smoke vault christmas present!

Good advice from Jerry. I also wouldn't wait to the last minute to try it out on your xmas dinner. Pick up some chicken to test it out.

That way you will have some experience and learn the pros and cons of it first.


Good luck!

Wow! Where to begin? Ok, let's start with a congratulations on getting a new smoker for Christmas. Let's just start a list to keep it simple...
1) Stop into "Roll Call" and give a proper introduction for all the members here.
2) Best of luck to you on the Christmas smoke with a brand-spankin' new smoker.
3) The thermo you have...check it for accuracy. Boil a pan of water. As it starts to boil see if your's reads 212* or pretty close to it. Also, put it into a glass of water full of ice. Should read around 35* or so. Having a good smoker is great. Having quality thermometers is the other half of the the battle.
4) Get another thermometer. You'll want one for the meat (I'll go into that in a bit) and another to monitor the cooking surface temp.
5) Good for you for buying from Ace Hardware. Usually locally owned franchises. Better for the local economy than buying from a box store like a Walmart.
6) Fatties, turkey and ham...all pretty forgiving and all will do fine at a little better than low and slow temps. Click on the "search" feature at the top of the page and see some of the how to's that other SMFers have posted. You're gonna see your fill of advice. The 3 biggies I see off the top..
6a) What are you gonna fill the fatty with and what is the outside going to be made from.
6b) Are you going to brine that turkey? Let's talk about the prep.
6c) How did you buy the ham? Precooked/smoked, bone in, etc. What kind of glaze do you want to put on it?
7) Yes, you can leave the probe in the meat BUT**** do NOT use the same probe moving between these pieces of meat. Poultry and anything else do not mix. Too much cross contamination. Get seperate probes or thermometers for each piece of meat OR wash it well between each test. It gets way more complicated than that. But this reply will only handle so many words. Also, wait at least 2 hours before you probe any of these meats. This prevents you from pushing any bacteria down into the meat from the surface.
8) Don't trust the built in chamber thermometer. They're famous for being off by a long shot. Not sure what the quality control process is for these but apparently it sucks.
9) I don't know the Smoke Vault so I can't comment about the tabs.
10) With using propane in very cold weather...it's a good idea to keep the tank in a warm area until ready to use. It's pressurized and the cold will reduce the amount of pressure available to push the gas into the cooker. Keeping it warm will help.
11) Crap, I'm on a roll. Almost like I've done this before
12) Think ahead. These will all cook at different rates. Plan a little for what time you want to eat for when you should put it in the smoker.
13) Contrary to #12. Don't plan too closely, the meat will get done when it gets done. Cook to temp, not to time.
14) Beg and plead with your wife to let you open and season and test early. Tempt her with some tasty Q. The night before a big family smoke is not the time to be hoping this baby will work the way you're expecting.
15) Take pictures or qview as we call it. Remember those that helped you pull off your smoke by sharing some pictures of your tasty dinner. Not to mention, if something goes wrong...we can help a lot more if we can see what you were doing at the time.

Good luck, Merry Christmas, and Welcome the Smoking Meat Forum.

Personally, I would't get a spiral ham, expensive and you may lose some juice. I use the Cooks brand and they have some good sales prices as well. But then that's just me.

Good luck!

Sounds like a tasty fattie.

Rubbing the turkey is up to you. But I'd say yes. You might as well go ahead and kick a little flavor into that bird. Toss a little into the cavity too.

Just remember to test the therms. Sometimes it's better to have fewer and spend a couple of bucks making sure you've got something of quality. I love my Maverick ET73. But there are others that work just as well. Usually the probe's sensor is at or near the tip. Here's a picture of how I've got mine stuck through a piece of wood to measure the grate temp.


I've seen people use potatoes, oranges, apples, whatever instead of a block of wood.

As far as the therms in the meat...yep, just put them in the thick of the meat and leave them alone. Once you get to the finished temp you can move it and double check if you're not sure if you hit the right spot.

Sounds like pops has some experience. Follow his lead and let the smoke roll thin and blue. Again, stop into roll call and let us know about how experienced you are. We don't know if you need a step-by-step or just a little advice.

Not sure about the chips since I don't know that smoker very well. Stop into the Propane Smokers room and post that question.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...play.php?f=109
Someone will be along shortly to answer that one for you.

OMG, Dude!!!! You forgot to tell Pete that before brining that turkey or anything else, make sure it's a food grade container/bucket. You should be able to get a bucket with a lid from a bakery. They usually give them away, they contained fillings and frostings and are very easy to clean out for brining.

Dude, that was an excellent and informative list for anyone to get started smoking!!!!!

You got an excellent smoker and an excellent price! I wouldn't worry about bending the tabs on the vents. Make sure the top one is all the way open and you can adjust the bottom ones for air flow. Congratulation on the perfect Christmas gift.

Congratulations on the Christmas Present, you got a good one...

First, Welcome aboard, smokyPete. Glad you joined us. Congrats on the new rig, and good luck with your Holiday smoke.

Second, wow you got great advice from everyone. But Dude, that's awesome! You really got on a roll. Points for you, Dude!

Note what oneshot said. You need to use a food grade bucket. Not just a clean bucket like you'd get at Home Depot. Check local bakeries, resturants, etc.

Thanks SeenRed, that's what it's all about. Just glad I had the time to do that last night.

This one looks awesome to me.


http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...=maple+bourbon

Thats just it, you worked your way up to it. I would never advise someone with a new smoker to promise to make all of the meat for Christmas dinner. We have all ruined a few meals starting out and this ain't the day to do it. Try the fatty and some Dutch's baked beans, or better yet a butt, the most forgiving thing I have found to cook. But to offer to cook all of the meat for Christmas on your first day out or even with a couple practice sessions, NO WAY

Here is another example of a bone in ham.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=64222

Can you give me a WHOOP WHOOP!!!!

What a great Christmas present!! Now if you open the box, remove the smoker and then fill the box with dead weight do you think the wife will know? Or would you be the dead weight????

Lots of good info here, lots of good experience.

I made a cooks ham for thanksgiving this year and it was truly amazing. Check this out.....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=84666

You could spend the night looking at incredible ham smokes if you wanted....