DivaQ class

I'll take a chance and mention the Diva Q class now...:p

The class was amazing. I thought some of my techniques were too detailed, but holy cow, her techniques were off the chart. Great lessons on judge psychology and the science behind some cooking processes. If you get the chance, take the class. Also want to give a shout out to Michele and Tom of Stone BBQ Supply who set up the event.http://www.bbq-brethren.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/
 
J&B'sBBQ said:
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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Truthfully we had a much larger budget at the beginning of the season and one of our pets got very ill and to maintain our emergency fund and still take care of our pet we axed my bbq budget a lot. Did we have to no absolutely not but as you said it is a hobby and not a money making venture. Maintaining an emergency fund while still taking care of our pet was the better route to go and it was more important. Next year will be easier to invest in the hobby. I am in the works of unloading a car and I have already been told I can invest it in bbq. I have not decided what way to go yet whether to buy 4 WSM 18.5" or 2 18.5" or maybe a large ceramic grill to compete on. We are probably going to add a small trailer to our line up soon. Harbor freight sells frames that are easily assembled and with little bit of work can either be something to haul stuff in or possibly build a small portable kitchen on it. I like the idea of building a tear drop camper. It would make it so we had a place to sleep and then off the back you open the door and depending on how elaborate you want to get you can build a kitchen with built in burners and sinks for dishes. Plus above and below the counter you can add cabinet space for storage. You would still be outside but you put an ez up over the part with the kitchen off the back of the camper and you would have a fairly workable nice setup. Plus it is easily towed by a car because they have a very small foot print and don't weigh much at all. I could add that to our line up and add two 18.5" WSMs for probably right around $1,100. Typical build cost for a teardrop is about $500 if you are willing to scrounge around for parts. They can cost significantly more if you really want to go elaborate. I have plans to invest more but it has to be strategic on what we need and when. I think for our backyard competitions we are entering we don't need to be as large as that yet. If we can find a used 18.5" or 2 I would not mind investing sooner. I want to go pro next year but that is next year. Right now we are just a backyard team. We are not professional competitors. We have done 2 competions and 2 classes. We have one more competion this year maybe 2 if we get our number pulled for the shade tree.
If you look at what we have spent we spent on our comps after the June 20 one $1266.00. Which includes gas, meats, charcoal, classes, 2 new smokers,entrance fees, and our ez up tent. Seasonings would add more but not a significant impact. I would buy them whether we competed or not. A third of the cost we spent went to the class. We could have invested in a new smoker but chose the class as I think we needed a class and I feel it was worth the money and I had a lot of omg that is farking genius moments in the class. Stuff we can apply right now without investing hardly anything. If you remove the class we are spending about $289 per competition on average. Also, don't worry I am not offended by your input.
 
JeffR said:
Yep, Rusty post do have a way of going a million different direction. Now back to your regular scheduled program
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Hey Smoke Ninja brought me off topic this time lol. This time it actually isn't my fault but we should get back to the topic. The class really is a good idea to take. I think we learned a lot and I highly recommend it.
 
Rusty Kettle said:
Truthfully we had a much larger budget at the beginning of the season and one of our pets got very ill and to maintain our emergency fund and still take care of our pet we axed my bbq budget a lot. Did we have to no absolutely not but as you said it is a hobby and not a money making venture. Maintaining an emergency fund while still taking care of our pet was the better route to go and it was more important. Next year will be easier to invest in the hobby. I am in the works of unloading a car and I have already been told I can invest it in bbq. I have not decided what way to go yet whether to buy 4 WSM 18.5" or 2 18.5" or maybe a large ceramic grill to compete on. We are probably going to add a small trailer to our line up soon. Harbor freight sells frames that are easily assembled and with little bit of work can either be something to haul stuff in or possibly build a small portable kitchen on it. I like the idea of building a tear drop camper. It would make it so we had a place to sleep and then off the back you open the door and depending on how elaborate you want to get you can build a kitchen with built in burners and sinks for dishes. Plus above and below the counter you can add cabinet space for storage. You would still be outside but you put an ez up over the part with the kitchen off the back of the camper and you would have a fairly workable nice setup. Plus it is easily towed by a car because they have a very small foot print and don't weigh much at all. I could add that to our line up and add two 18.5" WSMs for probably right around $1,100. Typical build cost for a teardrop is about $500 if you are willing to scrounge around for parts. They can cost significantly more if you really want to go elaborate. I have plans to invest more but it has to be strategic on what we need and when. I think for our backyard competitions we are entering we don't need to be as large as that yet. If we can find a used 18.5" or 2 I would not mind investing sooner. I want to go pro next year but that is next year. Right now we are just a backyard team. We are not professional competitors. We have done 2 competions and 2 classes. We have one more competion this year maybe 2 if we get our number pulled for the shade tree.
If you look at what we have spent we spent on our comps after the June 20 one $1266.00. Which includes gas, meats, charcoal, classes, 2 new smokers,entrance fees, and our ez up tent. Seasonings would add more but not a significant impact. I would buy them whether we competed or not. A third of the cost we spent went to the class. We could have invested in a new smoker but chose the class as I think we needed a class and I feel it was worth the money and I had a lot of omg that is farking genius moments in the class. Stuff we can apply right now without investing hardly anything. If you remove the class we are spending about $289 per competition on average. Also, don't worry I am not offended by your input.
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$289 a comp is just about entry fee here... I figure we spend close to $650 just to hook up the Jambo and roll down the road. We are a very basic team. Eeasy ups and cots competing out of a pick up truck. That being said a trailer would be nice, we cooked 24 events last year and are on pace for 20ish this year, but it is not a necessity. Learn how to cook, take everyone's advice, practice your technique, to be honest, I have cooked against Danielle, been to several of the same classes as her, hung out and shot the bull with her, etc... I'm guessing we probably cook very similar so what you just learned from her is probably close to what hundreds of other cooks are doing week in and week out in KCBS events. Think about this Rod Gray has taught well over 2000 cooks I would guess, how come not all of them are winning every weekend?
 
Rusty Kettle said:
Hey Smoke Ninja brought me off topic this time lol.
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Ive been known to go off topic. This time i was responding to this so i was kinda on message. Sometimes i just come out of left field in an attempt to derail things

Rust Kettle said:
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.
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Now did i ever tell you i used to be in a barber shop quartet in Skokie, Illinois..................
 
indianagriller said:
$289 a comp is just about entry fee here... I figure we spend close to $650 just to hook up the Jambo and roll down the road. We are a very basic team. Eeasy ups and cots competing out of a pick up truck. That being said a trailer would be nice, we cooked 24 events last year and are on pace for 20ish this year, but it is not a necessity. Learn how to cook, take everyone's advice, practice your technique, to be honest, I have cooked against Danielle, been to several of the same classes as her, hung out and shot the bull with her, etc... I'm guessing we probably cook very similar so what you just learned from her is probably close to what hundreds of other cooks are doing week in and week out in KCBS events. Think about this Rod Gray has taught well over 2000 cooks I would guess, how come not all of them are winning every weekend?
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Probably you are a basic team for the level you compete at. We are an amateur team 3-4 contests this year max. We had one ez up and 2 small tables. The one overnight competition we did I stayed up most of the night and sat in an old fold up chair by the smoker and my wife slept in the back seat of the car. I slept maybe an hour or 2. The other competitions are not overnight deals for us except maybe the shade tree if we get in. Problem with listening to everyone is that everyone has a different opinion. Trust me I have heard loads of opinions on what we should be doing. Some useful and some not. I just know there are some changes we can make already without cost increases that will make a significant impact. Heck some of the opinions we got on the brethren are contrary to what was taught in Danielle's class. Not saying that their bad opinions just saying some of them run contrary to what I was taught. Plus you figure you compete with a Jambo. Those are significantly larger than my set up. My setup is a 14.5" WSM and I just got a second one as it was on sale. That alone significantly increases your cost. I am sure you cook more meat than I do. You also use more fuel for your vehicle and your smoker. More weight to haul around it. We have cut a lot of that cost way down. We even made it so if we go do an overnight event we don't need electrical hook ups. We found this great led light that is battery powered and lasts for a few nights easily. We got it in VA at Walmart. It clips to the center of the ez up and lights the whole thing up no problem. That means no need to pay for an electrical hook up. We even have a portable butane burner we heat our sauces and water on. Sams club has them but walmart sells one labeled coleman in the camping section for significantly less. I am not trying to be smart with you just saying you are compared to us a much larger budget team than we are. We plan to get larger down the road but we have to wait to get there or we have to find team mates to split the cost but most people have their teams set or are not interested. We just don't bring enough to the table at this point. I wouldn't mind being an assistant cook even, that would even help us with learning, but like I said teams in my area are already set so we make due with what we have. We still have a lot of fun and we will eventually when we are ready get larger.
 
1 brisket 1 pork butt 3 racks ribs 8 chicken thighs- normal comp meat purchase. We do cook on a Jambo but started in 2009 backyard with 2 UDS then in 2010 moved to two Pro Q smokers (wsm) 2011 I lucked into an ole hickory cto and 2012 I purchased my Jambo. I meant to say take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, practice your technique get a timeline and follow it. On my weekends off I can look at the time and tell you exactly what I would be doing at a comp. keep moving forward and set your goals... I bought a King of the Smokers hat, because I want to cook that event and it is a constant reminder to me. Good luck
 
indianagriller said:
1 brisket 1 pork butt 3 racks ribs 8 chicken thighs- normal comp meat purchase. We do cook on a Jambo but started in 2009 backyard with 2 UDS then in 2010 moved to two Pro Q smokers (wsm) 2011 I lucked into an ole hickory cto and 2012 I purchased my Jambo. I meant to say take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt, practice your technique get a timeline and follow it. On my weekends off I can look at the time and tell you exactly what I would be doing at a comp. keep moving forward and set your goals... I bought a King of the Smokers hat, because I want to cook that event and it is a constant reminder to me. Good luck
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Oh wow we cook more meat lol. At least chicken and ribs. We cook 4 racks of ribs and about 15-20 pieces of chicken. We only cooked one pork butt for competiton ever. Never have had to do brisket as we are a backyard team.
 
Rusty Kettle said:
Heck some of the opinions we got on the brethren are contrary to what was taught in Danielle's class. Not saying that their bad opinions just saying some of them run contrary to what I was taught.
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There is certainly more than one way to skin a cat. Or cook a pork butt.

Here's what I would do if I were you... you've got two identical smokers now. When you have the day off, choose a meat to cook. For example, ribs. Go to the store and buy racks that are pretty close in weight, size, etc. Then, cook a couple racks on each smoker following the methods from each class you've taken - Danielle's method on one smoker, Dan's on the other. Work backwards from a predetermined "turn in time" at your house doing everything you would do at a contest. I find when I'm cooking at home that if I don't set a "turn-in" time I get distracted doing other things and adopt the "it's done when it's done" philosophy. Then, assess the final products next to each other in boxes after letting them sit for 10 minutes. A side by side test is the only way you'll be able to figure out what you think judges will score higher in all three areas. This way you can compare rubs, wrapping (if used), sauces, tenderness, appearance, etc. Take tons of notes, or ask your wife to help you. Print out your timelines and check off steps as you go. Have some friends over, whatever. You've taken two classes now, that's two more than I've taken. But I've practiced a LOT. We've eaten some good ribs at home, and some not so great ribs. The best investment you can make now is in time spent practicing. Its time to quit running in a million different directions and chart a course towards improvement.
 
I've tried a few different times over the past few months to help you Rusty. Not that I'm full of BBQ wisdom or anything, but because i like to help anyone who's just starting out. I've been there and so has everyone on this forum. However, I've been blatantly ignored nearly every time.

Some techniques won't work for everyone and I think everyone here understands that. However, as the old saying goes "Never look a gift horse in the mouth".

At this point, I read your posts for the enjoyment factor. Kicks and giggles actually. (Don't mean to sound mean but it's the truth)

I honestly hope you progress in your BBQ adventure. We all really want to see you do well. But as honestly as i know how to say it, please don't flat out ignore advice given to you by multiple GC winners. If you don't like the advice, just smile and say "Thank you". If you don't, eventually they won't be so willing to give you any advice.

On the OP, I hear Diva's class is a great one and I would be more than happy to take it. I hope she offers one down south sometime. $300 per person is a great deal to get taught by a talented pitmaster.
 
Troll is harsh, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

Rusty is becoming more self-aware, and it is going to be a learning process for him. For most of us, we get to do this away from the scrutiny of others, but he has chosen to put himself "out there" while attempting to learn more, and as such is facing harsh scrutiny (often, well deserved).

I went down this path on CBBQA, and I received the following as a reply from someone I respect very much

"Dear Scott,

You talk too much.

Sincerely,
Everyone"

- That hurt, but was also a wake-up call about how I was being perceived vs how I wanted to be perceived. I am still a loud-mouth opinionated S.O.B., but have tried to tone things down considerably.
 
Not to go off topic but I'm chiming in as a reminder as to who we are and where we came from.

Years ago Jim minion mentored me for months on competing. Phone calls, posts, distress signals.. At all hours of the day.

Jeff in KC took on the American royal open as his first contest. we stuck with him for weeks getting him preprepared for the AR. stayed the night and walked through it with him if for nothing more than moral support.

Bigmista was afraid to cook a brisket and it was our members that got him into it and look where he is today..

Point is, this groups tag line 'From the backyard to the American Royal' is double edged... It means we have members with skill sets ranging from back yard beginners to the seasoned veteran, and ever AR winners..... But it also means you, thru our archives and our members knowledge can progress from the backyard TO the American Royal.

That's only done by all of us showing patience to teach, to mentor, to educate, as we'll as others heeding the advice of the veterans.
 
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Rusty Kettle said:
Heck some of the opinions we got on the brethren are contrary to what was taught in Danielle's class. Not saying that their bad opinions just saying some of them run contrary to what I was taught.
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And if you take another team's class I'm sure it will be contrary to her class. Doesn't mean it's right or wrong. I'm sure she puts on a great class. But she teaches a way of cooking BBQ that works for her. That doesn't mean it will work for you. A class helps to take away little nuggets of info to help you improve the game you already have. I've known a few cooks now who have taken a class and then went home and reinvented their whole process only to fail miserably and do worse than they were doing before. Cook BBQ the way you know how. Use the class to help you find the flavor profile, tenderness and box building that will get you good scores.
 
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