First attempt at everything

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rickn

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 18, 2008
5
10
Keene, TX.
Well, I finally broke down and bought Jeff's recipes. Excellent and easy to make. My compliments to the chef! :)

Back story.

In our north Texas area, there is a lot of gas well/pipeline industry. Friend of mine gave me some surplus gas pipe and I 'designed' a smoker.

Problem is I don't have the expertise to build it. I can weld, got a torch, if it is big enough, and a gas powered welder, but my old Daddy in Law said my welds looked like turkey crap on a pump handle. ( I have gotten better, bless his old deceased heart! ) Basically an 'L' shaped smoker. I have some 18" pipe for the firebox and some 24" pipe for the smoke chamber. The 18" is 3/8" wall and the 24" is 1/2" wall. If I can get this built, I can leave it to my grand children!

Friend of mine was going to help me build one, but ended up building one, from my design, for himself. He liked it so much, he gave me his old one. It's a horizontal smoker, fire box is 12" pipe and smoke chamber is 18" pipe. He has used it for years. Heavy, took a tractor to set it up in my back yard.

Now, last night I made up some of Jeff's BBQ sauce and grilled me a big thick steak, basted it generously through out the cooking time. Excellent! Who needs vegetables? :)

Today, I mixed up some rib rub and am trying my hand at smoking ribs. We will see.

I have lots of experience in grilling, just not any experience in smoking. Different set of rules! 

Wish me luck. Maybe someday I will get my own smoker design built, but for now, the freebie will work just fine.

Smelling like smoke,

RickN
 
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Rick, welcome aboard and good luck with the smoke today!  Just remember, low and slow.  And don't forget the pictures, we love to drool over some Qview! lol
 
Welcome to SMF glad you decided to join us. You'll find lots of good info here and some great recipes as well. Check out the smoker build section and it may give you even more ideas. I moved your thread to the roll call section so you can get a proper welcome to the forum.
 
Welcome RickN, all kinds of good info her on building and smoking. Like Piney said, check out the build section. You can get all kinds of ideas. Many unique builds to read about.

Don't forget to post qview(pics) of your ribs. If they turn out not so good, it is still better than no bbq.

Good luck.
 
Welcome RIckN,

         Glad to have another smoker from TX. Plenty of great info here as everyone has said and great people to help with anything. Good luck with your build. Keep On Smokin.
 
Rick, welcome to the SMF. Looks like you've got a smoker to do your practicing on smoking. In the Long run, this may help you design your ultimate smoker. It's all good my friend.
 
Wow! Thanks to everyone for the welcome. What a great bunch of folks!

Pictures, it's hard to hold a camera when your hands have been handling ribs! :)

Next time, photos.

Well the ribs turned out excellent! Smoked 2 racks, cut in half to fit the smoker, for 5 hours, at 250.

Just used some charcoal brickets to start, added a few pieces of seasoned oak that I had. Lots of oak trees at my place.

Also added some mesquite chips that I had saved.....glad I did. Smoker looked like a freight train. :)

I even threw on a couple of big 2 inch thick T-Bones for the last hour and a half, for my wife.

Other than everything I own smelling like smoke, the results were excellent.

Now, one note. I like to make my own stuff. So, Jeff, I went on the internet, got a recipe for homemade ketchup, and used that in my sauce, instead of store bought stuff.

No preservatives, or anything foreign, just nice sweet/hot sauce. I think I have a new hobby!  :)

Later,

Rick
 
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