Just got my first smoker

[*michaelsean*]

(12-18-2020, 11:50 AM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Nothing at all wrong with adding a little garlic powder to that brisket!  Putting a little celery seed on there with salt and pepper is favored by a few people I know.  For pork butts and ribs I'll expand the seasoning a bit more and like to use some yellow mustard as a base.  Anything beef I keep to pretty much SPG (brisket, beef ribs, chuck roast).  Poultry it just depends what I'm going for.  

What kind of wood are you using?  

If you got one of those big rolls of paper it'll last a long time.  And I'd recommend sticking with paper over foil on briskets at least.  For ribs, I like to use a 3-2-1 method often (3 on the smoker, 2 wrapped, 1 unwrapped again with some bbq sauce to caramelize on the meat).  The foil is airtight so it basically steams the meat inside, where the paper allows some moisture to escape so you don't ruin the bark by making it soggy.  The foil works for the pork ribs because they still get the time at the end with the sauce to get the outer texture I want.  But since it takes hours to develop the right bark on a brisket, it's harder to maintain if you wrap it in foil for hours.

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. Not sure I’m into the butter, brown sugar and honey I see people adding when they wrap.

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.