Hello from Swindon..

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Hello from Swindon..

Postby Batch » 09 Dec 2016, 07:58

Hi All,

Just unboxed and "assembled" (OK put the legs on) my new Pro Q Frontier Elite.

I'm now amassing the rest of the equipment I need for a run in burn and first smoking (probably chicken/turkey over Christmas).

Great site, just trying to search out all the information I need, the stuff that will hopefully become second nature sooner or later. Things like "do I leave a probe in the meat at all times and the other dangling in the smoker", and "how the heck do I re-stack the fuel on a long burn without taking the food off the heat"....you know, the things you probably didn't even think people needed to ask :)

I guess December/January isn't the normal time to start with smoking, but other than temperature/fuel consumption concerns the only difference to May is you drink your beer in the house rather than on the patio, right ?!

Batch (Simon)
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby Tiny » 10 Dec 2016, 18:25

Welcome,
I would leave the probe in the meat and would put the pit probe through a cork and then sit it on the grill so it is monitoring the grill temp. If you buy good quality charcoal like heat beads you should be able to go for a full long cook without topping up.......go well..
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby Batch » 10 Dec 2016, 19:50

Thanks!
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby derekmiller » 12 Dec 2016, 13:27

No you still drink outside!!
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby Grumpy Jonze » 13 Dec 2016, 10:49

Hi, and welcome! I'm a big fan of smoking all year round - good way to get some practice cooks in before the summer bbq season.

I've got the same pro q as you and have found that on long cooks (18 hour pulled pork springs to mind), I had to refuel twice, and clear away the ash from some bog standard homebase briquettes. If you need to do it, my advice is -

- Get a full load of briquettes going in a chimney starter. When they're ready..
- Shut the top vent, unclip the bottom stacker from the base, and lift the whole tower off and place down nearby.
- Tip any excess ash into a metal bucket, add the fuel from the starter into the fire basket and set up a minion method again (or whatever you're going for).
- Pop the stackers back on, open the top vent, and off you go again.

Should be back up to temp within half an hour. Then leave it for a good few hours to settle.

So long as you've got the time to do a long cook you can afford a bit of faffing like this. However, once I'm through my stash of barbequick briquettes (not brilliant) I'm switching to Heat Beads. Much better.

Enjoy!
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby Batch » 14 Dec 2016, 20:07

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby TheHowster » 14 Dec 2016, 20:55

Grumpy Jonze wrote:Hi, and welcome! I'm a big fan of smoking all year round - good way to get some practice cooks in before the summer bbq season.

I've got the same pro q as you and have found that on long cooks (18 hour pulled pork springs to mind), I had to refuel twice, and clear away the ash from some bog standard homebase briquettes. If you need to do it, my advice is -

- Get a full load of briquettes going in a chimney starter. When they're ready..
- Shut the top vent, unclip the bottom stacker from the base, and lift the whole tower off and place down nearby.
- Tip any excess ash into a metal bucket, add the fuel from the starter into the fire basket and set up a minion method again (or whatever you're going for).
- Pop the stackers back on, open the top vent, and off you go again.

Should be back up to temp within half an hour. Then leave it for a good few hours to settle.

So long as you've got the time to do a long cook you can afford a bit of faffing like this. However, once I'm through my stash of barbequick briquettes (not brilliant) I'm switching to Heat Beads. Much better.

Enjoy!


I have the pro-q frontier elite and have been cooking on it for around 18 months or so now.

My first tip would be to stay clear of cheap briquettes. If you want cheap fuel stick with lumpwood and regular refuels, lumpwood is much harder to fill with rubbish than briquettes.

If you want a long cook like 18 hours it is possible without refueling but you will need to set up a good snake of quality briquettes and it would need to be a fairly warm and sunny day with little wind. I've tried most briquettes and the best are heat beads, followed by Nature coco briquettes. Weber used to be OK (except for the sulfury ash) but I'm not impressed with the new ones. You also need to keep your water pan empty, either just foiling and learning to dial in the vents to keep a constant temperature or put a large cermanic plate in the water pan prior to foiling to act as a heat sink. Not using water in the pan will help with bark formation and is one less thing to reload.

Whenever a refuel is needed I always just re-extend my snake from the last few burning coals, usually over where the previous ones have turned to ash. This way no chimney is needed as the old coals just ignite the new. Another benefit to lumpwood or good briquettes is you won't need to clear out ash until you are finished as they don't produce half as much as the cheap briquettes.

It's recommended that you use the bottom vents to learn to control temp, leaving the top one fully open. I found I wasted a lot of time learning this way and now use the top as much if not more than the bottom. The top vent gives much better control, keeps things more stable once set and is easier to adjust when needed. Set up with a ceramic dish in the water pan, a decent snake of heat beads, half a weber portable chimney starter full of lit heat beads to start things off and all the vents at about half (including the top), the temps will rise then stick to between 225 and 250f smoothly.

A final tip, make sure you bury any chunks of wood within the charcoal/briquette snake. This way you get that sweet tasting thin blue smoke that gives the best flavour and penetration. When on top of the coals it tends toward the thick white acrid smoke. I'm not sure why but I guess it has something to do with the smoke passing through the combusting coals as it rises.
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby Batch » 18 Dec 2016, 11:00

Great advice, thanks
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby Batch » 02 Feb 2017, 21:48

Well it's been a month or so. Thanks for the advice.

I started by smoking a chicken beer can method (good). Eating pink chicken feels wrong (smoke ring)

Moved in to pulled pork (needs some work on flavour, was good heated up with Apple juice).

Did some pulled lamb, delicious, didn't last the evening. A whole shoulder....

Things I've learnt:
- however long you think it'll take, it'll probably take longer
- there is no such thing as leftovers. Whatever spare you think you'll have, you won't
- most bbq websites talk about meat in American cuts. The small sample of British butchers I've asked looked somewhat confused but seemed happy to give it a go..
- Aussie heat beads are great, but can take a bit to light in the chimney. Lumpwood lights under a lightbulb in comparison!
-packer brisket are more expensive than I thought, and I'm going to leave that for a bit for fear of messing up
- I've no idea what I'm doing heat control wise. Minion method seems good 230-250c, no idea how you'd get hotter.. Through better airflow ?
-in not sure I've got the wood aspect right yet!
- everybody nags you to come around next time you cook :)
- most importantly, even though a complete novice, you can make pretty nice BBQ food!!!


Edit: oh yeah, the local smokehouse do a BBQ course, booked on to that in April :) (the hare in Cirencester, recommend a visit of in the area)
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Re: Hello from Swindon..

Postby TakingtheBrisket » 03 Feb 2017, 23:21

A better course is Bunch of Swines (ed & em are from swidon) They are one of the best teams in europe. Look at bbq gourmet website for details
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