Fire management question

[BackyardBoss]

Hi, All. After much consternation and delay (a whole separate topic), I finally took the SS BackyardBoss (Tejas 20x40) for her maiden cruise last weekend!! Woohoo!! :) :) :) :)

We cooked the point side of a 12 lb. Brisket (the flat having been previously appropriated by Ms. BackyardBoss). The brisket turned out pretty well, I suppose not bad for a first outing, using pecan for fuel, and homemade rub and baste from Smoke & Spice. Got some decent flavor out of it and a ¼” smoke ring to boot. Personally I felt like it should have been less dry, less smoky in taste and more juicy, but the folks eating it were pretty happy.

One question about fire management that I’m wrestling with as I become familiar with my new pit: how much wood to keep burning throughout the cook? There seems to be two ways to handle it: either keep more wood burning and choke the intake back to keep the intensity of the fire down while maintaining more consistency in the fire temps, or use less wood, more air, and deal with bigger swings in the temps generated by the firebox. It seems like the second way requires more supervision minute-by-minute, and playing with the air intake on the pit. Also, those bigger temp swings create more white puffy smoke when the fire is backing down, not a good thing (and I think the reason our brisket had too strong a smoke flavor).

Thanks for comments,

[bigwheel]

Main thing with a wood fire is to keep it burning clean. If you put a lot of wood in there and try to throttle back on the intakes to control the burn rate it will give you some bad smoke (creosote) and prob why you thought it tasted too smokey. The white puffy smoke is usually not a problem. When it turns black..brown...green..etc..you got problems. You nearly have to control your temps by the size of the fire as opposed to fiddling with the intakes. Try to keep a log preheating on top of your firebox if possible and chunk it in when it needs fuel. If it burns nasty for a bit when it first catches open the "cookchamber" door for a bit till it starts burning clean. Hope this helps.

bigwheel

[david brace]

Bigwheel steered you in the right direction. Too often the fires get tended by someone who wants to control the fire AFTER it is on it's own way to burning 'out of control'. The key (and not the trick) is to manage the fire BEFORE you have to panic and say the F word while you smile at your guests as they see this Tribal Sacrifice happening in your pit...

The FB has only so much space for wood to burn at any one time. And regulating the amount of heat in and from that finite space is for us to learn. We can have a pile of toothpicks burning, which will only generate so much heat versus the cubic FB area, or a full load of wood, which will generate WAY TOO MUCH heat for that area. In between is where we want to learn about.

But it still has to burn, so the principles of the fire apply. And a clean burning fire for us to determine how much is what we want to work with.

...did I ramble???

DB

[M38A1]

Good stuff by the guys above.....

The objective for 'clean' smoke is where you can barely see it out the stack. To get this to happen takes a couple of things. The easiest is to pre-heat your logs before you put them in the fire as a fuel source. This can be accomplished by setting them on top of the firebox, always keeping two or three in 'rotation'. If you have a round firebox, you can set them inside on the exterior edges. They might ignite after time, but they will be preheated and you simply move them to the coal pile.

As for intakes and exhaust, I keep my stack wide open all the time and regulate airflow by the firebox door vents. It'll take you a few cooks to get the hang of it. You might consider using lump charcoal as the primary fuel for a few cooks while adding preheated wood for flavor. Once you figure the pit out, then migrate to all sticks.

Oh, and welcome to the board.

[PhotoKirk]

M38A1 makes a good point about lump charcoal. After a couple hours, the meat will have all the smoke flavor it's going to get, so you can switch to lump and keep a pretty clean fire.

Also, try oak or hickory for your next cook. Pecan has great flavor, but it doesn't leave much in the way of coals. By the middle of a long cook, I have a nice bed of oak coals to help keep my temps steady.

Keep your exhaust wide open to avoid trapping stale smoke in the pit.

[3970010]

The whole thing about pre heating your wood really does work. There is another benifit to preheating your wood. If you accidently let your fire get to the point where you cant see the flame or the flame is to small, the preheated wood will catch fire anyway.

[TexLaw]

Also, if you need to, split your wood into smaller pieces. If you have a smaller cooker that doesn't hold a temperature very well, you can add smaller pieces more often and keep a more consistent, clean fire.


TL

[3970010]

Also, if you need to, split your wood into smaller pieces. If you have a smaller cooker that doesn't hold a temperature very well, you can add smaller pieces more often and keep a more consistent, clean fire.


TL

I have to do exactly that as a matter of fact

[Woodman]

Try to think in terms of "average temp" over the duration of the cook too. Don't br freaking out if you swing between 170-300 as long as you are not STAYING in those temps. I never use my dampers. They both stay wide open.

[M38A1]

Try to think in terms of "average temp" over the duration of the cook too. Don't br freaking out if you swing between 170-300 as long as you are not STAYING in those temps.

VERY good point Woodman..... When I first started, I was all worried about "Gotta keep 225*F with no variation". All I did was babysit the pit and was miserable. After time on the pit to see what it took to maintain an average, seeing the end product and learning from 'yall, now I can pretty much toss on a log and forget it. It the temp swings, I'll address it then, but not on a minute by minute basis. In fact, I'll maybe look every 30-45 or so minutes to see where it's at and go from there.

[bigwheel]

Yeppers..hundred degree fluctuation dont bother me a bit. When it gets around 200 I take it as a sign to add fuel or scoop out some dead ashes. When it starts getting around 300..I know it prob gonna start coming back down in a little while. When it gets to 700 and starts belching black smoke that is usually a sign of a grease fire. If that happens shut off all the air and start praying:)

bigwheel

[Zeeman]

I just watch the smoke coming out the stacks. Sit close enough to feel the lid every so often. Get Tee to throw a stick or 2 in the firebox when needed.
No gauges anymore.....brunt them out a few grease fires ago :wink: Everything by sight, smell & feel now.

Wood 12-14 inches and splip small best for me.
z

[bandit05]

Yep Z can tell you about them there weedburners :shock:

[M38A1]

When it gets to 700 and starts belching black smoke that is usually a sign of a grease fire. If that happens shut off all the air and start praying:)

bigwheel


Got to experience my first grease fire this past weekend. Brent and I both looked at one another after we noticed the stack turned really black and we hadn't added any wood. He just closed off the stack and intake, waited a few minutes, took a peek and sure enough, there was a sausage that had fallen on the tuning plate and was still burning a flame-blue. Shut the door, waited about 5 minutes, then opened the stack/intake and all was good.

Learned not to panic - just shut her down/close her off and wait.

[Woodman]

We were cooking a prime rib at a Cabelas cook-off for dinner. It was slow getting done so I cranked the gas up? Pretty soon the pit was at 450 and smoke was leaking around the doors. I (stupidly) opened the door and fire jumped out at me. GREASE FIRE, I started to panic and almost reached for the extinguisher, but not wanting to ruin that prime rib, I just choked it off (the fire) and all was cool in a matter of minutes! Prime rib was fine!

[cappy]

Yeppers..hundred degree fluctuation dont bother me a bit. When it gets around 200 I take it as a sign to add fuel or scoop out some dead ashes. When it starts getting around 300..I know it prob gonna start coming back down in a little while. When it gets to 700 and starts belching black smoke that is usually a sign of a grease fire. If that happens shut off all the air and start praying:)

bigwheel

Yep, not like baking a cheesecake where the time and temperature are unforgiving. There's a lot of wiggle room to be creative with barbecue. I think of it like spaghetti sauce that way.

I think the amount of time you have to invest in it - and particularly the long cooks like brisket and pork butt - is what makes people nervous because the truth is only there at the very end. Which in that case is a lot like cheesecake, which you don't really know how it came out until it's been baked and then refrigerated and set for about 12 hours.

[Michiana Mark]

Also, if you need to, split your wood into smaller pieces. If you have a smaller cooker that doesn't hold a temperature very well, you can add smaller pieces more often and keep a more consistent, clean fire.


TL
Excellent advice Texlaw, I do this on my Chargriller all the time. Usually try to split one so my thumb and forefinger can wrap around it. One of these every 30 minutes or so.

[BackyardBoss]

Guys, thanks for all the good comments. I'm definitely feeling ya on the point about keeping the pit right at 225. Months ago, I bought that really cool Maverick dual-probe temp gauge, one for food and the other for the pit. It lets you set a low and high alert threshold for the pit, so that the thing beeps at you if, say, the temps go over 228, or under 223. Tried it out on my Weber kettle doing low n slow.

Needless to say, Ms. (who was within ear shot the first time I used the alarm) was not amused: "Is it going to be doing that all day?!! *@%%# Barbeque!" So, ya, I'm getting the point - average seems to be the key, now I just try for between 200 and 250.

[1MoreFord]

My pit's about the same size as yours. Mine will cruise along happily around 225 when burning lump but it's a real struggle to keep it regulated with sticks. However, when I bump the temp to ~240-250 everything's good again with sticks. Sure there's some spikes and dips but not like trying to run 225. Try this and the other suggestions and I think you'll be happier.

[david brace]

Panic at the sight of a fire??? I love seeing a fire!!!

DB

[Tailwagger]

Great advise as usual from the guy's, one other thing that helped me was using the "The Minion Method" (link below)

http://virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html#minion

I to have the maverick, and the wife who has been less than pleased at times with it's beeping, esp @ 3:05am :cry: I set a low of about 190 and high @ 260. As the fella's said, shoot for average. But the method above did help a lot on fire and temp tending. Best of luck to ya' my BBQ brother.

P.s. Homeade rubs are great and fun, but if you haven't do yourself and your family and friends a favor, get some TBBQ rub for next cook. You'll never regret it!

[Dave]

i've been using B&B lump at comps and have been doing well. Temps stay pretty steady at 250 in the chamber towards the stack and run a little hotter by the firebox, for my chicken. there isn't a heavy smoke taste on any of the meat. I always keep 3 or four "Tallboy" size sticks of hickory without the bark sitting on the firebox in case i need to kick the temperature up a bit or if my attention is directed else where and the temperature drop.they catch pretty quick when they've been pre-heated and don't let off very much smoke.