome flavour, and just generally, awesome!! as it was my 1st attempt at ribs, it was done as a test, so had a few neighbours round to try them out... there was no leftovers, which is a good sign ! :D Enjoyed doing it, but the prep, crikey, took an hour!! Worth it though i guess, amazing what i achieved with cheap cuts!

Ok......... So done the weber lumpwood charcoal + weber poultry chips + weber light cubes.... mini minion method, followed by adding air to the fuel pan to generate heat... Air method = crouching down and blowing until i felt like i was gonna pass out!! After 90 min's of cook (only did small water pan, and didnt top up, i just had tinfoil wrap in the water pan) , i put my cheapo meat therm stick in the top vent, and i had a temp of average, say 105c ..... (started measuring after 1hr cook)..... So took the x4 tesco chicken breasts out + 2 tesco bone-in pork chop , then gave a quick blast on the gas grill (no idea why, just did!), then wrapped in foil, and left on kitchen side for 10 mins or so...... Then sliced, as per the pic's............ I put some of that chicken into a bap, added some sauce, and my god, that flavour is goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!! I felt this 3rd cook of mine was a good cook for only a small amount of food, but still a good cook! Bar-Be-Quick Smoker = not a bad piece of kit (therm dont work on lid!) Photo of the coal, is how it was when i was taking the food out......

u can buy it in argos for £70 yeah....

hi all, So the smoker is coming out tomorrow for my 3rd cook attempt..... (only a small cook, estimated cook time 90 mins max) Battleplan: I bought some weber charcoal (bit the bullet and spent money on good stuff), along with the smoking chips for Poultry..... I got some nice water filled chicken breasts from tesco, so plan is spray olive oil all over the breasts, then for 2 of the breasts, coat them in Stubbs chicken rub, and for the other 2, coat them in 'reggae reggae jerk rub'...... I also got 2 pork chops (supermarket cuts, nothing fancy), will apply some bbq rub to those and oil...... Plan: small amount of charcoal in smoker (bar-be-quick smoker), use chimney then pour coals on, add some soaked weber chips, then get ready to cook... I'll allow 20 mins for charcoal to burn in the chimney before adding to smoker, then a further 20 mins with bottom vent door open, Lid ON, and top vent open to get up to a high heat (275f - 300f) So yeah, after 40 mins, i will put the chicken and x2 pork chops on the top grate.... I will use water in the pan, but i will only add a small amount, so hoping to get it right so that the food doesnt dry out too much, but holds the heat (had trouble holding the heat prevoius 2 cooks)..... I'll report back tomorrow when i get the show on the road!

yeah, when i did the 3hr on sunday, the water bowl was still quite full (kinda) cheers for the input guys, will defo get some sand! I wanted to try another method i saw on youtube, which was just foiling the water pan, getting the smoker up to 275f, then placing rubbed chicken breasts on the top rack for 60 - 80mins ...... No water in the pan.... Looks good on the video ! so much i want to try, better learn how to get it right before i spend a ton on waste! reading ice's reply, i gotta get that temp right 1st, will make a new post on weekend when i attempt noob cook no 2 !

daft question..... if water is used to keep moisture in the smoker, using just sand surely creates a dry scenario ?

cheers for the reply dude! I dont mind the length of time it takes to cook (any food), i just need to make sure i get the heat right so the food is safe to eat! and yeah, spatch is quicker, appreciate that..... i got 20kg of briq's , so plenty practise time! Idea this weekend, is to smoke a small pork shoulder!

hi all (hopefully got the right section here)... So went for my 1st attempt at smoking on Sunday just gone, heres what i did: Built smoker! (Bar-Be-Quick Smoker) Made a minion setup of Briq's (Briq's being the ones u get from argos/sainsburys <ie: cheap!> ) Probably used around 3.5kg of briq's!, used a chimney starter and natural firelighters to get chimney going (not in the smoker grill pan) After 20 mins, emptied the chimney into the centre of my fuel pan (the bar-be-quick has a deep fuel pan, and a small grate so fuel doesnt sit on the bottom of the pan).... I had soaked some JD whiskey chips for over an hour, so i put a good hanfdul of those into the pan.... (on the packet, it says the chips are for gas bbq / electric smoker ?? ) This is probably where i went wrong (maybe...)..... I put the middle section of the smoker onto the base, then put in the water pan, and poured in a good amount of warm water. 2 mins later, i put lid on and opened the top vent half way........ I didnt check the temp (totally forgot), didnt open the bottom door to let good airflow in either.... i just looked at the smoke coming out! So, in total, after 25 mins of lighting the Briq's, i put chicken on the 2 grills. (thats about 1 min after i had put the lid on as above) I placed 5 chicken thighs on the lower grate (boneless thighs, sprayed with Olive Oil, and rubbed with 'Stubbs' chicken rub)... On the top rack, i placed a large chicken (about 1.8kg), no rub, no oil, just straight out of the Lidl wrapping! I then just left it, thinking i just leave it for 3hrs.... So around 2hrs 45, i open the lid to check, the colour of chickens looks pretty dam good, and the smell was a nice mild smokey smell, not overpowering... I used my meat thermom to check the temps, and this is where i think i might have gone wrong.. In the thigh's, the internal temp was showing 62c , and the whole chicken, the temp was 65c... Lid back on, i put thermom in the top vent a few mins later to get a reading, was showing around 65c (temp on lid said it was 50c ! ) I opened the lower door, poked the briq's and moved slightly, then blew into the briq's to get them to heat up which worked a bit.....) Took chicken out of smoker at around 3hrs 10, and sliced open the thigh piece , and got the whole chicken and sliced into the breast...... The taste was awesome, on both pieces..... but forwhatever reason, because the temp was low, and i know it should be at least 75c internal, i was convinced it wasnt cooked enough.... Cut deeper into the whole chicken, and towards the inner part of the breast, came across a slight bit of red, so ended up putting it all in the oven on 200c Took thighs out after 20 mins, they still tasted nice, but cos i thought they might not be cooked, your brain tells u not to enjoy them as much (so me and the wife say!) The whole chicken cooked in the oven for about 40 mins, so when it was taken out and cooled for a bit, it was sliced up and so on, but i think it became over cooked then! So this weekend coming, i will try again, and i will be using "Bar-be-quick" briq's , as Asda are doing a bag for £5 (5kg) , will buy a few bags, and probably some lump... Totally get it with the brand of fuel, but will use the cheaper stuff whilst in the learning stage...... In my mind, because of the way i read things, i dont get the cook times... Weber briq's say they burn for 3hrs ? So in my mind, thats like, add briq's to pan, set alight, get the temp u want (say 250f) , and then in 3hrs, they should start to cool ??? Yet i read and see vid's of guys/gals using smokers and maintaining a 250f temp on the same briq's for 8hrs ?!!!! Makes me wonder how do i cook a brisket or pork butt for a long time, without having to remove all from the pan to add new briq's ! ? (i am a super noob to smoking!)

Hey all, Love BBQ, love cooking outside! Worked my way through many charcoal bbq's, and over past few years, have been using gas (no brand, just cheap stuff u buy from B&Q/Argos). I am a tight-wad with £££ to be honest! Just bought the Bar-be-quick smoker last week... (£70 from argos) + sainsbury/argos briq's (£6.50 for 5.4kg , was trying to get bang for buck!) Spent some time watching youtube vid's (mainly US guys with smokers and meats), so i still got a lot to learn and many attempts to make it get it right... Found this forum last night, so will do plenty reading now i joined! Thats me introducing myself, i'll post a thread on my 1st attempt in the right folder..