NC by way of KC

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joepeep77

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2016
22
19
Hi everyone, I'm Joe, living in North Carolina after 30 years growing up in Kansas City.

Have been doing cooks on a plain old weber grill, but having a UDS built very soon. So far I've done:
2 pork shoulders that came out amazing.
Ribs that were fairly serviceable.
Wings that have been very hit and miss.
Chicken legs, also hit and miss.

So I'm really stoked to get my UDS that will be able to regulate temperature way better than my weber grill. Such a crapshoot with the bi metal thermometer on that thing. We tried to calculate the temp difference between the sides but it just was impossible.

Anyway,heres my shoulders after seven hours.
TXHkoSB
 
Welcome from SC, Joe. It's good to have you here on this great site. There are a lot of really fine folks who are always eager to share their ideas, recipes and tips. All you have to do is ask and keep reading. What part of NC are you in?

Good luck and good smokin', Joe. :grilling_smilie:
 
Hi JB and Al, thanks for the welcome!

I'm in central NC, Alamance County to be exact. Basically, halfway between Greensboro and Raleigh-Durham.

I'm really glad to be here after finding this forum on a whim. Hopefully y'all can help me hone my craft.

One question that's been bugging me: When I add chips/chunks of wood, it only seems to smoke for 20-30 mins. Am I doing it incorrectly? Should it only smoke that long? 
 
I don't ever use chips and I never soak anything. If you're talking about white smoke, that's when the chunks are smoldering before they ignite. Or, if you soak them, that's when the water is burning off. Before I add chunks or splits, I always pre-heat them on top of the FB. That way they easily ignite as soon as they are put in. This will eliminate (or mostly) the white smoke leaving just TBS (thin blue smoke) which can be almost invisible.

In your case, after the white smoke goes away, you should be getting TBS, which is a good thing. The white smoke is actually dirty and will give your meat a bitter taste. The TBS is a clean smoke and is what you want to flavor your meat.

Keep a good base of hot coals, pre-heat your wood and keep a hot fire with TBS.

Good luck and good smokin', Joe
 
Howdy JP77!

Welcome to SMF!

I spent my first half century in Raleigh and traveled the state extensively both for business and pleasure. Alamance County is a great area to live in - or was 50 years ago. :yahoo:

I smoke almost exclusively these days in a Weber Performer. I use wood chunks that I buy in bags at the supermarket here in Texas (Oak, Hickory, Mesquite). I've never tried to use chips because they burn up too fast even at 200°. I use chunks from a bit smaller than my fist to a bit larger. I use the ring or snake method (Modified form of Minion) with KBB. I place a fist-sized chunk at least every 6-8" around the circumference. I will sometimes have smoke disappear if a chunk burns up quick before the next one lights off, but when that next one does, I get the TBS we all seek.

HTH

And welcome to the Tar Heel State from a native in absentia.
 
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Alamance County is OK. The only problem was that 50 years ago, it was still dry. In fact, Alamance was the LAST dry county in NC.
 
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