Meet my pit: Brinkmann Smoke 'N Pit (Basic)

My Christmas vacation took me deep into the heart of eastern Texas, which it would seem is big time BBQ country. Every little tiny town as a BBQ joint and the air often smells of wood fire. I was appalled to see lakeside vendors selling seasoned split white oak as campfire wood! That's cooking wood man!

Unfortunately, I was unable to take the time to sample any of the local BBQ fare. Although I admit it was hard to pass up a place called Big Fatty's BBQ (don't ask where it is...after a 1600 mile round trip I really don't have any idea!) But it was a little easier to pass up the converted trailer house boasting "BBQ-Mexican-Catfish" in big yellow letters on a sign nearly as big as the building.

Anyway, since vacation had my remodeling project and BBQ temporarily on hold, I decided to post a review of my pit.

My pit is a 2005 model Brinkmann Smoke 'N Pit. It's the basic model from Walmart. Dimensionally, it is nearly identical to the current model (which is the Smoke 'N Pit Pitmaster Deluxe), but the air vent and smokestack are different.

For the price I think this is a great pit. It's not perfect, but isn't bad. It's much better than a vertical smoker; that's for sure! I have only found a few weaknesses:

1) the firebox door hinges warp in time and it doesn't close flat. Even with the vent closed, it's like having it half open because of all the air sucking around the door.

2) the firebox isn't deep enough. It can only burn for 2-3 hours before filling up with ash and starting to bury the airflow. It only has maybe 4 inches under the firebox grate...I think 8 should be a minimum.

3) It's hard to get the right temperature for smoking. It seems it is easy to get a 180-200 degree fire going, but it makes thick heavy sooty white smoke. So you put the air and fuel to it until the smoke goes blue and now it's 250-300 degrees. I think it is an airflow problem and possibly related to the size of the opening between the firebox and smoking chamber. I think it needs to either be smaller, or moved over with 6-12" of dead space between the firebox and smoke chamber.

4) The warming/holding rack is nearly useless if you're smoking large cuts of meat or poultry. With the rack installed, you can't close the lid on a 12# turkey. I work without the rack even installed.

One of the best features of this pit is that it can be used as a plain grill too. Rather than building a fire in the firebox, it has a charcoal pan that hangs in the bottom of the smoking chamber. It's adjustable for height (although, like the firebox, the smoking chamber should be deeper too). Just load in up with charcoal and wood chunks and you've got a grill.

Overall I'd give my pit 4 out of 5 stars. If it was $50 higher price I'd give it 3. Pretty good equipment for the price.

Cabinet progress

I'm still here. Somehow, among the delays and frustrations of harvest, I was able to slowly keep working on sanding the kitchen cabinets. Mercifully, harvest is over now. Harvest was to this season what shooting a wounded horse is to it.

On Wednesday, I got done with the sanding! It only took 38 hours to do it :P

The cabinet face frames and door frames were a mess. Some were sanded, but only to what looks to have been 60 grit. Others still bore the marks from a thickness planer. The door panels are oak faced plywood that appears to have been factory sanded to 100 grit.

So, I sanded all the frame members with 80 grit. Then I did everything with 120 grit. Then finished off with 220 grit. Much of the sanding of the door frames was done by hand. Just too many nooks and crannies for a power sander, but I am very thankful to have a good power sander for where it worked!

Since the sanding is done, I have gotten started on the rest of the finishing. The staining is going very fast. I have already stained all the drawer fronts and all but 5 of the doors.



I have also topcoated the drawer fronts with polyurethane. I decided to use aerosols for that since they are small, intricate, and well suited for spraying. They got 3 coats of semi-gloss.

I still have a can left and will use it on a couple of the small cabinet doors. Other than that I'm planning on brushing the poly on....probably 2 coats. Oh boy that might be a long ordeal; dunno if I could endure 3 coats. We'll see...

BBQ in the Bible?!

"Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire..." Exodus 12:9a (NIV)

And the cabinet color is....

Well, the stain color testing is over. We're going custom mix. I think I'll call it "Cinnamon Pecan".

There are 3 color samples on the trim piece in this photo. The one on the right is Red Chestnut (way too dark). The one in the middle is a mix 1:1 Red Chestnut:Golden Pecan (a little too red).

The one on the left is the one we are going with. It's a 2:3 mix of Red Chestnut:Golden Pecan.

So that means I have tons of stain. Can't get Red Chestnut in Colby, so I bought 4 quarts of it in Hays in case I needed it. Fortunately, I can get Golden Pecan here though.



This second picture shows the test piece up against an existing trim piece in our kitchen that Amber said she liked. It's one of the few things that can stay in the kitchen, so we matched it. The color I concocted is the bottom one...looks pretty close to the existing panel!

What have I gotten myself into!?

Wow, all the cabinets for the kitchen remodel look like a huge job!

Finishing the cabinets is the first step in the process. The cabinet faces and frames will all have to be sanded. Then stained. Then polyurethaned.

I originally thought I'd work all the cabinets together. Like sand them all, then stain them all, etc. But that is too much. There wouldn't be time to stain them all before the stain on the first one was dry. So, I'll just do a few at once I guess.

Anyway, first things first. Today I'm going to experiment with stain color on a piece of toekick. First try will be Minwax Red Chestnut with three topcoats of semi-gloss poly. On the cabinets I put in my office a couple years ago, I used Golden Pecan but had difficulty getting it dark enough on the veneered parts. So I'm trying a darker stain hoping I won't have to do a custom mix.

Will post pics when the stain samle is dry...

Ah, home improvement season approaches

With the coming of the farming "off-season" quickly (I hope) approaching, it is once again home improvement season.

This winter is going to be a BIG project -- the kitchen. New cabinets throughout. New countertops throughout. New floor. New sink. Pretty much gonna gut the room down to the drywall and redo everything (except the appliances, and one of them is moving across the room.)

Well, first things first. My fall harvest is running late. It should normally be done or nearly done by now and it hasn't even really started yet. So I decided to get a jump start on the kitchen project.

Today I replaced the big kitchen window. The old one was one that couldn't be opened. I hate that. But, guess what -- the opening is 56"W x 36"H. That's right...it's horizontal. No standard replacement windows for that sucker. And a custom made one was almost $1000! So I bought a 36x54 (which is a standard size) and made it fit....sideways. Yeah, I know it's not supposed to be put in like that, but $135 is a lot better than $1000. Plus, our climate is pretty dry...it'll probably last a good long time. (The previous owner did this with the big window in the living room a long time ago and it still works great.)

The window is in and sealed. I'll have to trim the stucco back from the outside and trim around the exterior at some point. And I need to put jam extensions and case the interior opening. I'll do that when I'm finishing up the wood and trim for the rest of the remodel.

Anyway, here's pics.

Before

Ready to put new window in.
(Note the spacers to modify rough opening to standard size.)

After
yeah, I know I still need to trim off the shims and expandafoam :P

Getting ready for winter

So, how does a year-round BBQer get ready for winter? By scrounging up wood, of course. The stores here put away their charcoal and wood about the time they set up there Halloween displays. So I scored a lot of charcoal briquettes from Walmart a few weeks ago. It's normally $4.90-something per bag and they marked it down to $4, then $3, then $2.50. I bought some at each price and have like 10 bags in the shed! Winter of '06/'07 I ran out and didn't want to run out again.

It was a nice day today, so I decided to split a tub full from my apricot/cherry pile. It's still pretty wet inside, but the outside layer of logs splits up dry. I've used maybe 20% of this pile....haven't even gotten to the best stuff yet ;)

Oh yeah, I scored some new wood too.


Doesn't look like much, but hey, I'm from Kansas -- I ain't gonna complain about seasoned apple wood! My Mom & Dad were visiting my sister in Kentucky a couple weeks ago and I guess her landlord or neighbor or something had cut down an apple tree and hadn't picked up the logs. So they tossed a vew in their van and brought them home. I haven't split them yet....if they are dry enough I'll use them for the Thanksgiving turkey next month!

I should split some more oak too....maybe another day. It's like axing iron and I'm pooped....

Chicken

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OK, so yes I admit that for the most part I'm a beef guy. Pork is a close second. But man my chicken might make me rethink that order.

This past Saturday I smoked two chickens. I can do up to 6 at once in my pit, but we just had 2 this time. Note the water pan in the pit. Putting one in there is my normal practice unless I'm using all three grill grates, in which case I put in another makeshift drip pan.

The chickens were skinned this time, brined, injected with marinade, and then put on the pit. I mopped it once after the first hour, once after the second hour, and then every 20 minutes until it was done. I'll cover brining and my marinade, and mop in future posts.

After starting the fire with one chimney full of briquettes, as is my custom, the wood was about half apricot and half red oak with one stick of mesquite per hour. You can see my wood chunks in the picture above with oak on the right and apricot on the left. Cooking time was about 3.5 hours.

At one time, I regarded poultry as probably the most difficult meat to smoke to a satisfactorily juicy and flavorful result. However, it is not. It has actually become the most consistent of my BBQ styles and I'm thinking of entering my chicken in one of the area BBQ contests next summer. Turkey, by it's nature, is somewhat more difficult than chicken, but I prepare and cook both practically the same.

Breakfast!

So what is a BBQ guy doing making breakfast? Well, I don't BBQ all the time. It's too hard to keep pancakes from going through the grill grates ;)

As my lovely wife mention in a recent blog, I often make breakfast on Sundays.

One of my favorites is pancakes. I have my own recipe that started as an IHOP knockoff recipe, but I've modified it. IHOP supposedly uses real buttermilk, but since I find it unfit for human consumption, it is a shame to buy a quart of the stuff just to use 12 ounces and give the rest to the cats. So I modified it to use powdered buttermilk that keeps (nearly) forever.


JHOP Pancakes

1 1/4 cup flour
5 Tb powdered buttermilk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt (I prefer kosher)
1 1/4 cup cold water (the colder the better)
1/4 cup oil (I prefer canola)
1 egg (beaten)

Wisk together dry ingredients
Drop in egg, oil, water quickly
Wisk everything together until smooth

Cook over low-medium heat on griddle. 300 degrees worked really good on an electric griddle I used once, but normally I use a two-burner griddle on our gas stove.

My BBQ Crew in Action

Cooking wood observations

One of the problems of being a BBQer in Kansas is that good cooking wood is not easy to come by. The only native trees here are cottonwood (a softwood -- softwoods are only suitable for campfire cooking) and western red cedar (which makes kreosote when you burn it).

So, I have had to scrounge up good hardwood with which to BBQ.

Last year, I took out some trees growing on our property in order to make room for another access fill to the highway. Fortunately for me, the largest one in the way was an apricot tree. It had been damaged by ice storms the previous winter and needed to come down anyway. There were also several small cherry trees ranging from 3-6 inches in diameter. While I miss the cherries, I don't miss the brushy mess that that area was.

Anyway, the end result is a nice pile of (now) dry apricot and cherry firewood.

Also, last winter I saw a guy on Craigslist from Denver selling white oak firewood. It was $150/ton and since we were looking for an excuse to go to Denver at the time, I decided to take the pickup and get a ton. So now I have plenty of oak as well. It was actually trimmngs and waste chunks from a mill that produces railroad ties. But hey, it's not treated, not rotten, and is a hardwood so all is good. But man oh man, is it ever hard to split. You can bury and axe in it clear to the hilt and it won't split that tough old oak!

Here are the woods I have tried and my notes on them.:

• Apple: my all-time favorite for smoking but used up my supply long ago, light frity aroma, mild flavor, burns fairly fast and flames easily. My favorite for turkey and chicken
• Apricot: similar to apple in flavor, but slightly stronger. Burns moderately fast and flames easily. Good all-around smoking wood. Particularly pleasing with poultry. I have a large supply of apricot right now and have grown quite fond of it.
• Cherry: the cherry I have used is from small trees, 3-6" diameter so the wood is very light colored. Dark heartwood would be different. It burns slow with moderate heat and low flame. Strong aroma, and medium flavor. Fruity like apricot, but stronger. Makes a nice pink smoke ring. My favorite for sausage!
  
• Hickory (Walmart chunks): strong aroma, strong flavor, moderate burning rate, flames well, best with ham or large cuts
• Mesquite: strongest aroma and flavor - use sparingly when smoking, but good choice for grilling, burns slow but hot with weak flames, a smoking black chunk of mesquite is hotter than a flaming chunk of fruitwood. My favorite for pork chops and for grilling burgers and steak. Easiest smoke to make a definitive "smoke ring" in the meat with.
• Nectarine: burns fast and cool with similar flavor and aroma to apricot. I've only used this once and only had a few pounds of wood from a storm damaged branch from one of my dad's trees.
  
• Oak: similar to hickory, but not as strongly flavored. Red oak is stronger than white oak. Burns slow and moderately hot. Flames easily. Makes very little ash. Not as hot as mesquite, but hotter than fruitwoods. My current favorite for slow smoking beef brisket.
• Pecan: the only pecan I've tried is some chips I got on eBay. Moderate flavor, I'd say between the fruitwoods and oak for strength, but heavy aroma. Burns cool and can produce lots of smoke with little flame. I use this for smoking cheese! (Can't wait to get some pecan logs and try on other stuff.)
  

One Big Year

OK, so yes I realize it has been nearly a full year since my last post. But I figure considering that in that year I have become a new dad, have started farming full time (while maintaining my sideline business), and have changed churches that I have sufficient excuse for the leave of absence.

So, now, back to the pit.

Guests of honor at my BBQ exploits in the past year have been numerous. Here is what I remember: steak (lots of steak), pork chops, chicken, turkey,pork ribs, brisket, sausage, bratwurst. Most recently baked potatos were added to the list. Oh yeah, the ubiquitous burgers and dogs too.

Remember that I said LOTS of steak? One of the benefits from having a family friend who is a rancher is cheap grass fed beef. It ends up being a little over $2/pound for everything....burger, roasts, steaks. $2 is good.

Anyway, in my many excursions into the land of steak, I have developed a pretty respectable steak marinade. It's easy to remember. I'll call it:

Tablespoon Steak Marinade.

• 1 TB olive oil
• 1 TB vinegar (I prefer apple cider vinegar. Red wine vinegar is good too)
• 1 TB brown sugar
• 1 TB worchestershire sauce
• Wisk together and put on meat at least an hour before grilling.
• At grilling, dust steaks with seasoning salt and black pepper

Tonight I introduced a new guest to my pit. Baked potatos. I used to not particularly care for them, but in the last few years have acquired the taste, so decided to give it a go. Not much technique for baked potatos.... I thoroughly perforated them with a fork. Dropped a little (maybe 2 tsp) of olive oil on some aluminum foil, shake some lemon pepper in the oil, wrap up potato. Put over the fire for about an hour. Simple, yummy, cheap. Hey, that's what BBQ is all about.

More recap of the last year in future posts....