Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Now summer is approaching what is everyone smoking

Did some more reading and it looks like summertime smoking in a Weber kettle works just fine, although you might have to check on it more frequently. Wintertime is what I'm not so sure about -- the WSM bullet seems to have thicker walls and is reported to work well in the winter while the kettles seem to be iffy for anything except grilling (where you can have a full bed of coals). I think the fact that the WSM can run with a full basket of coals even when smoking might be part of the difference.

I guess the real answer is something like this :

http://www.bbqs.com/cart_admin?func=viewProduct&wid=78&cid=1047&pid=1256

1/4" steel walls, 350 pounds...

That's the bbq I have. I have been using it for about 5 years. Got away from gas grills and never looked back. My parents keep bringing up something about carcinogens from the briquettes but I just dont want to go back to gas.

Every article I read says that the real health dangers come from animal fats at extremely high temperatures, whether those high temperatures come from charcoal or from gas.

"Low and slow" barbecueing and smoking seem to be much less of a risk, unless you REALLY get carried away with the smoke.

I think the Weber kettles are a great value and very versatile. I have smoked everything from turkeys to briskets in a 22.5" Webber, using the indirect method. I don't know that I would pay for the propane starter model.

Thanks... that helped me make the final decision. I ended up going with a 22-1/2" kettle but at the last minute decided to get the Performer with the cart and gas lighter. Here's how I figured it :

22-1/2" gold kettle - 190 CDN
chimney starter - 30 CDN (don't need with Performer)
mod to add a thermometer in lid - 20 CDN (included)
baskets for coals - 30 CDN (included)

I'm already up to $270 CDN, so the extra $130 for a Performer doesn't seem too bad considering you get :

- a nice, really well built cart and work surface
- convenience of not having to take partially burned briquettes out to relight them
- very convenient lid holder
- thermometer already built into lid (no modding)

Everything you get for the $$ is convenience, of course -- it won't cook any differently from a Silver kettle -- but if the convenience lets me use it more often then I figure it's a good investment (carcinogens notwithstanding).

I picked it up after work today and assembled it as soon as I got home.

Tossed on a bag of chicken leg quarters (smear on some jerk seasoning, sear for a few minutes on each side over the coals, then indirect heat over a drip pan for an hour turning every 15 mins), which should be done... now.

Gotta go

EDIT -- Dang, that was good. I guess the charcoal adds a bit of smoke flavour even if you haven't added any smoke wood. The outer part of the chicken had a nice red/pink smoke tinge and the meat was really tasty even though I didn't have time to marinade at all.

Close the vents, charcoal seems to go out. Fire up the gas starter, charcoal gets going again. I like it.

I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

I'm starting to notice that some boards have a set of very specialized smileys. Here's one I found on a site dedicated to the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) cooker, aka the bullet.



We need some good Axiom-specific or HT-specific smileys. Any ideas ?

BTW I'm trying my first "top down burn" aka Minion Method cook on the Weber today. With briquettes a few people have managed to get 13+ hour burns and relatively stable temperatures without having to add fuel. I stuck a couple of firebricks into the Performer to divide it in half, filled one side up with lump charcoal then dropped some lit briquettes on top.

Here's a pic while I was getting it started -- the small pile of coals in front is over the Performer's built-in gas ligher, and the big pile of coals in the back is unlit.



After the small pile of coals got started I dropped them on top of the unlit pile then added foil and drip pan where the small pile of coals was in the picture. Added a water pan over the coals and 3.5 pound pork sirloin over the drip pan and it's been going for a couple of hours at a rock-solid 275F.

I've never used lump charcoal before so I'm guessing I'll only get 5-6 hours before having to refuel. Fingers crossed.

Yeah lump 'coal burns hotter and faster than briquettes. Mass is your friend when it comes to heat regulation. I always have a few bricks here and there in my rig.

I have taken a lot of heat (NPI) for occasionally using water/beer pans instead of dry drip pans when I do my thing. Some of the fellas are real purists about this stuff. While it does cause some contamination due to the vapor trapping smoke particles it really helps with large, lean cuts like whole pork loins.

I know it's been done to death, but not by me.

Beer can chicken and BBQ'ed cabbage :



Both cooked indirect for about 1-1/4 hrs, lid temp 325-350. Chicken was extremely good, but cabbage wasn't quite cooked enough and probably needed another 1/2 hr.

That is my favorite way to cook chicken.