Snake Method on the Ranch Kettle

[Hogsy]

After using the snake method on the kettle for a few years and loving the technique. I decided it was time to trial it on the ranch to see if i could get the same results. The goal being to set it up for Low & Slow cooking with temps sitting between 225-250f, and being able to set it up, position vents and be comfortable the ranch would be sitting within a range of correct cooking temps.

First trial method was to try the snake the same way i do on the kettle which is 2 Heat bead briquettes wide and 1 high and light 12 which are added at the start of the snake


After 2hrs with all vents open and a temp probe sitting on the opposite side of the grill to the lit snake the temp was 167f

At 2 1/2hrs the temp had moved to 176f and at 3hrs the temp was stable at 176f and didn't seem to be climbing. I then moved the probe to the centre of the grill and had a reading of 178f for the next hour.
At this time it was obvious to me i wasn't going to get to the required temp so i pulled the the snake apart and let the Ranch cool

Second trial was using 4 briquettes 2 wide and 2 high and 20 lit. After 2 1/2hrs temp had stabilised at 185f and didn't seem to be climbing

So i decided to pull it down, let it cool and start again

Third trial i used 5 briquettes 3 wide and 2 high with 20 lit. After 2hrs temp was sitting at 184f and was starting to lose hope but at 2 1/2hrs temp hit the magic number of 225f with all vents open

At 3 1/2hrs temp was at 239f and slowly climbing so i closed down two of the bowl vents closest to the snake. The temp kept climbing slowly and at 4rs was at 248f. So i closed the last bowl vent down by 3/4
and 1/2 closed the top vent. Slowly the temp dropped to 237f by 4 1/2hrs and stabilised. I then moved the probe to the centre of the grill and the temp only changed by a couple of fahrenheit.
I used 80 briquettes in the snake and the temp stayed stable for the next 9hrs. Very Happy!!!
I know Kingsford is a different size briquette to Heat Bead but i'd say the same snake in Kingsford would yield the same result
I'll be trialling it with some meat on the grill over the weekend now that I'm confident in getting to temp
I think because of the large area of the ranch it took a while to heat up but once it did it sat steady. So next time i'll use 30 briquettes to light it and see if i can get it up to temp quicker

[addicted-to-smoke]

My first thought at the start as that you'd need some serious briquets to reach sufficient heat to the other side of the kettle. But presumably you could smoke more meat than the big WSM could without it gaining a stacker?

[1buckie]

This is great !!!!

It's going to be more....a fatter / thicker snake not only because of the extra metal that needs to be heated, but also the cubic volume of air....

As a personal aside ( I do take this shit personal), this is basically scientific proof of the way I've described this process for years.....

"The way I think about this is I'm not controlling the burn so much with the vents (available air) as it is with available fuel....
There's only a small area of fuel set up to burn & while you do have to pay attention to the vents, it's not as important as getting a good setup on the coal / wood at the start......
6 or 7 or 8 coals produces roughly 235 ~ 240°, if the vents are mostly open & it's left to settle in,
so if that 6~8 coals are all that's burning along the line at a time, there's where your temp is.....

It has run amok before, & I ended up doing hot & fast butts, even though I didn't really want to
The two I did last night went swell, but actually burned all the way around the ring & I added maybe 1/4 circumference to where the burn would have stopped.

This works really good & I've heard of people doing 18 hour cooks like this, although I don't have their specifics....."




......just remember the Cold Meat Factor (C. M. F. )......the mass going in will drop the temp some.....as a guess, this situation will be slightly more finicky than a 22", just because of the large open air area......the thermal loss at Meat Level (M. L.) will come easier in that more open environment.......

On a 22", the area is more tightly compacted & regains & also refracts quicker.....

[1buckie]

My first thought at the start as that you'd need some serious briquets to reach sufficient heat to the other side of the kettle. But presumably you could smoke more meat than the big WSM could without it gaining a stacker?

That's the beauty of the shape of the kettle.....it's like the airflow around the curvature of the Earth (without which we wouldn't be here) ......circulates all around & with minor management, equalizes throughout.....

Yes, more meat....

[austin87]

Very cool experiment. If you wanted the kettle to heat up and get to temp faster you could probably start a 1/2 to full chimney. Pour your 20 briqs at the start of the snake, and spread the rest in the middle of the charcoal grate with some space between them. They could heat up the grill and burn themselves out while the snake kept going. Just a thought... I don't have a Ranch.... Yet.

[Hogsy]

Since our last comp @evsky , @Golly and I have been discussing using the Ranch next time instead of 5 kettles and also due to the demand lately of our cooking services at parties. Unfortunately we can't afford to be filling the ranch up with meat for trial purposes. So gauging the C.M.F. will be difficult
And me putting on 7lbs of pork shoulder this weekend probably won't be much of a gauge. In saying that for me to stabilise temps within the recommended smoking range , I needed to almost close down all vents so running the ranch a little hotter with vents open when the C.M.F. kicks in shouldn't be a problem.
Another factor with temp/ vent control is the fact that the ranch is spotless inside. So there's no grease or gunk to give it a bit more of a seal around the vents or rim which seems to be a factor in temp control when using a snake in a 22
Unfortunately I like to keep the ranch clean so it's something I'll have to deal with

@addicted-to-smoke it's surprising how little amount of fuel the ranch needs, when we've cooked 30lb pigs and lambs in it , it's only taken 2 full chimneys of charcoal to cook each beast and normally only takes 3-4hrs
@austin87 that's not a bad idea and kinda what I was thinking except maybe just adding more to the start of the snake

[1buckie]

Great testing all the way (even if it doesn't have that nice insulating crust !!!!)

[Winz]

@Hogsy
Great experimentation that adds significantly to the collective Ranch knowledge!  I have not done the snake method, however I have had success with this setup:





I simply dumped a half chimney of charcoal on the unlit fuel in the basket, and used the vent below the fuel to achieve the right airflow to keep a constant 225 degrees (the other bottom vents remained closed).  It worked well.

The advantage I see with the snake is that it opens up more cooking grate surface.  With my setup above, nearly half the grate sits right above the fuel.  The other advantage is that the weight of the fuel is spread around the edge of the charcoal grate (where it is strongest) and you don't have to use firebricks.  This can help prevent charcoal grate "sag" over time.

Thanks for the great writeup - very informative!

Winz

[fedex]

Good Stuff!!  Thanks for the info.

[pbe gummi bear]

with a snake on the ranch do you really need all bottom vents open? One or two vents may be so far away from the burn that it might just introduce fresh air that cools the cooking chamber.

[Idahawk]

I have also been experimenting with my Ranch Kettle . Here I used a WSM charcoal ring and added lit coals like you would in a WSM. after about 20 minutes the temp shot up to 450 I shut down two of the 3 bottom vents and that did little to slow it down , I shut down the third vent so all 3 were closed and still was only able to bring the temp down a little . I then  realized that the Ranch creates its own weather and that with so much air space in there it would be hard to control the temp at least with my set up. I then closed the top vent about half and the temp dropped about 50 degrees , it was an ah haw moment.

[Hogsy]

That's looks great Idahawk!!! Just like a 22 these Ranch's seem pretty versatile. I've completed 2 more trials and am pretty confident with the snake method (another write up to come)
I'm using Heat Beads which is the most reliable brand sold locally but I'd love if someone in the U.S. would try a trial run with Kingsford briquettes. Three wide and two high with 30 lit briquettes to start = a full compact weber chimney and let me know how the Ranch performs

[Idahawk]

That's looks great Idahawk!!! Just like a 22 these Ranch's seem pretty versatile. I've completed 2 more trials and am pretty confident with the snake method (another write up to come)
I'm using Heat Beads which is the most reliable brand sold locally but I'd love if someone in the U.S. would try a trial run with Kingsford briquettes. Three wide and two high with 30 lit briquettes to start = a full compact weber chimney and let me know how the Ranch performs

Well if the weather is nice this weekend I'll do that for you , you get the results I get the meat , lol


  " Esto Perpertua "

[demosthenes9]

Given the volume of the ranch, would it help to split the snake up and run 1/2 on opposite sides ? 

[Hogsy]

Thanks Ida, that would be great!!!
Just like the technique you used I found I had to close down the 2 bottom vents and the 3rd was only just open, top vent was half closed. I was amazed at how quick it responded to vent control for such a large kettle