270 smoker question

[wmarkw]

Check your local costco. The two by my area have whole pork bellys for about $3-$4/lb

My costco now carries the Belly as well; I think price was right around $2.89-$3/lb. Now if i can get them to carry the Prime Packers that would make me a happy man.........

 

[wmarkw]

I have had my standard for a while now and still can not get it to lock in without putting water in it, especially if you do not have anything in it, I was trying to just burn some charcoal to see how long it would take to come up to temp and where it would settle, any suggestions?

Well i've never tried running it w/o water and the directions say to use the water and i use the water. My 270 takes a good 45 minutes to get up to temp and thats using a 1/2 full chimney of lit. Use a full chimney if you want to get there faster.

 

[KevinJ]

Thanks guys for the Costco suggestion, unfortunately the closest Costco to me is in Mobile, AL.

I talked to Stephany West the owner of 270 Smokers and she told me for best results and achieving stable temperatures use a water pan. She took a lot of time discussing the 270, very patient with my questions and informative, wmarkw has been helpful as well, I don't use water in my WSM but if I purchase a 270 I'll start.

 

[Fsonicsmith]

I've done four cooks on my 270 Standard so far.
Prior to this, I used a cheap New Braunfels stick burner for years and then more recently a BGE XL with DigiQ.
It seems to me that the 270 is easy to use but be aware that is has a relatively narrow window of cooking temps. In fact, I don't think it is a stretch to say that it basically "wants" to cook at it's own temp most times. Once you shut down the rear vent so that the open end of the "V" meets the edge of the vent frame and have the cap on in either position, it is going to settle in at around 250-270 assuming a large water pan filled with water. You really don't have much control over the top vent as you do with a BGE and the daisywheel and I suspect this is the way it needs to be with this design.
It cooks faster than my BGE. Ribs that would normally take 3.5 hours on my BGE are done in less than 3. Brisket that would take 14 hours on the BGE is done in 8 hours max on the 270.
I am happy. I am still working on getting my technique down with it. It is so much easier to clean up afterwards than the BGE (no fiddling with a platesetter, easier spent ash removal), and getting things going is also easier than a BGE imho (getting the fire started the right way on a BGE for a long smoke is an art form in and of itself).
The birds below were from my second cook. I used sweet cherry sourced from Fruitawood.com

 

[KevinJ]

Those are some good looking Birds.

 

[Red Valley BBQ]

It seems to me that the 270 is easy to use but be aware that is has a relatively narrow window of cooking temps. In fact, I don't think it is a stretch to say that it basically "wants" to cook at it's own temp most times. Once you shut down the rear vent so that the open end of the "V" meets the edge of the vent frame and have the cap on in either position, it is going to settle in at around 250-270 assuming a large water pan filled with water.

I find that setting the rear vent as pictured below, the 270 will settle into the 235-245 range with the chimney cap set to vent from the rear chimney at wide open. This is where I set it for "low and slow."

 

[Fsonicsmith]

Red Valley, mine is missing that big red circular piece in the middle of the sliding vent cover. I figured I was missing something-the threaded rod looked nekid and un-finished. Does it serve any functional purpose? I bought mine from Mason-Dixon/Eric in the middle of the Open House. Things got kind of mixed up though i loved the event anyway.

 

[Red Valley BBQ]

It is essentially just a decorative knob for adjusting the vent. Have you contacted Eric about it? Or maybe Stephanie at 270? I'm sure either one of them could get you one.