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Rusty Kettle

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Can't wait to get there and hope we learn a lot and can fix some of our issues. We will see though. Just got to take lots of notes. Hopefully this class is worth the drive. I think it will be as her videos are always awesome. It's going to be a great day. A long day darn right but totally worth it. Definitely excited to be there. My wife is even going with me so hopefully can get her more into bbq. I think she may be coming around.
 
Give Danielle a big hug from Captain Ron!

Well, OK, that may be a bit awkward. Just tell her I said hi! :-D
 
Just got done. She asked us not to post pics of the boxes or anything like that which is understandable. Take her class. All I am saying is this chit is going to shock the chit out of you. We have some overhauling to do in our cooking program. Two things though I am so glad I brought my wife. Best note taker ever. I totally have trouble getting notes. Two I got myself a couple things 3 Eyez original rub 5 lb bag cause we don't get it home and the book by Bill Gillespie we got it because it was there and I always plan to get it and never get to our local book store. Just to make another point take her class sign up now. Her videos are clearly missing chit which you will find out there. It seriously is going to be oh that is why that farking happens. So take it now. I think if we follow our notes and we just listen to what the program is and follow it we will do a lot better. Although I think there are going to be challenges to transferring it to the 14.5" WSMs. I think we can use most of it and modify the rest to fit our cookers. It was awesome.
 
Rusty Kettle said:
Just got done. She asked us not to post pics of the boxes or anything like that which is understandable. Take her class. All I am saying is this chit is going to shock the chit out of you. We have some overhauling to do in our cooking program. Two things though I am so glad I brought my wife. Best note taker ever. I totally have trouble getting notes. Two I got myself a couple things 3 Eyez original rub 5 lb bag cause we don't get it home and the book by Bill Gillespie we got it because it was there and I always plan to get it and never get to our local book store. Just to make another point take her class sign up now. Her videos are clearly missing chit which you will find out there. It seriously is going to be oh that is why that farking happens. So take it now. I think if we follow our notes and we just listen to what the program is and follow it we will do a lot better. Although I think there are going to be challenges to transferring it to the 14.5" WSMs. I think we can use most of it and modify the rest to fit our cookers. It was awesome.
Click to expand...

Enjoy the book!!!!Thanks for buying it!!!!
 
Smokin Hoggz said:
Enjoy the book!!!!Thanks for buying it!!!!
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Hey I keep thinking about getting it and you know it never hurts to read what someone else is saying. I always feel if I even get one new thing from a book it is worth it. Plus with you being a brethren I figure why not support a fellow brethren. I will give it a read this week when I get some time and maybe stick up a review when I am not sure as my life is always crazy hectic but if I get a chance I will give my thoughts on it.
 
Rusty, have you ever considered picking up at least an 18 wsm or a uds. Maybe even a available pbc. It seems you are determined to cook in comps. Taking classes can help but in the end i feel your cooker will hinder you. Yes yes its the cook not the cooker but such a small unit can pose problems. You could benifit from more capacity and stable temps. It will give you more time to focus on the details, its attention to details that will increase scores where margins are thin. The way i see it one of those three options are the cheapest "competition grade" cookers.
 
smoke ninja said:
Rusty, have you ever considered picking up at least an 18 wsm or a uds. Maybe even a available pbc. It seems you are determined to cook in comps. Taking classes can help but in the end i feel your cooker will hinder you. Yes yes its the cook not the cooker but such a small unit can pose problems. You could benifit from more capacity and stable temps. It will give you more time to focus on the details, its attention to details that will increase scores where margins are thin. The way i see it one of those three options are the cheapest "competition grade" cookers.
Click to expand...

Capacity is easy enough on this I can get 4 racks of ribs on this little guy top rack and about 20 pieces of chicken in the middle rack. Stable temps that's no problem on this cooker. Once you learn it it sits on temp all night long. No fiddling with the vents once it is tuned in. Trust me this little smoker is under rated because most people don't take the time to understand that while it looks like a dwarfed version of the larger WSMs it is not really the same. Two different animals if you ask me. The key managing space and managing the ash by using lump charcoal. Shutting down the lower vents way down to control airflow so that lump burns slow. Even just for a portable vacation smoker I suggest you pick one up. Low fuel consumption is great when the weather is decent. Since I have figured this little smoker out I went and bought another one. Originally I hated this thing with a passion but I was determined to learn to cook on it. I learned it and by far my favorite smoker. I may add an 18.5" WSM next year but for butts and brisket. I can do butts and brisket on the 14.5" but it won't hurt to give myself a little more room. I plan to always cook my chicken and my ribs on the 14.5" as of right now. The 14.5" has a learning curve for sure but once you nail it down you are going to love this little guy. I have a feeling they will get discontinued at some point due to lack of popularity. It really is a great smoker and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It performed so well for us in Lanexa in the backyard event I don't want to switch as we did a lot better. A 7th place ribs out of 21 teams is not bad at all. I am sticking with what has us headed in the right direction. No sense throwing a wrench into the works until the off season at the very least.
 
One other pro for the 14.5" when you wrap your ribs and stack them in top of the smoker it causes the heat to reflect back off the foil and onto the chicken and the middle rack and it sits about 300-325 easily and the top rack is about 275 still which is perfect for ribs and perfect for chicken. I doubt it would happen on an 18.5". I could be wrong but I still really doubt it would work on a larger smoker.
 
smoke ninja said:
Rusty, have you ever considered picking up at least an 18 wsm or a uds. Maybe even a available pbc. It seems you are determined to cook in comps. Taking classes can help but in the end i feel your cooker will hinder you. Yes yes its the cook not the cooker but such a small unit can pose problems. You could benifit from more capacity and stable temps. It will give you more time to focus on the details, its attention to details that will increase scores where margins are thin. The way i see it one of those three options are the cheapest "competition grade" cookers.
Click to expand...

This is good advise to help you on the pro side. We know the 14" is a great cooker but so is the 18"
 
I would like to see a picture of 4 racks of ribs on a rack and 20 pieces of chicken on the other. :crazy:

I can only get 3 racks on a 22" if cooking comp meat. You seem bound to make a 14" work and while it will certainly cook, you are hindering yourself in the comp world.
 
Rusty Kettle said:
Capacity is easy enough on this I can get 4 racks of ribs on this little guy top rack and about 20 pieces of chicken in the middle rack. Stable temps that's no problem on this cooker. Once you learn it it sits on temp all night long. No fiddling with the vents once it is tuned in. Trust me this little smoker is under rated because most people don't take the time to understand that while it looks like a dwarfed version of the larger WSMs it is not really the same. Two different animals if you ask me. The key managing space and managing the ash by using lump charcoal. Shutting down the lower vents way down to control airflow so that lump burns slow. Even just for a portable vacation smoker I suggest you pick one up. Low fuel consumption is great when the weather is decent. Since I have figured this little smoker out I went and bought another one. Originally I hated this thing with a passion but I was determined to learn to cook on it. I learned it and by far my favorite smoker. I may add an 18.5" WSM next year but for butts and brisket. I can do butts and brisket on the 14.5" but it won't hurt to give myself a little more room. I plan to always cook my chicken and my ribs on the 14.5" as of right now. The 14.5" has a learning curve for sure but once you nail it down you are going to love this little guy. I have a feeling they will get discontinued at some point due to lack of popularity. It really is a great smoker and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It performed so well for us in Lanexa in the backyard event I don't want to switch as we did a lot better. A 7th place ribs out of 21 teams is not bad at all. I am sticking with what has us headed in the right direction. No sense throwing a wrench into the works until the off season at the very least.
Click to expand...

I was in the golf business for a lot of years and you remind me of the guys just starting off that just had to play blades because they thought it was cool and the tour pros did it. Visually they look cool and the idea is cool, but the sweet spot to hit the ball perfectly is tiny and made improving so much more difficult because they just wouldn't listen to professional advice telling them they should try something else. If you "mis-hit" a blade by even the tiniest margin you shot will suffer greatly. They wouldn't switch to something with more clubhead room and a larger sweet spot to perform more consistently overall and especially for the "mis-hits".

Maybe not a perfect analogy especially because I'd guess there aren't a ton of golfers here. I'm not going to attempt to tell you to get a larger WSM, but simply going to point out you continue to very very directly (in your own written word) ignore the advice you are getting and say no I don't need to do that (saying maybe next year sounds more like a smoke screen to me). This isn't the first time folks have suggested the larger cookers to make life easier. It is probably the number one thing folks over and over again have mentioned changing (and folks that are way better cookers than I am). You think because you've gotten the 14.5 down timing wise and hit a 7th place backyard call that that means you don't need to improve.

You can't see the forest from the trees and I don't think you will anytime soon. Don't get me wrong as I hope that changes, but there's only so many times you can ignore things before people start taking it the wrong way and go away............

Good luck.
 
JeffR said:
I would like to see a picture of 4 racks of ribs on a rack and 20 pieces of chicken on the other. :crazy:

I can only get 3 racks on a 22" if cooking comp meat. You seem bound to make a 14" work and while it will certainly cook, you are hindering yourself in the comp world.
Click to expand...


Maybe with a rib rack turned up on their side...?
 
J&B'sBBQ said:
Maybe with a rib rack turned up on their side...?
Click to expand...

This is true and I should have clarified further than just saying "competition meat". For me, I want then to lay flat and not take the shape of being curled, touching or uneven cooking. I still don't think 4 in a rack could do that, but I have not tried. Just know I wouldn't want to!
 
I think we are going to upgrade size on the WSM. I am not sure when as we will have to wait as we spent a lot of our bbq budget on the class. I can see how it can be done with the 14.5" but the more I think about it the more I think I want to win and why would I force myself to do this? Even the wife is asking me that now and saying we should just go larger. When we can afford to. Got to wait for the bbq budget to build up. Either that or a used 18.5". I think the 14.5" is probably best for chicken. It works great for chicken I really can see how the 14.5" could do it all. It can do it but then I don't know that I want to modify the process we were taught as it is pure genius. Danielle is way smarter than I ever will be so I want to stick to it as much as possible.
 
JeffR said:
This is true and I should have clarified further than just saying "competition meat". For me, I want then to lay flat and not take the shape of being curled, touching or uneven cooking. I still don't think 4 in a rack could do that, but I have not tried. Just know I wouldn't want to!
Click to expand...

I'm not saying I would do it, yet I was just assessing the feasibility of doing it :mrgreen:. We cook on a Southern Q Limo with 4 full racks, and I fully agree with you that I want my competition ribs to lay flat, so they can get the correct form.
 
Rusty Kettle said:
I think we are going to upgrade size on the WSM. I am not sure when as we will have to wait as we spent a lot of our bbq budget on the class. I can see how it can be done with the 14.5" but the more I think about it the more I think I want to win and why would I force myself to do this? Even the wife is asking me that now and saying we should just go larger. When we can afford to. Got to wait for the bbq budget to build up. Either that or a used 18.5". I think the 14.5" is probably best for chicken. It works great for chicken I really can see how the 14.5" could do it all. It can do it but then I don't know that I want to modify the process we were taught as it is pure genius. Danielle is way smarter than I ever will be so I want to stick to it as much as possible.
Click to expand...

You've mentioned "budget" a few times on here, and everyone's finances are different so please do not take offence to this...but this is a very expensive hobby, so if you want to be "all in" like you appear to want to be, then you need to make sure your budget matches. We did the backyard division for an entire year to ensure that 1) we wanted to do this, 2) to get experience, and 3) to make sure our "budget" would sustain our level of competition. We've made slow methodical moves to improve our team with classes and upgrading of cookers, but we've made a promise to ourselves that we would make sure we did it within OUR constraints. We're in the saving process now to get a trailer or toy hauler, but in the meantime I'm going to continue working with what we have. If it such a struggle for your budget to upgrade the smaller stuff (a $400 investment is small in comparison to the cost of one competition), then you may want to consider the frequency you compete, at what level, and how many classes you invest into. If you're really "all in" and want to go full head in this hobby, then you need to consider what is important for you to spend your budget on and what is not. You also need to realize (as does your wife) that most people do not win enough money to sustain their hobby, so this is really just a big money pit that you'll never gain back.

*Sorry, I know this is way off topic from the OP, but I feel like it needs to be said*
 
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