Just got my first smoker

[*michaelsean*]

Pit boss pro vertical pellet smoker back in October. I chose it because I liked the way it looked. Had no idea how to smoke or even what it consisted of. Never heard of a pellet smoker until I read the manual. In the end I’m glad I ended up with a pellet smoker as there is no way I’d want to learn how to smoke along with trying to learn how to use a stick burner. (How’s that for lingo?)

Anyway I used it first to smoke a turkey on Thanksgiving , then I did a whole brisket and then a pork shoulder. I watched between 20 and 30 videos before each smoke. Still have to do ribs.

My first smoke was really nice. Going to bed the night before was like going to bed Christmas Eve. Got up at 6:00 am on Thanksgiving. I prepped the turkey, fired up the smoker and put her in. With pellet smokers you don’t have to sit by the smoker. But I did. Drank a huge cup of coffee with a cigar while sitting outside in a brisk and completely peaceful Thanksgiving morning. I was hooked.

[SunsetBengal]

Here in the South, we call that Pork Shoulder a Boston Butt. Done right, and fork pulled, you can feed a party of 12 with one of those. If you choose the fine chop route, you can get a shit ton of sandwiches with a Boston Butt.

[MileHighGrowler]

Awesome! Welcome to a wonderful hobby. I love stick burners because I have every excuse to sit outside and hang around my smoker all day. I used to start briskets late at night and smoke all night. It was really relaxing staying up all night alone, reading, enjoying the quiet hours. But then I got smart and started to smoke all day and into the evening, and then re-heated the next day.

Definitely a lot of great resources on YouTube. I do mostly Texas style smoking and it just never gets old!

[Tiger Teeth]

Cue that dude Jason who is going to post pics that make me drool.

[*michaelsean*]

(12-18-2020, 01:09 AM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Awesome! Welcome to a wonderful hobby. I love stick burners because I have every excuse to sit outside and hang around my smoker all day. I used to start briskets late at night and smoke all night. It was really relaxing staying up all night alone, reading, enjoying the quiet hours. But then I got smart and started to smoke all day and into the evening, and then re-heated the next day.

Definitely a lot of great resources on YouTube. I do mostly Texas style smoking and it just never gets old!

I’m 53 and just starting so I think I’m pretty fortunate to have by chance purchased a pellet smoker. In Oct when I bought it I had zero idea how smoking worked. I think I half thought the smoke did the cooking like curing or something, but had I thought about it I’d realize that was stupid. I do like the fact that it’s closer to wood burning in the the heat and the smoke come from the same source.

I think if I smoke enough over the years to where cooking the meat and telling when it’s time to wrap or when it’s finished in conjunction with a thermometer instead of total reliance on a thermometer them maybe I’ll be ready to try a stick burner. Tackling learning how to smoke along with learning how to run a fire at the same time is more than I want.

I did do by brisket For exams style although I did sneak some garlic powder in with the salt and pepper. I bought some peach/pink butcher paper because that seems to be all the hype now, but when that runs out I’ll probably just use foil.

[*michaelsean*]

(12-18-2020, 12:29 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Here in the South, we call that Pork Shoulder a Boston Butt. Done right, and fork pulled, you can feed a party of 12 with one of those. If you choose the fine chop route, you can get a shit ton of sandwiches with a Boston Butt.

Yeah it’s sometimes labeled as Boston butt here as well. Didn’t figure southerners would call it that though.

I sort of cheated on mine a little where after I wrapped it in foil I didn’t see any reason to put in back on the smoker rather than the oven. I kept looking for any legitimate reason not to, but I couldn’t find one. It still felt wrong.

[*michaelsean*]

Oh and right now I think I’m only going to be smoking what I consider the big three. Shoulder, ribs, and brisket. Maybe wings and the occasional turkey breast. I see smoked meatloaf and smoked pies and all that other stuff and it just doesn’t interest me.

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-18-2020, 11:41 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I’m 53 and just starting so I think I’m pretty fortunate to have by chance purchased a pellet smoker. In Oct when I bought it I had zero idea how smoking worked. I think I half thought the smoke did the cooking like curing or something, but had I thought about it I’d realize that was stupid. I do like the fact that it’s closer to wood burning in the the heat and the smoke come from the same source.

I think if I smoke enough over the years to where cooking the meat and telling when it’s time to wrap or when it’s finished in conjunction with a thermometer instead of total reliance on a thermometer them maybe I’ll be ready to try a stick burner.  Tackling learning how to smoke along with learning how to run a fire at the same time is more than I want.

I did do by brisket For exams style although I did sneak some garlic powder in with the salt and pepper. I bought some peach/pink butcher paper because that seems to be all the hype now, but when that runs out I’ll probably just use foil.

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.

[*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.

[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 

[*michaelsean*]

(12-18-2020, 12:09 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: 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 

I think I’d be hard pressed to know the difference in any wood right now except maybe one may leave a heavier smoke flavor than another.

I get what you say about how there are so many variables between different equipment, the meat you happen to have that day and many other things. I of course now know who Franklin is. He cooks over 100 briskets a day and there is no way they are all the same on the same day let alone day to day.

The other thing is I’m not (I don’t think) going to be a meat snob.(Probably an unfair characterization) Yes if I see a prime brisket for a ridiculous price I’m going to try it once, but for me one of the cool things about barbecue is taking the cheap parts of the animal that aren’t great and through time and technique turning them into something magnificent. If I can buy a 15 lb select brisket for $30 and make it something great then that’s an accomplishment in my book.

[*michaelsean*]

I added something on my previous post about the ribs but you quoted before I did that. Do you use butter, brown sugar and honey when you wrap? I don’t think I want to do that at first.

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-18-2020, 12:22 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I added something on my previous post about the ribs but you quoted before I did that. Do you use butter, brown sugar and honey when you wrap? I don’t think I want to do that at first.

If I'm using anything to mop the ribs (and usually it's just a mix of apple cider vinegar and water in a spray bottle), I'll add a little when I wrap them to help them braise in the foil.  But I've never added butter or sweetener on its own for ribs.  When I put sauce on for the last hour, it gets all the sweetener it needs there and should already be moist from the wrapped time.

Now when I smoke a brisket and reheat it the next day, I'll toss some butter on it when it's being reheated.  And when I do poultry and wrap it I always add butter.  But I've never done it with pork.  

To one of your other posts about Franklin and different meats... the guy has his own meat selected to fit his profile that comes in for him.  And he's got massive smokers so it's a LOT easier to keep it consistent from day to day.  I've been to Franklin BBQ and talked to his guys and tried the food.  I think in terms of consistency from one smoke to the next, he's got it down to an almost perfect science.  More than any of us can do on a backyard system and shopping for whatever is in stock at Costco/Sam's.  

[*michaelsean*]

(12-18-2020, 12:47 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: If I'm using anything to mop the ribs (and usually it's just a mix of apple cider vinegar and water in a spray bottle), I'll add a little when I wrap them to help them braise in the foil.  But I've never added butter or sweetener on its own for ribs.  When I put sauce on for the last hour, it gets all the sweetener it needs there and should already be moist from the wrapped time.

Now when I smoke a brisket and reheat it the next day, I'll toss some butter on it when it's being reheated.  And when I do poultry and wrap it I always add butter.  But I've never done it with pork.  

To one of your other posts about Franklin and different meats... the guy has his own meat selected to fit his profile that comes in for him.  And he's got massive smokers so it's a LOT easier to keep it consistent from day to day.  I've been to Franklin BBQ and talked to his guys and tried the food.  I think in terms of consistency from one smoke to the next, he's got it down to an almost perfect science.  More than any of us can do on a backyard system and shopping for whatever is in stock at Costco/Sam's.  

I was going to do a spritz of equal parts apple juice, cider vinegar and water and then pour a little of that in the foil. Seems like some liquid should be used for the braising and a little acid helps with the tenderizing.

That makes sense on Franklin. Going on my first Costco meat run tonight and see what they have.

Appreciate all the insight.

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-18-2020, 01:01 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I was going to do a spritz of equal parts apple juice, cider vinegar and water and then pour a little of that in the foil. Seems like some liquid should be used for the braising and a little acid helps with the tenderizing.

That makes sense on Franklin. Going on my first Costco meat run tonight and see what they have.

Appreciate all the insight.

They have periods where the briskets are a little more expensive, but Costco and Sam's pretty regularly have them at a good price for Prime, and ridiculously affordable for Choice.  This past summer was pretty expensive as we had a major beef shortage as a result of COVID, but usually that's not the case, even as popularity has increased the price of brisket.

I'm off the week between Christmas and New Years and planning to brew some beer and smoke; can't wait!  

Happy smoking, brother! 

[Jason_NC]

(12-18-2020, 09:46 AM)Tiger Teeth Wrote: Cue that dude Jason who is going to post pics that make me drool.

:andy:

[Millhouse]

Congrats on the smoker. Its a great hobby for sure. Ive been smoking butts, ribs, sausage, chicken for years now, and have my methods pretty narrowed down thanks in part to BBQ legends out there. I took notes over the years of the little things from watching shows like BBQ Pitmasters and then various You Tube channels like HowToBBQRight. Then combined those tidbits of knowledge with my experience and setup.

Main thing I would suggest if you havent already for doing butts or brisket or almost anything is to invest in a quality meat thermometer if you havent already. It's a big crutch in knowing when to pull the meat off.

Seeing and reading about all the various methods out there can be overwhelming, but ultimately its just some little heat, smoke, and meat at the core of it. No one method is right as there are many ways to to achieve great results which mainly comes from your experience.

[Benton]

Smoking is a great hobby. I'm on my second electric smoker.

The big thing is to find out what works for your set up. It differs based on outside temp, unit, etc.

Like with ribs. I don't wrap them, which is a sin according to some. I just rub, smoke for a few hours, mop and they're good to go. I broil mine for 5-10 in the oven because I like that crisp on the outside, but they're done at that point.

But ultimately the best part is just tinkering with recipes. Tomorrow I'm smoking a pork loin which I generally marinate all night, then wrap and smoke.

[*bfine32*]

Ahhh yes...I remember my first. We were on liberty at the end of basic training and we went down to the strip club with more than money in our pockets. The next thing you know....... OH you said "smoker".....never mind.

[reuben.ahmed]

(12-17-2020, 11:27 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Pit boss pro vertical pellet smoker back in October.  I chose it because I liked the way it looked. Had no idea how to smoke or even what it consisted of. Never heard of a pellet smoker until I read the manual.  In the end I’m glad I ended up with a pellet smoker as there is no way I’d want to learn how to smoke along with trying to learn how to use a stick burner. (How’s that for lingo?)

Anyway I used it first to smoke a turkey on Thanksgiving , then I did a whole brisket and then a pork shoulder. I watched between 20 and 30 videos before each smoke. Still have to do ribs.

My first smoke was really nice. Going to bed the night before was like going to bed Christmas Eve. Got up at 6:00 am on Thanksgiving. I prepped the turkey, fired up the smoker and put her in. With pellet smokers you don’t have to sit by the smoker. But I did. Drank a huge cup of coffee with a cigar  while sitting outside in a brisk and completely peaceful Thanksgiving morning. I was hooked.

any pics