Comp cooking with gas?

[wihint]

Now that we can use gas I can boil my ribs properly

Flame away!

 

[bam]

PITS DON'T WIN PITMASTERS WIN :thumb:

 

[wihint]

Now that we can use gas I can boil my ribs properly

Flame away!

Johnny Triggs, Moe Cashon and Myron Mixon all messaged me privately. Out of respect at their request I will not be bringing my World Champion slaying grey colored boiled topped with a ton of commercial sauce ribs that fall off of the bone. Back to my hole in the desert.

 

[Funtimebbq]

How many accidents occur per year? How many people die or are injured by gas grills and smokers? People already use weed burners to light their fires. Do they need a larger fire extinguisher now? How about inspections? Maybe they should ban weed burners as accidents can happen just as easily with a weed burner.
Propane tanks already get inspected and certified. They get recertified or replaced after 10 years.

I think if they were so dangerous we would hear about tragic deaths every day.

If kcbs bans gas then they should ban stokers and pellet grills as well.

I think what it really comes down to is most of the people that want to continue banning gas are afraid gas smokers will have an unfair advantage with easier temp control when they get started at a lower cost.

Its really people are mad they spent all this money on a better quality pit and now if joe blow wants to they can come in with a gas smoker with better temp control and not spend anywhere near as much money.

I doubt very much its a safety concern. Like my wife said its a status symbol and an exclusitivity thing. If gas is allowed it wont really be all that exclusive anymore or cost prohibitive.

My post did not indicate a pro or con, only that there are safety issues with exploding gas canisters. I cook with WSMs, all of them purchased used. Not very impressive compared to whoever you think is mad about having spent a lot of money on their rigs. For the record, no RV either, just a Ford van, again purchased used. I am guilty of using a Stoker System but it has yet to produce a good product without charcoal and wood as the actual source of heat.
So bring on the gas grills and wait for the first accident to happen. Hope I'm not collateral damage.

 

[Rusty Kettle]

My post did not indicate a pro or con, only that there are safety issues with exploding gas canisters. I cook with WSMs, all of them purchased used. Not very impressive compared to whoever you think is mad about having spent a lot of money on their rigs. For the record, no RV either, just a Ford van, again purchased used. I am guilty of using a Stoker System but it has yet to produce a good product without charcoal and wood as the actual source of heat.
So bring on the gas grills and wait for the first accident to happen. Hope I'm not collateral damage.

Was not meant to be directed at you. Apoligies if it was not well typed. This is a typical argument made when this comes up. I really dont think an accident is likely. Otherwise you would hear about more accidents on the news. I see more pros than cons to allowing gas. I am not really against stokers or pellet grills. I think it would be beneficial to allow gas to get people that don't know if they wanted to get into competition to started on a smaller budget. In the area I live in gas and electric smokers are much more common. My point is when we already have so many people using computer controls what is the difference?
Safety should be a concern but I dont think your going to get exploding propane tanks. All that has to be done imo is check the date the tank was last inspected and take a little dish soap and water and wipe it over the hose. If it is leaking it will bubble. Also, you should smell it if it is leaking.
Anyways again i can see why you would take my comments as directed at you but it was my poor wording. So apologies.
I should have said it differently.
I think the rule banning gas was implemented not because of safety concerns and it was people fearing an unfair advantage of easier temp.control. with stokers and pellet grills there is no advantage. Same for electric smokers it was to easy and now we have stokers and pellet grills. I see no logical argument for banning either.

The only logical conclusion i can come up with is that stokers and pellet grills are expensive and gas and electric smokers are typically cheap. Other than someone spending alot of money and feeling others should have to spend it as well. I dont see the reason behind banning gas or electric smokers. They can regulate temp like a stoker or a pellet grill but a much cheaper.option.
The advantage gas and electric use to have is offset by the availability of stokers and pellet grills.

I dont think it would be difficult to implement a basic safety check.

Will i cook with gas if allowed? Nope. Might keep my sauce hotter by leaving it on when using it. I prefer charcoal and wood flavor. I really don't think anyone can cook a better product with gas or electric. I just think this would get people in my area more interested in barbecue.

 

[ynotfehc]

A gas cooker doesn't have anything to do with costs. I could've spent a bit more on Klose pit and put a gas assist on it, and I did spend 1000s on it. Ole Hickory and Southern Pride are not cheap, but meant to run for 6hrs on 6 sticks of wood using gas. Right now you could pull up with a cheap store bought Brinkman offset if you wanted to for a couple hundred. You can spend 100s or 1000s on a gas, charcoal or electric cooker, start up costs for getting into competitions is not driving this.

 

[lcbateman3]

When I first read this I was against it, but then I started thinking. And I say why not?

I mean really, are we even close to what KCBS started out as? Electronic fan systems to control heat. 12K+ pits, insulated cookers, pellet burning pits, Wagyu Grade Beef, Tech and gadgets galore.

So bring on the gas grills/smokers. In the end, it is still a meat competition. I don't think it really matters what you cook it on, just how you cook it.

**Disclaimer: This is coming from someone who gave up competition BBQ this year just due to the ridiculous amount of money it takes to compete competitively. But still, keeps up with his friends who do**

 

[RumRunner_1492]

I'm all for it. If it expands the number of teams competing why not?

 

[DoctorCueNC]

KCBS just posted about this on their Facebook page, lots of comments coming in fast.

 

[toymaster]

Hadn't heard of it!

I'll gurgle!

If I'm not mistaken The King of the Smoker contest has some of the best teams in the country and they are not allowed any assisted devices like stoker, guru or pellet smokers. That's why I like this contest so much. There should be more of these. I'm old school and low tech (when it comes to BBQ). Maybe they should make gas a separate category like backyard. Then they can graduate to real BBQ with charcoal and wood :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

[kenthanson]

If I'm not mistaken The King of the Smoker contest has some of the best teams in the country and they are not allowed any assisted devices like stoker, guru or pellet smokers. That's why I like this contest so much. There should be more of these. I'm old school and low tech (when it comes to BBQ). Maybe they should make gas a separate category like backyard. Then they can graduate to real BBQ with charcoal and wood :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

In the Facebook post mentioned above kcbs states they hope the change to gas can bring more new teams to ancillary categories, so why not allow gas for those categories and backyard categories.

 

[big brother smoke]

I could care less from a cooking standpoint. My concern is safety. Write this down, someone will be doing an over night cook on a stick burner and their propane will go out and they will try and re-light the thing in the morning and boom. It happens, just read some older threads here. Regulators fail too.

 

[nautique1228]

I love the king of the smoker concept. I would love if at the bigger contest, they had a special "KOS" division/category. Where it was just teams using charcoal/wood no pellets/gurus/propane or whatever else. I'm also surprised there's not more unsanctioned KOS type contest. It would be cool if some of the bigger cooks could organize a contest, 25 teams 1k entry winner take all. You know all the big teams would do it. I think the did something like this in season 1 of BBQ pit masters.

 

[newtwoq]

Doesn't this go directly against the KCBS charter definition of what BBQ is?

""Barbecued meats, such as product labeled 'Beef Barbecue' or 'Barbecued Pork' shall be cooked by the direct action of dry heat resulting from the burning of hard wood or the hot coals therefrom for a sufficient period to assume the usual characteristics of a barbecued article, which include the formation of a brown crust on the surface and the rendering of surface fat. The product may be basted with a sauce during the cooking process. The weight of barbecued meat shall not exceed 70 percent of the weight of the fresh uncooked meat." "

I could care less from a cooking standpoint. My concern is safety. Write this down, someone will be doing an over night cook on a stick burner and their propane will go out and they will try and re-light the thing in the morning and boom. It happens, just read some older threads here. Regulators fail too.

These are the only two reasons I would care.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

Everybody gets a Trophy. That's what is has come to.

 

[kurtsara]

We just did a rib only contest raising money for local veterans I believe we were the only team out of 17 teams using gas. So it is not that common for guys to want to use gas yet.

It had blind judging and a pppular vote also.

 

[4ever3]

If I'm not mistaken The King of the Smoker contest has some of the best teams in the country and they are not allowed any assisted devices like stoker, guru or pellet smokers. That's why I like this contest so much. There should be more of these. I'm old school and low tech (when it comes to BBQ). Maybe they should make gas a separate category like backyard. Then they can graduate to real BBQ with charcoal and wood :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Or a "primitive" class that is only wood and charcoal fired with no electronics of any kind...

 

[Wicked Smoke BBQ]

I'm ok with it. If you really want to stick to old school then KCBS needs to do away with draft controlled smokers, pellet smokers and such along with no wagyu meats, premium pork, no injections, etc. If they can't do this then there shouldn't be any issues with allowing gas smokers.

 

[BoneDaddy's]

Or a "primitive" class that is only wood and charcoal fired with no electronics of any kind...

And no smokers, just open pit, dug by hand

 

[4ever3]

That would separate the men from the boys!