Outdoor cooking - Barbecues, Barbecue, BBQs, BBQ, Smokers, Grills. And Ribs.

You have angered the BBQ Gods.

What did you do? Use ketchup to stick the rub to the meat?

Mustard innit. what do you take me for?

gotta say though the signals/billows combination is pretty fucking amazing.

now I've got temps down it's rock solid at 135c.

Must be the Pizza oven then. It explains mankind's inexplicable slight discomfort at the idea of pizza with BBQ sauce on it. There are some lines in nature, that should never be crossed.

Trying to get the kamado clean in the rain so I can get a smoke on overnight, is going about as well as expected.

i've got a patio umbrella that I stick over the top if it rains. still a faff but it helps.

what are you smoking?

.

It's all good when everything is in, I bodged a chimney cap over the vent so smoking things when it's been pissing it down hasn't been an issue. It's just getting it all going and stopping the inside getting piss wet with the lid open that's a bitch. Definitely going to have a proper covered outdoor cooking area at the next gaff.

Got a couple of pork shoulders to throw on once the kids are in bed tonight.

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One at the back's done and wrapped ready for lunch, front one's at 86 so probably needs another couple of hours.

15 hours cooking so far, that's why only do this overnight these days.

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Looking good to me!

Not my best but helped knock the rust off and get the brain working enough to remember most of the stuff I picked up last year.

shredded it filled the entire tray but rather than try to power through it all in 3 days I showed some rare restraint and have frozen 5 bags of roughly 200-300g a pop, gave a tupperwares worth to the neighbour, made dinner last night and some wraps for lunch today and still have a tupperwares worth in the fridge for dinner tomorrow.

nearly out of my meat church seasonings now so gonna try and find something new to try out (before all you delia smith go-getter just make your own types say anything, I'm too lazy for that and our cupboards aren't stocked for it).

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Is this for the Aldi one? How easy is it to install?

One for the freezer, the other got smashed in apple and fennel slaw buns!

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very easy.

here's a pic of my setup

waterproof box
usb-c 12v output powerbank
signals
billows

you plug the usb c powerbank into the billows power adapter and it will power both devices for about a week on one charge.

you light the kamado as normal and wait until the charcoal has settled down

then the billows clips onto the air intake of the kamado with a metal adaptor plate (included) which just slots into the vent rail and you cinch the vent up so there's no gaps on the sides.

with the billows attached the signals will identify it and use ch4 for the grill probe, just clip it to the cooking grate and then on the signals you set your desired cooking temp.

finally you close up your top vent leaving about 1-1.5cm opening and let it do it's thing.

you can then plug the other probes in and set desired cooking temps for the food

then you grab a beer and watch the temperatures on the app in your phone from a comfy chair until something needs spritzing or wrapping.

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Awesome - thanks dude!

Love that waterproof setup, I just throw the signals underneath anything nearby.

With spritzing I honestly think there's no point to it, I've done both and spritzing doesn't give any extra flavour or moisture compared to not ime. If you don't spritz you eliminate the temp drops and have way less hassle.

You should really start doing overnight cooks with that setup, I bang on about it a lot on here but it's so good to just sleep through it.

i've done a handful of overnighters. but I wanted to keep an eye on this one as i was feeling out of practice. i'm feeling confident I remember what I'm doing now so overnight will be my preferred method. much nicer to have it in the cooler by lunchtime ready for when you need it esp with guests coming. hitting a stall when people are waiting to be fed is no fun I'm sure.

It might seem counter intuitive but when you've got a system that works overnight it takes rustiness out of the equation. All the hardwork is done for you, so as long as you got decent meat and you haven't fucked up the rub you're all good.

Having it ready for guests no issue is brilliant, we had friends with their kids over at 12, one was done at 10am and the other just about when they arrived. I definitely don't miss getting a cook going at 4am and eating at 9pm!

Second cook on the new setup.

Nothing particularly spectacular - eating up wings that have been saved after butchering carcasses, that have been taking up freezer space.

Cooked them sous vide first, then grilled over direct heat.

I can't remember what they were rubbed with - although I left a few relatively plain for the kids - probably salt paprika, garlic & stuff.

Waiting on an adapter to arrive so that I can attachy blower setup and do some long unattended cooks.

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I have a similar-ish setup, although I have a heatermeter, which is Raspberry Pi based, so needs mains power.

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21st century bbqing!

Raspberry pi's are usb (5v) powered, they would run off of a power bank.

It has a couple of other boards attached and is also running the fan - its actually running off a 12v supply to the heatermeter board.

Given that the kamado is next to a power socket, it doesn't matter too much either way.

I can't remember what they were rubbed with - although I left a few relatively plain for the kids - probably salt paprika, garlic & stuff.

This is how I do all my rubs now and tbh I think it's better, just have a load of hot sauces for those that want it but everyone's happy. Kids seem to love smoked paprika.

Aaaand trigger pulled.

Fire question - what are people's methods for lighting charcoal?

I have a chimney, which works fine if I want to get a whole bunch of coals hot for searing.

When (in the past) I have done a long slow cook, I only want to have a few coals to start off - I made a smaller chimney from tins & bits, but that was a huge faff and I lost it in any case.

Do smaller chimneys exist?

Or should I just blowtorch a few bits of fuel.