Recent content by joshphotog

I agree with both Bear and Smokin Al. I too was one who didn't have a teacher and learned on my own. I started in my mid 40s. One advantage I had was to be around folks occasionally who know smoking well. As a reporter, I'm used to asking many questions and the folks I learned a bit from were...

That's another good method, maybe you can explain to them how it works since you use it.

I absolutely agree with Al about cooking to temperature and not time. Except on ribs, especially for beginners. The bone being so close to the meat makes getting an accurate temp reading difficult. His temp suggestions are dead on. If you're going to go that route, make sure you have a highly...

Ribs should be cooked to the point where the are "ready". I would suggest, for an electric smoker, running at 225 degrees for five hours, then do the toothpick check. You want the toothpick to run through the meat like it was a moderately thawed stick of butter. Two hours before you cook them...

I recently ordered an M1 smoker from Mgrills and I'm looking for advice from current owners. In addition to general advice for a new owner, I'm particularly looking for advice on starting a fire in the firebox and how long a burn you can get before refueling. Any and all advice appreciated.

Used Bear's step by step for the baby backs. Came off just in time for the start of the game. Thanks for the great tutorial.

Fatty out of the smoker. Baby back ribs should be ready right on time for the game.

Doesn't appear crisped up but that's the iPhone photo ability. Color is darker and bacon much crisper by feel. Total success first time out of the gate thanks to the fatty sticky and gf's awesome skills. She rolled the sausage off plastic wrap and then came over and fixed my Rainman bacon weave...

Fatty out of smoker and headed to oven for 500 broil bacon crisping.

Fatty with cream cheese sautéed onions and mushrooms about to hit the smoker. First fatty for gf and I. Turns out she rolls a mean fatty.

Brisket turned out great, nice and juicy.

I will get some airtight containers, probably four of them, for my different pellets. Stack them on lower shelf with the mailbox. Middle shelf will likely be water/drip pans. Top shelf will be for food. Thinking about adding a shelf to house things like gloves, torch, striker, rubs, etc.

Brisket racked up, put in at 6:30 a.m. This will be my first long cook with AMNPS and mailbox mod. Looking forward to seeing how they perform. Smoker set at 250, 11 pound brisket with an all purpose rub I like put on last night. Smoking with a combo of apple and mesquite pellets dried out in the...

Just finished building a cart for my MES 40 and mailbox mod. Made from bed rails, random steel tubing, some old casters and 3/4 inch plywood scraps. Testing mailbox now before I permanently place it. Getting good TBS and will try a brisket tomorrow.

Thanks for the warm welcomes, appreciated on a chilly day here in northern Arkansas. Next project is a cart to semi-permanently mount 40in MES and mailbox mod. Will look to add a little storage space for pellets, torch, gloves, etc. if y'all see any pics of good completed carts, I'd sure...