New Smoker/Large cook

dseal · Postby **dseal** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 11:08 am

I cant even begin to tell everyone how excited I am. I spoke with Chad Johnson earlier this week and he assured me my pit will be ready before labor day weekend. Its has been a long few months waiting. This is my pit:

http://www.johnsonsmokers.com/ultimate-compact-patio/

I am a fairly knowledgeable smoker when it comes to my Bayou ceramic egg (like a BGE), but this will be my first time doing multiple meats at different temperatures. Probably not the best idea to have guests over on the maiden voyage, but schedules being what they are we needed to do it on the long weekend. So, I want to have about 20 people and serve the following items :

Brisket
Sausage
Pork Ribs
BBQ Beans
Smoked Mac and cheese
Stuffed Jalapenos

Would ya'll care to share your estimates on amount of each I should have on hand for this crowd, cooking times and rotation of when to put things on, and any thing else you think I will need to know about cooking for this bunch. Since the pit has a vertical I can have 2 different temps. Thanks in advance for all the help. You guys RAWK

Williep · Postby **Williep** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 11:13 am

Nice

bsooner75 · Postby **bsooner75** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:44 pm

Did they tell you temp the upright will run vs the main chamber?

That's a nice pit. I've seen one up close and Chad does quality work.

I bet one of our catering guys can help you with how much meat to plan.

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dseal · Postby **dseal** » Sun Aug 23, 2015 3:05 pm

They say the vertical will run about 50 degrees cooler

Guest · Postby **Guest** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:25 pm

The ribs are the real space user for the number of people they feed. 3 racks of ribs and 1 12-14# brisket, 12 sausages. Would be enough meat, a few ribs a sausage 1/2 and couple slices of brisket should do great.

Making memories.

Rodcrafter · Postby **Rodcrafter** » Tue Aug 25, 2015 5:25 pm

The ribs are the real space user for the number of people they feed. 3 racks of ribs and 1 12-14# brisket, 12 sausages. Would be enough meat, a few ribs a sausage 1/2 and couple slices of brisket should do great. I would try to run it a time or 2 with a good digital thermometer in both cooking chambers before trying to do all this cooking. Oh and if you want to time your meal right use the Texas crutch or everyone will go home before they get any brisket.

Making memories.

dseal · Postby **dseal** » Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:06 pm

Here she is. Got her home safe. Will do a test burn in with something cheap this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

Postby **Txdragon** » Sat Aug 29, 2015 7:14 pm

Very nice!

dseal · Postby **dseal** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 4:19 am

Yesterday I spent the day burning out and seasoning the pit as per Chads instructions. Built a fire to around 400 degrees and let it run a few hours till there was no hint of paint smell coming from it. Also sprayed the interior with veg oil to get that look and texture of a pit that has been well seasoned. Pretty happy with it so far, even though the does seem to be a little more leaking around the main door than I was expecting.

This morning I have trimmed and rubbed the 2 14 lb briskets, started the fire with a chimney full of mesquite lump charcoal, added the post oak and red oak chunks for fuel and waiting till the temp stabilizes and put them on. I will try to take pics as the day progresses.

dseal · Postby **dseal** » Sun Sep 06, 2015 5:07 am

Quick update. Briskets on, temp stable at 250ish, nice Frankins rub, and last pic is of the Slap yo Mama Mac and cheese with my own little twist. I must admit I have watched Franklins videos many times about trimming properly, but none of the briskets I buy look like his. Still MUCH to learn about that. When I used to manage a BBQ place back in the day we didn't trim anything. Maybe why it is no longer there, huh?

dseal · Postby **dseal** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 6:10 am

Well, when everyone started arriving I wasn't near as diligent as I wanted to be about taking pictures. I did manage to snap a few:

dseal · Postby **dseal** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 6:20 am

The new Johnson smoker worked extremely well. I used post oak and red oak for fuel source and I was able to keep the stacks open full blast the whole time. Just a little bit of damper control from time to time and I was able to keep the fire within 30 degrees fluctuation, and most time a very steady just under 260 degrees. If I sat right on top of it it was very easy to control. Has to add wood every hr to maintain temp so this is not like my egg being able to set it and forget it. The vertical chamber was advertised as being 40 degrees cooler than the main chamber but in actuality is was more like 20-25 with damper and stack full open. Proved to be a perfect place for sausage and hot dogs for the kids and for stuffed jalapenos.

Very nice pit. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a reasonably priced custom rig.

bsooner75 · Postby **bsooner75** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:28 am

Very nice looking pics. Thanks for providing the feedback on the cooker as well. A stick an hour is pretty standard for an offset. Glad you were able to get the vertical closer to pit temp as well.

Enjoy!

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Okie Sawbones · Postby **Okie Sawbones** » Mon Sep 07, 2015 8:58 am

bsooner75 wrote:Very nice looking pics. Thanks for providing the feedback on the cooker as well. A stick an hour is pretty standard for an offset. Glad you were able to get the vertical closer to pit temp as well.

Enjoy!

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Twitter handle @bsooner75

I wish my offset only used a stick an hour! Maybe if I had a Jambo with an insulated firebox.

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