Snake Method on the Ranch Kettle

[Winz]

Ron - great information, thanks for sharing!


Winz

[Hogsy]

Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad it worked out.
Was that it's first cook?

[1911Ron]

Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad it worked out.
Was that it's first cook?

9# Brisket flat done at 250deg F

[1buckie]

Good Show Ron.....adding "fuel to the fire" so to speak......enough different setups & these will begin to seem like your average 22" !!!!!

[EricD]

@1buckie: a bit off topic, but I saw a pic of your "Monsta"...... Are you a Red Sox fan, or a former Masshole??
Thread jack over..

[Matt_T]

All this does is make me want a Ranch so I too can experiment...(sigh)

Good looking set ups and great information here - thanks

[1buckie]

@1buckie: a bit off topic, but I saw a pic of your "Monsta"...... Are you a Red Sox fan, or a former Masshole??
Thread jack over..

@EricD

That's not mine, just some pics I found on the InterToob......liked it for the fact they had like 9 pork butts loaded up.......

[EricD]

@1buckie Well, there's more proof you can't believe everything you see on the interwebs!! lol.

[Hogsy]

Thought I'd ad this vid for anyone thinking of trying the snake on the ranch
https://youtu.be/zkvp2xsg_9A

[demosthenes9]

Nice vid Hogsy, thanks for posting.     It held 250ish on a single snake ?   Did you by chance have multiple temp probes placed at various spots ?   Reason I ask is that the first two times I tried running single snakes, a temp probe on the other side away from the snake rabout 100 degrees lower and never would get up to temp.  I had the top vent wide open at that point.  Even after closing the top vent, there was still a huge temp variation.    This led me to running two snakes at the same time on opposing sides of the RK. 

[Hogsy]

We did have 2 temp probes running there was a difference of about 10-20f at some points during the cook(haven't tested the Mavericks for accuracy for a while) The large pan we use is quite thick and seems to work well as a heat sink and also to distribute the heat evenly through the ranch. In saying that I'm sure the side of the ranch where the fire is would be slightly hotter than the opposing side but that's to be expected with any snake setup in any kettle.
Here's a pic of a recent cook with 20kg/44lbs of pork shoulder

I find the centre seems to run a little cooler than the sides of the kettle but haven't had the differences in temps like you mentioned. Most times we run with 1 bottom vent open and the top vent open once the ranch is up to temp and we are past the C.M.D. (Cold Meat Factor)

[demosthenes9]

Reading your reply and looking back at the video again, yeah, your setup probably makes a huge difference.  That pan probably acts as both a heat sink and a diffuser plate bringing the hot air up the outer edges of the RK.  Basically, it's like a huge WSM. 

On mine, I'm running completely stock.  Snakes on the charcoal grate with the cooking grate right on top of that.  A single snake will hold temp on the side of the grill that it's running on, but temps on the other side are much, much lower.     

One of my clients is a sheet metal shop, I might just have to talk to them and see if they can duplicate your setup!!

We did have 2 temp probes running there was a difference of about 10-20f at some points during the cook(haven't tested the Mavericks for accuracy for a while) The large pan we use is quite thick and seems to work well as a heat sink and also to distribute the heat evenly through the ranch. In saying that I'm sure the side of the ranch where the fire is would be slightly hotter than the opposing side but that's to be expected with any snake setup in any kettle.
Here's a pic of a recent cook with 20kg/44lbs of pork shoulder

I find the centre seems to run a little cooler than the sides of the kettle but haven't had the differences in temps like you mentioned. Most times we run with 1 bottom vent open and the top vent open once the ranch is up to temp and we are past the C.M.D. (Cold Meat Factor)

[Hogsy]

@Golly and @evsky  run a simple snake on their Ranches. I don't think they have too much trouble with temps

[HankB]

I cook regularly on my 26 with coals on one side. I'm astonished at how even the heat this provides. At times it even seems like the far side runs a little hotter. Here's an example:
https://goo.gl/photos/8snBiAoY1qfKVU8VA
Apologies for the link. Google Photos makes it impossible to get a link to the actual image.   You can see the firebrick I use for a partition to hold the charcoal and about 10 lb of leg quarters that are cooling evenly.

Edit: Picture using Smugmug hosting: