Commander Cody wrote:now for the lesson fellow bbq freaks............. ........
there is the method.
i used a alayer of heat beads 2/3 the way around, then layed another 1 in front of, then a layer on top of them with pecan chunks on top of that.
i used my can in the weber bead starter with 12 heat beads, lit with 2 firelighters, when all were lit i put these in front of the unlit snake of fuel. then put those pans in the middle of them....the vents were fully open. at this time
next the fun part..............food
now...........enjoy the photos while i write the story of this most wonderful result
ok,
now you have to believe me on this................this was a ten hour cook...............as you can see there was fuel left. i reckon maybe enough for up to 2hrs more going by the amount used for 10hrs.
notice the water in photo 4..??.. well i took this out because it was just toooo much of a heat sink. it was taking way to long to get up to temp. and being as how i injected some strongbow fused with fresh ginger, chili oil and lime juice, i thought that there is no way this belly was going to dry out..............and it was all good....
when the top temp was reading around 220f i closed the bottom to 3/4 closed and 1/2 open on the top. the temp started to drop, if you notice my tell true beside chris's duel reader, it was only 15c with a bit of a stiff breeze blowin'. so i fully opened the vents, they stayed trued around 200f>>>>>225f................no further adjustment needed.......
into the 6th hour or so i noticed that the duel reader was climbing in temp (oven ) pretty quick, and the top therm was holding steady on 220f, WTF.. .. this is weard, i though to myself, so i wh=ent and got some thinking juice. ( james to the rescue again )
i was sitting there with my contemplative brew trying to work why this thing was climbing around the 350f mark and the top was holding true.... ....when i suddenly remembered the lay of the heat beads, and the positioning of the probe....i put the probe, which i thought at the time was away from the fuel..........well it was at the beginning......but it had snaked it's way directly under the probe. there was my answer...so i turned the belly around 180*. did the job, things settled back pretty quick. i took the internal up to 165f, then tented it with foil for 30mins. i kid yoes not this was probably amongst the top 3 bellies i have done...........i closed up all vents, and the last photo shows what was left.
give this a go i promise you will get wonderful results.
just one thing, but, i had my vents fully open due to temps and wind.....trying the 3/4......1/2 might be better, but, you al know your fire control, hey.
hope this has opened your eyes to a new possibility.
kevin