First Cook--Wings...mixed results

[happyappy]

Yesterday I had a small window of time to cook something in my new BEESR.  Given the amount of time I had, I chose to smoke some wings.  After seasoning the BEESR as prescribed, I preheated the smoker with some dry cherry chips.  Had good smoke rolling 20 minutes later.

I covered the bottom of the basket with wings sprinkled with cajun seasoning; put the half racks in about a third the way down from the top of the basket and covered them with wings coated in a homemade rub.   I had a couple wings left over that I put in the vegetable basket on top just to see what would happen.

I left the BEESR on 15 for the entire cook.  I got very good smoke.  20 minutes into the cook I lifted the lid quickly and the wings were definitely cooking and looking "smoky".  I closed the lid and pulled them after 45 minutes.

I wish I had taken pictures....but of course I didn't.  At 45 minutes, the wings in the vegetable basket were looking good, but didn't look ready.  The center rack wings were looking very good; and the bottom rack didn't look ready at all.  I was surprised at how different the levels had cooked.  I ended up pulling the center and top wings at about an hour, the wings on the bottom took another 15 minutes.  Crispy skin and moist inside....very tasty!

Questions:  Is it normal for the bottom of the basket to cook slower?  Did the dark rub on the center rack make them cook faster?  One think I learned is this will take a few cooking sessions for me to figure it out.  :-)

[teesquare]

There are several very good cooks here that use the BEESR and the SRG/Big Easy cookers...They will be along soon I will bet.

What I can tell you is that the "sweet spot" for these cookers is in the mid and upper ranges. some folks even elevate the cooking basket to get it into the sweet spot for heat. We know heat  rises, but there is something about the infra-red  cookers with the "vertical barrel" shape that really emphasizes that.

[muebe]

The Big Easy cookers have a dead zone at the bottom because there is not as much heat absorbed by the metal interior at the heat source. I know this sounds strange but the heat is rising straight up quickly and the lower area actually gets less heat absorption.

This is probably the only cooker where the bottom is actually cooler than the top

[TMB]

The bottom of any Big Easy cooker is cooler than the upper part.  Now you can use a Tommy Ring to get the basket up in the chamber some or use the half racks to raise the meat up.

I have two BEESR's and never needed to use my Tommy Ring but being the chamber size is the same as a Big Easy a 9 in ring should fit.   But remember with the BEESR you have the second basket that fiys up on top so use it as well next time

[happyappy]

Thanks for the advice.  I have leg racks coming this week so I'll be able to raise food up off the bottom next time. 

I was surprised at how well the upper basket cooked given it's outside the chamber.  I'm looking forward to my next cook...most likely a pork butt this coming weekend.

Thanks again.

[drholly]

Whether it is called a "dead spot" or simply the fact that heat rises - convection and IR along the metal of the chamber, the top of the basket will always cook faster than the bottom. As Tommy says, you can use the "Tommy Ring" to raise the basket. Or, you can use half racks or hanging baskets to raise the food. I use 3 sets of half racks - at the top of the basket, a ring or two down (just enough to clear the wings) and the final set another ring or two down. I load them in reverse order - the lowest first, then middle, then top. I can easily get 30 or more wings in this set up and they all come out at about the same time. In my SRG with the mesh lid from a TBE, this is typically 45 minutes to an hour. You could also use the SRG lid. I like the mesh lid - lets me take a quick look at progress and enjoy the aroma of the cooking wings.