One thing you can try is using a trowel to load the coals into the bottom of
the smoker. Don't drop the hot coals on your feet. Bad idea.
Switch to a smaller chimney. It sounds like your smoker is one chamber, so you
therefore should not need as much charcoal as an offset smoker.
I personally do not trust those pellet smokers. They always smell acrid and I
don't know what's really in those pellets. I know they say those things are
perfectly safe, but who really is saying that. The manufacturers of course.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Rawlings" <twosocks76@xxxxxxx>
To: <blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 06:44:55 -0800
Subject: [blindcooks] Re: Cooking with charcoal
Rob:
I am mostly on board with you on your rants. I agree; the food doesn't
much care about a 30 or 40-degree difference. I also agree the process
should be fairly simple. I'm also on board with you regarding most you tube
channels. Nearly all the cooking-related stuff on YouTube is crap! Most
of them take far too long to tell you what you need to know in a much
shorter time, and most don't really empart much useful info even if you have
the patience to wade through it all. This channel, at least so far, is not
your typical youtube channel. The guy gets to the point, and seems to know
his stuff. So far, I like it. No weird ritchuals, expensive equipment,
etc. He's also of the opinion that bbq should be a simple affair.
The kind of temperature difference I'm talking about here is a lot more than
50 degrees. The pork roast saw a temp of around 400-425, while the turkey,
at the peak, never got above 250 at most. As far as the type of smoker,
it's made by Weber, and I think the model is called a smoky mountain,
cooking grates ar e 22 inches in diameter, like a standard kettle grill.
It's what I think is referred to as a verdical smoker. There are three
racks or shelves, with the bottom rack for charcoal, the middle shelf is
where the water pan goes, and the top shelf is for the food. I'd love to
get a pellot smoker grill combo, but money is extra t ight, and I just don't
have $800 plus to run out and buy something I don't actually need in order
to make smoked food. My issue seems to be to figure out how much charcoal I
need to maintain a certain temperature, and knowing how hot the inside of
the smoker is. This particular model I have does have a little door at the
bottom where you can load fresh charcoal, but when I've got fresh lit,
burning hot coals in my chimney starter, it's just not big enough to get it
in there easily. The only other alternative I can think of is to lift off
the top three quarters of the smoker to get to the fire to pour the coals on
and spread them out.
Jon
