Just got my first smoker

[*michaelsean*]

(12-20-2020, 04:33 PM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: any pics

I don’t know how to make a picture file small enough.

[*michaelsean*]

(12-20-2020, 04:33 PM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: any pics

Ok I chopped the pic down a lot. I made this yesterday. I think I pulled it a little too early.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

I have always had stick burners. It's gonna stay that way until after Christmas. Then I'm going to buy myself a Masterbuilt Gravity Series charcoal/wood smoker so I can smoke while I'm at work.

For ribs, try the 2-2-1 method. No need for mops/sauces, etc.

The art of smoking is when you begin to develop your own rubs. I have a bottle of BBQ sauce that I set out every time
It hasn't been opened yet.

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-22-2020, 07:33 PM)Wyche Wrote: I have always had stick burners. It's gonna stay that way until after Christmas. Then I'm going to buy myself a Masterbuilt Gravity Series charcoal/wood smoker so I can smoke while I'm at work.

For ribs, try the 2-2-1 method. No need for mops/sauces, etc.

The art of smoking is when you begin to develop your own rubs. I have a bottle of BBQ sauce that I set out every time
It hasn't been opened yet.

Looking forward to hearing how that new smoker works out for you!  

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(12-22-2020, 07:45 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: Looking forward to hearing how that new smoker works out for you!  

I've been eyeing them a while, and talking to owners of them. So far, they're really digging them. They give you the flavor of a stick burner, but convenience of a pellet. 

I've got my old vertical Trailmaster dialed in pretty well, but I can't leave it for longer than 6 hrs. I did some cheap mods on it, and it holds heat like a champ, but as you know, you still gotta add fuel and the like. This could be a game changer for weeknight cooks for me.

These Gravity Series smokers can run from 150 to 700 degrees....WiFi links to your phone...fans to control temp and fire....all sorts of bells and whistles. I can't wait.

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(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.

When I do 2-2-1, I lay pats of butter on the foil, then a little honey, the cover all of that liberally with one of the pork rubs I make..  lay the rack face down on the foil. They're almost like candy. 

[MileHighGrowler]

(12-22-2020, 08:08 PM)Wyche Wrote: When I do 2-2-1, I lay pats of butter on the foil, then a little honey, the cover all of that liberally with one of the pork rubs I make..  lay the rack face down on the foil. They're almost like candy. 

One of these days I'm going to try that.  I just love the ones I make so much I never want to experiment!  

I will say, there is something so amazing about taking a piece of meat, some fire and ending up with awesome food.  It's so simple, yet it's an art to get it juuuust right.  I love it.  And I also love swapping ideas with other people.  I've got a couple of guys here locally I enjoy smoking with, staying up all night drinking whisky and talking and sharing some great food.  

I just picked up a crap ton of oak and and a half crap ton of cherry so now there's nothing to do but decided what I'm going to smoke next week! 

I've never tried a gravity smoker, but they've always intrigued me.  It's funny all those bells and whistles always make me second-guess.  I brew beer, and I use gravity.  It's all manual, a lot of checking and moving.  There are fully electric systems where you can dial in the temps and pump from one vessel to another.  I've thought about it, but then I wonder if it will take some of the magic out of it when I just push a button and it does all the work for me.  But then I've been brewing for over a decade and it just takes so much time and I want to enjoy the end product more than the process.  So I clearly am indecisive and can't figure out what I want   

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(12-22-2020, 08:45 PM)MileHighGrowler Wrote: One of these days I'm going to try that.  I just love the ones I make so much I never want to experiment!  

I will say, there is something so amazing about taking a piece of meat, some fire and ending up with awesome food.  It's so simple, yet it's an art to get it juuuust right.  I love it.  And I also love swapping ideas with other people.  I've got a couple of guys here locally I enjoy smoking with, staying up all night drinking whisky and talking and sharing some great food.  

I just picked up a crap ton of oak and and a half crap ton of cherry so now there's nothing to do but decided what I'm going to smoke next week! 

I've never tried a gravity smoker, but they've always intrigued me.  It's funny all those bells and whistles always make me second-guess.  I brew beer, and I use gravity.  It's all manual, a lot of checking and moving.  There are fully electric systems where you can dial in the temps and pump from one vessel to another.  I've thought about it, but then I wonder if it will take some of the magic out of it when I just push a button and it does all the work for me.  But then I've been brewing for over a decade and it just takes so much time and I want to enjoy the end product more than the process.  So I clearly am indecisive and can't figure out what I want   

I hear ya bro...lol. I am the same way, a firm believer in the K.I.S.S. principle. I've always been a purist when it comes to smoking. Never a gadget outside of temp probes, no propane, no electricity, no pellets. Just wood and coals, and damper control. I cut my teeth on a Brinkmann "R2-D2".....talk about no sleep! 

However, I'm approaching 50, and the kids really dig Q, so I'm looking to get more going through the week. I work a job that you seldom know when you'll get off work, and even start times are no guarantee day to day. Especially in the summer. So, I'm looking for something to be more time efficient, and less babysitting. I was thinking it was a pipe dream until these gravity smokers became affordable and readily available. I'm  not impressed with the flavor of pellets. I've  joined some BBQ pages on FB, and been following some guys who have bought them. They love em.  My only concern was durability, but with a simple mods here and there...so far, so good. Think I'mma pull that trigger.

[*michaelsean*]

Does anyone do competition? I have no desire even if I became proficient, and I doubt I ever will. But as a new person to smoking I watch a lot of videos, as you can imagine, and some of them are about how to cook for competition. And I hate them. They ruin my image of barbecue. They cut the ribs down to these perfect little McRib looking slabs, and they cut the brisket down to look like Spongebob dressing as a ghost. (Ya’ll know what I’m talking about.) I get trimming, but this cosmetic stuff is not what I picture when I think of southerners cooking barbecue. Play the lie you’re given. That to me is what takes talent.

[MileHighGrowler]

(01-15-2021, 12:18 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Does anyone do competition?  I have no desire even if I became proficient, and I doubt I ever will. But as a new person to smoking I watch a lot of videos, as you can imagine, and some of them are about how to cook for competition. And I hate them. They ruin my image of barbecue. They cut the ribs down to these perfect little McRib looking slabs, and they cut the brisket down to look like Spongebob dressing as a ghost. Ya’ll know what I’m talking about.)  I get trimming, but this cosmetic stuff is not what I picture when I think of southerners cooking barbecue. Play the lie you’re given. That to me is what takes talent.

Haha, that's very true.  I'm not interested at all in competition.  It's a lot of aesthetics and cheats to hit what judges are looking.  I have zero interest in competition BBQ.  For several years, I did competition homebrewing.  But it's the same thing.  It's all about hitting style markers and doing what judges what, not about just making great beer.  It's just frustrating and to me takes away the reasons why I brew, or smoke.  

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(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.

My cousin has a Traeger pellet smoker and he had it over to my place a couple years ago and I was really impressed. He told me
not to buy the name though as there are lots of good smokers and Traeger's are some of the most expensive. Still planning on 
getting me a smoker once I can afford it. Can make some great jerky with these babies and all kinds of tasties as you know.

[jfkbengals]

We've only used ours a handful of times since getting it in August, but Sunday we did some good stuff, everything was done with Hickory that day.

First, we made a smoked honey simple syrup, as well as smoking some keto friendly simple syrup that she had in the fridge. These were both done 10 minutes each at 225°.

Next up I boosted the temp to 275°, and we smoked a half full mason jar of water for one hour. Once it cooled, it was poured into an ice cube tray to make smoked ice.

Come this weekend, I will be able to report back on how the smoked cocktail thing is working out.

The final smoke of the day was the remainder of a family pack of chicken legs that Kroger gave us by accident. I used the remainder of rub I had left from a Boston Butt I smoked a few weeks back. They were freaking out of this world!

[MileHighGrowler]

(01-19-2021, 09:56 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: We've only used ours a handful of times since getting it in August, but Sunday we did some good stuff, everything was done with Hickory that day.

First, we made a smoked honey simple syrup, as well as smoking some keto friendly simple syrup that she had in the fridge.  These were both done 10 minutes each at 225°.

Next up I boosted the temp to 275°, and we smoked a half full mason jar of water for one hour.  Once it cooled, it was poured into an ice cube tray to make smoked ice.

Come this weekend, I will be able to report back on how the smoked cocktail thing is working out.

The final smoke of the day was the remainder of a family pack of chicken legs that Kroger gave us by accident.  I used the remainder of rub I had left from a Boston Butt I smoked a few weeks back.  They were freaking out of this world!

Can't wait to hear how those smoked cocktails go!  I love a penicillin with a little peated whisky floated on top, so I'm sure those smoked ingredients will be awesome.  

[WeezyBengal]

Just pulled the trigger on one today:

Went with a green mountain daniel boone prime plus wood pellet grill. Cant wait to try this thing out this weekend. Going to smoke a pork butt.

[WeezyBengal]

(01-19-2021, 08:01 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: My cousin has a Traeger pellet smoker and he had it over to my place a couple years ago and I was really impressed. He told me
not to buy the name though as there are lots of good smokers and Traeger's are some of the most expensive. Still planning on 
getting me a smoker once I can afford it. Can make some great jerky with these babies and all kinds of tasties as you know.

I can echo this...

I did a ton of research and asked a few friends who do competition stuff. They said Traeger has gone down in quality in recent years and its all about marketing with them. They all suggest green mountain grills. Built in the USA, more features than Traeger, and cheaper in price. 

[*michaelsean*]

(01-20-2021, 01:16 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Just pulled the trigger on one today:

Went with a green mountain daniel boone prime plus wood pellet grill. Cant wait to try this thing out this weekend. Going to smoke a pork butt.

$.99 lb at Kroger right now.

[Benton]

(01-20-2021, 01:21 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I can echo this...

I did a ton of research and asked a few friends who do competition stuff. They said Traeger has gone down in quality in recent years and its all about marketing with them. They all suggest green mountain grills. Built in the USA, more features than Traeger, and cheaper in price. 

I bought a gmg a couple years ago. The guy recommending it said it was designed by a former trager engineer, so it was like a traeger for much cheaper.

I dug it but a few months ago it started giving me issues and wouldn't heat up. I didn't feel like going through the hassle of getting it fixed, so I'm back to my Old Smokey electric smoker and a charcoal grill. I liked the pellet as it was a bridge between the two, but nothing beats am Old Smokey for doing small cooks.

[WeezyBengal]

(01-20-2021, 11:23 PM)Benton Wrote: I bought a gmg a couple years ago. The guy recommending it said it was designed by a former trager engineer, so it was like a traeger for much cheaper.

I dug it but a few months ago it started giving me issues and wouldn't heat up. I didn't feel like going through the hassle of getting it fixed, so I'm back to my Old Smokey electric smoker and a charcoal grill. I liked the pellet as it was a bridge between the two, but nothing beats am Old Smokey for doing small cooks.

You should have reached out to their customer service...heard they are some the best in the biz. They prob would have just sent you a new grill. 

[Benton]

(01-21-2021, 04:13 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: You should have reached out to their customer service...heard they are some the best in the biz. They prob would have just sent you a new grill. 

That's what they did for my friend who recommended them. He bought the top model (I'm cheap and bought the entry). I think his computer went out so they told him to pick a new one up at his local dealer.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(01-20-2021, 01:21 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I can echo this...

I did a ton of research and asked a few friends who do competition stuff. They said Traeger has gone down in quality in recent years and its all about marketing with them. They all suggest green mountain grills. Built in the USA, more features than Traeger, and cheaper in price. 

Green mountain grills. Got it, thanks Weezy.