Brand New to smoking and extremely excited!!

[jongonz70]

Hi all,

My name is Jon and for a few years now I have been wanting to get into smoking some delicious meats. However, i do not kno any techniques at all. I am currently working with a 20lbs capacity "sausage maker" smokehouse smoker. It is electronic and says to use sawdust but ive only found mesquite chips. is there a difference? and when smoking do i have continual smoke or do i only smoke for a few hours and allow the rest to be just heat?

I want to cook a 5lbs pork shoulder and a 2.5 lbs brisket. I have a rub to use but need help on how to actually go about smoking the meat and how long. I have read that it should take about 7.5 hours to smoke at 225degrees but in the owners manual to the smokehouse i have, it says dont exceed 170 while smoking. is this going to be a problem or will i still b able to achieve some good flavored meats with a longer time frame?

P.S. this site is great and i know that i will be continually returning to it and hopefully one day be able to contribute advice of my own. Thanks All!

Jon

 

[scarbelly]

Hi Jon

Welcome to SMF - the most important message is to cook by temp not by time - please search the threads for the items you want to cook and you will find out more infomation than you can absorb in a day

 

[eman]

also please take the 5 day smoking e course .lots of info there.

 

[dave54]

welcome Jon

 eman and Scarbelly gave you the best advice

  Listening to the guys on here was the best thing I've done

 

[northern greenhorn]

Welcome to smf, glad you found us. As eman said, check out the 5 day eCourse, its helpful. As far as your smoker, if your not to exceed 170* in it, then it will take you a long time to do bigger pieces of meat, ideally for smoking butts, brisket you want to be in the 220-230* range and it takes a good amount of time at those temps, I recommend getting a smoker that you can take to higher temps than 170*, you can get an ecb ( el cheapo Brinkman ) for $50-$60, or go on craigslist, you probably can find some used ones for cheaper. Don't get me wrong you can use the smoker you have, but at those temps, you can put on your meats sit down and read War and Peace, cause your gonna be there awhile. Good luck, and welcome to your new addiction 

 

[beer-b-q]

 

Welcome to SMF, Glad to have you with us.

This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.

 

For those of you new to Smoking, be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse.

Click Here it's"FREE" ...5 Day eCourseE

 

[jongonz70]

Thank You to all! I know I am going to love this forum! the advice given is going to help. i will definitely be taking the 5 day course. Thanks again all!

 

[eman]

I dont think they are telling you that your smoker wont do more than 170. i think they are just giving you a temp for low and slow which in my opinion is to low.

 

[flash]

Is this the smoker with the red roof. Kinda an outhouse design? It appears they want it to be for Sausage and it is done at 165º and are not suppose to exceed 170º.

Not sure why? Possibly the build or the max amount of heat this electric smoker is capable of.  If so, this will take some time to do most meats. I would check out some of the GOSM propane smokers, possibly you can find one of the old charcoal ones if that is what you prefer.

 

[jongonz70]

@Flash- its not the outhouse lookin one but its the insulated stainless steel 20 lb one. I am currently smoking some meat right now at 225, give or take, and it seems to be doing just fine. i just have to maintain the smoke in it. my pork shoulder is currently at 160 degrees so its got a little bit more degrees to go. it looks delicious though. hopefully it tastes the same. i also just put a smll 2.5lb brisket in at 2pm and it should be done around 6ish along with the pork. im trying to pull the pork but if time doesnt allow ill have to pull it early so i can let it rest in foil in a cooler for an hour before it is consumed. so far a great experience! and whether the meat turns out or not i will be back to try again.

as for the smoker.... it seems to be ok but i probably will b looking into another one since it seems to be topping out at a heat of 235. thank you for the info on other smokers. i just gotta figure out which i want.

 

[toxie]

Welcome to SMF!! Lots of good folks and information here...

 

[meateater]

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.

 

[Bearcarver]

@Flash- its not the outhouse lookin one but its the insulated stainless steel 20 lb one. I am currently smoking some meat right now at 225, give or take, and it seems to be doing just fine. i just have to maintain the smoke in it. my pork shoulder is currently at 160 degrees so its got a little bit more degrees to go. it looks delicious though. hopefully it tastes the same. i also just put a smll 2.5lb brisket in at 2pm and it should be done around 6ish along with the pork. im trying to pull the pork but if time doesnt allow ill have to pull it early so i can let it rest in foil in a cooler for an hour before it is consumed. so far a great experience! and whether the meat turns out or not i will be back to try again.

as for the smoker.... it seems to be ok but i probably will b looking into another one since it seems to be topping out at a heat of 235. thank you for the info on other smokers. i just gotta figure out which i want.

Sounds like you're doing better than your owners manual.

Smoking at no higher than 170˚ would be OK for Bacon (because it's cured), but if you kept it at 170˚ for butts & briskets, you'd never get out of the Danger Zone in time.

I learned just about everything I know from the great people on this forum. When you want to smoke something, just do a search on this forum. I always liked to find about 6 or 8 threads about my target smoke. Then find 2 or 4 that say the same thing. That would be my first attempt directions. Then I would scribble out a plan of attack, using all of the things that were agreed upon by the most posts. Then I'd just follow that. If it was perfect----Lock it in! If it needs work, I'd write down what I think I gotta change. Get it next time.

And don't be afraid to ask questions. We are all paying back for the questions we asked, and are still asking.

This is a GREAT place to learn!

Bearcarver