New smoker want to be.

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herm

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 22, 2011
10
10
Middletown, Pa
  Hi all, my name is Herm. I am in Middletown, pa and am new to smoking. I have been reading alot here and have learned some things, still a long way to go. I have a couple questions for you pros.

1. I have read here the smoke coming out of the smoker should be kinda blue. My smoke is way more white is this a problem?

2. Been reading alot about making beef sticks and smoking temps. I have read to start out around 120deg. and raise it about every hour till meat temp is 160deg. is this correct?

3. I a batch of snack sticks using 70/30 beef and the sticks were a little greasy tasting should I have used 80/20? Or what do you recomend?

4. My sticks were kinda soft but the inside temp was 160 did I use to much water in the smoker?

5. When do I put water in the pan to make steam? At the beginning, middle or end of cooking?

 Thanks for the help Herm
 
Welcome..

This site has tons of info.

I suggest you spend some time reading all the different forums and the WIKIs.

Ask questions and use the handy dandy search tool for specific interests!!

Take the awesome free E-Course!!!

Have a great day!!!

Craig

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/wiki/about-jeffs-5-day-ecourse

      Make bacon the easy way!!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/109368/more-easy-made-bacon-with-q-view#post_666451

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/82034/how-to-post-qview-to-smf
 
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First off welcome to SMF there Herm. You'll really like this place for there are a bunch of really good folks here that would just love to help you with just about anything to do with smoking meat. Now for your questions:

1 white smoke is not good that omes from too much wood or chips but it will start out alot of smoke ancalm down after a few minutes.

2 Some what right I start out at 70°- 80° and go from there. I like alot of smoke flavor in my sticks.

3 I use beef and add the fat to my sticks and I like the 30% ratio but thats me. Try 20% and if you like it use it. After all their yours and your eating them.

4 Now did you shock the stix when your finished smoking them. Put them into ice water. They tend to shrink up then.

5 In the beginning. the water in to mantain a good even an moist heat/temp. 

Now I would recommend that you look up the E-course and take it. It's fee and it will give you the basics on smoking meat.  

Welcome To Your New Addiction.
 
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Welcome to SMFHerm. Were glad to have you aboard so join in, share your experiences, have some fun and don’t forget to post our favorite.

The Qveiw

Happy smoking……

Joe
 
Hello Herm - glad to have you on board.  Your questions are in roll call and you might want to do a cut and paste and post again in the  sausage section so one of the sausage mods can give you a hand 
 
  Thanks for the welcome guys. I did enroll in the smoking course and will post my questions in the sausage forum. Thanks again, looks like a great place.

Herm
 
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 to SMF Herm. You have come to the right place for smoking info. This site is loaded with great info just use the search bar at top of page to find what you are looking for. If you can't locate the answer just ask folks here are willing to share there knowledge. I suggest you take  the 5 day e-course on smoking its chuck full of great info.Smoking Basics 5-Day eCourse
1. I have read here the smoke coming out of the smoker should be kinda blue. My smoke is way more white is this a problem?  Yes heavy white smoke will create a bitter taste to the meat. You want a thin smoke, at times you can't even see it but you can smell it.

5. When do I put water in the pan to make steam? At the beginning, middle or end of cooking?  I normally run a water pan the whole time I am smoking. It does a couple of things. 1. it acts as a heat sink allowing for faster recovery when you open the door. 2. evens out the the heat in my smoker. 3. adds additional moisture to the meat/smoker there by not drying the meat as much. 

 Thanks for the help Herm
 
Welcome to SMF glad you can join us.  We are big on Pics and love to help everyone out.  Remember the only question that is dumb is one not asked.  You will not find a friendlier place to talk Que on the web.

You are going to fit in just fine.
 
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  Here are a couple pics of my second batch of sticks I made yesterday. Thanks to the advice from you guys they turned out very good. There is very little smok flavor in them. I must not have had enough smoke going. Do you guys have smoke going the whole time the sticks are in the smoker?

Thanks for the help Herm
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