BARDSLJR

The rest of the story to come later.

I got it all set up with the app and such yesterday. I will be cooking a 20-lb brisket, so I am estimating an 18-hour or more cook, starting at 275* and going up to 300 for the wrap. First impression- I had been using the BBQ, which was really easy to use- this is a bit more complicated and not as intuitive. Also, this is much better built than the Guru, which I had issues with. I could, like my Dad, say "this is built like a brick S***house!", but I'll just say it is built to military-grade spec. Very impressive.

Planning on it. This brisket is a monster.....This evening I plan to trim, slather, salt-and pepper, bring it to room temperature, preheat the KK to at least the high 100s, put the brisket in around 10 PM. First time using the Fireboard controller....wish me luck!

So this is actually excellent, and somewhat similar to other thoughts I have had about the difference between cooking on a 500-1,000 gallon fashioned firebox-style smoker as opposed to the Kamado. In the KK, you don't dry the meat out from the air flow, but neither do you get as much smoke per sq.inch moving across your meat. GREAT tip on the 275*, though, it makes total sense. Thanks SO much !

Posting this in a different format hoping for more response. My wife brought me home a 20 lb prime brisket from Costco. I've never seen, much less cooked one. Aaron Franklin gives guidelines for cooking a 12-lb brisket in 12 hours. Does this scale? Should mine take 20 hours???? Any input as to temps and times welcome. Also, using Fireboard for first time: tips? Anything I should know? Jim

That is a good point. I have thought frequently that the difference between the 1,000 gal propane tank/ firebox style smoker that most of the Austin type bbq masters use, and us, is that those large offset smokers rely on a lot of fuel to be consumed, a lot of smoke to be generated, and a lot of turbulent air passing over the meat: with our KK smokers, we have wonderful consistency of temperature, but we have to choke down the air flow to keep the temperature within the desired range. also, I will be using my new Fireboard2 for the first time, instead of the BBQGuru.

Sorry 'bout that, I should have rotated it,but you can still read it, right?

My wife returned from Costco today with, as requested by me, a prime brisket. But a HUGE prime brisket, 20 lbs! (see photo). I've never seen a brisket this big before, much less cooked one. Mine in the past have run 12-16 lbs or so. So.....in his guidelines, Aaron Franklin recommends starting out a 12lb brisket at 255, and then going through a few other escalating stages to finish it, wrapped, at 300, in 12 hours. Does the 1lb/hour ratio hold through for this mammoth brisket? Does anyone else have any weight/time ratio guidelines or recommendations? BTW, not the cost: six months ago, they were $2.69 or $2.99 /lb.....I'm just sayin'....

True, but I will probably just do what I have been doing with the BBQ Guru, run an extension cord over to the KK and plug it in from there. Mar 18, 2022, 2:56 PM CDT

I wrote the nice people at Fireboard and got this response back within an hour: Alex Hurtado (FireBoard) Mar 18, 2022, 2:56 PM CDT Hi James, Thank you for your question! The battery by itself will not be enough to power the fan for a cook that long, you will need to keep the FireBoard plugged in with the supplied charger. Also, while we know that other fans will work with FireBoard, we do not do any sort of tests with them, just our own drive blower so we cannot verify or confirm any specific functionality, etc. Thanks, Alex FireBoard Labs

I am giving up on BBQ Guru and replacing it with Fireboard 2: long story that I will get into tomorrow. In the meantime, let me verify with the gang again: The Fireboard 2 works off a battery charge. The BBQ Guru works off a direct electric connection. The Fireboard will have enough juice to power itself AND the fan through a good 16-18 hour cook? Please reassure me....

Bill, I think they may end up in some green chili stew, a staple dish here in Denver, where the temps are warming and sun is finally out again.....

So...my wife came home with two packages of pork loins (two each) and requested that I smoke them. I didn't want to fire up the smoker just for the loins so went looking for some other decent pork on sale to throw in with them. No ribs (I refuse to pay $4.99 /lb for babyback or spare ribs) but I did score a nice pork shoulder on sale, so there was that. Then I started thinking about adding in some thick-cut bologna, as I remembered some members here, or perhaps on the shows I watch, talking about smoking bologna. It sounded good to me.... But finding a whole role of bologna, uncut, is part of the challenge. I remember when I was growing up we could get them in the grocery store- no more. I had to go to the deli section and ask the counter person for a foot of bologna, unsliced, so which I got a curious look and explained that I was going to take it home, cut it in thick, 3/4" slices, and smoke them. More curious looks. And oh, that 1' of bologna was almost $15. So- as you see from the attached photos- the pork shoulder and loin went in together at 275*, and I wrapped the loins after two hours and proceeded with them. I added the bologna and smoked it for about an hour. The bologna turned out EXCELLENT- kind of like the very best hot dog you ever had- and we had the loin for dinner. My wife commented that it had good smoke, but was a little dry and overcooked- even though it had spent the last couple of hours in foil. "It shouldn't be", I said, "pork gets cooked to 203* and that is just what it was." She fiddles on her cell phone, summoning information from Google. "Nope, she says, "pork loin is 145 to 160." Oh-my-holy-hell....she's right. What kind of brain fart was I having? SHOULDER is 203*....not LOIN. OOPSIE...... Anyway, as you can see, the shoulder turned out good, as usual- I think it is a pretty forgiving cut- and the bologna was excellent. I've Google'd some local sources now where I can procure a whole roll of bologna and not pay the price of good fiilet mignon for it, so it's all good. Live and learn. Or live and remember to check your temperature target before you start cooking, if you haven't cooked that particular cut for a while.

I'm in Denver.

Tony B: what happened is that in the BBQ Guru the probe connects into the control unit through a sleeve, and that sleeve came loose and is rattling around inside the chassis of the control unit- so the meat probe can't connect. Other than that, my issues with BBQ Guru are minor: the blue-tooth connectivity could be be stronger and have better range; and occasionally I can't get the temp setting to update when I change it- some buggy software issues like that. But overall, I think the BBQ Guru is a good investment, and a real god-send when you are doing long cooks like brisket or shoulder.

Cool, this is very promising. BTW, will be down there in your neck of the woods for the Festivale Internationale later in April.

Okay, just to verify: the BBQ Guru fan and connecting cable are compatible for use with the Fireboard 2 Pro? BTW, I agree with David about the Thermoworks products- in my experience, very high quality. I have given away the Thermoworks pen probe so much that I've accidently sent friends/family doubles!

So, I have a 32" KK and my BBQ Guru has lost its meat temp probe. Not life-shaking, but I wonder what other members' experience with temp/smoke controllers like BBQ Guru is, whether there are some that are more reliable than others, have better bluetooth connectivity, etc. Simply put, if you had to replace a BBQ Guru, what would you go with?

Tony- jury is out on the wisdom of using the Ghost Pepper. Probably make sandwiches or tacos with the pork tomorrow night, will report then.

Well, I am in Denver, so not close- but my best friend Lee lived there (near Lafayette General) until two years ago when they moved to Baton Rouge, and I used to come down every year for Festivale Internationale. This photo is great. We can't get bread like that up here.

Poochie (from one of my favorite places in the world, Lafayette! How are things at the Old Tyme Grocery?) Yes, boneless, Costco's finest.

PS- I cooled the pork shoulders, cut them in half, and vacuum sealed them. One will be used this weekend, probably reheat it using the sous vide, then pull it for sandwiches and tacos. I can report then whether the Ghost Pepper was a good idea or not. I am pretty sure my wife will not think so. The other half of the shoulder goes into the chest freezer for future use.

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I would share my latest progression on these two projects, for what it's worth: first, as to the pork shoulder: had a very nice cook yesterday, doing both the pork shoulder, which went on the smoker about 9AM, and the spare ribs, which went on at 12, in the 265-275 range. I used a light mustard slather on the shoulders, followed by a light dusting of Dizzy Pig Ghost Pepper rub (I wanted to add a little kick to the bark) and a heavier dusting of Dizzy Pig Red Eye Express. Next, for both the spare ribs and the shoulder, I have been trying to find a way to get a bit more smoke into the meat: one of the challenges, I think, for using the KK is that the smokers are so dang thermally efficient, that one has to greatly restrict the air flow in order to keep the temperature properly regulated: kind of the opposite of the large 1,000 gallon propane tank type smokers that are so popular in Austin- where the pitmasters talk about the airflow and "turbulence". For those type smokers, I think a lot more smoker passes over the surface of the meat. So what to do, if I am looking for a smokier result? I switched from my typical wood- apple or apple and other fruitwoods- and this time used 100% hickory, which has a stronger and more pronounced flavor. BINGO. We had some spare ribs for dinner last night and they were much improved, with a more pronounced smoky flavor. So, each to his own, (te gustibus!) , but I do like this hickory or using it in combination. I might give mesquite a try too- previously I have only used it for searing, but I have read that it is quite different when used for smoking only. Stay tuned. I generally use Dizzy Big Dizzy Dust (their original rub) for my ribs, and continued to do so. I have typically used a 2/1/1 (babyback) or 4/1/1 (spare ribs) approach. For both of these recipes, an hour cooked wrapped is followed by a final hour unwrapped. The last two time, I have left the riibs wrapped for the final hour-greatly improved moisture and tenderness for the ribs. I usually spritz heavily with a 50/50 apple juice/water combination. I have also, the last two or three times, tried a variation in technique, and placed the ribs MEAT SIDE DOWN in the foil when it is wrapped, and cooked them meat side down (meat side up for the first two or three hours in the smoker). I've found that this helps greatly for nice moist , "floppy" results for the ribs. Also, the last two times, I've put a light sprinkle of brown sugar in the foil for the wrap, which leaves the ribs with a nicely caramalized finish. Yesterday I also added a light sprinkle of Togarishi blend spice- a nice Japanese chili blend good for finishing. The results were, according toy wife and worst critic, excellent (I thought so, too). So here are photos of the pork shoulder with slather, then with the Dizzy Pig rubs, the completed shoulders (nice bark!), the completed ribs (yum!) and the spices used.

Greetings from sunny, snowy Denver. Those are lovely photos, and your layout in the garden is just perfect. I guess you won't have to worry about theft!