S2K9K thanks for the comment! I'm very happy with that way they turned out! They even passed my dads picky palate today so that goes a long ways! Hah! That's the problem with this hobby is very addicting but rewarding and educational at the same time! We're always learning and what a shame that we have to be personal taste testers of all of our tasty experiments! Thanks again!
Yes, but being a personal tester has its benefits. Make sure everything you make, detail it, either on a computer or in a book. If doing so on a computer, store the info on an external hard drive, as your C drive will fail, it is just a question of when. That way, when you eat that perfect piece of meat, you will have a record of how it was made, rather than relying on your memory. Works better, every time.
I use a book, students note book. Date at the top, above the lines, inside left margins, dates and times. Then I detail what I did or how I did it As an example, I do not write ‘put meat in brine’, I detail the brine also. Right down day I smoke, detail times I start warm up, put meat or whatever in the smoker, every time I open the door and why, time I finish and any comment as per anybody that eats what I just cooked, Doing different multiple items, I do different pages for each item. Some day, I might do this on a Computer.