My 2D showed up this past Friday. Packing was professional, and the quality of what came out of the box was everything I had hoped for. Sometimes, a product has a lot of quality main elements that suck you in to make the purchase, but then it falls short with the little pieces, ultimately leaving you a bit disappointed. Not this thing! Every piece is rock solid, from the box and controller, down to the cord attachment and wheels. I have expectations that my 2D will last me for years, and years, and years.
Had a crazy schedule Saturday but did get to the seasoning process by day’s end. Followed the instructions without issue, using a couple of the included wood chunks. Smelled amazing and was already feeling impressed with the ease of use.
For remote temp reading, I went with the Smoke by Thermoworks. While there are many less (and some more) expensive options out there, it seemed to have everything I was looking for, including a good range. For wood, I went with Smokinlicious. Ordered a 1/4 cubic foot of double filet, with a 1/3 each of ash, hickory, and maple. Picked up a small digital scale, to weight the wood.
For my first run, I did a 6.5 lb. pork butt from the butcher shop around the corner. While I do enjoy pulled pork, the wife and I both work from home, so lunches are often sandwiches while working, which for us, lends better to sliced (less ends up in the lap). Did a brine based on the Lazy-Q document, soaking for about 10 hours overnight. Foiled the bottom of the box and the top of the wood cabinet as suggested. Had neglected to pick up heavy duty foil, so used standard. Suggestion… get the heavy duty! While the standard stuff helped with clean up, there were a couple spots on the wood box that received a good amount of drippings and were therefore stuck on and tore during clean up. Have a feeling the heavy duty would have fared much better for those spots.
The quality of the box is amazing. But for me, it’s the “D” of these products that take it to the next level of Lazy-Q. Watching this thing on my remote thermostat sticking temps for hours on end was amazing! First time programming… a touch confusing while reading it, but as soon as I did it on the unit, while using the instructions, it clicked, and is now amazingly simple. Love the fact you can run to an internal temp, then set a reduced temp to hold. I didn’t do that initially, but during the cook, I went back and added it in, as I had to leave for a couple of hours when the meat was stalled out at about 165. Is the first time ever, I’ve left a cook, and didn’t even think twice about doing so.
As I was doing sliced, I went for a 175 internal temp (225 box), then dropped the box temp to 130 for another hour and a half (as I had to leave the house before internal was reached), wrapped it to rest for about 45 minutes, and then sliced. Incredible!!! Have to say, that was without a doubt the easiest Q I've ever done!
Beyond happy, beyond full, and beyond a
Smokin-It customer for life! Thanks to all that have posted on the forum, as I did a ton of browsing before I started. The information was extremely helpful, which allowed me to be ahead of the curve, literally right out of the box.
