Beef roast _ help please

[AgentSmith]

So tomorrow I’m going to cook about a KG/2.2lb of beef.
I’d like to slow cook it on the MasterTouch at about 120C/248F !

any one have any ideas how many briquettes I’d need? Do I light em all at once in the chimney then then stick them in one side pots that came with the grill. (That was my plan)


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[bbqking01]

I set up like this for just about everything I do...20 briquettes on each side. I'd check temp of meat after 45 to an hour.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Weber Kettle Club mobile app

[addicted-to-smoke]

The “smoker” way is to fill a lot of unlit and light only a few (with starter cubes or tumbleweed things) or add only a few lit elsewhere. With vents adjusted fairly closed down, this prevents the lit from lighting the unlit too soon too hot, letting the necessary slow burn happen without much fuss from you.

You can do that with either a snake (fuse) setup or with one large basket or maybe the Weber baskets, but they probably won’t hold enough coal.

[SMOKE FREAK]

Sometimes for longer cooks I'll pile up a bunch of unlit lump  charcoal one one side...Then place a few (around 10?) lit briqs on the pile...I can maintain temps around 250 for hours this way and only add chunks of wood from time to time for smoke...

[SMOKE FREAK]

The “smoker” way is to fill a lot of unlit and light only a few (with starter cubes or tumbleweed things) or add only a few lit elsewhere. With vents adjusted fairly closed down, this prevents the lit from lighting the unlit too soon too hot, letting the necessary slow burn happen without much fuss from you.

You can do that with either a snake (fuse) setup or with one large basket or maybe the Weber baskets, but they probably won’t hold enough coal.

Yes...but only the bottom vents if you are adding wood chunks...

[addicted-to-smoke]

“Do I light em all at once in the chimney then then stick them in one side pots that came with the grill. (That was my plan)”

Static charcoal setups like that don’t maintain temp for long, and so you’ll be adding lit or unlit coals several times, as it dies out.

That being said, I recall some Weber recipes suggesting to do just that, adding 8 or so coals to each basket every so often. Be careful, if you light everything at once it’s easy to overshoot. And then what? A scramble to close down vents and hope you open back up on time later? Or remove excess hot coals, where to?

[Dc_smoke309]

Snake method never fails . And it’s super easy to add a couple more briquettes if you have to. 


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[AgentSmith]

My worry is, if I light only a few coals an drop em on the unlit ones like the snake method. Will that not lead to the temps constantly rising till all the unlit coals are lit ?


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[addicted-to-smoke]

No, because only a few will be lit. They’ll then die as they light new ones. So the constant low temp is maintained.

[AgentSmith]

No, because only a few will be lit. They’ll then die as they light new ones. So the constant low temp is maintained.

Thanks, my question still remains then how many (roughly) briquettes do I need to have lit to achieve a steady temp of 120C.

I use Weber briquettes if that helps


Sent from my iPhone using Weber Kettle Club

[addicted-to-smoke]

Well, actually that could happen potentially, with a basket. Snake is safer I think, there.

[SMOKE FREAK]

Sometimes for longer cooks I'll pile up a bunch of unlit lump  charcoal one one side...Then place a few (around 10?) lit briqs on the pile...I can maintain temps around 250 for hours this way and only add chunks of wood from time to time for smoke...

A lot depends on the air temp, wind, etc...
I add "some" lit coals and wait a while to see they are doing their job before adding any meat...

[AgentSmith]

So I went with the snake method. Surprised how well it worked. Although it took about 30mins just to get to 100c. Also once the internal meat got to 60c it took about 10-15mins just to go up a single temp.

[Jed.cook]

Looks awesome! Snake method is my preference for just about everything I do low & slow in a kettle. Takes time to set up properly, but pays off with how low maintenance it is. For steady temps around 275, I do a 2x2 snake with small chunks of wood on top. I usually put a few bricks or empty charcoal baskets around the inside of the snake for a heat shield and to lend a little stability to the briquettes. Light about 10 coals in a small chimney to start the snake, give it about 15-20 to bring the kettle up to temp, throw on the meat with iGrill probes & forget about it. (Oh, who am I kidding, I obsess over the ambient & internal temps every cook, but I know full-well I don’t really need to.)

Just used this setup for a couple 10lb. pork butts for the 4th. Put ‘em on in the morning, took the family swimming at a friend’s lake nearby until mid afternoon, and returned to a steady 275 ambient temp. Makes me rarely want to use my big smoker.


-Jed