Another Darwinite.

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AussieNick
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:58 pm

Another Darwinite.

Post by AussieNick »

New fledgling smoker or deliciousness here from Darwin.

Been uming and ahing about a smoker for awhile, for my wife and a bunch of mates pitched in for my 30th and gifted me a Pro Q Elite.

so far i've had 2 unsuccessful cooks (issues getting temps stable and remaining at cooking temps) but believe I may have naild the issue to an inefficient charcoal basket arrangement.

Looking forward to bugging the forums for tips, tricks, recipes and generally chatting with like minded peoples.
Davo
Forum Administrator
Posts: 5330
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: Another Darwinite.

Post by Davo »

Hi Aussie Nick,

Yeah with the Pro-Q, being a water smoker, I found the best arrangement for low n slow is the Minion Method (named after American BBQ Champ Jim Minion) You 3/4 fill up the clarcoal basket with UNLIT coals, bury some smoking wood of choice in amongst the UNLIT coals, dump a full charcoal starter (chimney ) of LIT coals ontop of the UNLIT coals.
The idea behind this is it takes longer for the coals to burn down as apposed to up.

You then assemble the smoker including waterpan, fill up with hot water from tap, then put on the all the grates and lid on...no food yet,you have to allow the smoker to settle first.

When the lid temp guage gets to about 200F....shut down the bottom vents fully and the top one too until the guage stops going up...then open the bottom vents to about 1/3rd open and top all the way open...the temp should stabilise around the 225-250F mark.

note: your lid temp guage should show both F and C measurements...we generally work off the F for smoker temp as that's how the Yanks do it and it's kind of traditional.

Throw in some more smoking chunks ontop of fire through the side door panel.

Wait till the smoke is justa fine blue wisp coming out the top...this all should take up to an hour to get ready before the food gets on the smoker. You will learn to shorten that time as you get more acustomed to the way it performs.


Now it's time to place the meat on the smoker....keep in mind that the water acts as a heat sink to keep the temps low n stable, but so does the meat untill it gets up to a certain temp....so if you feel your smoker isn't getting up there in temp...it could also be the meat causing this...don't stress.


Have fun with it....they are a forgiving cooker...even mistakes are highly edible :lol:

Cheers

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
Weber Performer Kettle
Weber WSM 18.5
AussieNick
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:58 pm

Re: Another Darwinite.

Post by AussieNick »

Cheers Davo,

I ran a brisket through it last night, that, despite the yoyoing temps had a decent smoke ring. Was a bit on the tougher side but still tasty.

I've just fired it up again. I have a feeling that I didn't put enough coals into the basket so it didn't really take.

Plan today, filed the basket alot more, while leaving a centre hole for the chimney load. Then basically what you've said, Assemble it, close it up once it gets to that 200F mark, then fiddle with the bottom vents till I get it sitting around that 203F-250F mark like you've said then go from there.

Chicken today, so keen to see how it goes.
Davo
Forum Administrator
Posts: 5330
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: Another Darwinite.

Post by Davo »

Brisket needs to hit an internal temp of around 203F or around 95C just below boiling....it's when you can slide a skewer in the meat and it feels like melted butter....you keep wrapped for another 2-3 hours and placed in a dry esky or somewhere. I use a lot of newspaper to wrap rather than old towels.

Cheers

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
Weber Performer Kettle
Weber WSM 18.5
AussieNick
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2018 4:58 pm

Re: Another Darwinite.

Post by AussieNick »

Ironically i've just read that else where haha.

Happy to report your suggestion has worked in getting the temps up. Using Samba Charcoal from bunnings i've gotten stable temps for 2 and a bit hours before the coals started to burn out (small peices) but a quick top up and it was raring again.

Up here i've have to have all 3 bottom vents about 3/4 the way open to hold 230F, then all the way open when I topped up the basket.
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