Karubecue C-60SS

[ButtBurner]

yeah, I did finally see the videos on it

so is that just an open flame or is there a cover you can put on it?

 

[Nugetsius]

There is a cover, but you don't have to use it unless your trying to draft the smoke from the top of the fire. This smoke will have a stronger flavor and is more appropriate for short cooks like chicken.

 

[ButtBurner]

good

I am sure they all this figured out but I dont lol

what happens when the winds kick up and start blowing through that box fire box?

 

[Johnny_Crunch]

Looking forward to action pr0n and money shots.

 

[Nugetsius]

1st cook

Well, sorry for being a bit slow to get this done. I didn't end up cooking over the weekend because I was unaware that my wife had dinner plans for Easter already planned out. Anyway, I cooked yesterday. Let see, there is actually a lot to say but I don't want to be long winded. The cooker works as advertised. I cooked a lot longer than I normally would have without wrapping and still there was only a VERY light smoke flavor. I ended up cooking over Hickory because I have hickory in my woodpile and I found that it used up store bought apple chunks very quickly. Once I switched to larger hickory logs (I say logs but more like brick size) the cooker needed less tending and used a lot less wood. The bigger the log the better it seems as long as it fit loosely in the firebox I didn't have any trouble. I found that cooking at 240 (230 to 250) the apple had to be added every 10 to 15 minutes. Once I switched to larger not kiln dried hickory that changed to adding wood every 30 to 40 minutes.

There was a slight difference in temps from top to bottom once I loaded the meat. The bottom was about 5 degrees hotter than the top. Thats sort of a guess, because the temps in this cooker are always fluctuating around your set point so I can't just state outright that there was a 5 degree differential.

So, anyway, if anyone has any questions about how this cooker worked or anything else, just let me know. Now for the PRON!

I cooked 2 butts, 2 different styles. One was pulled pork with vinegar sauce (my Dads recipe from Kingstree SC). The other was my version of KCBS style with a sweet hickory sauce glazed on at the very end. I try to slop this on during the glazing stage so that when I tear it up I don't have to add any sauce to the meat. My personal thoughts on pork is that it needs very little sauce so being mostly on the outside prior to tearing it up seems to work well for me. I don't know how that works in competition as I have only been in one comp and I came in 21 out of 35.

This is the vinegar style pulled pork. It gets pretty small due to stirring it with tongs to get the sauce all around.


This is the KCBS style prior to pulling.


Overall notes here was that the smoke flavor was pretty light even after 6 hours of smoke and using only hickory. Something else I was very pleased with was the color. I use a rub that is darn near half sugar. This usually gets very dark in my backwoods smoker. I usually wrap between 3 and 4 hours based on color. I wrapped here at 6 hours.

I have a video I took of the Karubecue cycling on and off. I'll put that up when I have a few more minutes.

 

[BigBellyBBQ]

question, 1) what was total cook time / starting weight of butt
2) how was moisture of cooked meat
3) over all flavor opinion of meat compared to backwoods, I got lighter smoke, what else?

 

[Nugetsius]

question, 1) what was total cook time / starting weight of butt
2) how was moisture of cooked meat
3) over all flavor opinion of meat compared to backwoods, I got lighter smoke, what else?

1. Total cook time was 10 hours including 1 hour or resting. The butts weighed in at 8lb and 8.5 lb. I cooked at 240 which on this cooker means the temps were typically going between 230 and 250 with a sawtooth temperature profile.

2. The moisture of the meat was really good inside the meat. The exterior was drier than on the backwoods. Sort of had a cured bacon taste to it. Haven't had that on the backwoods yet, but that is what my homemade hog cooker used to do. An additional note is that I usually don't cut the fat cap off but for these I did. Just trying new things, but maybe shouldn't have on a new cooker as it may have skewed my results.

3. Flavor: Overall flavor was as good as the backwoods. I do think that the Karubecue put more smoke flavor on the meat than I have recently been getting on my backwoods, but again, I probably changed too many variables. I usually use applewood in the backwoods, and I used hickory on the karubecue.

Personal thoughts:
I liked the smoker and I liked the results. I am not exactly used to having to add wood to a smoker every 30 minutes or so, and that took some getting used to. My backwoods smoker is a fatboy so its pretty big. I wouldn't crank that thing up just to cook one butt or 2 racks of ribs. The Karubecue is a more manageable size. In all honesty, I bought this not to replace my backwoods but to complement it. Having the ability to control the type of smoke and having a second cooker to choose a separate temperature to use at competitions was the goal.

I can't wait to try ribs on it, it seems like the perfect rib cooking machine to me. I'll let y'all know.

 

[BL]

Ok, so I have had my KBQ for a couple of months now and here is the skinny. This pit is "Pit Master for dummies". Since the firebox is always a nice fire, you get absolutely no creosote! I cooked my first brisket (14 lb.) last week and have done ribs, brined chicken, tri-tip, leg of lamb and anything else I could think of (short of our dog) to throw in there. There is absolutely no crap on your meat! The (big'ish) downside to this is the tending. You have to fill the box every 20-45 minutes. So, my brisket, which came out magnificent, got in the pit at 9 pm and I was up all night setting my blackberry alarm every 30 minutes to refill the firebox. The only other issue is the firebox ash container/tray will only last about 10-12 hours. I was drinking Makers Mark during this cook according to the instructions on the recipe ( My recipe), and after about 10 hours I used some high heat gloves to take the firebox and dump it into my chimney fire starter so as to empty the ash tray and to save some wood to get things going again. I vaguely remember that it actually worked great and practically seamless even under the influence of 8-20 oz of Makers. Bottom line, this is a revolutionary breakthrough for those that want clean BBQ without having to get a PHd in pit mastery.

 

[BL]

Ok, I have had the KBQ for a couple of months now and have cooked ribs, brined chicken, trip tip, leg of lamb and brisket. The smoke produced is unequal as the firebox is always a fire and so there is no smoldering leading to creosote on the meat. .aka. this pit is pit-master for dummies i.e. me. Only two downsides to this unit is you have to fill the firebox every 20-45 minutes so for my 14 hour brisket I threw on at 9pm, by midnight I had to set my blackberry alarm for every 30 minutes to avoid missing the reload. Next is the ash container/bottom half of the firebox will fill up in 8-12 hours. I used high temp gloves and Makers Mark as anesthetic to pull the firebox and dump it into my chimney fire starter. put the hot wood back in and was back in business.

 

[Nugetsius]

I found the same thing, it does need tending. I also found that the bigger the logs the less tending. I got to where I was only having to add wood every 30 to 40 minutes. I haven't cooked more than about 8 hours so I don't know about the ash. I can say however that after those 8 hours, I don't think the ash pan was even half full. I'll have to keep an eye on that next time.

How did you find cleaning it out? I found it about equally as difficult to clean as my BWS.