My new FEC-100

Nice looking smoker. Enjoy.

Yep,stickburners cook great,and can be a real pleasure.

If you cook a lot of events,the mini logburner{FEC} can sure make the year easier on you -and especially the co-cook.

SKSMOKER I to, am going from a stick burner (Lang84) to a pellet cooker (FEC-100). Let me know how it works out for you.

We have three teams on the circuit that were great cooks on their Lang's.

As they did more events,that feedin logs,every 45 mins was making old men out of them.

They have all switched to FEC 100 s and are still fine cooks-but now they enjoy the circuit.

Bet you'll be the same.

I am going to throw some ribs, a pork butt, and some burnt ends in it this weekend. I seasoned it with oak, and I'll take those out and put in hickory to cook with as that is what I am most familiar with for taste.

Will grab some pics with the first smoke and meat probe break in.

Congratulations. But you better start cooking. My units haven't looked that clean since they were made. LOL

Coleman is having a sale on sleeping bags right now. You should pick one up for your wife. That way she can wake up periodically during the night and glance up at the controller. If there's a problem, then she just calls you at the hotel and you can talk her through the fix.

Todd G - that comment is worth the sore ear I will get after

!!

Yep,many years ago,Fast Eddy taught me to set my big meats on ,at the contest,about 8 pm and go to the motel.

Come back to the cooksite about 5 AM,to kick the temp up,and wait around a couple hrs to see what they were serving for breakfast.

Todd's comment reminds me of Ocala Bill.

Bill loved to watch the old controler blink back and forth red to green all night, while drinking some Jack.

They took the lights off,and now cooking is really boring.

Now,with the IQ controller,it kicks itself up.

If we didn't have to come back to get ribs on,we could wait until 10AM,to take the meats out and put the chicken on.

Life is hard with a mini logburner.

Of course there is the nights when the rain is pouring and 30 mph winds,where you can really enjoy feedin' the Lang.

Be sure you get the cover for the FEC.

You just zip it up,ler it cook, and wait for the sun to come out.

Matter of fact,a load of butts go on tonight about 9 PM,and I'll start checking them about 9AM SAt.

I'll toss the chicken and sausage on shortly after,and be ready about lunch.

Just don't tell the wife how little work you now do.

It wasn't that long ago when the 53' UPS Freight truck pulled up to my house to deliver my FEC-100. Life has been so much better since that day. Congrats on your new smoker! I'm driving down to Kansas City with my brother tomorrow to pick up a slighty used FEC-100 for my brother. I think I'm just excited as he is even though he's getting the smoker!

Tom - Have you mapped your temps with the IQ4 controller at all? From what I have been reading around here they temp swing is about 20F from bottom to top, in the back left hand corner. I can live with that. Do you even worry about it with a full load of butts? I would like to see a pic of that if you happen to get one .

I have burnt ends and two racks of ribs on this afternoon. The butt and chicken thighs will be tommorow.

Smokin'Okie did a great job,hopefully still in the archives,on the original straight chute model, we all had.

I don't know that he has had the time to do the new one.

That said,the second part of the question,I don't even think about it.

He probably can't think of a reason to.

The temps can be known to hold at a scary +/- 2*,which CS doesn't like to represent.

I figure that if I get a heavy case of butts,around 72 lbs,some are smaller than others.

drbqq taught us to temp probe a small one,near what we feel might be a hot spot.

That one will alert early,and then ,I'll start paying attention to the others.

We don't rotate full loads of butts,with a pattern.

Lets say,the first ones start to get close around 6-7 AM,we'll wrap them and maybe move some big/stubborn ones towards a warmer spot.

Usually up front,where I can hit them with a Thermapen.

In awhile 3,or 4 might come ready,and will wrap them,then the last 3-4 will finish off.

We don't get too involved,because as they set in the cambros,they even out.

I'd say,that when you get yours,and cook three loads of butts,you'll spend less time thinking about hot spots,than you and I have spent discussing them.

I kinda know where mine are,but cooked a full load last night and never even considered them.

If you hadn't mentioned them,and wanted an answer,I wouldn't have thought about them.

It is kinda like asking me if the FEC has 3 inch,or 4 inch wheels.

Huh?

Serious,I'll have to go check.

We set around with comp cooks,that cater,and vend,and talk cooking on our FEC s,but honestly can't ever remember anyone ever bothering to bring it up.

Hope this helps a little.

lol.. Tough to argue with all those great points. Thanks for the info on this. I have my pork butt on the smoker now ready in about two hours. The info gleaned here is enormous. I'll have more questions, I am sure

Well here are some pics from the weekend. I did burnt ends, baby back ribs, chicken and a pork butt. All turned out really good, the chicken was done much sooner than I thought and the pork butt was good, but I'll have to adjust my cooking procedure for that one. All in all a busy weekend, used up 20lbs of hickory pellets, and had a blast.

Congratulations on your first cook. Everything looks great. I see you put a elbow and top cap on the vent side. Where did you locate this one? Thanks for keeping us posted. It will help me out in a week or so when mine arrives.
What type adjustments are you going to have to make. I think I read that you have been cooking on a stickburner before as well.

The elbow and rain cap I got at home depot. I need about a 3 1/2' extension before I put the rain cap on from the elbow though, as the side got a bit discoloured from the rain cap deflecting the heat all around. It is too close to the side, so I'll put it up above the smoker a good 1' and that should take care of any downward heat from the rain cap.

Adjustments are doing chicken at a lower temp, I put them on at 330F and in 45 minutes they were over done. Still great taste and flavour, but a bit dried out. I had no idea it would cook them that quick on this machine. The butts I typically mop after the first hour of putting them on, then when they hit 150F, I mop once more and then throw them in a foil pan and wrap them up to finish off. I like to mix the juice in with the meat after it is all pulled, but this time I did the butt at 225F and put it in cold from the fridge @ 12:30am and went to bed I tried to mop it when I got up around 10:30 as the butt was at 183F, but I didn't get much juice from the butt when I tinfoiled it to rest.

I will do my butts at a higher heat, about 250F and maybe get up early in the morning to mop and foil so I get that butt juice. Also, I wasn't crazy with all hickory, as on my stickburner I use all apple wood with a chunk or two of hickory thrown in. This smoked all 14hrs with hickory and I wasn't totally keen on the taste. I am going to try apple pellets with maybe a mix of hickory in it to get the same type of mix I would have with the offset.

The ribs were the best tasting ribs I have made bar none, and they were smoked with hickory. They were done in 4-5hrs for the smaller to larger rack. Those don't need any adjustment

Reading here not many people mop, so I hate to be in and out of this smoker as you can tell it is really meant for loading up and walking away. I need to do a bit of research to figure out how I am going to do my butts when I go to sleep and still get the juice from them mixed with the mop. The butt was really soft, I set the probe to 202F and it pulled like a dream.

No complaints at all about the cooker, just getting used to adapting what I did and the flavour from the offset to the new pellet cooker. I think if I would have had the butt juice like I normally do to mix in the meat, I wouldn't even be writing this.

Thanks for the info. this will help me out on my first few cooks when my FEC100 arrives. Sounds like you are pretty close to haveing it perfected and have a good plan. Keep us posted.