First timer

brian8256 · Mar 31, 2015

Hey guys my name is Brian, I was born an raised just outside of Cleveland Ohio, about 7 years ago I moved out to Las Vegas.. I have been a cook off and on in the industry and have always preferred to cook my ribs and such at home rather than pay an outstanding price at a restaurant when I can do it better myself.

I have always preferred a charcoal grill for personal use, although I have worked for a steak house that did wood grilling, and of course I have used gas a good amount. I never really cared for smoked food I just think that the taste of the charcoal is so unmatched that I never cared to experiment with a smoker.

We bought a charcoal grill from Sams Club its just called a Dyna-Glo model DGN486DNC, it has a smoke stack and two vents at each side along with an adjustable charcoal rack. We like to host many get together's and lately I have just been buying racks of ribs, or some nice Ribeyes for our guests.. I came to the conclusion that I would get a big piece of meat opposed to 5-6 steaks per person would be cheaper and easier on myself.

So as stated Ive never really smoked anything before and am curious to know, after I get the charcoal going and place some soaked wood chips on top of the charcoal, when the temp goes down and I need to get it back up, do I add more charcoal? Or more wood chips?! Im lost here! I picked up a 5lb pork tenderloin and plan on doing that tomorrow, from what I have read before this post, I am assuming It will take approximatelly 2-3hrs at a temp of 220-250ish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated to this experienced cook, yet novice smoker !

iggythump · Mar 31, 2015

First of all, welcome to the forum Brian. We're glad you decided to come aboard. In regards to your heat question. The temp will begin to rise once the firebox is closed again and is regulated by the incoming air flow through the vents. You should have vents open while getting the charcoal started and during the heating process. Once you reach optimal temp and place meat on the grates, the temp will fall due to the lid/door being open. Once the temp gets within 10-15 of where you want it to stabilize, start closing the intake vents a little at a time as the temp should begin to slow its rate of increasing to eventually plateau at your desired smoking temp.

I may have botched something along the way in this explanation. If so, someone will definitely be along very shortly to correct me. I hope this helps out, bud. Again, welcome to the forums!

gary s · Mar 31, 2015

Good evening and welcome to the forum, from a sunny and warm day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

Gary

rmmurray · Mar 31, 2015

Welcome Brian! :welcome:
IggyThump is right on the money. The only thing I would add (or take away) is DO NOT SOAK THE CHIPS! Wet wood will only produce steam when introduced to a heat source like charcoal. The water in the wood has to evaporate before the wood will burn and create smoke. Just throw the wood on top of the charcoal as is and you will be good to go.

iggythump · Mar 31, 2015

RMMurray said:
Welcome Brian!

IggyThump is right on the money. The only thing I would add (or take away) is DO NOT SOAK THE CHIPS! Wet wood will only produce steam when introduced to a heat source like charcoal. The water in the wood has to evaporate before the wood will burn and create smoke. Just throw the wood on top of the charcoal as is and you will be good to go.

Excellent point, I completely disregarded that for some reason.

brian8256 · Mar 31, 2015

Thanks for the welcome guys!! Ok great I was planning on soaking my chips but I definatelly won't now! As far as the firebox my grill did not contain one I was actually planning on just lighting the charcoal on the "ashtray" because with the given grate for burning on, the wood would just fall straight through.. Or I could make a makeshift bowl out of some foil.. Iggy if my grill starts to decrease in heat after a hour or so, would i add more charcoal and wood to the dying fire? Or just one or the other thanks!

iggythump · Apr 1, 2015

Brian8256 said:
Thanks for the welcome guys!! Ok great I was planning on soaking my chips but I definatelly won't now! As far as the firebox my grill did not contain one I was actually planning on just lighting the charcoal on the "ashtray" because with the given grate for burning on, the wood would just fall straight through.. Or I could make a makeshift bowl out of some foil.. Iggy if my grill starts to decrease in heat after a hour or so, would i add more charcoal and wood to the dying fire? Or just one or the other thanks!

You can make a charcoal ring from expanded metal to help contain the briquettes or lump in a specified area. The lit coals should not be losing heat at only an hour in. Any decrease in temp at this point would be from lack of air supply. You would want to open up the intake vents that feed into the coals. At any point in time that you would need more coals, after the starting coals have burned up, adding more coals will get your fire going again. As I've read, the meat only takes in the smoke flavor in the beginning, therefore, adding wood to finish up a cook would be wasteful for you. I certainly hope this makes sense and helps you out my friend!

rmmurray · Apr 1, 2015

IggyThump said:
You can make a charcoal ring from expanded metal to help contain the briquettes or lump in a specified area. The lit coals should not be losing heat at only an hour in. Any decrease in temp at this point would be from lack of air supply. You would want to open up the intake vents that feed into the coals. At any point in time that you would need more coals, after the starting coals have burned up, adding more coals will get your fire going again. As I've read, the meat only takes in the smoke flavor in the beginning, therefore, adding wood to finish up a cook would be wasteful for you. I certainly hope this makes sense and helps you out my friend!

Did it hurt, when you fell from Kingsford heaven?

Brian, if it will ease you mind a bit, my Weber Charcoal Grill will burn at a constant temp for easily two hours with full lit briquettes, so you shouldn't have a problem in that short of time.

themule69 · Apr 1, 2015

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David

iggythump · Apr 1, 2015

RMMurray said:
Did it hurt, when you fell from Kingsford heaven?

Brian, if it will ease you mind a bit, my Weber Charcoal Grill will burn at a constant temp for easily two hours with full lit briquettes, so you shouldn't have a problem in that short of time.

Haha very nice. I believe you have a great deal more experience at the Weber grills than I.

My experience is coming from my Mini WSM. I built my charcoal basket by using rebar ties to connect the expanded metal to the bottom charcoal grate (Weber Part# 7440). The basket will probably extend the burn time and quality of burn of the charcoal as well. I've had my mini at a consistent 230-240 for 10 hrs and never had to add any more KBB. Again, this is with my Mini WSM and may not apply directly to your setup but I suppose the point is that you should have positive results by adding a basket to the mix.

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