*Charcoal* BBQ/Grilling

Brian?

cargen wrote: »

I will answer my question.
It is sold for 270 euro at the moment to the orchard

Do you need the master touch? I would argue no. The cooking will be exactly the same on an Original Kettle which is only €195.

My kettle is a compact, cost me €150 about 7 years ago. I've never regretted the purchase.

ZaffizaKunt

I am thinking the same.

I was going to get the Compact 57cm Kettle for €146 plus this hinged grate for €30 which should be enough to get me started smoking Pork joints etc using the snake method? Thats a saving of €100 or am I way off track with this and wasting money??

I cant see myself ever smoking big joints more than three or four times over the summer so I can't justify the expense of the Mastertouch - although the gadget geek in me just wants to go ahead and buy it!! I use a gas Broil King Monarch most of the time for ease of use so the kettle probably wouldnt end up being used too often anyway.

Any advice from kettle smokers here? I dont want to waste money if this isnt going to work for me.

martinr5232

ZaffizaKunt wrote:

Any advice from kettle smokers here? I dont want to waste money if this isnt going to work for me.

If youre anything like me your gas bbq will be practically redundant once you start using a kettle.
I have the 22 inch premium the hinged grate is a must when smoking it leaves it a lot handier to add fuel.
Another must have is a good twin probe thermometer you cant go by the thermometer on the lid of the weber.

cargen

Brian? wrote: »

Do you need the master touch? I would argue no. The cooking will be exactly the same on an Original Kettle which is only €195.

My kettle is a compact, cost me €150 about 7 years ago. I've never regretted the purchase.

I would agree that the original at €195 world be the same.
But for the extra 75 euro in this case (Normally the master touch seems to be around 330 euro) you get the Lid thermometer, lid holder and high capacity ash catcher.
I think it would be worth the extra in the long run.

Brian?

cargen wrote: »

Brian? wrote: »

Do you need the master touch? I would argue no. The cooking will be exactly the same on an Original Kettle which is only €195.

My kettle is a compact, cost me €150 about 7 years ago. I've never regretted the purchase.

I would agree that the original at €195 world be the same.
But for the extra 75 euro in this case (Normally the master touch seems to be around 330 euro) you get the Lid thermometer, lid holder and high capacity ash catcher.
I think it would be worth the extra in the long run.

It's entirely up to you. But you can get a lid thermometer for about a tenner and stick in it the top vent.

The high capacity ash catcher? I don't have one so I can't comment on it's use, but I've never had too many ashes on my ash catcher. Lid holder is similarly unattractive to me.

It's you're own money, I wouldn't blame you if you went for the master touch, but I've smoked shoulders and ribs with no issues on my compact kettle.

OldBean

The Compact definitely can smoke food, but it's not very good at it. You've very little room, and not much air in/out control. It really errs to the hotter side of things, even if modified.

If you're interested in the low and slow side, go for the original at least IMO.

Ned01

I've had a mastertouch for the last few years. it's great for low and slow as well as grilling. The ash catcher is handy although it probably only saves a few minutes during the clean up after.

I don't think you would have the same ability to do long smokes on the compact version although I may be completely wrong.

I've just smoked a pork belly today and then done a whole heap of smoked chicken wings, sausages and some grilled prawns.

Ned01

Forgot to mention I use a smokenator for low and slow. Can you use that with the compact version?

Brian?

Just want to clarify. I'm not recommending the compact, it does make smoking a little trickier. I just don't think the master touch is worth buying if the budget is tight. If I was buying a kettle today, I'd buy the original.

ZaffizaKunt

Thats me sorted then so, I think.
I'm going to buy the Original - it's €195 in the Orchard and treat myself to the iGrill temperature probes with the money saved

ZaffizaKunt

cargen wrote: »

I would agree that the original at €195 world be the same.
But for the extra 75 euro in this case (Normally the master touch seems to be around 330 euro) you get the Lid thermometer, lid holder and high capacity ash catcher.
I think it would be worth the extra in the long run.

Does the Original not have the lid thermomoter included? The specs here seem to have it listed.

ZaffizaKunt

So I went to the Orchard. Everything went a little pearshaped unfortunately and I ended up coming home with the 57cm GBS Master Touch. I knew this would happen. The €270 price at the Orchard is incredibly cheap compared to everywhere else, €70 or more cheaper which is quite a lot.
The hinged grate was actually €49 so it was almost €250 for the Original plus the grate so for the sake of an extra €20 I just got the Master Touch. Thanks for the advice anyway.

cargen

ZaffizaKunt wrote: »

So I went to the Orchard. Everything went a little pearshaped unfortunately and I ended up coming home with the 57cm GBS Master Touch. I knew this would happen. The €270 price at the Orchard is incredibly cheap compared to everywhere else, €70 or more cheaper which is quite a lot.
The hinged grate was actually €49 so it was almost €250 for the Original plus the grate so for the sake of an extra €20 I just got the Master Touch. Thanks for the advice anyway.

I have got a matter touch as well :-)

Hopefully it will last few years.

SmallBalls

Few bits left to do on this but looking forward to getting it finished and fired up....never smoked before, any suggestions for an easy first time cook?

MaceFace

Where did you get this?
What's the taps on the side for?

thereitisgone

MaceFace wrote: »

Where did you get this?
What's the taps on the side for?

Are they to control air intake, very nice job

SmallBalls

It's a UDS (Ugly Drum Smoker) Our American friends seem to love them and I wanted a little project to do so settled on this one.
Decent video below of whats involved from start to finish and its really quite straightforward once you have all materials sourced.
I'm just waiting on a grill and few other bits to finish then hopefully get some cooks going..

lordstilton

Friend built an uds and if I was to buy again I'd get it over my smokey mountain.. It's a superb smoker for the money

thereitisgone

I have rebel its a copy of wsm but definitely going ceramic after this, This smoker was very good to start with but after one year of great fun with it realise that in the end if you really want to go to the next level and just ease of use, ie not having to get up in the middle of the night to refill water, ceramic smoker is the way to go. 
If your doing short smokes like ribs then this is perfect, but if like me your doing a lot of 10 plus hour smokes then i believe ceramic is best

fourmations

First run on the ugly drum smoker today, well impressed! Going to get another three and dump all my other bbq s!

SmallBalls

fourmations wrote: »

First run on the ugly drum smoker today, well impressed! Going to get another three and dump all my other bbq s!

What did you cook.....looking for some ideas for an easy first time smoke..

fourmations

SmallBalls wrote: »

What did you cook.....looking for some ideas for an easy first time smoke..

Hi, just did a load of wings to try it out, I had two pork shoulders for it but had to cook them on saturday and the Uds wasn't ready so they went on my offset, pork shoulders/pulled pork is very forgiving but takes a long long time, maybe do some chicken joints or a whole chicken, or ribs, allow some time to dial in the temp, mine ran very hot for a while but held temp well considering i was opening it far too often, it would also be very easy to use the Uds as a hot bbq, I was caught napping and it shot up to 250c no bother!

lordstilton

SmallBalls wrote: »

What did you cook.....looking for some ideas for an easy first time smoke..

Go simple.. Back ribs.. 3 hours..youll get to know how to control the heat.. Can't really mess them up either

beertons

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByyOoivR-g9oSWU3YkhIQktyc3c/view?usp=drivesdk

Took delivery of this guy yesterday, after ages and ages of talking about it. Heavy piece of kit, holy moley. Plan on firing it up tomorrow, ribs and ribs to start off.

budgemook

beertons wrote: »

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByyOoivR-g9oSWU3YkhIQktyc3c/view?usp=drivesdk

Took delivery of this guy yesterday, after ages and ages of talking about it. Heavy piece of kit, holy moley. Plan on firing it up tomorrow, ribs and ribs to start off.

After a year of thinking about it, mine came today.

I have no coals or tools or anything though. Need to get shopping!

budgemook

Can anyone recommend a good bluetooth temperature probe?

Belfunk

beertons wrote: »

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByyOoivR-g9oSWU3YkhIQktyc3c/view?usp=drivesdk

Took delivery of this guy yesterday, after ages and ages of talking about it. Heavy piece of kit, holy moley. Plan on firing it up tomorrow, ribs and ribs to start off.

Do you mind me asking how much you paid and where you purchased it? I've been thinking about one for a longtime now and might as well just buy it.

Gloomtastic!

5 racks of baby back ribs covered in a dry rub are now sitting in the fridge getting ready for a feast tomorrow night. No smoker but will be doing them low and slow in the oven like this (using roasting bags as opposed to tin foil)

http://allrecipes.com/video/450/how-to-make-baked-bbq-baby-back-ribs/?internalSource=amp&referringContentType=amp%20recipe&clickId=amp_watch_button

You gotta love Fridays!

Brian?

beertons wrote: »

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByyOoivR-g9oSWU3YkhIQktyc3c/view?usp=drivesdk

Took delivery of this guy yesterday, after ages and ages of talking about it. Heavy piece of kit, holy moley. Plan on firing it up tomorrow, ribs and ribs to start off.

Deadly. Good luck with it.

What's the story with the tennis ball?

Shakey_jake

Smoked some beef ribs on the weber kettle over the weekend!

Total cook time 8hrs using charcoal and hickory chips!

They turned out great, with good smoke ring and bark