Appreciate that you are about helping people save money. The tallow thing and your homemade rubs especially. A lot of beginners would just go buy all of it premade without thinking about it being homemade for way less than half the price. Top notch James!
In prep for my Christmas Brisket cook; made my own tallow by chopping up the leftover brisket fat I saved from my last endeavor (I do not have a grinder...yet, so my wrist got a little tired from all the chopping). I rendered it by putting into a slow cooker overnight on low--came out great. Another channel mentioned saving the tallow crinkles and adding it to chili, so looking forward to that as well. Being my first tallow cook; I tried it out by injecting into a sirloin roast and smoked it on my Kettle Joe...not only was my smoke-ring off the charts, but that roast came out pretty awesome!
James, I just did a similar setup this morning on a brisket to try out my new slow roller. I have a Kick Ash basket, so I used a pizza stone as the bottom deflector because I only had 2 wide tabs to place the delfector on. For the water pan, I used a deep cake pan I stole from my wife. I insulated the bottom of the water pan with a quick aluminum foil donut I just rolled up to keep the direct heat from the water pan. Thanks for the channel! Galen
Only just discovered your channel, thank you for taking the time to explain the technical detail with the KJ, I have a Beef Hammer arriving tomorrow for a smoke on Sunday, I'm super excited to see how it turns out
James - Your content is excellent. I've watched quite a bit. Are now firm in the camp that a water pan is the way to go in a Joe? Most of your older content goes without.
Beef shank confit OMG I can taste it from down here James! I really enjoyed this cook James, even it it did force me to watch the agony of defeat again!
Hello James, great Cook again and going to do this next week. But what i dont understand is your change in setup. On previous cooks you places the deflector plates on top and now on the bottom. Is this only because of the water drip pan? And what do you prefer when you dont use water? Then the deflector plates on top like previous cooks?
Hey James! Love the channel and how you break things down and the science to why things happen. Besides YT what do you do for your career, engineering or something like that? Keep it up!
So all up how many hours was it? 6hours then wrapped for 90mins, then rested for how long? All at 270f apart from rest? What was the internal temp u were looking for the meat to end up? Thanks
I don’t have a slow roller for my classic 2. I did just order a 14 smoke ware pan. Can I add water to it and place on top of the deflector plates or will it be too close to my meat I’m smoking. What configuration would you recommend
EXCELLENT ! Heading up to the store for a beef shank... (BTW... I've used a water tray for about 10 years now on most cooks. I think it helps and other argue it doesn't)
I recently made Mississippi Pot Roast with Thor's hammer. Hit it with smoke for 3 to 4 hours, then in the Dutch oven with all the ingredients for another 4. It might have been better than chuck for Mississippi Pot Roast
It’s more dry and has tougher collagen to break down but once you do it’s awesome. It has texture that stands up better than getting mushy for tacos or chilli etc.
James, I’m fascinated by the water pan and deflectors inside the roller. What size would one use for a kj classic 3? Would the deflectors for that grill fit?
James, I just ordered my Series 1 Big Joe and want the double indirect set up. Did they tell you specifically which pan is the shallow one? I cannot wait to throw a brisket on there!!
@@SmokingDadBBQ I missed the call but also wanted to see this new method so appreciate you James for showing it. Does this new method change how much you have the dome heat soak or your vent settings at all? I saw the dome temp around 500 or 600 before you added all the items to do low and slow. I don’t know if I saw correctly on the video. I also couldn’t tell the vent settings. Thanks.
When the Joe was scorching hot after melting the tallow, how did you get it back down to 250? Just adding all the (cold) accessories and closing the vents a bit? I would have thought it'd take ages to drop down (but mine is arriving tomorrow so what do I know :D)
The first heat reading in the beginning 5-10 minutes ( depending on your light up method) mainly comes from the burning flame. That flame shoots straight up into the thermostat so it gives quickly values in the 4-5-600 range. However, if you touch the dome, you will see that it is still not really hot (nowhere near those values). By cutting the air, adjusting the top vent, and adding a bunch of gear, that temperature reading will go down very quickly because in reality it’s not at all the current temperature of the whole bbq. It is like if you would start a home heater and read the temperature on the heater plates. It will say your temperature is way past what you want, but in reality the room is still cold, and it will take quite some time to get higher. That’s why the hand test is crucial. I can guarantee you that a hand test when he closed the air vent and top vent would have shown lower temperature than 1hr later when cooking at 270. A Kamado is super low at going down in temperature when all the ceramic is hot. If that ceramic is still cold, than the temperature will go down quick.
That looks delicious James. You did right by placing the water pan closer to the fire so the water goes to a rolling boil, and generates a good amount of steam. You were also right in attributing the fast formation of the bark to the water steam. This is something I had experimented on, and it is the principle on which Myron Myxon H20 smokers are based on. In my opinion, having the water pan higher up does not do much for the cooking result, which is why for instance you may have seen Harry Soo skip the water pan when smoking in the WSM, which he used during competitions. You probably ran out of water though, you may need a deeper pan. One more observation on the myth of radiant heat in smokers. When you hold your hand 8" from the dome of the Kamado, do you feel enough heat that would cook a meat? The dome will help contain the convection heat but it would need to reach a far higher temperature in order to transfer enough infrared radiant heat to the cooking surface. This is a myth that applies to most BBQ smokers, including offset smokers. A thick wall on an offset smoker is just to make it sturdy and to last longer, it will not help cook any better than a thin walled smoker. It is rather the dimensions and the design that make a difference. Think of how thick is the wall of your kitchen oven or the sheet metal thickness of the Akorn Kamado.
@@SmokingDadBBQ You mean where you Eskimos live LOL. It would bleed less only and only if it were insulated. The thermal conductivity coefficient of steel is the same whether thick or thin. When cold, you'd need to burn more fuel in order to maintain the heat inside the cooking chamber, the factors that come to play are size of the firebox, the stack, the size of the fire ...In fact, when at subzero temperatures, it may be wise to use an insulating blanket over the offset smoker in order to maintain a consistent smoke flavor to when the whether is warmer. Hypotheticaly speaking, if you burn 30% more wood when cold, you are inducing that much more smoke into the meat. OTOH, you do not want an insulated smoker during warmer weather, so you burn enough wood in order to generate enough smoke. Without the use of insulation, you would burn about the same amount of fuel whether the steel wall on the smoker is 10 gauge thick or 3/8" such as in the case of the Workhorse.
@@SmokingDadBBQ I find a huge difference between my Kamado vs WSM both in using water tray & not using one and the heat. The thicker walls of the kamado retain and maintain a better balance than the thin walls. In the Winter I feel like Casey Jones stoking a boiler in my WSM. After 10 years with a WSM & now a Joe I am amazed how my wood & charcoal consumption has been drastically reduced.
Appreciate that you are about helping people save money. The tallow thing and your homemade rubs especially. A lot of beginners would just go buy all of it premade without thinking about it being homemade for way less than half the price. Top notch James!
In prep for my Christmas Brisket cook; made my own tallow by chopping up the leftover brisket fat I saved from my last endeavor (I do not have a grinder...yet, so my wrist got a little tired from all the chopping). I rendered it by putting into a slow cooker overnight on low--came out great. Another channel mentioned saving the tallow crinkles and adding it to chili, so looking forward to that as well. Being my first tallow cook; I tried it out by injecting into a sirloin roast and smoked it on my Kettle Joe...not only was my smoke-ring off the charts, but that roast came out pretty awesome!
James, I just did a similar setup this morning on a brisket to try out my new slow roller. I have a Kick Ash basket, so I used a pizza stone as the bottom deflector because I only had 2 wide tabs to place the delfector on. For the water pan, I used a deep cake pan I stole from my wife. I insulated the bottom of the water pan with a quick aluminum foil donut I just rolled up to keep the direct heat from the water pan.
Thanks for the channel!
Galen
Thanks the video it helped a lot, my beef hammer was too tall to place it vertically I had to lay it down.
Only just discovered your channel, thank you for taking the time to explain the technical detail with the KJ, I have a Beef Hammer arriving tomorrow for a smoke on Sunday, I'm super excited to see how it turns out
Right on
Nice work
Funny that Chud’s bbq ending ;) Thank for all the great work and greetings from Rimouski, Qc, Canada !
Cheers
Thanks to you I ordered a 10” and a 18” pan
Yes James! I’ve been waiting for this one! Great video
Thanks Mike
Another fantastic cook James. I have never tried a Beef Shank before but its on the menu now, thanks so much for sharing, Cheers
Hope you enjoy
Definitely adding this to the list. Think it would be a good add to chilli. This could be on the Super Bowl menu! Well done as usual.
That would be awesome
Another very interesting and different cook! Looks great and I can almost smell it here.
so good
James - Your content is excellent. I've watched quite a bit. Are now firm in the camp that a water pan is the way to go in a Joe? Most of your older content goes without.
Beef shank confit OMG I can taste it from down here James! I really enjoyed this cook James, even it it did force me to watch the agony of defeat again!
haha cheers Al
Hello James, great Cook again and going to do this next week. But what i dont understand is your change in setup. On previous cooks you places the deflector plates on top and now on the bottom. Is this only because of the water drip pan? And what do you prefer when you dont use water? Then the deflector plates on top like previous cooks?
Hey James! Love the channel and how you break things down and the science to why things happen. Besides YT what do you do for your career, engineering or something like that? Keep it up!
So all up how many hours was it?
6hours then wrapped for 90mins, then rested for how long? All at 270f apart from rest? What was the internal temp u were looking for the meat to end up? Thanks
You are worthy as it seems. Nice receipe again. l am not using my Kamado as often as i schould i see ;-)
thanks so much, and it will be happy to see you anytime
Can you link me the vid explaining this double indirect set up? I followed the one where you have sloroller then deflectors
I don’t have a slow roller for my classic 2. I did just order a 14 smoke ware pan. Can I add water to it and place on top of the deflector plates or will it be too close to my meat I’m smoking. What configuration would you recommend
Looks amazing James. I've never tried one, but might have to add it to the list! 🍻
You should!
Smoking dad bbq which heat resistant gloves do you use?
you should find the link in the caption
EXCELLENT ! Heading up to the store for a beef shank... (BTW... I've used a water tray for about 10 years now on most cooks. I think it helps and other argue it doesn't)
i'm sold on it
That looks amazing!
At the 6 hour mark you seem to still have smoke rolling, where you adding wood chips every hour?
I missed a few so maybe 90min
James will the divide and conquer from a series 3 fit in a series 1 big joe
Not really as the 3 is 4” taller
Hi James. Great cook as usual. Where are you sourcing your beef shanks from? They really did a good job with the prep.
this is from JNG meats in aldershot
Not sure how I missed you clearly saying that in the video! My bad!
I recently made Mississippi Pot Roast with Thor's hammer. Hit it with smoke for 3 to 4 hours, then in the Dutch oven with all the ingredients for another 4. It might have been better than chuck for Mississippi Pot Roast
sounds awesome
Looks good! How does the texture compare to other cuts?
It’s more dry and has tougher collagen to break down but once you do it’s awesome. It has texture that stands up better than getting mushy for tacos or chilli etc.
I’m putting this cut on the list, you should try beef cheeks next they are divine cooked on the joe….
good idea
Hi James, any reason you didn’t do the overnight dry brine with this cut? Looks amazing!
Only timing. Got it as a last minute butcher shop surprise for dinner
@@SmokingDadBBQ ahhh makes sense. I am going to try source some once I’m back in London after Christmas here in Toronto
James, I’m fascinated by the water pan and deflectors inside the roller. What size would one use for a kj classic 3? Would the deflectors for that grill fit?
the small 10" and medium i believe both fit, i am looking into some foil options that are deeper for even more water
James, I just ordered my Series 1 Big Joe and want the double indirect set up. Did they tell you specifically which pan is the shallow one? I cannot wait to throw a brisket on there!!
I think they said it’s arriving this month. I want to get one for my series 1 as well. Congrats on your joe
Thanks, man! I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Thank you for showing us the water pan hacked on top of the slow roller as you said you would during the teleconference
100%, and thanks for hanging out with me
@@SmokingDadBBQ I missed the call but also wanted to see this new method so appreciate you James for showing it. Does this new method change how much you have the dome heat soak or your vent settings at all? I saw the dome temp around 500 or 600 before you added all the items to do low and slow. I don’t know if I saw correctly on the video. I also couldn’t tell the vent settings. Thanks.
To add to @CoolJay77 discussion on the water pan, curious to know if all the water steamed off at the end of the cook?
Yes it was long gone when I opened it at the end
When the Joe was scorching hot after melting the tallow, how did you get it back down to 250? Just adding all the (cold) accessories and closing the vents a bit? I would have thought it'd take ages to drop down (but mine is arriving tomorrow so what do I know :D)
ya it was just warming up the ceramics so by installing the cold components and adjusting the vents it settles in right where it should be
The first heat reading in the beginning 5-10 minutes ( depending on your light up method) mainly comes from the burning flame. That flame shoots straight up into the thermostat so it gives quickly values in the 4-5-600 range. However, if you touch the dome, you will see that it is still not really hot (nowhere near those values). By cutting the air, adjusting the top vent, and adding a bunch of gear, that temperature reading will go down very quickly because in reality it’s not at all the current temperature of the whole bbq. It is like if you would start a home heater and read the temperature on the heater plates. It will say your temperature is way past what you want, but in reality the room is still cold, and it will take quite some time to get higher. That’s why the hand test is crucial. I can guarantee you that a hand test when he closed the air vent and top vent would have shown lower temperature than 1hr later when cooking at 270. A Kamado is super low at going down in temperature when all the ceramic is hot. If that ceramic is still cold, than the temperature will go down quick.
Nice job James!
Beef Shsnk is $5.99 in out meat dept.
Nice
Very nice
Thanks
That looks delicious James. You did right by placing the water pan closer to the fire so the water goes to a rolling boil, and generates a good amount of steam. You were also right
in attributing the fast formation of the bark to the water steam. This is something I had experimented on, and it is the principle on which Myron Myxon H20 smokers are based on.
In my opinion, having the water pan higher up does not do much for the cooking result, which is why for instance you may have seen Harry Soo skip the water pan when smoking in the WSM, which he used during competitions. You probably ran out of water though, you may need a deeper pan. One more observation on the myth of radiant heat in smokers. When you hold your hand 8" from the dome of the Kamado, do you feel enough heat that would cook a meat? The dome will help contain the convection heat but it would need to reach a far higher temperature in order to transfer enough infrared radiant heat to the cooking surface. This is a myth that applies to most BBQ smokers, including offset smokers. A thick wall on an offset smoker is just to make it sturdy and to last longer, it will not help cook any better than a thin walled smoker. It is rather the dimensions and the design that make a difference. Think of how thick is the wall of your kitchen oven or the sheet metal thickness of the Akorn Kamado.
Good points although I can imagine a thin walled offset in cool weather would bleed more heat than a thicker steel
@@SmokingDadBBQ You mean where you Eskimos live LOL. It would bleed less only and only if it were insulated. The thermal conductivity coefficient of steel is the same
whether thick or thin. When cold, you'd need to burn more fuel in order to maintain the heat inside the cooking chamber, the factors that come to play are size of the firebox, the stack, the size of the fire ...In fact, when at subzero temperatures, it may be wise to use an insulating blanket over the offset smoker in order to maintain a consistent smoke flavor
to when the whether is warmer. Hypotheticaly speaking, if you burn 30% more wood when cold, you are inducing that much more smoke into the meat. OTOH, you do not want
an insulated smoker during warmer weather, so you burn enough wood in order to generate enough smoke. Without the use of insulation, you would burn about the same amount of fuel whether the steel wall on the smoker is 10 gauge thick or 3/8" such as in the case of the Workhorse.
@@CoolJay77 makes sense. Thanks
@@SmokingDadBBQ I find a huge difference between my Kamado vs WSM both in using water tray & not using one and the heat. The thicker walls of the kamado retain and maintain a better balance than the thin walls. In the Winter I feel like Casey Jones stoking a boiler in my WSM. After 10 years with a WSM & now a Joe I am amazed how my wood & charcoal consumption has been drastically reduced.