If you’re a frequent visitor to GrillandBarrel.com, you know that I was cooking on a Backwoods Fatboy before and have since upgraded to a Backwoods Pro Jr.  I certainly notice a few differences, and an inquiry from one of my brethren over at BBQ-Brethren.com prompted to spend a little time documenting some of them.  So in no particular order, here are a few noticable differences.

Fuel Consumption:  It stands to reason that the bigger cooker will need more fuel, but I didn’t expect the difference to be quite as big as it is.  On the Fatboy, I would use a half a bag of Kingsford briquettes for a 5-6 hr rib cook.  The Pro Jr took a whole bag, and then some.

Water Consumption:  Just like fuel, the Pro Jr uses more water than the Fatboy.  Again, my first cook was ribs and I expected a full water pan would last through the duration of a 5-6 cook.  Not so, at about the 5 hr mark, I was out of water.

Temperature control:  I noticed that I had a harder time getting the cooker to 250 (the temperature that I usually cook at).  The Pro Jr seemed to want to settle in at 225 and I eventually made peace with leaving it there instead of trying to get it to 250.  I also ran the bottom vent a little wider than I typically would have on the Fatboy, but frankly that could have had as much to do with the weather conditions as anything.

This is a big ol’ cooker and I’m looking forward to firing it up this weekend and working on competition butts & brisket.  I’ll keep you posted on any new observations.  In the meantime, here are a few more shots of the Pro Jr.

Braddog with the Fatboy on the left and the Pro Jr on the right5 cooking racks on the Pro Jr with better clearance than the Fatboy

Cheers,

Braddog

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