First (non-unicorn) cook - 2.6# Tritip

[brentwoodkris]

Went over to my local Sam's Club and picket up a couple of 2.6# tritips to experiment on this week (they have to be ordered in advance otherwise they chop them into steaks). I only did one last night, but I coated it in olive oil and rubbed it down with beef & game rub a couple hours beforehand. As it happens, I found out that my Weber chimney fits 100% of the charcoal that the basket fits, so I guess around 8lbs.

I lit up the chimney and let her run for about 20 min before dumping in the basket. I added some Jack Daniels charred white oak barrel chips for some flavor and we were off to the races. Ambient temperature outside was 22F. The PBC started at 398F but settled to about 285F within about 35 minutes with a fairly linear drop in temperature (my guess is that it was burning up the chips and really heating it up!). Total cook time was 50 minutes, which it took to get the meat to an IT of 145F. I pulled it and let it rest for about 10 minutes and the results were great! I think the cook took longer (as compared to Noah's videos) due to the much colder ambient temps outside, but that's just my thoughts. See for pics.

After rubbing it down:


While its resting:


The first cuts:


All sliced up!

[sliding_billy]

Looks great!

[TwoPockets]

Looks good! I need to ask my local Sam's club if they will do this.

[ronman451]

Nice looking tri-tip!

I've been itching to do a tri-tip on the PBC, but believe it or not, I'm having a devil of a time finding it. I saw it once at costco, but when I returned a week later, no luck. It's not in the regular rotation at my local grocer either. I'll ask the butcher next time I'm in, see if I have to order it special...

[brentwoodkris]

I probably misspoke when I said "special order." I do have to let them know 24 hours in advance, but it's because they cut them all into steaks by default. By calling, I just tell them how many tritips to keep whole for me. Then I come in and they have whatever I wanted wrapped up the next day. FYI, my tritip prices here seemed a bit steep at $6.98/lb, as a frame of reference.

[viscera912]

well done brother in law!!! looks juicy, what did ya'll eat it with?   just curious, is that tip usda rated?  the tip I got from Costco was choice and it was 7.99/lb.  they have a section for prime as well but the only thing I've ever cooked prime was the prime brisket.

since I got my PBC in Nov last year I've only cooked in colder temps I'm real curious what's gonna happen when I fire it up dead of summer in DFW.  even in 22 deg weather yours cooked in a good time, the pbc is ridiculous!!!

btw, next time the family gets together looks like we need to have a cook off!!!! 

Jason

[brentwoodkris]

well done brother in law!!! looks juicy, what did ya'll eat it with?   just curious, is that tip usda rated?  the tip I got from Costco was choice and it was 7.99/lb.  they have a section for prime as well but the only thing I've ever cooked prime was the prime brisket.

since I got my PBC in Nov last year I've only cooked in colder temps I'm real curious what's gonna happen when I fire it up dead of summer in DFW.  even in 22 deg weather yours cooked in a good time, the pbc is ridiculous!!!

btw, next time the family gets together looks like we need to have a cook off!!!! 

Jason

My tritip was/is rated as USDA choice (or at least that's the sticker I saw them stick on it as they packed it about 20 feet away from me behind the glass - long story). And yes the next family get together MUST have a PBC handy. Maybe I'll lug mine up to my brother's this summer (assuming you're flying up there). In either case, you'd better be coming to Thanksgiving in CoMo next year...we can always do a PBC turkey!

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Great looking TT, nicely done.

[Paul Hart]

So you lit and ashed ALL of the coals for your cook before you started?

[brentwoodkris]

So you lit and ashed ALL of the coals for your cook before you started?

Flames were coming from the top of the chimney when I got ready to dump the coals, but they weren't ashed within my 20 min. Probably about 3/4 of the chimney was white ash ready to roll though (judging by the heat lines on the outside of the chimney).

[muebe]

Looks really good!

[Smokerjunky]

Hey - that looks fantastic - nice cook!!

[Paul Hart]

Only reason I asked is that typically I think you would light about 38-40 briquets, and dump them on the unlit ones. This allows the unlit ones to slowly catch as well, extending your cook time for longer cooks. I bet you could get away with half a basket for a 50 minute cook just fine, you'd just need to let them get good and hot first. Read through Biggs 22 page post if you haven't. Towards the end he starts developing some pretty interesting techniques for the PBC, even using lump. I'm not saying you did anything wrong, just planting a seed of thought and maybe sparking a convo on it.

[brentwoodkris]

Only reason I asked is that typically I think you would light about 38-40 briquets, and dump them on the unlit ones. This allows the unlit ones to slowly catch as well, extending your cook time for longer cooks. I bet you could get away with half a basket for a 50 minute cook just fine, you'd just need to let them get good and hot first. Read through Biggs 22 page post if you haven't. Towards the end he starts developing some pretty interesting techniques for the PBC, even using lump. I'm not saying you did anything wrong, just planting a seed of thought and maybe sparking a convo on it.

I think you're probably right. However, the first cook I did (my unicorn cook) I lit the suggested 40 bricks and let them get white and then put them on top of the basket. The results (for me) were less than stellar. I had to keep opening the lid to let in air to get more bricks to start burning (and yes I've adjusted my intake flap for my elevation). It was kind of a depressing first cook. But for my next tritip (Wednesday or Thursday), I'll be trying the half basket method to see how it turns out.

[Pappymn]

Perfect looking tri tip