Bar B Que

[Crastney]

anyone know where I can get a chimney from, to use when I light my charcoal for a BBQ?
I'd normally search online, but someone here must have a recomendation.

 

[Ceejay]

I've been looking for one of these and all info points towards the Weber chimney starter. That's the one I'll be getting anyway. Argos do them for about £17 I think.

I actually cooked a couple of pizzas on my Weber kettle on Saturday night. Came out much better than in the oven - crispier base and that nice charcoal grill taste. Will be doing that again, for sure!

 

[Wez]

Picking my webber chimney starter up in a little while, BBQ this afternoon

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I've just been searching for one of these starters myself. Not many places have them in stock but I managed to find one here.

http://www.garden4less.co.uk/weber-rapi ... 4Qod5h1ojw

 

[Wez]

Just used mine and it's brilliant! How did I not buy one sooner!

 

[Titch]

makro had them last time i was in

 

[mr_spin]

We like to BBQ - A Lot!

here is my collection of BBQ's:

First we have a standard gas bbq for doing things quick. Boring really!

Next we have our Chargriller Smokin Pro - this was marketed as a horizontal smoker due to the side firebox but in reality IMHO horizontal smokers like this are rubbish for smoking as I found it doesn't hold temperature very well and is not very controllable so we only use it for charcoal grilling at our partys now. We've had this for 3 years.

We replaced the 'smoker' action with a dedicated vertical smoker, the ProQ Excel which is really excellent. We've only had this 2 months so far and already we've had 8 smokes on it! The unit is much more controllable and holds its temperature relatively stable over 5-6 hours without using a ton of fuel unlike our horizontal one!

The excel is a stackable unit and has two layers for cooking - loads of room to do joints etc on multiple layers. We have a third stacker on order we're that impressed with it.

Here is the fire basket on the Proq Excel with freshly lit coconut charcoal ready for a long smoke.

 

[mr_spin]

Our ProQ smoker in action:

Ribs and a leg of lamb after 4 hours cooking - look at the way it pulled back on the bone! The meat was like silk!

getting ready for ribs and chicken:

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Just as I upgrade someone has to go one better.

That does look a very impressive piece of kit though.

I have a couple of joints of Pork going on this afternoon, I am guessing they will take about 4 hours, but not sure really.

 

[Wez]

Le us know how you get on Steve

I'm interested in getting one!

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I have one of the horizontal smokers that look more like two BBQ's glued together. Mine is a cheap version as well so doesn't seal very well.

I did do some Chicken Breasts on it last week as a trial run and they turned out well.

I currently have a shoulder and a loin of pork marinating in a honey and mustard dressing, plus a small piece of Silverside as my son doesn't like pork.

The fire is alight and I'll soon be a smokin'

 

[Wez]

I have one of the horizontal smokers that look more like two BBQ's glued together. Mine is a cheap version as well so doesn't seal very well.

I did do some Chicken Breasts on it last week as a trial run and they turned out well.

I currently have a shoulder and a loin of pork marinating in a honey and mustard dressing, plus a small piece of Silverside as my son doesn't like pork.

The fire is alight and I'll soon be a smokin'

Yep thats the type I have in mind :thumb:

Have a good one

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Coals are up to temperature

Added my soaked Apple wood flakes in SWMBO's loaf tin

And now for the meat, a few small bits we picked up cheap.

Shoulder of pork at the front, loin behind it, and a small bit of silverside to the right.

 

[Wez]

All looking good, and a decent size for the money!

I'm interested in how much smoke it gives off during cooking, are we talking "neighbours complaining" levels of just a steady drift?

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I got a lot of smoke to start with after lighting the charcoal, but thats normal, Now it's lit and cooking there is very little smoke at all, to be honest you would hardly know it is alight.

The bits of wood probably haven't started to smoke yet though as they were very wet.

I am still waiting for my chimney to arrive to light the coals though so will have to get some coals underway in the chimnea and shovel them in as and when required.

They sell these barbecues in MAKRO by the way.

 

[Wez]

I'm going to ask for one for my birthday I think

Let us know about the smoke output once the woodchips get going if thats OK :thumb:

 

[Runwell-Steve]

The wood is smoking nicely now

There is some smoke, but unless you either have very close or fussy neighbours I don't think it would be a problem.

We are lucky in that we only have a neighbour on one side and their house is a good 10 metres from my BBQ.

On the other side is a school playing field, and it's half term so nice and peaceful at the moment.

 

[mr_spin]

I don't care about what smoke is put out!

Steve what temps are you managing to maintain with yours? I struggled to keep my horizontal at a constant 200F without constant faffing like lowering the internal chimney stack etc.

 

[Runwell-Steve]

I have just checked and it is running at 210 F in the middle of the smoker side.

My temp guage on the top is a bit naff as it only has 3 readings, warm, ideal, and hot. So I have stuck a digital probe in for now.

I just keep topping up with hot coals as and when the temp drops, seems to be doing OK at the moment.

I have the chimney vent half open, and everything else closed and it seems to be all good.

 

[Wez]

That looks ideal :thumb: