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Well, I finally joined the pellethead squad. I snagged a Pit Boss Copperhead 5 vertical pellet smoker from Walmart on markdown for $223. I missed out on the $109 clearance back in January, and have been wanting one of these for some time as the food that others have posted coming out of their smokes simply beautiful. Finally got lucky.
And now copperhead 5 is officially broken in, and I'm duly impressed with this thing.
First let me say thanks to Jason at Tenacious Q for some tips on the water pan vs a foiled disposable pan (dry). I really like the foiled disposable pan method and it worked perfect for this hybrid smoke (both high and low temp). This is the first real smoke on the copperhead as I just tossed some store sausage in after I seasoned it since it was hot and I might as well. This time, the smoke was from a cold start.
Oh, and I have done my first mod to the PB 5. I took that damnable grid in the pellet hopper out. Mine was installed with screws through the hopper body so it was easy to remove. 2 of the screws also hold the push handle on, but I will be picking up nuts for those and the others (so I can put the others back in to close up the holes where they went through the hopper body, purely cosmetic).
Now I can easily use something to move the pellets towards the center as the screw pulls more from the center and it does not really slide down from the sides if the hopper is not fairly full.
Instead of the Pit Boss water pan that came with the smoker, I took that out, and moved one of the racks to the space where the water pan was. Then I took a full sized aluminum disposable hotel pan and foiled it with an oversized piece of HD foil. I crimped the edges of the foil but left enough sag in the middle so it formed a drip pan. The disposable pan is sealed, but totally dry (no water at all in this smoke). The foiled pan is then placed on that bottom rack where the factory water pan used to be. The water pan dips down, where this dry foiled pan is above the rack. There is enough space all around the pan for the smoke and heat to still travel upwards and do it's thing.
I marinated the wings in Italian dressing mix for about 2 hours in the fridge (they were thawed in the fridge overnight). Then I laid them out on 1 grate and seasoned both sides with my favorite home made rub for chicken & pork.
Here you can see the Jason TQ drip pan mod (dry foiled pan on lower rack with no water in smoker).
I'm doing this as a "hybrid smoke", starting low with the PB 5 set to the "SMOKE" setting which is around 150*. I ran smoke for 30 minutes. The pellets were what was left of the Pit Boss hickory pellets I had used for the burn in the other night. After running smoke for 30 minutes, I upped the setting to 400* and let it run for about 45 minutes. So basting, spritzing, or nothing else done to the wings (and did not open the smoker from start until done). So from cold smoker to ready to eat wings was about a 1 1/2 hour process.
Looking good and nice skin texture. No rubbery skin here! The aroma is awesome too...
No sauce needed. Excellent flavor, just a hint of that smoke flavor and no where near overpowering, just right. Clean up is easy. Grate fits in my dishwasher and I take the foil off the disposable pan and toss that foil. Put new foil on the same pan and it's ready to go for the next smoke. I will vaccum out the fire pit and the interior of the smoker tomorrow. But overall, this is dang easy, the results are great, and I expect the other smokes to be just as pain free. If you know the mechanics of smoking, this thing is soooooo easy to use.
The display did show a 20-25* temp band at 400*, but that is acceptable to me. Remember the sensor is right near the fire pit in these smokers, so that swing may not (likely not) carry to the main cooking area. I did not bother with another probe on this smoke and will do some more in depth research later.
Oh, I'm doing my 2nd mod also. I noticed the "Pit Boss" logo is held in place by a 1/4" stud that goes through the glass and is held on by a wing nut over an insulated washer. I ordered a Tel-Tru BQ225 50 to 550* thermometer with a 1/4" threaded base and 2.5" probe that will be a drop in fit. The Pit Boss trim has a 3" wide circle but I did not see a 3" dial thermometer with a 1/4" threaded base, the 3" ones were all 1/2" treads.
So, I'm really pleased with this purchase, and probably would have been happy at full price.
And now copperhead 5 is officially broken in, and I'm duly impressed with this thing.
First let me say thanks to Jason at Tenacious Q for some tips on the water pan vs a foiled disposable pan (dry). I really like the foiled disposable pan method and it worked perfect for this hybrid smoke (both high and low temp). This is the first real smoke on the copperhead as I just tossed some store sausage in after I seasoned it since it was hot and I might as well. This time, the smoke was from a cold start.
Oh, and I have done my first mod to the PB 5. I took that damnable grid in the pellet hopper out. Mine was installed with screws through the hopper body so it was easy to remove. 2 of the screws also hold the push handle on, but I will be picking up nuts for those and the others (so I can put the others back in to close up the holes where they went through the hopper body, purely cosmetic).
Now I can easily use something to move the pellets towards the center as the screw pulls more from the center and it does not really slide down from the sides if the hopper is not fairly full.
Instead of the Pit Boss water pan that came with the smoker, I took that out, and moved one of the racks to the space where the water pan was. Then I took a full sized aluminum disposable hotel pan and foiled it with an oversized piece of HD foil. I crimped the edges of the foil but left enough sag in the middle so it formed a drip pan. The disposable pan is sealed, but totally dry (no water at all in this smoke). The foiled pan is then placed on that bottom rack where the factory water pan used to be. The water pan dips down, where this dry foiled pan is above the rack. There is enough space all around the pan for the smoke and heat to still travel upwards and do it's thing.
I marinated the wings in Italian dressing mix for about 2 hours in the fridge (they were thawed in the fridge overnight). Then I laid them out on 1 grate and seasoned both sides with my favorite home made rub for chicken & pork.
Here you can see the Jason TQ drip pan mod (dry foiled pan on lower rack with no water in smoker).
I'm doing this as a "hybrid smoke", starting low with the PB 5 set to the "SMOKE" setting which is around 150*. I ran smoke for 30 minutes. The pellets were what was left of the Pit Boss hickory pellets I had used for the burn in the other night. After running smoke for 30 minutes, I upped the setting to 400* and let it run for about 45 minutes. So basting, spritzing, or nothing else done to the wings (and did not open the smoker from start until done). So from cold smoker to ready to eat wings was about a 1 1/2 hour process.
Looking good and nice skin texture. No rubbery skin here! The aroma is awesome too...
No sauce needed. Excellent flavor, just a hint of that smoke flavor and no where near overpowering, just right. Clean up is easy. Grate fits in my dishwasher and I take the foil off the disposable pan and toss that foil. Put new foil on the same pan and it's ready to go for the next smoke. I will vaccum out the fire pit and the interior of the smoker tomorrow. But overall, this is dang easy, the results are great, and I expect the other smokes to be just as pain free. If you know the mechanics of smoking, this thing is soooooo easy to use.
The display did show a 20-25* temp band at 400*, but that is acceptable to me. Remember the sensor is right near the fire pit in these smokers, so that swing may not (likely not) carry to the main cooking area. I did not bother with another probe on this smoke and will do some more in depth research later.
Oh, I'm doing my 2nd mod also. I noticed the "Pit Boss" logo is held in place by a 1/4" stud that goes through the glass and is held on by a wing nut over an insulated washer. I ordered a Tel-Tru BQ225 50 to 550* thermometer with a 1/4" threaded base and 2.5" probe that will be a drop in fit. The Pit Boss trim has a 3" wide circle but I did not see a 3" dial thermometer with a 1/4" threaded base, the 3" ones were all 1/2" treads.
So, I'm really pleased with this purchase, and probably would have been happy at full price.
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