Whatcha got goin' on there, Hank?
A Binkman with some meathooks?
Brinkman? Blasphemy!
There was considerable discussion about the Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) at BBQ-Brethren and about how the food came out better. The PBC is a midi-UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) whose chief feature is that meat is hung off hooks over the fire. I keep an open mind and decided to try to duplicate those conditions in a WSM. I have been thinking about how to fashion a support on which to hang meat that would extend into the dome on the WSM and take advantage of that space while providing a decent distance between meat and coals. Rube Goldberg would have been proud of my first thought experiments. Then I hit upon an idea that embodied simplicity itself. I bent 3/8" rebar into a trapezoidal shape and cut grooves in the ends that would fit over the tabs that support the top grate. I had planned to make two and notch then where they crossed in the middle to provide additional stability. This rack gives me 24" from the cross piece to the top of the charcoal ring.
Today when I stopped at Sam's in Batavia, they had baby back ribs marked down because they were approaching their 'sell by' date. I grabbed a package of three racks and finished the first bracket. When I fit it to my WSM, it felt surprisingly stable so I prepared my first cook with just the one.
A little over two hours in now and when I opened the cooker to check the ribs, one had separated and left about 2/3 of the rack laying on the coals.
(Note to self, provide additional support for hanging meats.) At the moment the meat is starting to pull back from the bones but they are not yet done according to the bend test. Nor would I expect them to be with the cooker running about 300°F.
There will be more pix to come when they come inside to rest. Right now it's dark outside and I prefer to keep the cooker closed.
As an aside, I grilled lamb chops with carrots, zucchini and potatoes for dinner and they came out really good.
Sorry, no pix of those. I lose all sight of documentation when something that good is on the table.