New smoker

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

the black spot

Fire Starter
Original poster
May 11, 2015
38
10
Hi all,

I'm pretty new to smoking, been at it 2 or 3 years, with some hits and misses.

Initially i have been using a cabinet smoker.

IT came claiming to be good for hot AND cold smoking, but really it was only ever good as a cold smoker when using a proQ smoke generator, and was a charcoal hungry failure as a hot smoker.

Made some good cold smoked salmon, smoked some salami's i made, cheeses. i tried hot smoking / smoke roasting chickens on there and ham hocks as well and they always came out ok, but i had to literally be by it every moment of the day to keep the temperature up. It was just to leaky and hungry for coal so i started looking for the future...

And I've just recently given in to temptation and spent a pile on a WSM 47.  

My initial thoughts Wow its Cool.

I Cooked a chicken and a couple of sweet potatoes the first night. They tasted great and were what I'm hoping for, I was amazed at how easy temperature control was on the WSM.... it just sat there at 235 for hours.....  

not dropping a degree...

I knew i'd done the right thing.

Next night i was a section of belly pork with an open pan or beans underneath to catch the goodies dripping from the pork. Beans were amazing, but i think i needed to leave the pork in for a little loner. Which is why I'm on the forum for ideas, help and advice.

I Live in the UK  and we don't have the history, or lost it, of this kind of cooking, our hog roasts are more of a spit roast whole hog with little in the way of added flavour, rubs or marinade. Good produce tastes great like this, but not something i can do in my back yard!

Grill on Gas Outback meteor 6, cold smoke with a proQ, hot with the WSM.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to SMF! :welcome:
We're glad to have you. The search bar at the top is your most valuable resource here. This forum has been around for over ten years, so there is a good chance that any questions you may have, have already been answered (they may have 10 different answers, but you'll get an instant response non the less).
Please be sure to post your smokes along with your process and recipes. We will be glad to help you along the way and we may also learn something new ourselves in the process. Also, don't forget the very important Q view! (We're mad for pics on here [emoji]128513[/emoji])
Always remember to have fun because it's not fun if you have to work at it.
Thanks for joining,
- Ryan
 
texas.gif
  Good evening and welcome to the forum, from a cloudy day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gar
 
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
 
Welcome to the site and congrats on the new smoker! Sounds like you're turning out some nice Q over there. Post some pics when you can. Glad to have you on the forum. Happy smokin' David.
 
"I Live in the UK  and we don't have the history, or lost it, of this kind of cooking, our hog roasts are more of a spit roast whole hog with little in the way of added flavour, rubs or marinade. "    WOW!! Are you in for a surprise!

Hello and Welcome to our addiction.  Many good folks here with a load of experience that they are more than willing to share.  If you have specific questions just start a thread and someone with experience will be along soon to offer advice.  All info you can provide us with such as smoker type, location and so on will help us answer any questions you may have, and pictures help a bunch.  Spend some time doing some research on the forums, tons of advice and recipes already available there.  Check out Jeff’s 5 day smoking E-Course ( link below ) that will help you get started.  Couple other good threads to help you get started included.  We look forward to your contributions.  Have fun.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny

http://www.smoking-meat.com/smoking-basics-ecourse

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/177452/new-to-smoking-or-have-a-new-smoker

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/178240/smoke-color-chart
 
So today I took a tiny piece of brisket, 2lbs, with no fat cap, and tried to smoke it.
I know the odds are against total world domination in bbq with this but I made something edible and learned some.
I smoked it for 3 1/2 hours at 230-250 on the wsm, uncovered over Weber briquetes using ash lumps as the smoking wood.
After that the internal temperature was about 165, I tinfoil wrapped it while adding a mop sauce of cider vinegar, paprika, kashmiri chilli powder, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Then put it back on the smoker at 220 for another 3 hours.
internal temperature was 195/200 when it came off. 're wrapped it and let it stand for 45 minutes.
End result is edible! So that s a win.
made a sandwich with mustard mayo and pickles and it had great flavour. I don't really have the words to describe it. I've never eaten bbq brisket before, but it was really tasty, and beefy. There was a hint of corned beef about it, lots of spice and heat from the rub and mop. Mouth feel was a bit mealy? As in it wasn't tough at all, fell apart and you could flake it if you wanted, but when you had a big mouth full, you just kept chewing...
I think with the piece of meat I had, without pot roasting to add more liquid and parsing with pork fat, this was a good result. But I can now imagine better...
 
Last edited:
Hi Black Spot, welcome to the "Family"

lots of good guys on here with good advice. Ask any question you can think of (BBQ That is, not Nuclear Science!) and you will get the answer even 10 different answers to the same question. Their is no single right way, you will find out for yourself by reading post etc who to follow and try their ideas.

Brisket Looks good, and if it's edible winner winner!

Pork Belly, subject close to my heart, I do Hog Roast Most weekends and take most of the Belly off, cutting around the rib cage, so you can appreciate I get a few bellies!

Score Skin side about inch apart . Rub meat side with your favourite rub and leave over night in fridge. Use a foil tray, add chopped onion, carrot & celery. Place Belly meat side down. Add a good beer to tray so it covers meat but not the skin. Grind some Salt over skin.

Into smoker at around 120'C for 5-6 hours.

Remove and put under hot grill to crackle skin.

Enjoy!!!

Smokin Monkey [emoji]133660013031[/emoji]
 
That sounds like a tasty dish. Pork and beers stew with smoke and crackling! Though I guess most of the beer steams off.

I be got a shoulder of pork in the fridge now, all rubbed with paprika, chilli, all spice s&p. Going to give it 8 or 9 hours on ash and black thorn tomorrow. Not used a mop sauce before to make a bark, but I think I'll give it a few washes with Apple juice to see how it goes. Any thoughts?
 
Cheers Gary, it was really good day 2 in a tortilla wrap with spicy beans avocado and some hot sauce. I shaved it really think and was happily surprised.
pulled pork today! I need to fire up a bbq!
 
Just eaten pulled pork. took a while. About 14 hours for a bone in rindless 6lb butt. Rubbed and left overnight yesterday. On the smoker today . Apple juice spritz. Qview of before, but not after. Rested then pulled then gorged!The Mrs did really nice Apple slaw to go with. Really good.

Took a while longer than I was expecting, stalled at approximately 8 hours then slowly crept up to 195.by 14 1/2 hours. Weather was blustery and about 12°c with rain showers. The temperature stayed solid throughout with 1 refill of charcoal at 9 hours and a dozen briquets at 12 hours.
Any thoughts?
 
Nice job, Pulled Pork is great anytime

Gary
 
Portioned and bagged it. And had some tonight mexicanised. Guacamole, salsa, grilled veggies and soft tortilla. All good.
Back to work tomorrow so my everyday smoking holiday is over and I'll have to think about what I want to smoke next.
Suggestions?

Anyone done burgers on their smoker?
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky