Hello From Long Island

[udt89]

Hey Everyone,

So after 3 years of condo life I finally reached my goal of buying a house.....which will allow me to start my two hobbies that I have been waiting a long time to do.  1- Brew Beer....2-Smoke Meat

After tossing and turning over what to do in regards to buying a smoker I resisted the urge to go BIG and start small to make sure

a) i enjoy smoking meat

b) i'm good at it

c) plan to do it as often as i think

So i killed two birds with one stone and bought a Brinkmann BBQ which has a small smoker under the grill.  It is propane powered, which im not thrilled about, but like i said baby steps.

I look forward to learning a lot here and eventually coming back to you guys about one day building my brick smoker.  Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

One thing I would like to ask right off the bat, which meat would be best for me to smoke first?  I'm not a fan of smoked chicken in the past so what would be the next best thing.

Thanks

Matt

 

[scarbelly]

First off welcome to SMF

I would do a pork butt - they are a nice long smoke and hard to do wrong - just go the the main forum page then scroll down to pork and look at the recipes and methods and go for it - The most important thing you need is an accurate thermometer

Good luck and post up some qview

 

[eman]

welcome to SMF!!!

 I second the motion of doing Pig butts for a great 1st smoke.

 

[deannc]

udt, congrats on the new house and the new smoker!  Agree, either a rack or two of spare ribs or a butt would be a good first smoke.  Get a meat probe and preferable a probe to monitor chamber temps and you'll be set if you choose to do a pork butt.  Just follow this well written guide over in the wiki section reference Basic Pulled Pork  and you'll be on your way with your new addiction!

Once you get the home brew flowing and the smoker going, you're going to have all the neighbors wanting to be friends! LOL

 

[smokinstevo27]

A boston butt is the way to go, very forgiving and it will give you an oppurtunity to familiarize yourself with your new smoker. Welcome and I'd love to hear about your beer adventures as I am interested in getting in to home brew myself.

 

[udt89]

Thanks for the replies guys.

i am looking at the wireless probes for the meat.  and are you suggesting a regular meat probe just sitting on the rack to gauge the temp in the chamber?

as for home brew its very time intensive and you must dot your i's and cross your t's to get a batch right.  When i first started i did those simple Mr. Beer kits and it took me 3 or 4 times to get a batch tasting like its supposed to.  simply forgetting to sanitize a tube or bottle ruins the whole thing.  i have done some other more intensive batches with friends, going as far grinding our own grain.....and thats where i want to be now.  full all out propane burners, grain mashers, etc.  i got the perfect basement to store wine and beer so its a good investment lol.

i just need to find someone locally selling the equipment because buying new isnt cost effective and most people go crazy and lose interest.....so the used market is pretty decent.  just most people live in the south i find.

 

[deannc]

I'd recommend the dual probe Maverick ET-73.  You can pick them up for about $40.  I've bought a couple (1 backup) from thekitchenstore.com

You can pick up a couple regular meat type probes and just use one on the grate, but for the money you can order the Maverick which give you the alarms for low and high temps for both a meat and chamber probe.

 

[meateater]

Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.