onemanlan
Full Fledged Farker
Hey guys,
My new hobby in BBQ has been the overnight cook, hands off cooks in the IVS, Battle Box, with a PID controller, Flame Boss 300. Aside this week we've been in relatively cool weather(~30-40*F) in Alabama which is the best time to use this thing. Like all smokers in the winter it tends to eat through fuel a bit faster than usual. Still can pull 10+ hours out of it, but I need to utilize the whole charcoal basket for lump. Probably could get away with 75% charcoal basket for briquettes since they're more dense.
I tend to add charcoal across the front of the firebox to burn backwards. With the IVS, since you get such a slow burn, you need to be conscious of where you lay your smoke wood relative to the fire. Putting your wood too far back will lead to late smoke on your meat which is less preferable than early smoke during the cook. A few times I've come out with far less smoke flavor than preferred. In order to remedy that I tried to front load smoke wood. A few times I've added an additional chunk to the burning front of the firebasket. Often I'd fine partially burnt chunks left over. The charcoal seems to burn with a bit of an undercurrent to it leaving the top smoke wood partially consumed.
A buddy and I were talking about YouTube BBQers. He asked me what I thought of Harry Soo. Without trying to be too critical, I'll just say he's not my favorite YT BBQer. However the discussion got me thinking about some of his videos I had seen. One that stuck out was where he suggested putting your smoke wood under the charcoal for a better burn. At the time I had a UDS & never felt like this was an issue, but figured I'd try it out given my aforementioned issue. Low and behold it was great advice. Really should have tried it sooner.
Speaking of advice, since you guys convinced me to pick up a Coleman Party stacker as a humidified brisket rest chamber my life has changed for the better. I rested this brisket after allowing it to sit on the counter for a bit & reduce temp. The brisket was split to share with some others. We vac sealed our part & then reheated by sous vide (1hr 150*F). Holy crap. That was some stellar brisket. I will 100% reheat brisket that way in the future if time allows. Highly recommend.
Anyhow that advice & experimentation helped up my overnight, hands off cooking game. So far I've managed some of the better brisket & pork butts of my cooking journey! I need to get this all under wraps because the wife & I have our first baby coming along. Hands will surely be full in the future so hands off overnight cooks will become ideal.
Brisket
Pork booty
My new hobby in BBQ has been the overnight cook, hands off cooks in the IVS, Battle Box, with a PID controller, Flame Boss 300. Aside this week we've been in relatively cool weather(~30-40*F) in Alabama which is the best time to use this thing. Like all smokers in the winter it tends to eat through fuel a bit faster than usual. Still can pull 10+ hours out of it, but I need to utilize the whole charcoal basket for lump. Probably could get away with 75% charcoal basket for briquettes since they're more dense.
I tend to add charcoal across the front of the firebox to burn backwards. With the IVS, since you get such a slow burn, you need to be conscious of where you lay your smoke wood relative to the fire. Putting your wood too far back will lead to late smoke on your meat which is less preferable than early smoke during the cook. A few times I've come out with far less smoke flavor than preferred. In order to remedy that I tried to front load smoke wood. A few times I've added an additional chunk to the burning front of the firebasket. Often I'd fine partially burnt chunks left over. The charcoal seems to burn with a bit of an undercurrent to it leaving the top smoke wood partially consumed.
A buddy and I were talking about YouTube BBQers. He asked me what I thought of Harry Soo. Without trying to be too critical, I'll just say he's not my favorite YT BBQer. However the discussion got me thinking about some of his videos I had seen. One that stuck out was where he suggested putting your smoke wood under the charcoal for a better burn. At the time I had a UDS & never felt like this was an issue, but figured I'd try it out given my aforementioned issue. Low and behold it was great advice. Really should have tried it sooner.
Speaking of advice, since you guys convinced me to pick up a Coleman Party stacker as a humidified brisket rest chamber my life has changed for the better. I rested this brisket after allowing it to sit on the counter for a bit & reduce temp. The brisket was split to share with some others. We vac sealed our part & then reheated by sous vide (1hr 150*F). Holy crap. That was some stellar brisket. I will 100% reheat brisket that way in the future if time allows. Highly recommend.
Anyhow that advice & experimentation helped up my overnight, hands off cooking game. So far I've managed some of the better brisket & pork butts of my cooking journey! I need to get this all under wraps because the wife & I have our first baby coming along. Hands will surely be full in the future so hands off overnight cooks will become ideal.
Brisket
Pork booty
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