Deano

I love the Miguel Vergara briskets, they were my favourite brisket cooks in the UK. I've emigrated to Greece now and getting a decent brisket is next to impossible as they slaughter their cows at around 200kg.

15 minutes ago, The Chairmaker said:

 

Davidsons have one of the best, if not the best, selection of brisket. Try the Miquel Vergara....they are absolutely superb!

Indeed. That Miguel Vergara was the first brisket I cooked hot and fast. Had me doubting myself as it was ready to come off the grill after 4 and a bit hours. Needn't have worried, probably the best one I've done in my short smoking time.

On 6/11/2021 at 7:14 PM, Smokin Monkey said:

These are the plans, I will also send them to you in a PM, the measurements are in Inches as it is American!

 

Thank you very much, much appreciated.

On 6/6/2021 at 8:25 PM, Stonesy said:

Hi all, just joined to say hello. I have just picked up and assembled my 1050! Just need to burn off and prime it before I get some decent cuts to try out.

Nice! Have you tried it out yet?

On 6/9/2021 at 1:59 PM, Smokin Monkey said:

Hi Deano, I have the plans for the full size version as well.

Hi, in that case would it be possible to get the plans from you at done point, please? My father in law is retired and pretty good at welding/metalwork, will be good to keep him busy 😂

Hoping he'll help me improve mine as they're rudimentary, at best.

Nice set up. Stumbled across this whilst looking for DIY gravity fed smokers, might bug you with a few questions soon, once I know exactly what it is in planning to do 😅

This time last year I'd barely started smoking and was really settling into life as an electrician in Colchester, fast forward a year and I'm a house husband in Greece looking to get a ribs place off the ground in northern Greece.

Life!

10 minutes ago, paul6057 said:

Thanks, I'm looking at the 200 as I want something smaller than my 57cm WSM. Ideally I was looking at the smaller Pro Q or the 37 WSM, but I don't understand how the 37cm WSM is £360, whereas the 42cm Napoleon or Pro Q are around £299.

 

Seems like a coin toss between the Pro Q and the Napoleon, especially as the smaller Pro Q isn't available at the moment.

Proq make the Napoleon smoker, so they're the same quality. Shelly, can probably get an 18 inch fornetto razzo on eBay, discontinued stock.

Have unpacked the brisket. It's my first so have nothing else to compare it to, unfortunately. It's a big old piece of meat!

Picked up my brisket today. Won't be unpacking it until Friday so will post some unpacked photos then. In the meantime:

On 5/9/2020 at 2:30 PM, Tomcat said:

Hi all,

Great to meat other like minded people!

I was in the same position a couple of months ago. I was cooking a lot on my weber kettle and a small open fire rotisserie however i found myself enjoying more the low and slow cooks. I had the slow and sear but i was finding that i had to fight the air vents more that i wanted to and temps were not that stable. I tried to stabilise them by getting an ash catcher which helps a bit from the draft (i had the basic version) and although it was better i decided to go for a smoker. WSM was my choice but i didn't want to spend so much money till i get my skills up and frankly testing myself if this is what i enjoy doing. After i rejected the idea of a stick smoker (space + cost for a good one) i decided to go for a bullet smoker. I was looking at cheaper alternatives but still good quality like proq, napoleon and came across fornetto. It looks like it's more widespread in australia. I found the 18'' razzo around £200 delivered in ebay, so i went for it as i liked the stainless steel grates, the baskets for more cooking space and it seemed like a reasonable quality. The 22'' was around £70 more so with the benefitnof hindsight i would have gone for that. 

Fornetto is a good quality bullet smoker and i found myself using it almost every week in all sorts of weather, and it's great holding temp. I cook with heat beads, only foiled water pan (tried water and sand) and on a full basket with minion doughnut method i will get 6-8 hrs and still have briquettes unlit depending on the weather. When i used water i would hardly have any coals left for the same time. I normally have the three bottom vents just cracked open and the top fully open. However just this weekend i have experimented with having only one bottom fully opened and only adjusting the top vent (Harry Soo method) with great results and far less hassle having to bend and adjust all 3 vents. With water you can cook steadily at 225-250f max, while without water i have cooked at 325f consistently without a problem.

Overall i'm really happy with the fire and temperature control. I also like the fact that it's modular and you get easy access to the other cooking grates although this is when for me there are a couple of even better ifs.

The baskets are great idea but if you want to rotate your grates throughout the cook is not that easy as you have to move the meat. Also it's more fiddly if you want to top up water as you need to take one ring out and then move the baskets. 

Another ebi would be if you can rotate the grates like the wsm just in case you have any hot spots in the cooker.

Most of the times i smoke one meat at the time and since it's modular i was using it without a ring as a small smoker. However the meat did not have a great bark underneath since it was directly above the water pan and although i don't run with water it looks like heat and smoke is not getting in the bottom grate as well as the top (i guess i expect to be the same in any bullet smoker ?). I have since cooked only on top rack and although i have done only babybacks the bark underneath looked fine although you don't really get much bark n the bone side.

 

On size, i could fit 2 baby backs, a large pork butt (struggling to find small bosrton butt cut in uk) a lamp shoulder, but i couldn't fit easily spare ribs hence uses the bottom rack. I have only done a small two piece supermarket brisket, as during covid 19 my online order of a point end was not delivered, but not so sure that it can take easily a full packer brisket 5-6kgs

One think to consider is that fornetto does not have a large online community like wsm so although the principles are the same and the techniques are transferable.

I don't think the above are a showstopper however one problem i have is that the ash from the coals is coming out of the vents (not a lot but still) which means that either i overload the basket or the firebox is to shallow and the vents are low. That's the only thing that i can find due to design. Perhaps the 22'' is better In this.

Although temp control is good and you don't have to fiddle a lot with the vents (always a good excuse to stay next to the smoker and drink beers) i have in order a basic temp fan control.

Now i only use the smoker and weber rotisserie on the kettle for mainly chicken, although lump shoulder is also coming out amazing (but that's a different post:))

Hope that helps

 

On 5/9/2020 at 2:59 PM, Skagg2000 said:

As some will know, I have both the ProQ & the Razzo 22". 

Fornetto allegedly took the ProQ design & improved upon it. Certainly the build quality is better with the Fornetto, with better quality materials used in the construction. The 22" is a hungry beast & takes a fair amount of fuel to keep it going for long periods at a steady temperature. They don't seem to travel to well & can suffer with transit damage & buckling / warping of the stackers. If you can get one at a clearance price they are a bargain, although they are getting few & far between. Homebase brought them into the UK stores when Bunnings owned them, hence the Australian connection. One thing with the Razzo you can raise the fire basket which is great for cooking over a direct heat without the need to bend over or get on your knees to use the firebasket in the bottom of the bowl on the Proq.

Whilst the Fornetto is nicely built, which is my daily smoker? The ProQ, more due to it being 18" than 22"

Cheers n Gone Nick 

Meant to say thanks for these errors ups ages ago as I got a good deal on a Fornetto Razzo 22.

So thank you!

6 minutes ago, Justin said:

Thx, let us know how you get on and the packer you get mate. There are quite a few members around this region that would be interested I think.  

Yeah, will let you know. It's my first brisket so not sure how much my opinion counts but will post photos of how it looks when I get it and obviously post smoking

7 minutes ago, Justin said:

Interesting, I am in Briantree, which farm was it?

https://www.garrhousefarm.co.uk/farm-produce/beef/

I emailed the lady that runs it, very helpful.

Hi all, I've found a farm near me that sells their own beef, pork and lamb and have ordered a packer brisket from them. Had to explain what it was and include photos but hopefully it'll be great. Not picking it up until they get their most recent slaughtered cow back from hanging next week but I'll keep you posted. I'm based in Colchester.

ProQ make the Napoleon so I imagine they're pretty similar. I almost bought a proq but got a ridiculously good deal on a 22 inch Fornetto Razzo, which again is extremely similar.

21 hours ago, U can do that again said:

Afternoon, understand the BBQ Barn in Sidcup are opening a store in Southend soon, believe the signage has gone up.Attached screenshot of part of Sidcup shop, in normal times have have a lot of K-Joe demos.

9 minutes ago, Raptor72 said:

In Marks tey there is Camperite (Camping shop ) they stock green olive co charcoal ! And other  stuff as accessories. 
In Aldham there is Millrace garden centre is good for BbQ stuff https://www.millracegardencentre.co.uk
 

Both Are near each other 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Justin said:

There is bugger all in Braintree, even the local garden centre as scaled back and has no Weber stuff.

 

Thanks for the info, fellas. Have only ventured out about as far as poplar nurseries which had a good Weber range.

9 hours ago, Raptor72 said:

I’m in Great tey 

9 minutes ago, Justin said:

In Braintree

Hi, both just down the road. I've not long been in Colchester so still getting to know the area. Any decent barbie stores around?

1 hour ago, Stu said:

why not do the brisket on the Kamado? i'd rate it a 3 star i think currently, 4 if you are only going to use in steadyish weather or if smoker will always be dry, if you dont already though I'd make sure you have a decent pit thermometer with alarm capability so you know whats going on.

 

good luck!!

Thanks! Appreciate your input. Going for the smoker rather than the kamado as it feels like I learn more. 

6 minutes ago, Stu said:

is that a special bundle? i didnt see that when i was ordering,  have you factored in the VAT as i got hit for that on delivery (seems most do) and then a royaal mail handing charge which was near double that again. £6 VAT and £8 RM charge after i just checked.

after using it a handful of times I have to say i'm not 100% convinced i needed it, and its not fool proof, during this weekends cook with a temp of 230c set it actually dropped to 201 when it was raining a little. i know this will test its capabilities but it never managed to pump in enough air to get it back up, i had to shut it off, and open all the vents to allow it to work, I was restricting the airflow with the lever ball about 50% probably so clearly hamperig its abiity but no more than you will be with the spee controller.

Not a deal, a friend of a friend is selling their kit. Comes with the kamado adapter which almost seems pointless to me as those things are ridiculously solid when it comes to holding temps. In not really buying it to use now but when I finally get around to doing brisket, I think it will come in handy. Wouldn't be using it on my kamado rather my Fornetto Razzo 22.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but would you say this is a worthwhile purchase for 90 quid delivered? Comes with a large battery pack, spare probe and additional speed controller.

Cheers

Thanks for the welcome, guys. She turned up today but I've not had a chance to evaluate her properly yet. Did a two hour burn in at 300, will do another one tomorrow whilst I'm doing a leg of lamb on the monolith. Will be doing some ribs on the Fornetto on Sunday, with a bit of luck.

Hey everybody, it's good to find an active UK based smoking forum. Only started smoking a few months ago and it's been a step learning curve.

My dad gave me his old barbie, a char-griller smokin' outlaw and that was it. First attempt actually went pretty well, despite leaks everywhere, second was a bit better after a few seals, 3rd was worse, finished mods, 4th was okay, 5th wasn't and then a 6th 2kg butt took 14 hours before I gave up and stuck it in the oven 😄.

Between cooks 2 and 3 I won a monolith kamado junior so have been doing quite a few cooks on that too, pulled lamb being a revelation.

I've decided to stop throwing good money after bad with the smoking outlaw after reading the amazing ribs review and finding it explained a lot, but I still wanted an offset. Came close to getting a cactus Jack on eBay but was outbid at the last moment. With everywhere else being out of stock of my second choice, the Oklahoma Joe longhorn, I today ordered a Fornetto Razzo 22 as they were only 228 on eBay and am looking forward to seeing how vertical smoking works!

Sorry for the essay.