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Wind blew my lid shut at the worst time and a guy in Lockhart showed me a simple fix
Was doing a brisket for my kid's birthday party last Saturday out in the driveway, 14 pound packer, and about 6 hours in a gust caught my offset lid and slammed it down right on my forearm. Nothing broke but it knocked my drip pan sideways and ash puffed up all over the meat. Standing there with a burnt arm, grease everywhere, and 20 people showing up in 3 hours, I almost lost it. My neighbor's uncle was visiting from Lockhart and he walked over, looked at my setup, and said his old pit had the same problem so he welded a little counterweight onto the lid handle using an old trailer ball. Took him 10 minutes with a torch he had in his trunk. That lid now swings open and stays put even in wind, and I smoked the rest of that brisket without touching it again. Anyone else rig up something dumb like that to fight the wind, or do you just build a wall around your pit?
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zaram472d ago
A 14 pound packer is already gonna be a fight no matter what, but a little wind knocking the lid around is not what I'd call a crisis. Trailer ball counterweight sounds clever, sure, and your neighbor's uncle did you a solid, but the real issue is you had 20 people showing up and a 6 hour cook going sideways, so your head was already spinning. Brisket stalls and ash puffs happen on almost every long smoke, and that lid slamming down did not do any actual damage to the meat, you just had to clean it off. Most folks I know out here just park the pit behind a fence or a shed and call it a day instead of welding stuff on. I've had my lid catch wind plenty of times and the worst that happens is I lose a little heat for a few minutes. Not saying the fix is dumb, but it sounds more like a bad luck day than a problem that needed solving.
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