The guy that does all the "official" videos tented the shoulder he cooked. Seems like a nice compromise.

I'm not an expert, but I've never wrapped or sprayed my pork butts, and they have all come out great. The only reason to wrap it would be, if you needed it to finish cooking faster. My advice is to put a drip pan under them (filling it with water will help regulate your temps) though I doubt it does much for moisture in the meat. Drippings from my first pork butts ran out the lower vent and stained the stone I have my egg on.

If you are having trouble regulating your temps you are probably lighting to much of the charcoal in the beginning. (This is called "over-fireing your lump"... Which I just like to say). I usually light my charcoal in two places for slow and low cooking. Let it burn for 5 minutes, then close the lid and start shutting down the vents until it settles around 250. Also the top vent needs to be closed way more than I thought it would. It is only open a sliver.

Quote:

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Seems like parties are split between wrapping it in foil once it reaches 165 versus leaving it open and spraying with liquid to keep it moist... Guess I'll decide when I get there.

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I wrap not because you have to, but I like to get the shoulder nice and dark from smoke and then put it in a foil pan and wrap until it hits about 195. Then I pull and let rest for a couple hours. When you remove the foil there's a ton of injection and juices that were caught so when you pull it you can then rehydrate the pulled pork with that delicious liquid you saved. Strongly suggest injection with some sweet and salty and then tryinig this method.

Full disclosure: I've never done this on a ceramic. I imagine it's the same except you won't get as much smoke flavor.

'03ag said:

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Also if you're gonna buy the Costco ceramic, buy it store. Probably $150-$200 cheaper.

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Correct. It's $599 at Costco right now.


Akorn is $249 at Lowes
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Char-Griller-AKORN-20-in-Kamado-Charcoal-Grill/3609214

Looks nice. I smoked and grilled for the first time on my Big Joe last weekend and overshot temps as well. Everything still turned out great though. I wrapped the butt at 167*, then pulled it to rest at 197*. I think I'll cook to 200* next time though.

The guy gave me the ripped bag of charcoal for free. Someone else was buying their second Joe and said the Costco lump charcoal was "just as good". Were there any thoughts on that here?

I use the Costco lump in my Akorn. Works for me.

I'll probably give it a go when I buy next time

'03ag said:

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I use the Costco lump in my Akorn. Works for me.

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Where do they keep the lump at your costco? Was looking for it Saturday and all i could find was Kingsford. It was getting ridiculously busy so we just left instead of tracking someone down.

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

Lump reviews. I'm new to this but the KJ lump has worked well so far.

The HEB Central Market lump has been solid for me.

I'm not a fan of the cowboy lump at Costco.

Awesome smoke ring...what did you cook it on/with?

agcrock2005 said:

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Awesome smoke ring...what did you cook it on/with?

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Big Green Egg. Regular ass lump from the supermarket and Oak chunks.

Well you disproved my belief that you can't get a good smoke ring on a ceramic! Do you use a lot of smaller chunks of oak to get that much smoke? My father in law uses one piece of larger wood and doesn't get **** for smoke.

aTm2004 said:

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The HEB Central Market lump has been solid for me.

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+1

The kamado Joe manual suggested 3-4 chunks for smoking beef and pork.

Is the HEB brand hardwood chunk decent for smoking?

agcrock2005 said:

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Well you disproved my belief that you can't get a good smoke ring on a ceramic! Do you use a lot of smaller chunks of oak to get that much smoke? My father in law uses one piece of larger wood and doesn't get **** for smoke.

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The amount of wood used has little to do with getting a smoke ring. You can get a nice smoke ring using only lump. Its all about having a nice clean fire for most of the cook.

Nevertheless, I use 5 chunks a little smaller than the size of a fist. One in the middle all the way at the bottom prior to putting in the lump. Then 4 pieces toward the outter edge after loading half the lump. Then fill up the fire ring. I light only right in the middle with a Looftlighter.

Two brick chickens and baked sweet taters in the big joe.

Juicyfan said:

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People talk all the time about not being able to cook a large Brisket on a BGE, but I think they are overestimating the length of a brisket. (Must be a guy thing.) I have a Large, which has 18 inch diameter, and I have cooked a 16 lb brisket on it before. I had to squish it a little to get it to fit, but the brisket didn't seem to mind... Turned out great.

Of course I would like to have more room, but the large is big enough to do most normal cooks. Just wanted to throw that out there for those of you trying to decide what to get.

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I broke down this weekend and put a brisket on my Vision. It was a 16.18lb brisket prior to trimming, probably around high 14's or low 15's when I got done with it. It fit, with a little finagling to ensure the lid didn't catch it.

Was nice to go to sleep and be able to sleep more than a couple of hours, though when I did wake up the temp was about 100 degrees lower than when I went to sleep. That was a solid 8 hours between checking temps. (still figuring out how much lump to put in these things, seems I'm always too much or too little). But the one thing I did notice is that the areas of the brisket that weren't protected by the plate setter got very dry - jerky type dry. Happened in a couple 2 or 3 places, all exactly where it overhung the plate setter and had a much more direct heat exposure.

Will do a brisket again on it, but will be a much smaller one next go around.

Flavor is great, not nearly the smoke ring, but still great flavor and outside of those few areas - very juicy and tender.

schmellba99 said:

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Juicyfan said:

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People talk all the time about not being able to cook a large Brisket on a BGE, but I think they are overestimating the length of a brisket. (Must be a guy thing.) I have a Large, which has 18 inch diameter, and I have cooked a 16 lb brisket on it before. I had to squish it a little to get it to fit, but the brisket didn't seem to mind... Turned out great.

Of course I would like to have more room, but the large is big enough to do most normal cooks. Just wanted to throw that out there for those of you trying to decide what to get.

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I broke down this weekend and put a brisket on my Vision. It was a 16.18lb brisket prior to trimming, probably around high 14's or low 15's when I got done with it. It fit, with a little finagling to ensure the lid didn't catch it.

Was nice to go to sleep and be able to sleep more than a couple of hours, though when I did wake up the temp was about 100 degrees lower than when I went to sleep. That was a solid 8 hours between checking temps. (still figuring out how much lump to put in these things, seems I'm always too much or too little). But the one thing I did notice is that the areas of the brisket that weren't protected by the plate setter got very dry - jerky type dry. Happened in a couple 2 or 3 places, all exactly where it overhung the plate setter and had a much more direct heat exposure.

Will do a brisket again on it, but will be a much smaller one next go around.

Flavor is great, not nearly the smoke ring, but still great flavor and outside of those few areas - very juicy and tender.

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Get an adjustable rig or woo ring from here https://ceramicgrillstore.com with the oval stone. It will keep the whole brisket (or ribs) away from direct heat. The accessories from CGS are all top notch.

I have the adjustable rig with the Oval stone and it helps a ton with briskets and ribs. It's great quality, and makes tending the fire so much easier, because you can pick the whole thing up from the top (which is above the felt line)

Can you take out 2 grates, the ceramic deflector and water pan all out at the same time without having to reach below the felt line with the KJ system?

Yes. You can remove the whole system in one move. It's not ideal, but can be done. I do see the adjustable rigs do have some advantages, which is why I too out my original post.

I was about to be very very impressed with the new KJ if they had figured out an easy way to take everything out at one time.

I went and got a pellet grill to try out with the memorial day sales. Got the Pit Boss 820 Deluxe for $399. Cooked my first brisket on it Saturday night. 12 hour cook and turned out pretty good. Had to adjust the "p" settings for some extra smoke during the first few hours, but other than that pretty pleased and good smoke ring/flavor.

1) Costco employees will load your Joe into your vehicle. You will need 3 guys to unload it.

2) **** no matter what brand you buy, buy an XL***** I have never heard anyone complain about their Egg/Joe/Primo except that they regret not getting a larger one.

3) I am not a super experienced smoker. That said, I cooked a pretty perfect Costco 14lb prime brisket over the weekend using my big Joe and the cyber q. Literally took me 20 mins to get to 190, turned on the cyber to 225, didn't touch my brisket until it hit 190 internal. The cyber q is worth the cash.

What is the Cyber Q? Is there a certain model that works best for the BGE?

12th Man Ag said:

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What is the Cyber Q? Is there a certain model that works best for the BGE?

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The Cyber Q is the wifi enabled variant of the regular DigiQ pit controller. You just select your pit and it comes with the appropriate fan size.

https://www.bbqguru.com/storenav?categoryid=1&productid=35

Is the Cyber Q or the Flame Boss better? I like the idea of the variable speed fan on the FB.