Pellet Smoker (messing about with)

[MrLongbeard]

I'd been after one for years, but Covid kinda put the idea on the back burner as there's no point in having one if you couldn't have folk around to cook for, but then Covid restrictions ended, and these folks https://bbqland.co.uk/ had a decent deal where the smoker was under 700 quid and I 'earnt' points which effectively will give me free fuel (excluding delivery) for the next year at least if not 2 years.

So enter a Pit Boss Navigator 850, it's a big bugger, much taller than a traditional offset smoker, which is nice as it'll save my back.
PXL_20221231_105957511 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

First cook is planned for tommorrow, so I needed to do a burn today to burn off all the oil n crap left over from manufacturing.

Hopper with a token amount of sheep nuts / rabbit food for todays burn
PXL_20221231_105609165.MP by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

Set the temp and let it run
PXL_20221231_105621175 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

First pellets being delivered to the burn pot, which is quite small, you'd not get a balled up fist in there
PXL_20221231_105414159 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

Houston, we have ignition
PXL_20221231_105506972 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

PXL_20221231_105644973.MP by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

Broiler plate closed for smoking
PXL_20221231_105805826 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

And open for searing
PXL_20221231_105801196 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

So far so good, it got up to 145 real degrees Celsius in less than 10 minutes, which is better than the oven in the kitchen, we'll see how it handles when I get some meat on it tommorrow.

[MrLongbeard]

1 pork butt, 1 chicken (control) and 1 rack of ribs, let the cooking commence

PXL_20230101_123223875 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[MrLongbeard]

Note to self, buy another RCD, or put the gazebo up

PXL_20230101_145052547 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[MrLongbeard]

Chicken was disappointing, took on no smoke at all, but still came out moist after 4 hours and tasted as a chicken should.
Ribs were bob on, wee smoke ring, tender and juicy after 6 hours.
Still waiting on the pork, another couple of hours I reckon

[Mr Moofo]

why the lack of smoke ?
Temperature - or the pellets used?

[MrLongbeard]

why the lack of smoke ?
Temperature - or the pellets used?

No idea, temp was low enough, 225 = 250 fahrenheit, under the kitchen lights I can see that's it's picked up some colouring, but it just hasn't taken, next time I'll leave it on the smoke setting for an hour before bumping the temperature up.
It's not a biggie, today was first cook / experimenting and the ribs and pork came out bob on.


After 8 hours I have pulled pork for days.
PXL_20230101_200727638 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

So it's run for 9 hours now, all in, and used about half a bag (4.5kgs) of pellets, which if bought would be around a tenners worth of fuel.

[Count Steer]

Are they a particular sort of pellet? Be interesting to experiment with stuff like 100% hickory. They seem quite focused on the different sorts in the good ol' USA.

[MrLongbeard]

Are they a particular sort of pellet? Be interesting to experiment with stuff like 100% hickory. They seem quite focused on the different sorts in the good ol' USA.

Today was Pit Boss apple pellets https://bbqland.co.uk/collections/pellets , which made sense to me as I was mostly cooking pork
I've got a bag of hickory and a bag of completion blend to try next

[Mr. Dazzle]

What's with the perfect stripe of seasoning on the pork?

[MrLongbeard]

What's with the perfect stripe of seasoning on the pork?

SWMBO dosen't like seasonings on her meat so one half of the rack got left au naturel

[MrLongbeard]

Pork loin for lunch

PXL_20230129_131427219~2 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

PXL_20230129_140140657 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[Count Steer]

Apple wood chips? Do you get much penetration of the smoke flavour or is it mainly a surface thing? Finding this all quite interesting.

[MrLongbeard]

It depends on the meat, the prep, how long it's cooked / smoked for.
This loin you can see where a smoke ring is starting to form, but it was only in for 3 hours so didn't have much of a chance.

Come summer I'll give a brisket a go, see if I can get it near to what I get on a wood smoker
IMG_20180915_162412 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[Count Steer]

I guess the longer you can go the better, so no premium cuts! (Or just use big ones ) Be interested to see the next chick'n experiment. I'd quite like to give it a go but that pork loin would keep us going for a week.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I generally do burgers with smoke too now.

Stoke up the coals good an hot and chuck a couple of wood chunks (not chips) on. Then burgers over the hot coals, lid on, don't peek for 3-4 minutes. Turn 'em over an repeat, then put cheese on for another minute with the lid on if that's your thing. Even in the couple of minutes they're in their the burgers get a 'smoke ring' and taste amazing.

I generally also manually 'smoosh up' burgers a bit now to reduce their radius/increase their thickness over what most shops/butchers have.

[MrLongbeard]

Tea up, in about 5 hours.

PXL_20240713_143121499-EDIT by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[MrLongbeard]

PXL_20240713_163325457-EDIT by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

[MrLongbeard]

OK so beef ribs are added to the list of meats to experiment with, was bloody lovely;

PXL_20240713_192140779 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

note to self, SPG rub (a little OTT) cooked at 250F (comp blend) for 3 hours, spritzed after 2 hours, wrapped for a further 2 hours, took off at 200F internal, need to find a butcher for a rack, Morrison's are a let down..

And you can't go wrong with a pork loin;

PXL_20240713_192244838 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

note to self, Sweet Bones & Butts BBQ Rub, cooked at 250F (comp blend) for 3 hours, spritzed every 30 minutes after 1 hour, wrapped for a further 3 hours, took off at 185F internal

[Pirahna]

I'm just looking at pellet BBQ's, so thank you for the info on here.

[ZRX61]

Be sure to check out Steve Raichlen's books. There's a bunch, I think I have 4 or 5 of them but 2 or 3 will suffice.

Planet BBQ is a great book, also BBQ USA.