Recent content by fourthwind

The smoke stops penetrating the meat when the internal temp of the meat is in the low 140's.  I will add that different woods will create a better ring than others.   slightly green peach wood full of sap will make the ring damn near red in color.   I have been accused of cheating the ring while...

Spritzing will help add bark, and help keep the bark moist through the cook.  It will not help the internal moisture. In addition to the drippings from the mid point foiling, I add a few ounces of stubbs pork sauce to the pulled meat. If its still dry add a bit of straight apple juice.

There are a lot of people who do no wrap ribs, but in my opinion you do not get consistency with the no wrap method, and depending on the rub you use you could get a bit of a tough bite due to a heavy bark. Not many folks I know do pork butts without wrapping.  Takes a lot longer to finish, the...

Go with what balances your rub.  Spicy or pepper based rubs do well with a sweet sauce and vice versa.  Personally I like a sweet and tangy sauce with the dino bones.

I have had a few briskets come out that way.  They were both Angus packers  You could still get a good pull test on slices but the meat was chewy.  Sometimes you just get a bad piece of meat.  Like the guys said, just chop her up, make some aujus and have a sammy.

The age old question of fat up or down has to do with the type of smoker and the amount of heat under the meat.   Since you are cooking on the MES you really do not have the kind of heat being generated to need the meet protected by having the fat side down.  What I found worked best in the MES...

Wrap it in saran wrap next time. This will help keep the rub in place.  Rubs left overnight are turned into a "Dry marinade"  and will leak off because the salt in the rub draws out moisture.  Also you will find that sometimes rubbing pork the night before can give the outside of the pork a ham...

No green that I can see, but t least some color options if you dont mind rattle canning the paint job. http://www.vhtpaint.com/products/flameproof/

Smoking can be a problem in low temps and winds.. Unless of course you have one of my smokers   Pastrami is one of my all time favorite smokes.  I smoke until it's about 160° then foil (effectively steaming) and take them up to 194 to 196 depending on tenderness tests with my temp probe.   ...

Paint on the cook chamber is rarely an issue with temp..  Just the firebox.  Anything less than 1200° paint will likely bubble up and float away.

You have to be patient.  Do not turn the temp up!     What is going on is fat starts to break down in the 150 to 155 degree area.  During this time the heat energy going into the meat is being used by the fat to effectively melt.   If you increse the abient air temp, you will start the meat temp...

The wool type insulaters are sandwiched between metal sheets for best affect. 

It is used for many things, but it works fine for fireboxes.  It is not like fiberglass.  it is made from minerals (aka rocks)  We used to use it, but have now gone to high density ceramic wool which works twice as good in my opinion.  Easier to install and has less problems when welding near it...

Looks awesome man!! I would definately move the fire grate up.  Over the top pf the air inlets if you can.  You would be suprised how much of a difference it will make with the fire control.  Especially if you have wind.  Cold air can run right over your flames and actually cool your smoker...

Run smaller diameter splits. say the diameter of your wrist or less.   This way you can add less fuel and keep up your coal base.