First smoke ever, success? I think so.

[bimmerd00d]

For my birthday, my wife had her brother build us a pit to have.  All we had previously was a Char-Broil propane, that oddly enough has never given us a problem in 5yrs of owning it.  I'll retire it to a friend.  Anyway, this pit was built from an old water heater my parents had at our ranch, and they were going to toss it out.  He makes pits, smokers, grills, etc out of these and has had great success in the past with them.  It's a smoker on the right, and a separate propane grill on the left. 

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...614540815067_194605142_33234127_6842117_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...615415157877_194605142_33249449_3447615_n.jpg
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...615415192807_194605142_33249450_4576770_n.jpg
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https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.ne...615415222747_194605142_33249452_6900270_n.jpg
 

 

[rowdyrawhide]

Looks great, that is a fine job for the first smoke.  That is a good looking smoker to by the way. That brisket looks good and moist in the middle.

 

[bimmerd00d]

Looks great, that is a fine job for the first smoke.  That is a good looking smoker to by the way. That brisket looks good and moist in the middle.

Thanks, we had quite a tough time keeping the fire temp steady.  I need to make a few slight modifications, and charcoal is apparently the winner for a steady temp.  Once i quit burning the bag of oak and just used the charcoal coals.  I opened the vent and cleared an air intake through the bed of ash the coals stayed lit and kept it around 200-225 for the last 3-4hrs.  I need to build the wood/coal grate up higher so the ash can fall below and not choke it out.  By the end of the day the ash was so thick it was near impossible to keep it lit.  9hrs was just about the minimum for a 9lb.  Next time i'll get the grate lifted up and then do a 12-14hr for a 9-10lb and then it should just fall apart :)

 

[rowdyrawhide]

Just a suggestion, but you might try Lump Charcoal, I use Royal Oak brand you can get it a walmart here anyway.  Red bag with yellow writing.  The nice thing about lump charcoal in my opinion is that it  burns hotter, burns longer, and has less ash than charcoal briquets (I assume that is what you are using when you say charcoal). There are other brands out there, RO is just easy for me to get, and I have good results with it.  and yes some type of grate to help the charcaol fall through would propbably help too.

Hope this helps

Aaron

 

[werdwolf]

Welcome and really nice first smoke and PICS!

 

[so ms smoker]

  Welcome! Nice looking smoke ring there.

 

[africanmeat]

Welcome to MSF.  It looks good with a nice smoke ring

thanks

 

[roller]

Good job and nice smoker !!!

 

[SmokinAl]

Great looking smoker & great looking brisket!    

 

[bimmerd00d]

Thanks for all the comments!  I'll definitely give the lump charcoal a try, i didn't even know that existed!  My rub consisted of Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, Season-All, Garlic Powder, and black pepper.  A bit of Sea Salt and chili powder on the fat side.  Combined with my wife's ridiculous beans, this should be a winner from here on out.  I also need to build a drip tray/drain or something.  There's a good 2" of juice in the bottom of the smoker after that.  I'm hooked, and i'll be here for a while :)