SDBBQ's Double Indirect Setup - First Time

phswrestler125 said:

I watch alot of "smoking dad BBQ" videos and have been very intrigued with his "double indirect" method. Like many have observed, it is hard to get that clean smoke with a kamado style grill due to the efficiency of the grill itself. In order for a kamado grill to stay low in temperature, then it requires restricted airflow, which results in a small burning fire which will smolder the wood chunks instead of cleanly burn it like what you have in an offset smoker. Smoking Dad BBQ has preached about the double indirect method, which allows him to burn a hotter fire in his kamado Joe, but still protect his meat from overcooking on the bottom.

I always wondered how would i replicate his double indirect method in my large BGE. The good thing is I already owned a CGS Spider, CGS Woo, 2x CGS half moon stones and CGS 2x1.5" ceramic spacers that i usually use to airgap my drain catch pan, so I decided to buy a 14" BGE Pizza stone to act as my 2nd deflector.

I started to draft up some diagrams on how to accomplish this. I came up with two configurations that I could do with the above setup:

1) Place 14" Pizza stone on the spider low inside the firering and the WOO w/ 2x half stones in its normal position

• Creates a 1.75" air gap between the lower and upper ceramic stone deflectors

2) Place 14" Pizza stone on the spider low inside the firering, WOO w/ 2x half stones on top of 1.5" ceramic spacers (2" spacers flipped on their side)

• Creates a 3.25" air gap between the lower and upper ceramic stone deflectors

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I wasn't sure which would be a better situation - either a 1.75" airgap with configuration (1) or a 3.25" airgap with configuration (2). I ultimately decided to do the 3.25" airgap with configuration (2) with some baby back (bbq foil wrap) and spare ribs (texas style). Following SDBBQ's method, i cooked the ribs using the "hot and fast method" to get better/cleaner smoke. Dome temperature ran between 290-305. I decided to wrap the loin-back ribs in foil with butter and honey, and decided to foil-boat the st louis ribs to get a nice bark and spritz the st louis ribs with honey/water (simple syrup) mixture.

Unfortunately, i was a little disappointed in the outcome of the cook - but this is mostly likely due to my errors, since this clearly works for SDBBQ. I also used a little too much wood i believe (SDBBQ uses a 95/5 charcoal to wood ratio). I used 2x hickory chucks on the bottom of my kick ash basket, 1x cherry in the middle of the lump, and 1x cherry in the bottom draft door for when the ashes fall through the bottom.  I believe the total cook time ended up being around 3 hrs (204 and floppy). The baby back ribs came out a little dry and crisp on the ends (could have been the meat itself - 4lbs slab from publix), and i burned the crap out of the bottom of the st louis ribs. I am not sure what happened, but i was hoping that running at 290-305 wouldn't burn the bottom of my ribs since i was using the double indirect method. I personally like the smoke flavor, but i think i could've dialed it back some - I'll think i'll just use a total of 2x wood chunks next time. But i am uncertain why i burned the bottom of my ribs - maybe i'll dial is back to 275-280 next time, but i am afraid I won't get the good cleaning burning fire that SDBBQ gets. I also wonder if the smaller airgap in configuration (1) would be a better setup for the double indirect method on the large BGE.

Anyone have any thoughts on the above ?


Here are some final pics of the ribs:

littlerascal56 said:

You killed it man!  Those are some awesome looking ribs.
I run mine at 265-270 at the grate temp, so you might try that next cook. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

I will say that the best way I have found to get the cleanest smoke on a Kamado is Harry Solo’s method. Load about 1/4-1/3 of the firebox up with lump, add 2-3 wood chunks and cover with more unlit lump leaving some room for:

Light a chimney of lump and pour over the top of the lump bed when ripping hot. Set temp and give it 30 min. 

This will get the chunks smoking and the smoke will have to rise through the red hot lump at the top of the firebox. The red hot lump at the top will clean up the smoke as it rises through. 

Enjoy. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

I will say that the best way I have found to get the cleanest smoke on a Kamado is Harry Solo’s method. Load about 1/4-1/3 of the firebox up with lump, add 2-3 wood chunks and cover with more unlit lump leaving some room for:

Light a chimney of lump and pour over the top of the lump bed when ripping hot. Set temp and give it 30 min. 

This will get the chunks smoking and the smoke will have to rise through the red hot lump at the top of the firebox. The red hot lump at the top will clean up the smoke as it rises through. 

Botch said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

I will say that the best way I have found to get the cleanest smoke on a Kamado is Harry Solo’s method. Load about 1/4-1/3 of the firebox up with lump, add 2-3 wood chunks and cover with more unlit lump leaving some room for:

Light a chimney of lump and pour over the top of the lump bed when ripping hot. Set temp and give it 30 min. 

This will get the chunks smoking and the smoke will have to rise through the red hot lump at the top of the firebox. The red hot lump at the top will clean up the smoke as it rises through. 

I remember when you originally posted that.  My problem was the hardwood would always catch fire and be burned out before I got to temp, I think hardwood ignition temp must be much lower than that of lump.  
Now I light just lump, let it get to temp, throw on the protein/veg, and then slide small pieces of hardwood in through the bottom vent, to the center of the Egg (think I made a post with pics).  The hardwood smoke starts pouring out just as the protein starts cooking.