Threw a 12 lb butt on the Akorn about midnight. Temp was a bit low at around 6 AM so I woke up and just barely opened the top vent, went back to sleep and slept through my high temp alarm at about 8. It hit 325 before I woke up, but I've got it back down now and it's sitting nicely in the stall

5/20/2017 8:40:09 AM

Pork shoulders are not too sensitive to temperature change but don't want to keep it above 275 too long

5/20/2017 10:16:02 AM

Akorn came in yesterday...I'm jacked! Unfortunately it rained all day yesterday and will do the same today. Might not be able to christen it until next week...although I might do some test runs over the weekend to get comfortable with controlling the temperature.

What's the best charcoal to use? Any other tips or websites I can peruse to soak up some information?

5/24/2017 8:49:18 AM

Season That BABY! throw some fat on that

5/24/2017 9:40:34 AM

^^ Lump

and you asked for it - https://www.kamadoguru.com/ http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/ http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/

5/24/2017 10:02:39 AM

HT has 88 cent butts through their eVic program May 25-28 (with additional $25 purchase)

5/24/2017 10:55:43 AM

Unfortunately my freezer is full of fucking breastmilk. I wish I could store a couple of butts in there right now. Goddamn babies.

5/24/2017 11:39:57 AM

time to invest in a deep freezer.

5/24/2017 1:18:37 PM

Anyone got recommendations for a first charcoal grill that's any decent? Not necessarily looking for cheap, just don't want to go all out before knowing how much I'll actually use one.

5/24/2017 2:08:53 PM

^ Buy the Akorn. /thread

5/24/2017 3:10:12 PM

Quote :

"Lump"

Brand preference?

5/24/2017 5:02:34 PM

You probably won't have a ton of options locally. Royal Oak is common and does fine. I would stay away from the Cowboy brand stuff at Lowe's. I buy Nature Glo from a grill store and I'm told it's just the food service brand for Royal Oak.

Don't waste your money on the Big Green Egg brand lump.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

5/24/2017 9:27:31 PM

Quote :

"You probably won't have a ton of options locally."

What's "local"? I'm in Charleston.

I drive to Greenville (SC) at least once a month for work and pass a Cabelas or two. Where is the best place to buy the good shit for the best price?

5/24/2017 9:48:22 PM

walmart usually carries royal oak. the lump charcoal you pick is really not that big a deal.

what i'm saying is that most stores that even carry lump will only have 1 brand. no matter where you live, you aren't likely to have a lot of choices. many of the most common ones are just re-branded royal oak anyway. the only way to really try a variety is to buy online, which is expensive.

i would just look at the ones that go high rankings on naked whiz's site and then see what was available near me.

[Edited on May 24, 2017 at 10:06 PM. Reason : das]

5/24/2017 10:02:09 PM

Good to know

5/24/2017 10:06:15 PM

I keep a bag of the 35lb Fogo on Amazon on hand for long smokes - can easily do 30hrs without reloading

5/24/2017 10:31:55 PM

$50 a bag? Lol. I think last time I bought Nature Glo it was under $10 for a 20 lb bag.

5/24/2017 10:50:38 PM

lol premium burnt wood.

5/25/2017 4:39:07 PM

I GET A BUNCH OF ALSMOTS EXPIRE 90% FAT BURGERS AND BRATWORST PATTIES TO SEASON MY NEW GRILL WHENEVER I GET ONE

5/25/2017 4:44:47 PM

best thing you can do to season a new grill is just cook a butt

5/25/2017 4:52:14 PM

Quote :

"Buy the Akorn. /thread"

Or a Weber kettle if you don't wanna spend that much

5/25/2017 10:00:12 PM

Did a test run tonight and it worked out pretty well. Cleaned the grates and then seasoned them with veggie oil and put them on the grill around 400 for about an hour. We were making a grilled chicken salad tonight, so I put a dry rub on some breasts and just added some charcoal to the grill that was already seasoned (I have about a bag and a half leftover that I will use til I get some lump).

Played around a bit with raising and lowering the temps. I feel like it really doesn't matter as lump will probably be different...but it does seem like common sense.

The big thing I was worried about was the sear or direct heat part. With my past grill, I could raise and lower the grate. So if I wanted to get some direct heat and sear, I could start it off with the fire real close in the beginning, and then lower so it could cook. With the Akorn, the heat is pretty far away from the grate. It didn't make a difference tonight as we were just grilling some chicken for a salad (and I tossed a good bit of charcoal on after the seasoning and got some decent flame)...but as I was reading through the manual...they tell you to put much more charcoal on for a quick cook so you can get that initial heat. I mean...I get it...but it kind of pisses me off. You add more charcoal for a quick cook of a couple steaks...but for a low and slow...you use half or even less the amount.

We definitely do more quick cooks than low and slow. Anyway I can circumvent using a shit-ton of good lump coal for the majority of our cooks?

5/25/2017 11:34:15 PM

buy a replacement charcoal grate (the bottom grate) for a 22" weber kettle. it will fit the three smoking stone tabs perfectly. you can put coals up there.

5/26/2017 7:39:04 AM

Plus, you shouldnt be using a shit ton of anything. I can easily get my grill over 700+ in temp with little over a chimney and then i snuff it out and reuse. I usually can go at least 2 cooks without having to add any charcoal at all.


Can also buy this.
https://www.chargriller.com/adjustable-fire-grate-6214

5/26/2017 9:53:38 AM

^ Sometimes I exaggerate, but thanks. That's perfect.

5/26/2017 11:05:03 AM

Quote :

" I could start it off with the fire real close in the beginning, and then lower so it could cook. "

On the Akorn you get the grate below which sits just under your main grate like NRR is saying. Put all the coals on one side so you have direct and indirect sides. My Akron stays in this configuration 90% of the time. And yeah after your cook is done close off the vents and reuse the fuel.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WEKNMY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quote :

"then i snuff it out and reuse. "

Do you refill your chimney?

5/26/2017 11:39:10 AM

^No I will start a couple coals in the chimney and then dump, let them reignite the rest.

5/26/2017 1:59:45 PM

Couldn't get a brisket yesterday, but I did get a 10 lb chuck roast. I started it at about 10 PM last night, it's holding steady. Hopefully it'll be done in time for dinner tonight

5/27/2017 8:35:33 AM

got a 10 lb picnic shoulder to put on tonight.

5/28/2017 10:25:00 AM

I started my chuck Friday night around 8 PM thinking it'd leave me plenty of time for dinner Saturday. Woke up Saturday morning and internal temp was 170 and it was stalled, so I wrapped it. Went up to 190 by about 11, then stalled again, dropped down to 186, then didn't move for hours. Finally hit 205 at around 4 so I unwrapped it and started probing, ended up taking it off at 5 at 208, then rested in a cooler for 2 hours. 21 hours total on the akorn, and it was awesome. It shredded as good if not better than any butt I've ever done. This might be my new go-to.

I also went to the lake yesterday and took my little jumbo Joe just for hotdogs and hamburgers, but I took a bag of the chuck too but no pans or anything. The adults decided they wanted that instead of burgers or hotdogs so I took some beer cans, cut the lids off and put a scoop of the beef in them with just a touch of beer left in it and set them on the grill. They made amazing sandwiches.

[Edited on May 29, 2017 at 11:29 AM. Reason : Lake]

5/29/2017 11:24:14 AM

picnic shoulder took 12 hours at 250. servo was acting up on the microdamper, so i used the auber. resting in a cooler now. gonna finish the skin off on the gas grill here shortly.

5/29/2017 11:47:44 AM

When you do the picnics do you smoke it with the skin on and crisp it later, or remove the skin and just crisp it up?

5/29/2017 11:49:26 AM

smoke it with the skin and crisp it later. i cook it skin down. less bark than a butt, but you get the skin and they were cheap.

5/29/2017 1:26:33 PM

Teeter had butts on sale today so I picked up the smallest one for my "test run" on the Akorn. I figured that if it doesn't go well it's only 3.5 lbs of sub par pork and only $3.50 less on the wallet.

Quick question though...I've only smoked larger butts before (7lb+)...do smaller butts follow the same rule? Should this only take me about 4 hours at 225-ish or should I do something different?

6/2/2017 3:49:46 PM

treat it the same. just won't take as long.



[Edited on June 2, 2017 at 4:15 PM. Reason : it's not one of those "enhanced" pieces of meat, is it? those little 3-4 lb "butts" usually are.]

6/2/2017 4:13:58 PM

Nope...just looks smaller. Normally I get Smithfield...and they're always on sale...but usually for $1.50/lb. But they just had Harris Teeter store brand and they were all pretty small...like maybe a few over 4lbs. Hope they don't stop carrying Smithfield.


I guess my feeling on the smoking time was that I normally don't have a good bark on my bigger butts at the 4-hour mark. But maybe with less surface area, I can still get a nice bark on this one.

[Edited on June 2, 2017 at 4:21 PM. Reason : .]

6/2/2017 4:19:02 PM

Just because it's Harris teeter brand doesn't necessarily mean its subpar. There is a decent chance that it's still Smithfield. It should have a plant or establishment number on or near the usda inspection seal (with poultry its normally a "p", with pork I think it's "est"). Just look at that and google it, that'll tell you what plant it came from.

6/3/2017 8:15:52 AM

I meant "subpar" in that I might mess it up because this will be my first smoke on the Akorn and my first time smoking a butt so small.

6/3/2017 8:25:10 AM

did some wings on the akorn with nothing but this:



they were great

6/4/2017 6:46:16 PM

Eh..that smoke didn't go so well.

First, I let the grill get too hot to begin with. lt started at 400, so I had to wait a while until it got to around 275 before I put the butt on. Then it crept down to 235 and I was able to maintain a 225-230 temperature for a few hours...so I thought I was doing well. Then the temp dropped like a rock to 190. Opened it up and the fire had gone out. So I threw a few more lumps on it, re-ignited it, and it quickly jumped to 300. It went down again, but I was playing with it the entire time.

And this has happened with my last few butts...but the meat temp stalls around the 170 range each time....like for a couple hours. My rookie move is to crank up the heat...but it never seems to work. I always just end up taking the butt off because I feel like the reading is incorrect and I've had the butt on there for too long. I mean...I had a 3.5 lb butt cooking for well over 6 hours yesterday. I've had similar long cooks with bigger butts as well.

The pork was delicious. I got a great bark on it. I just didn't get that "falling apart" tenderness and I spent way too much time fucking with the grill. Oh well...it was a test run.

6/5/2017 8:55:26 AM

^ my 8lb butts take about 10-12 hours on the Akorn and the stall usually lasts about two hours (if I remember correctly). Important thing about temp control with the Akorn is to make very minor adjustments to the top and bottom dampers and wait. It takes just a small adjustment to change the temp (im talking 10ths of an inch in adjustment).

FYI, Lowe's grocery has Prime ribeyes on sale for $13/lb until tomorrow.

[Edited on June 5, 2017 at 9:38 AM. Reason : a]

6/5/2017 9:37:48 AM

Light a smaller fire. 250 degrees takes very few lit coals in a kamado. How did you start your fire? I use a single cotton ball soaked in isopropyl alcohol.

And resist the urge to do anything different during the stall. All large cuts will do it. Just chill out, drink some beer, and be patient.

[Edited on June 5, 2017 at 10:42 AM. Reason : Db]

6/5/2017 10:39:31 AM

Quote :

"Lowe's grocery has Prime ribeyes on sale for $13/lb until tomorrow. "

Damn that's a nice sale.

[Edited on June 5, 2017 at 11:11 AM. Reason : I pay $20/lb for those from Costco]

6/5/2017 10:51:23 AM

Is that for whole ribeyes or cut steaks?

6/5/2017 10:55:25 AM

I don't see that on the weekly flyer at my lowes food

6/5/2017 11:13:31 AM

Checked my online sale paper and it said steaks, so that's cool.

6/5/2017 11:24:40 AM

Quote :

"just a small adjustment to change the temp (im talking 10ths of an inch in adjustment)."

absolutely. meat stalls. you have to wait it out.

get a trusty thermopen or pop. make sure you use it and trust it.

shoulder bone should be able to be pulled out clean from a butt.

6/5/2017 11:31:54 AM

Internal temp is only a guide on butts and briskets. Cook it til it probes soft. If the meat clings to the probe, it isn't done. A thermapen works, but so does any pointy piece of metal.

6/5/2017 11:34:48 AM

Quote :

"How did you start your fire?"

Chimney starter. I was hoping to avoid using that thing again, but couldn't find any starter cubes last time I went into Lowes. Will look into the cotton ball method now.

I have a redi-check thermometer. I think it works pretty well.


I've been thinking about it all morning and I think my problem was that I shouldn't have soaked my wood chunks. I put three really large chunks on there when I put the butt on. Essentially, I think that put the "fire" out. And once that happened, it kind of fucked things up in regards to me having re-ignite everything and then manage the temp with the butt already on the grill.

[Edited on June 5, 2017 at 11:47 AM. Reason : .]

6/5/2017 11:37:49 AM

Chimney is way overkill for low and slow in a kamado. So are the Weber cubes, for that matter. If you want to use the Weber cubes, only use like half or a third of one. Cotton ball alcohol method is best for me. Google the "volcano" method.

[Edited on June 5, 2017 at 11:49 AM. Reason : No need to soak chunks]

6/5/2017 11:48:36 AM