New guy from Florida; New to Smoking

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davidmhorton

Newbie
Original poster
May 25, 2017
3
12
Hello everyone!

My name is David Horton, writing from Jacksonville FL (originally from Georgia).  I am new to the forum and new to smoking in general.

MY SMOKER:  *Purchasing Today* my first smoker:  Old Country BBQ Pits Pecos Smoker


Notes:  I am 44 years old and consider myself to have pretty decent grilling chops, but new to smoking.

Cuisine:  Typical american BBQ for sure (pork, beef, chicken and fish), but ALSO - my wife is Thai / Laos, so who knows the possibilities, if we can incorporate in any of her dishes.

More Notes:  I've already read a decent amount of information on this smoker on the forum (thanks everyone).  Paying close attention to the mods others have made with the coal grate in the firebox (replacing with diamond grate, etc) and moving that or other induction plates into the cooking chamber to even out temps.  I have a lot to learn, but seems like getting a good handle on the oxygen intake and coal / wood / fuel balance is going to be key.

Upcoming uses:  June 10th (Birthday BBQ for about 30 ppl at my house).  Ribs, Boston Butt (overnight), Thai Chicken wings, smoked sausages.  This will be my first run.

July 1 / 2:  (2nd Birthday BBQ and July 4th BBQ weekend.  About 20 ppl).  Menu?  Will depend on how June 10th goes.

Fun Fact:  My dad (South GA) had an old 4 ft diameter concrete sewage pipe junction that he used as a smoker.  The piece of concrete pipe was about 4 feet in diameter, about 5 feet tall (long) on its' side, and he had a big old concave Coca Cola metal sign that he would put over the top as the lid of the smoker.  I think he just cut diamond grating to use as the cooking surface.  But, he could put a whole deer, goat, sausages and pork roasts all at the same time on this ting.  He chiseled out about a 10" x 10" section of the concrete to use for feeding wood into the smoker.  Very DIY but effective.

Thanks everyone.
 
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David, welcome to SMF!  That was an outstanding first post; an enjoyable read.  
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Good luck with the upcoming events.  Sounds like you have it under control and on track. 

Great story about your dad.  Just goes to prove that with a little creativity and understanding, just about anything can be turned into a smoker.

Have fun!

Ray 
 
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Welcome to SMF!

I recommend everyone try the newsletter...its a weekly recipe for smoking emailed to you on Thursday.

Thats a nice looking smoker you are starting with!  make sure you take pics of the food you make and share it here with recipes and techniques and tips!

I would recommend a couple "dry run" smokes before you are entertaining lots of people. just to get a feel for your smoker and all. And make sure you get yourself a good thermometer..coking to temp is so much better and accurate than cooking to time!

go onto amazon and you can get a good maverick or a knock off i f you are on a budget and it will make your life so much easier!

Good Luck and Happy Smoking,

phatbac (Aaron)
 
Welcome to the forum 
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They gave you some real good advice!! Also to consider is smoking the butt the day before, pull it, into refrig then just reheat next day. It will taste as good if not better and will take a lot of the pressure off. Nothing worse than the guests ready to eat and the meat is not done!
 
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  Good morning and welcome to the forum from a cloudy, humid and windy day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web.         Lots of great people with tons of information on just about everything.

        Gary
 
Thanks everyone. It was a busy weekend in Crescent City with my wife's family Saturday and Sunday, but I finally got some time to crank up the smoker today.

It was strictly a "season the smoker" run today. I thoroughly coated most of the internal surfaces, and all the seams, lips, hinges, etc in Crisco and then fired it hot for about 8 hours.

Later this week I'm going to do some chicken quarters, mostly just to get something cooking through it, also start getting readings on my thermometers. The focus is more on those aspects than turning out the quarters.

Hi Aaron, thanks - I bought a thermometer that is grate-high and mounts on the lid. But, I also got the ThermoPro TP08 wireless thermometer, should be here by tomorrow. I'll report my experience with it.

@sauced - you are absolutely correct; I plan to do the butt the day before to be safe. Ribs and chicken, day of.

My early impression of the Pecos Smoker - really nice. Sturdy, great air flow. I'll be using some OSB scrap sheets as a baffle to block some wind gusts on the FB side.

Thx gang.
 
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