Using whole cooking grate with charcoal snake/fuse this weekend

[go_home_red]

I finally made some progress on my smoking "plate" for my 22" kettle.



The idea is to be able to use the entire cooking surface while using a charcoal snake/fuse. In the past, I've smoked two racks of ribs at the same time by banking the coals against the side of the grill, and I've made many pounds of pulled pork using a charcoal fuse. I much prefer the fuse method, as I can control the temperature by controlling the amount of fuel available at any given time, rather than trying to control the fire by limiting the air flow. When I run a three briquette fuse, and I can pretty much run the intake and lid vents wide open while maintaining a 250-275 temp. at the cooking surface. But neither banking or fusing allows for use of the entire cooking area, and the fuse really limits cooking space when ribs are going on.

So I made a plate out of 1/8" stainless, cut a hole in the middle of it, and sloped it towards the center so that the drippings all go into the water pan that sits inside the fuse. There are two handles/grate standoffs, which are made of 1/4" stainless rod. The plate sits where the cooking grate normally would, and the standoffs lift the cooking grate so that there is 1.5" of space between the plate and the grate. I'm hoping that will be enough space to allow for sufficient air and smoke flow.

I'll be smoking two racks of ribs this weekend (I would try for three, but there's no need, unfortunately), but I'm hopeful that I will be able to stuff three racks on when needed. Perhaps photos will be in order. 

[TheDude]

Pretty sweet idea. Can't wait to see it in action.

[Jason]

Your idea looks like it should work very well, I can't wait to see the results!

[pbe gummi bear]

Good idea! What did you cut the stainless plate with? Plasma, water jet or mill?

[go_home_red]

Your idea looks like it should work very well, I can't wait to see the results!

I'm pretty anxious myself. I hope it works. I just can't see why it shouldn't, but I've been wrong before...

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[pbe gummi bear]

Your idea looks like it should work very well, I can't wait to see the results!

I'm pretty anxious myself. I hope it works. I just can't see why it shouldn't, but I've been wrong before...

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Do you have an ir thermometer? I would check the diffuser temp to make sure that it's not absorbing so much heat from the charcoal that it cooks your meat with radiant heat. I've had similar issues with a mini wsm that I've built before. Good luck!

[go_home_red]

Your idea looks like it should work very well, I can't wait to see the results!

I'm pretty anxious myself. I hope it works. I just can't see why it shouldn't, but I've been wrong before...

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

Do you have an ir thermometer? I would check the diffuser temp to make sure that it's not absorbing so much heat from the charcoal that it cooks your meat with radiant heat. I've had similar issues with a mini wsm that I've built before. Good luck!

I do have one--that's a good idea. I'm thinking the fuse will be low and slow enough to avoid such a problem. 

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[brewtownbeatdown]

Nice little diffuser plate!!!

Keep us posted, so we can plagiarize it.

[go_home_red]

My neighbor runs a local meat shop--R&M Meats--here in Norfolk, NE. I got one St. Louis rack, and one baby back rack. I'm more a St. Louis type, but he only had one rack left. So it's one of each tomorrow.



For the rub on the baby back, I used a combination of rubs from Allspice, which is a spice, rub, and oil shop in Des Moines, IA. They sent me some free samples when I was looking for a replacement for my favorite rub--Jim Beam Spicy Bourbon--which has, unfortunately, been discontinued. I used their Pig Powder and Sonoma Seasoning. We'll see how that combo goes.

The St. Louis rack got a coffee rub, which I made myself. This will be the first time I've used it on anything pork. It smells great, so that's a good start.

Tomorrow can't get here fast enough!

[havachat]

Yep good idea that one. I have wondered now that I have seen that whether there was room for a drip pan on the new Weber summit or if there is a similar drip hole installed.


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[Lemans]

I see a new Kick Starter project!

[order66]

Cool idea. Ill be following this...

[go_home_red]

Well, last Sunday didn't go as planned. Mother Nature, being the spiteful you-know-what that she is, rained me out. But not before I tried to use the patio umbrella as a shelter, which blew over and broke. I spent the afternoon putting that back together, and the all-day ribs ended up being replaced with chicken thighs. Not a bad substitute, but definitely not what I wanted.

So, the ribs went on the grill on Monday morning. A work day. So no foiling. The ribs were not as tender as I prefer (and, true to my usual form, I over-smoked them), but I would say the smoking plate worked extremely well.


Charcoal fuse...


Plate!


Grate.


The start temp.


St. Louis on first.


The temp was within 25 degrees of this throughout the day (had someone checking).


Pretty much the end of the cook.

I was able to take some infrared temps. It really wasn't that uneven--240 above the burning coals to 170-ish on the opposite side. The slope on the plate did a great job of funneling drippings into the water pan--the grill is just as clean now as it was before the cook, and all I had to do was empty the ashes out. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about this device.

Weather permitting, I'll be cooking a couple of baby backs this weekend for my street's rib smoke-off. I'm in charge of finishing the trophy for the event, which I think I'll do after I win it.

[TheDude]

Start manufacturing and I'll take one.

[guitarfish]

Cool idea and great execution. Can you explain how you accomplished the slope to the drip pan?