primo xl oval

[syf350]

Originally Posted by xXBUDXx

Using a smoker is like voodoo to me. I have no clue how to do it correctly.

My first time. Had no clue either. Guys here have helped a bunch and other forms have tons of info.

Got the automatic fan thing to keep temps stable and it has been dead in for 13 hours now. Hardest part last night was standing in the cold watching it with the beer inside.

[xXBUDXx]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

They're actually very forgiving. Not hard at all to use.

I had a Brinkman years ago and I battled with that thing for two years before I gave it away.

Temperature regulation was impossible for me to master.

[Sea Six]

Originally Posted by xXBUDXx

I had a Brinkman years ago and I battled with that thing for two years before I gave it away.

Temperature regulation was impossible for me to master.

Oh.

I meant the ceramic grills are very easy to use.

[Sea Six]

Originally Posted by syf350

My first time. Had no clue either. Guys here have helped a bunch and other forms have tons of info.

Got the automatic fan thing to keep temps stable and it has been dead in for 13 hours now. Hardest part last night was standing in the cold watching it with the beer inside.

What's dead? Do you mean the coals are going out? Or the fan thing has stopped working?

[syf350]

Typo...meant dead on. Temp has stayed exactly at 231 all night. At least every time I checked on it.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

What's dead? Do you mean the coals are going out? Or the fan thing has stopped working?

No, he means the pit temperature is dead-on where he has it set.

syf350, the insides of your grill are way too white! Oh, and the pork butts are done when they hit about 195-200 internal but some people take them off as early as 190. I don't.

[Sea Six]

Grammar: it's the difference between "let's eat, Grandma!" and "let's eat Grandma!"

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by syf350

Typo...meant dead on. Temp has stayed exactly at 231 all night. At least every time I checked on it.

That's a great temp for butts. Did you score any wood before you put them on?

[xXBUDXx]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

Grammar: it's the difference between "let's eat, Grandma!" and "let's eat Grandma!"

I wouldn't know how to cook her.

[Sea Six]

Originally Posted by xXBUDXx

I wouldn't know how to cook her.

Eat her raw!

[syf350]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

That's a great temp for butts. Did you score any wood before you put them on?

No. Didn't really try to hard. We have had some friends smokes before with big thick smoke rings etc and we're just not big into heavy smoke flavor. Don't think we'll miss it. But we'll definitely try it in the future.

From all I have read on the primo forum, plan is to pull them off at 200. Thanks again for all your help, and sea, and Dixie, and...

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by xXBUDXx

I had a Brinkman years ago and I battled with that thing for two years before I gave it away.

Temperature regulation was impossible for me to master.

Those cheap smokers just run at whatever temp they want to run at. I actually made a few decent things with an old electric tin can smoker. I'd put it like this. Imagine you are going to work on your car's engine. In box A you have a pair of channel locks and a 18-piece 1/4" drive socket set. In box B you have a full set of Snap-On mechanics tools in a nice big red tool box.

You had box A, syf350 has box B.

[xXBUDXx]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

Those cheap smokers just run at whatever temp they want to run at. I actually made a few decent things with an old electric tin can smoker. I'd put it like this. Imagine you are going to work on your car's engine. In box A you have a pair of channel locks and a 18-piece 1/4" drive socket set. In box B you have a full set of Snap-On mechanics tools in a nice big red tool box.

You had box A, syf350 has box B.

That makes sense.

[Cybercowboy]

syf350, if you are leery of heavy smoke, get some apple wood chunks and maybe some pecan and/or cherry chunks. Those are very light tasting and you will not be over-smoking anything with those woods. Pork butts and briskets can take pretty much all the smoke you and throw at them. A lot of that "over-smoked" taste you get from commercial smoked meats comes from their use of liquid smoke and other cheesy gimmicks, including over-use of mesquite wood. That said, my favorite all-around wood to use for smoking is hickory.

[syf350]

And now I'm getting impatient, lol. Resisting the urge to crank it up for the final ten degrees.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by syf350

And now I'm getting impatient, lol. Resisting the urge to crank it up for the final ten degrees.

You can do that no problem. I wouldn't go past 275 though. However, you do need to let those bad boys sit for at least 30 minutes (no need to cover them) before you pull the meat or you will burn your little hands off.

One thing about the Digi-Q. When raising the pit temp, do it in small increments (about 10 or 15 degrees) and let it stabilize before going up more. If you just tell it to go up to 275 from 230, it will overshoot most likely. At least that has been my experience.

[syf350]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

You can do that no problem. I wouldn't go past 275 though. However, you do need to let those bad boys sit for at least 30 minutes (no need to cover them) before you pull the meat or you will burn your little hands off.

One thing about the Digi-Q. When raising the pit temp, do it in small increments (about 10 or 15 degrees) and let it stabilize before going up more. If you just tell it to go up to 275 from 230, it will overshoot most likely. At least that has been my experience.

I'm being good. It's at 195 now, I can wait another hour.

Thought I needed to foil and towel them in a cooler for a couple hours?

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by syf350

I'm being good. It's at 195 now, I can wait another hour.

Thought I needed to foil and towel them in a cooler for a couple hours?

You only need to foil/towel them if you want them to hold until dinner time. If you just want to eat ASAP just set them on a tray and let them rest uncovered for about 30-45 minutes and then pull them. As long as they rest at least 30 minutes the juices will have a chance to stabilize and you're good to go. They will be damn hot after 30 minutes, trust me.

I'd suggest wearing food-safe gloves, the heavier the better. My wife buys me thin latex gloves in a hundred-count box, I use the heck out of them. Makes handling chicken and other stuff a lot easier and you're not constantly having to wash your hands, just throw them in the trash after rubbing stuff all over raw meat. Plus it helps your hands from smelling like garlic or whatever else you rubbed on the meat, or staining them red from paprika or whatever.

[syf350]

Cool. That will make the company happy. Told them they'd have to wait a couple hours after I pulled them.

[Cybercowboy]

One more thing I like to do with pulled pork. I mix up 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar with a 1/2 tsp of kosher salt and 1 tsp cayenne pepper (per butt) and after I pull the meat into shreds I sprinkle that mixture over the meat. The acid really wakes up the flavor of the pork I think. You can use less or more cayenne of course. It's not going to make it spicy really because we're talking about 7 or so pounds of meat per butt.