Soon to be FEC100 owner

There are a lot of FEC's floating around up in that part of the country. Generally they're former Air Force units from decommissioned missile bases. It seems the USAF thought BBQ was a good way to pass the time at the more remote silos.

I understand they've been maintained to the highest military standards and stored inside in the warhead maintenance room when not in use. As long as you use iodized salt in your rub to offset the effects of residual radiation you should be fine. And since most people use digital cameras these days, you won't have to worry about damaging your film either if you take pictures of a cook.

And it seems you already know about the ease of using one of these units. I'd just suggest that if you mount it on the back of a motor home or something similar, you line the wall between you and the unit with lead flashing. That'll absorb the occasional stray particle, or two.

As a current member of the USAF i can assure you that we do indeed pass the time with a good BBQ and yes radiated BBQ is no where as good as that cooked on a FEC but you can get it done in about 10 minutes if you dont mind it glowing alittle. However this does make it fun after the keg starts to float.

welcome to the club Jim!

quote:

Originally posted by papa jim:
... SO all I have to do is load it with pellets, meat and sit back and wait. Right? Isn't that the way it is supposed to work?

Pretty much

One read through the FE Owners forum first.

Starting to get real excited. My "new" cooker is going to Austin, MN for the Minnesota in May competition and I hope Doug does real well. He said he would knock off a couple 100 bucks if he wins the G.C. So he has at least one fan out there. I will be getting my cooker fresh from competition on Monday and hope to be cooking something on Wed. Tues. I have to drive home, 8 hours.

This guy should be giving it to you for free mate. You have bought it and he's using it after you bought it?

Buy a car, f'rinstance, and they let some nimrod drive it back and forth across the country, would that thrill you?

Turns out he didn't take the Fec to Austin, BUT he sure wished he had. He said he sure could have used an insulated pit. Anyways, I hadn't done anything but tell him that I would buy it and he wouldn't be getting the $ until today. Well, it is loaded in my truck as I type and going to head to Manitoba Canada in the morning. Then when I get home, I am going to take out at least 6 racks of back ribs to thaw and then Thurs or Fri I will be firing it up for a first (for me) cook. Sure looking forward to the weekend eating.

Congrats on your new FEC. good luck with your rib cook this weekend, let us know how it turns out. I am new to the pellet world also and still learning. I may try ribs this weekend myself.

The ribs turned out great. Total time was 5.5hours, no foil used. I used pecan pellets and the cooker worked just great. Even had a fellow stop in just as I was taking the ribs off the cooker. He wanted to buy a rack, so I wrapped one up in foil and off he went (after paying $20). I told him that it was highly unlikely that he would ever get the timing as perfect again to get them coming straight off the cooker. Here is a picture of the ribs, no sauce put on these, just a finishing glaze. Also did up a pack of sausages. Sure do love the color on these.

Just courious what temp did you use for you 5.5 hour cook?

I had the temp set at 185F but the actual temp on the food grate was around 220F.