Just got my first smoker

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-18-2020, 12:00 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Right now I’m just using pit boss competition blend which I believe is maple, hickory and cherry. I used apple blend on the shoulder for the heck of it. I just found out that most pellets are largely alder and oak with about 30% of the featured wood. Some companies sell blends like that but also they sell 100% of the premier wood but that’s expensive. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a post oak pellet.

Yes when I do ribs I’m going to do the 3-2-1 method although in most videos the one really seems to be maybe 20 minutes. And yes I plan on using foil not butcher paper on those.

I had a decent bark on my brisket but I got scared by some brisket failure videos where they chased the bark and ended up turning their brisket to pot roast.

The best thing I get out of watching a ton of videos is picking up on the constants. Everyone has their own flair, but there are some things that virtually everyone does and for me finding those are the keys as a beginner.

There are a lot of people obsessed with only using post oak because it's what Aaron Franklin uses.  But I think you'd be hard pressed to notice a difference between post oak, white oak and even red oak.  So I definitely wouldn't worry about which oak variety.  Cherry is fantastic with beef as well.  I've enjoyed peach and apple with pork and pecan with poultry.  Hickory instead of oak is fun to play with.  Basically, I've never used a wood I didn't like, some of them are just different.  

I've seen people use the 3-2-1 where they do the "1" on direct flame, and then it's a lot shorter than an hour.  I just put it back on the smoker at 225-250 and the sauce gets all smoky and sticky.  It's amazing.  

You'll learn your smoker and your methods that work the best.  I think that's the most fun of it all; you get to make it your own.  The "rules" are just guidelines.  But we're all using different equipment and honestly even just the meat is different from one smoke to another.  End of the day, it's a relaxing way to spend a day and I haven't met a soul yet who isn't excited to eat some smoked food at my house!  I did an oven roasted turkey and smoked turkey this year and last year, and the smoked was devoured and I was eating leftover oven-roasted for the next 2 weeks