MeatForge / Blog: Recent posts

Electrification

After the first tests with the SoftPWM on a breadboard, I now soldered everything together and pressed it into an old PSU case of an old PC. Actually this is a prototyping case, but I know how long those things are lasting usually. I guess, if it works, I will just improve it slightly, but leave it ;)... read more

Posted by Ingo 2018-08-19

Spare time for the ribs

After I enjoyed using the smoker as a grill for some time now, I spontaneously felt into a more brave project again. I bought some ready-to-grill spare ribs at my dealer of choice.

As I wanted to use those pre-rubbed and glaced ribs I was falling into the problem, that I found totally no recipe for it. Seems like everyone who is taking the time for seriously smoked ribs, does the full 3-2-1 method, which goes like this:... read more

Posted by Ingo 2018-05-29

The Rack

Over winter the project was suspended. But now in spring, I continued the work on the rack. Like I wrote before, the pallet solution didn't really satisfy me. Now my idea was a much lighter, but stable rack, which was made of (guess what) metal ;)

Like always, I mainly used spare parts, lying around. I used four stands, which I screwed to the tank using simple but solid brackets. They had an original length of 80cm. So to stabilize them over the length I fixed four cross bracings roughly in the middle of the stands.... read more

Posted by Ingo 2018-05-21

Testing

The first test was obviously done with some pork and some sausages. Those are easy to handle and easy to find a workaround if s.th. doesn't work as expected. I had actually some problems with the positioning of the meat above the blaze, but it was not critical.

I also tried to give it some smoke flavour, what was amazing. Even when grilling above a light blaze, just put a small piece of a thin limb into the blaze and close the lid for a few minutes. I used parts of an old plum tree from our garden, but I guess that many trees will do the trick.... read more

Posted by Ingo 2018-05-21

Fire in the box

After the tank was ready, I couldn't await the first fire tests. To do the tests I needed a rack, which I built as a first draft out of old pallets. This was better then nothing, but not satisfying in a long term.

Then I started with a burning test. I used some coal brickets and later wood to test how the air flow works and if the chimney is functioning.... read more

Posted by Ingo 2018-05-03

The Tank

All started with the renewal of our heating system. After the disassembly of our old heating system, I was faced with a freshwater tank, marked for disposal. Until then I newer thought of owning or even building my own smoker. I always prefered grilling on open fire with real wood. I always loved this puristic way of preparing food.... read more

Posted by Ingo 2018-05-03