Need help with a bullet smoker

[clandestine]

Dear Hornfans:

My smoking experience is limited to the traditional offset firebox style pits. Today, however, I have been commissioned to cook a mess of ribs using a pair of bullet smokers. How the hell do you work these things? I get that charcoal and wood go on the bottom, water goes in the pan, and meat goes on the top grate. But how much water and how much charcoal and how much wood should I use? Will the water need replacing? How do you control the temperature if it gets too high? Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide this morning.

Sincerely,
Confused in Austin

 

[cbs]

I am too lazy to look up the site for you, but there is an amazing website for Weber Smoky Mountain bullets that will answer any question you have. Google it and I'm sure you'll find it and any answers you need.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

I suggest totally filling up the water pan. I much doubt you'd burn (boil) all that water out in an offset however with the flames directly under the water pan (which is what diffuses the direct heat from hitting the food), you will probably boil it off.

For that, go to an auto parts store (or Harbor Freight) & get a long neck oil funnel (clean it well) & keep it exclusively for filling the pan back up. That will allow you to crack the little door & also prevent you from getting too close to the heat.

Beyond that, I think a little bit of experimentation is what it's going to take.

 

[TheTresLeches]

Here's the online bible for Weber Smokey Mountains.
The Link

Go to operating tips and it will tell you everything you need to know.

I've got one and I love it, once you get the temperature where you want it, it will pretty much maintain it without any supervision for 10 hours or so.

 

[clandestine]

Damn. Those things required basically no maintenance and did a great job. Why didn't anyone tell me about them before? The only problem was that the grill area was very small. I had to curl up the ends of the ribs in order to make them fit so the tips got a little charred. Thanks for the help.

 

[alden]

Those vertical water smokers are easy as can be. I'd like to have that huge barrel for making tons of stuff, but for me, it's not worth all the constant upkeep.

 

[LosIllini]

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[MeaHorn]

For ribs, I take those bamboo skewers and wrap the ribs in a circle and push the skewer thru to keep it in place. I can fit 3 racks of baby backs on the top and 3 on the bottom. Pretty damn good for such a small smoker.

Looks like this:

Lots of good info on how to do baby back ribs here:

The Link

 

[hullabelew]

The Weber Bullet is great. I had another version of a water smoker that was a pain in the ***, but the Weber retains heat and requires very little monitoring, especially when smoking a brisket.

I can put on a brisket at midnight and generally don't have to do anything to the fire for the entire cook, using the Minion Method as shown on that site. I can then add more fuel and cook ribs, sausage or add even more full to smoke 3 or 4 bone-in turkey breasts.

 

[LosIllini]

One other thing I would add- if you are using the Weber- is to find a brinkman-brand deep water pan- and throw out the small Weber pan.

Bass Pro Shop used to have them for $5 or $6 dollars. Makes life a lot easier on the overnight cooks.

 

[Ankf00]

vertical smokers, especially ceramic, are superior system design. any one horse welding shop can slap together an offset, but bullet and kamado style especially are excellent thermally. less fuss, more sleep

 

[Scooter]

I can't seem to get mine hot enough. I've used Kingsford and chunk charcoal and can barely get the thermometer very far into the "Ideal" range.

 

[LosIllini]

I have had thermometers go bad in the past- so you may want to check it. You should be able to pick up a ~$3 big-dial thermometer at academy- in the bbq section- and put it in one of the top holes in the lid.

My weber runs 10-15 degrees hotter at the lid than the grate (heat rises)- and I shoot for 200-225 at the grate (10-20 degrees higher on a cook won't hurt you- but you may get done a little sooner).

If you are having trouble getting your temp up- you can always prop the door open with a stick too. More air into the fuel chamber should get the temp up. (I use this method for cooking turkeys- where I want 325+ degrees.)

 

[DeadHeadHorn]

I've got a vertical smoker (not a Weber brand) and there's not much in the way of temperature control, i.e there's nothing to adjust, aside from the amount of fuel in the smoker.

I always have a tough time keeping a consistent temperature, or at least keeping the temperature down. Is it best to let the wood burn down a bit before starting cooking? I've had pretty good success with it, but it's a pain in the *** b/c I always have to tend to it.

Any pointers?

 

[Stove Top]

Just bought the Weber Smokey Mountain smoker today at BBQ's galore. I am going to fire it up this weekend. Two questions.

1. I will be using charcoal with wood chunks. I have read on the website to place the wood chunks on top of the hot coals. The guy at the BBQ's galore said I need to SOAK the wood chunks. From yall's experience, is this necessary?
Or could I place the unsoaked wood chunks down in the lit coals?

2. What do yall place in the water pan? Just water? Do yall use anything else? Beer, cut veggies, etc..?

Thank yall for the help.

 

[MeaHorn]

I have always used dry wood chunks and had good success dry. If someone else can explain the benefits of wet would, that'd be cool.

I line my water pan with extra wide heavy duty aluminum foil to make cleanup easy. Then fill it an inch from the top with water. Take care not to spill water on the hot coals.

Monitor the water levels throughout the cook. Don't let the water pan get too empty. At the end of the cook, you'll have a nice grease soup that you can dispose of as you see fit.

I've had my WSM a couple years and I absolutely love it. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

Wet (i.e soaked for a looong time) will produce more smoke. When using a true offset smoker, this is not an issue as the distance between the wood & the food is such that you get a true smoke vs. the potential for a more direct heat off a bullet unit.

Definitely make sure you don't run the water pan dry; I have messed around with beer in there but really... it's a waste of a beer (unless it's a Pete Coors product, in which that's just a waste of water).

There is some debate within the more scientific end of the smoking community about what a water pan actually does. One school says you get a moister food product while the other says that's BS because the temperature to which you'd have to get the water into a suitable vapor is so high that you'd roast the food too fast.

Me, I'm happy to prevent grease fires, so I always use the water pan as ful as I can.

 

[cbs]

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[hullabelew]

The other brands of bullet smokers don't hold the heat like the Weber. They take MUCH more monitoring.

Also, I have experimented with all types of liquids in the pan and you really can't tell the difference. I have also tried putting in aromatics like onions, garlic, celery, etc, and they don't seem to matter either.

This past weekend, I smoked a brisket, then 3 racks of ribs then 3 bone-in turkey breasts. I will post the details and pics in the next day or two.

 

[Stove Top]

Thanks for the input, gentlemen. It is greatly appreciated.

 

[TheTresLeches]

You do not need to soak chip to get good smoke.

I've never put anything but water in the water pan. I know on the site I linked above some people just put sand in the pan for ease of cleanup on the assumption that the pan is just there to absorb/deflect direct heat, not to put moisture in the chamber.

I've had my WSM for several years and I love it.

 

[Ankf00]

the use of the water pan, thereby creating water vapor, should allow you to better control temperature within b/c water has a high heat capacity. Kind of like a thermal flywheel if you were using a terracotta square or something similar.

If the coals/wood starts running too hot or too cold, the ambient temp in the chamber's going to take a longer time to rise or sink b/c the water can absorb so much more of that energy than dry air per degree temp change

 

[flyingdoggystyle]

The reason the WSM and BGE work well is that they have a system to control the airflow to the fuel. Other bullet-type smokers are dificult to maintain over long periods of time since there is unlimited air to the fuel.

I have a WSM and a Klose pit. The Klose will burn more fuel, but it is air-tight like the WSM and actually very easy to maintain 250 or so. I can load it up, get the heat right, and then hit the sack with an overnight smoke. It is generally about 175 when I get up in the morning. I use the Klose for bigger jobs and the WSM for smaller ones.

I always use dry wood when adding to the charcoal. You could add wet but that would require more work and I believe the theory behind great bbq is less work creates better food.

The reason the water pan is so important is so that you protect the meat from the heat of the coals. Some folks use sand with tin foil on top to catch the grease, but I just use water. It is easier in my opinion. Plus, when I am done with cooking, I will just put the pan directly on top of the remaining coals and it will create a nice grease fire after which I can just brush out the burt/dried bits of grease with my grill brush.

Finally, you should calibrate your thermometers on a regular basis - like once every other month. Just put it in boiling water and adjust using a pair of pliars and the calibration wheel on the underside of the thermometer dial until it is accurate (212 for the sooners on here).

 

[Stove Top]

Thanks again for all of yalls input on the WSM smoker. I tried mines out for the first time today. This smoker is the nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loaded it up with 2 chimneys of kingsford to start. I put it together and filled the water pan. I closed all of the bottom vents and left the top vent open. Temp spiked to 375. After 20 minutes it came down to 300.

I then loaded it with a 6 lb beef shoulder roast and a 6 lb pork loin. After 2 hours I added some chicken and sausage. I opened up one bottom vent 50%. I controlled the temp at 225 to 250 for 6.5 hours. At one point I had the one bottom vent open 100%, but after stirring the coals, I pulled it back to 50%.

I used oak chunks that I had soaked for an hour because I wanted much smoke. This thing is greatness! I could have gone another 4 hours at 225F when I pulled the beef shoulder off after 6.5 hours of smoking.

My next time I will try an 8 to 10 lb brisket. This thing is perfect for me. I have an 8x8 front stoop on my downstairs condo, so a New Braunfels pit smoker is a bit much.

My company was very impressed with the Q that was served today. If I ever figure out how to post pics from a camera phone, I will do that next time.

 

[greenehorn]

Glad to hear it went well Stove Top.

There's a saying on Austin 3:16 that applies here: "This thread is worthless without pics."

 

[pedro]

Anyone have any experience using the Brinkmann Smoke 'n Grill bullet smoker? I'm sure it's not as great as the Weber Smokey Mountain, but I'm on a budget and can't afford the WSM at present. It seems like it might work as a good smoker that I could get away with using on my apartment patio, though.

This is the one I'm talking about: Brinkmann bullet smoker

 

[TheTresLeches]

Yeah, I used to have one of those.

They're cheap but very difficult to control the temperature.

You could raise the temperature just by opening the door to get more oxygen to the coals. But if you got it too hot. It was hard to get the temperature down because there are no dampers to control the air flow and it isn't a sealed chamber because the bottom is open. It is also very sensitive to the outdoor conditions because it isn't a sealed chamber. Wind would affect the fire as well as air temperature.

You could do OK stuff in there, but it was real hit or miss. If you could save a little extra money I would hold out for the Weber Smokey Mountain. Amazon rountinely puts it on sale for under $200 and you get free shipping and no sales tax.

I have seen a rectangular smoker at academy for a $100 that is vertical smoker that at least is a sealed chamber with dampers. Its made by The Great Outdoors. That may be a good compromise.

 

[hullabelew]

I too had a Brinkman. The best part about it is that it has a larger water pan so I use that in my WSM. I now us the Brinkman pan with the Weber. The problem with the Brinkman is it is nowhere near as airtight at the Weber. I truly wouldn't mess with the Brinkman. It is too much trouble to control the temp. Save your money and watch Amazon for a sale on the WSM.