Webber BBQ Grill...........

I gotta use what I got.. Mostly red and white oak, hickory and beech... wonder how that beech will work.. never burned it before.. Have a few beech trees down I need to get cut up..

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Never let your fear decide your fate!
Kein Mitleid für die Mehrheit

Get a remote tempature probe. They are worth their weight in gold.Here is what i have been wanting.http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-ET-73...8XBZ9MYD0WJNRGCherry wood is my favorite too.

I'll second the Maverick...but if you get one put a dab of permatex at the junction of the probe and the cord to keep moisture from damaging the probe...I went through 3 of them before I got smart.

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'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded.

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Yes a chimneys best way to get charcoal going...

But I too do not use charcoal, we Don't have many trees on the property but they drop enough limbs to cook all summer.

Takes a little while using actual wood, got to let the coals form thats why folks like charcoal.

I'm through this out though ,even though everyone probably already knows, unless your grilling , like sizzling a steak, you slide the coals off to one side and use indirect heat, other wise you got to keep flipping and messing around.
Then there always seems the outsides always done before the inside.

You still need to scoot stuff , you know what ever is nearest the coals, but not nearly as often which helps retain the heat helping cook through and done sooner.

Forget the beer can birds and take ya a pair of poultry shears and snip through the back so it lays flat,breast side up, and then slide that sucker in a gallon bag, take your favorite Italian dressing and dump a half bottle or so in, squeeze out all the air,toss it in the bottom of your fridge for at least a Day, twos better, get your coals a going and point the drums toward the coals, you can even use a little foil as a heat shield on that side,breast up close it and let it go, 300-350 (time depends on size) but give a 5 lb bird
1 1/2 hours before you check it more like 2 hours till done, maybe a bit longer, when I can grab a drum and it dislocate easily its done!

oh hey Fordy since your buying stuff get cha some grilling baskets!

Handy dandy and beats buying foil!

might as well put this out too, I seen folks scrubbing cooking grates and just shake my head, you burn them clean and a quick wire brush and next time you fire it up , just use a basting brush to oil them a little or hit them with a blast of non stick and not over the fire!

As far as grilling baskets go power washer is the ticket after you soak them in a tub with a ammonia solution!

GF had a deep fat frier here , yup I love them things to!
Though I can use a pan stove top as well...
But well nature of the beast is they get cruddy.
and you cant immerse them?
I walked in and shes scrubbing on the darn thing...
well the basket that is...
reached under the sink and grabbed the Windex...
she been working on this a good while...
said here hold my beer... lol
gave it a good spritz, let it sit a min and clean as the day it come out of the box.
well after a quick rinse and a sponge run on it.
then I did the same with the rest of it.
Ammonia cuts grease folks!

I impressed her that day lol!

I have the earlier version of this that I use on my Weber smokey mountain smoker. It is helpful to shorten the learning curve and ease some of the frustration of the smoking process. Smoking is a multi-hour process and seems as much an art as it is a science at times. I've never been one of those people who can stay by the smoker and, 'mind the fire and the temperatures' of the smoking process. The remote thermometer allows me to keep tabs on the temp but still go get other things done around the place.

This thermometer allows a person to monitor both the grate temp and the meat temp which was informative to see how much the grate temp varied within the smoking chamber and how that affected cooking time for the various meats.

What would be really handy is a temp sender that would send the info to my phone as that remote is awkward to carry around and I already have my phone with me.

That said, once I get a particular cut of meat really dialed in through experience, I usually just use my log book for info, and the thermometer that elk posted to check the meat at the end of the process to make sure it's where it needs to be before pulling it off the grill.

My memory has never been that good and a log book with a few notes about each smoke has been helpful in not recreating the wheel each time I smoke.

Also, we raise our own beef and in the past I dictated what cuts were to be done so I could use them for smoking. The last go-around we switched butchers, and he happened to also sell smoked meat out of his shop as a finished product. Instead of dictating what specific cuts of meat I wanted, he suggested letting him evaluate the meat as they were preparing it and recommending those cuts that would be good for smoking. I guess it can vary based on the quality of the beef, how it was raised etc. He marked all the cuts/packages that would be ideal for smoking.

Moral of the story is if you raise your own or buy a 1/2 or more animal and have a say in the butcher process be sure and let your butcher know you will be smoking some of the meat as they may be able to help.

I used a Weber kettle for many years before I built a smoker. The little cookbook that comes with it is actually a very good guide for cooking times and techniques.

I use a charcoal chimney for lighting. Sprinkle a little cooking oil on the newspaper for a much faster light.

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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley