Hello from California

[track]

Hi Gang,

I'm doing as much reading as I can before deciding on my first smoker.  I am a complete and total beginner to smoking and a husband and father to two little ones.  With the holidays approaching, I'm hoping to pick up a nice smoker and make some great food for the family!

Ok back to reading threads!

-Chris

 

[reasoning]

Welcome to smf, alot of good folks around here with tons of good information. Remember to use the search it is a great tool :)

Jake

 

[chuckles]

I'm sure sold on my Bradley Digital 4 Rack. So far it really is "set it and forget it". I would think that would be desirable for a father of little future smokers. The bisquettes aren't cheap but you don't have to stoke the smoke all day, or night, long. Decide how long you want the smoke (some people prefer not to smoke the entire cook time for a lighter smoke flavor) and load enough bisquettes equalling 3 per hour. I add 3 Bubba Pucks to the stack and up the smoke time 1 hour to avoid having 1 or 2 partially burnt bisquettes when done. Set the smoke time, oven temp and oven time, put your meat(s) in and go play with the kids. Buy a good remote thermometer with good remote range (Maveric ET-732 seems to be popular on these forums and I happen to agree). I mount the oven temp probe at the start of the smoke and insert the food probe after about an hour. I like Jeff's rub but often just rub with a small amount of salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder (SPOG). Lots of people spritz, or mop or foil, but I'm kind of a minimalist and haven't found a reason for any of that so far. Maybe with time I will. Can't handle a lot of salt so I really don't plan to brine. Keeping up and participating on the SMF forums is a must do. I've learned so much from the smokers on this site and had some good laughs along the way. Good luck with choosing your smoker. Let us know what you settle on and why. It'll help the next smoke junky. And, don't forget to post those QViews so we can see your successes.

 

[themule69]

Chris

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions Post it
and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is because their
are so many different ways to make great Q We all have our own taste.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[gary s]

[h1]

Hello and welcome from East Texas. This is a great site, lots of information and great people that are willing to throw in their two cents worth on about anything   ......... [/h1][h1]  [/h1][h1]Gary[/h1]

 

[seenred]

Hi Chris...Welcome to the forums! You've found the best place I know for sharing ideas on smoking, grilling, curing, etc. There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable folks here who genuinely enjoy helping one another. Looking forward to your input, and just ask when you need anything...someone here will surely have the answer.

Red

 

[gary s]

My advice on your first smoker is ????    Think about what you are going to smoke mostly, how many people, your time and situation. Some prefer electric, gas, charcoal or stick. Lots of choices. Once you start smoking you will figure out really quickly you wished you had ?  Always something you like or want to build bigger, better or different.  But whatever  you choose to start with Get to know your smoker. Start out with something simple and forgiving, allow plenty of time and pay attention to your smoker, hot spots, fuel consumption, damper positions, smoke coming out of the stack. All these thing are important. After several cooks and you are comfortable you will not have to sit and watch it constantly you will just know when it's time to check it and you Q will get better each time. Hope this helps

Gary

 

[bamasmoker77]

Welcome to the Forum!!!

You will love it here. Great information and advice to be had. So sit back and enjoy!!!

 

[track]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys!  It's looking like I'll be another MES owner shortly.  Wife is a little hesitant to jump into something expensive, so I'll most likely start there and cut my teeth with the Masterbuilt.  I'll make sure to post pics when I get things up and running.

-Chris