New to forum / New Electric Smoker

[azcactus]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on the forum, but have been reading quite a bit for the past couple of months. Awesome information around here.

I thought I had my first smoker narrowed down to a WSM, Big Green Egg or Smokey Joe electric.... All seemed to have their +'s and -'s . Last night I was at Home Depot grabbing some plants for a flower bed and finally decided that I didn't want to wait anymore so I picked up the Char-Broil H2O electric. They had the red Brinkman there as well, but the only reason I grabbed this one was because it had an adjustable thermostat. It seemed a little more user friendly to me.

I grabbed a new grill thermometer there as well, sand for the water tray, some hickory chunks at Fry's and a remote temperature probe at Walmart (thanks to all the tips on the forum from other users).

I played around with it last night with the digital probe and the new thermometer I installed right about grate level. It was pretty easy to find a level to maintain 225 and up to 250 wasn't a problem.

First I tried putting the wood chunks on top of the water pan (sand pan now) and they wouldn't smoke. So I ended up putting them next to the element instead and it wasn't a problem. Should I soak these first, wrap them in tin foil and poke a couple of holes in it, or just lay them on and add as need be?

Anyway, I thought for my first smoke I would try some pulled pork. If anyone has any tips I would appreciate it. It seems like this is the method, please correct me if I'm wrong.

1. trim excess fat if desired.
2. coat the outside with yellow mustard
3. put your rub on (I have some McCormick Grill Mates rub laying around, I assume this will work for now??)
4. let the pork sit in the fridge for a few hours.
5. put on the smoker at 225 degrees with the probe in the center.
6. set probe for 199 degrees internal temperature or so
7. remove when cooked, wrap in foil and towell, place in cooler for an hour or so.
8. eat

Am I forgetting anything? Should I put some cider and cider vinegar in a spray bottle and hit it every once in a while? By the way, what's the easiest cut of pork to find at the grocery store for making pulled pork? Sorry for all the questions. Completely new to smoking here.

Thanks for any advice or comments.

Here's a few pics

 

[pineywoods]

Welcome to the forum. Try taking Jeff's 5 day ecourse its free and has lots of good info. Personally I like to soak my chips others don't try it both ways and see which you like. Alot of people use a cake pan to put the chips in the foil it and poke holes or just use the pan whichever works best for you. Meowey posted a thread on Pulled Pork in the Pork Section it is up near the top and is a sticky use this method and you can't go wrong. I like to spritz the meat about every hour after the first 2 hours it helps form bark. I usually use a mix of 1/4 Capt. Morgans Spiced Rum and 3/4 Apple Juice but you can use lots of things for a spritz just check some threads and see what looks good to you. Sorry some of this is kinda vauge but different people do it different ways and its pretty much personal preference. I will say when the meat gets stuck at a temp for awhile DON'T mess with the heat this is normal and the meat has hit a plateau and will move again eventually. Your desired smoker temp should be 225-250*. Good Luck and Happy Smoking

PS that pool looks pretty good its hot here today and Don't forget to post some pics of your smoke we like Qview

 

[sumosmoke]

Welcome to the SMF Family, AZCactus! You've come to the right place for questions about smoking meat

Your method of pulled pork needs a few tweaks, although you're not that far off:

1. trim excess fat if desired. ok
2. coat the outside with yellow mustard preference .... some do, some don't as it doesn't affect the flavor of the pork at all
3. put your rub on (I have some McCormick Grill Mates rub laying around, I assume this will work for now??) ok
4. let the pork sit in the fridge for a few hours. if you have the time, let it sit as long as possible, up to 24 hours wrapped, with rub on
5. put on the smoker at 225 degrees with the probe in the center pull the meat out of the fridge and allow it to "rest" a bit before throwing it on the smoker, example: pull the meat out while getting the smoker ready ...
6. set probe for 199 degrees internal temperature or so set at 160. Once the internal temp hits 160 pull and foil (add a little spray to the inside of the foil if you're using spray), and place back on the smoker, or in the oven, until internal temp hits 195-205.
7. remove when cooked, wrap in foil and towell, place in cooler for an hour or so. yes, allow for a little more time than that (if you have it) to guarantee easy pulling and maximum juice absorption. maybe 2 hours?
8. eat of course!

I recommend using a spritz (I use a combination of cherry juice / spiced rum) on the roast starting when the internal temp hits 100, and every hour after that. It will create that nice bark on the outside of the butt that's full of flavor .. yum!

Finally, although I haven't tried it yet whip up a batch of SoFlaQuer's finishing sauce for pork. Here's a link. It's supposedly very, very good, and something I will definitely try with my next batch of pulled pork!!

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...read.php?t=487

Good luck, and again, welcome to SMF!!

 

[seboke]

Don't think there's anything I can add to Laurel's (sumo) reply. Just preferences I guess, but my spritz is apple juice and Capt Morgan (3:1 ratio). And I have been forced to let the butt rest in a cooler for over 6 hours before. Finally got to it and it was still too hot to handle with bare hands. Oh yeah, welcome to the forum!

 

[azcactus]

Wow. Thanks so much for all the tips and advice! I really appreciate the time that went into your responses.

Right now the pork is sitting at 154 degrees. I started it at about 8:00 am and it's now currently 4:30 pm. I think when it gets to 160 I'll double wrap it in tin foil and use the oven for the remainder of the time.

I also mixed up a batch of the SoFlaQuer's finishing sauce to give it a whirl.

Here's the pork at 155 degrees. I'm such a new guy, so if this isn't looking right let me know. Thanks again for everyones input and advice it's very much appreciated.

 

[sumosmoke]

Looks really good! You're on the way to one tasty meal!!

 

[desertlites]

Howdy Cactus, north of Tucson here-Sumo has it pegged for you and your pork-I also use apple-will need to do the cherry 1 smoke-just for the halibut.sounds like you been doing your homework so any questions just ask-always gonna find a answer here-and I really like the fla sauce.

 

[zapper]

Looking Good! Just like You knew it would!



Foiling at 160 or so pretty much is the norm for alot of folks, the plateau is over and it has quit making a smoke ring. Once it is foiled it doesn't really matter what the heat source is (Oven or Smoker) the meat doesn't know. There is maybe a small trade off when going with foil and that is kind of with the bark. Foiling will definatly stop bark formation and soften up the bark that you have. I don't know that soft bark is really all that bad though, I think that it is easier to chop up and mix in with the pulled meat when it is soft. However a crispy bark is good too and some folks will not foil at all or just when the meat is resting.


I might suggest that you try a smoke with the water pan filled with water and let the meat go the duration without foiling or let one go the duration with sand and no foil just to get a feel for something different. At any rate looking at the Q-Veiw that you posted I am pretty sure that you are gonna like the finished product!

 

[kookie]

Welcome aboard and great looking grub.............I have the same thermo and they are great units...............