Okay, I didn't get any pictures of the first smoke (whole chicken), but it was actually a bit of a gong show trying to get the temperature right. My second smoke was far more successful, and I did get some pictures of that. I started out with a bag and a half of briquette charcoal, hoping to get it going, arrive at an appropriate temp, and then control the burn with the vents.
I smoked up a 12lb brisket and a 10lb pork butt, bone in. Here they are, with the rub on, the night before the smoke-fest.
Since this was the first long smoke, I didn't want to start it up and have it going all night...which might have made for a slightly better finished product, but this was pretty good. I fired up the smoker at 5:30am, intending to smoke until just after 5:00pm.
Got that TBS going!
This above picture was about six hours into the smoke. I found that the amount of coal I started with got the temp up a bit too high...closer to 300F...even with the vents cracked maybe a 1/4", it took a while for it to cool down a bit. For the majority of the cook, though, it was at 250F.
The sun was shining nicely by the time I got this picture, still with a few hours to go!
Above is the finished brisket, about to get wrapped for 30 minutes. I wish I took the picture with it flipped, as you can see the one spot where some bark got stuck to the rack when I flipped this bad boy.
The pork shoulder turned out great, too...very tasty. I should mention that I also smoked a spatchcocked turkey, which went on for close to four hours, at the end of the smoke. Of course, I was a ways into my birthday Honey Brown cask by then, which might be blamed for me forgetting to document its progress. It was delicious, as well, though.
Ultimately, I'm extremely happy with how the smoker is working. The interior firebrick is starting to get darker and coated with the sexy awesome smoker coating. It holds the heat really well once it's up to temperature, allowing me to open one or both of the top smoker doors to baste the meat without losing a ton of heat. The firebox access door lets me much around with the fuel and wood chunks without losing any heat in the smoker. Speaking of chunks...I'm extremely jealous of the folks down south...the guys who say, "I need some wood for smoking," and just go to the wood shack and get some wood they cut down from the back yard. Not quite as easy up here...nothing very tasty growing to cut down.