Hi all, from Spokane, WA

[returnofsid]

Hello everyone.  I'm Michael Hamilton, from Spokane, WA.  I'm fairly new to the world of smoking and have really learned a lot already, from this forum! Let's see, a lil' about myself.  I'm a father of 4 (3 adult children and a 9 year old) and grandfather of 5.  We're a family of campers, archery hunters, fishing and my youngest child and oldest grandchild are both competitive dancers. 

I recently purchased a very old Frigidaire refer, which will be turned into a smoker.  I already have a thread about that going.  Yesterday, I stumbled across a Char Griller side firebox smoker on Craigslist and picked it up for $70.00. 

Thanks to the most amazing sticky, I hope to smoke my first pig butt in the next couple days, for Pulled Pork, with what looks to be an amazing finishing sauce, found here also!

I look forward to some fun times as I get to know everyone and use the advice here as I journey into the smoky abyss...

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a cold and wet day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary

 

[one eyed jack]

Welcome to the site Michael.  Sounds like you've got a very active family.  You may need a bigger smoker. 

 

[gary s]

Be looking forward to seeing your build and Butt

Gary

 

[returnofsid]

Thank you all for the warm welcomes! So, after seasoning the CG, I still had plenty of hot charcoal.  I decided to pepper up some venison backstrap, toss some apple wood chunks on the hot coals, and smoke up the backstraps.  They'll get a total of 2 hours of smoke, then I'll finish them off over the hot coals/apple wood chunks, in the firebox.  I have no idea if 2 hours of smoke will do any good at all, but thought I'd experiment.  I NEEDED TO SMOKE SOMETHING!  I'm also mopping the backstraps with apple juice to keep them from drying out.

 

[one eyed jack]

 
Thank you all for the warm welcomes! So, after seasoning the CG, I still had plenty of hot charcoal.  I decided to pepper up some venison backstrap, toss some apple wood chunks on the hot coals, and smoke up the backstraps.  They'll get a total of 2 hours of smoke, then I'll finish them off over the hot coals/apple wood chunks, in the firebox.  I have no idea if 2 hours of smoke will do any good at all, but thought I'd experiment.  I NEEDED TO SMOKE SOMETHING!  I'm also mopping the backstraps with apple juice to keep them from drying out.

Two hours of smoke has got to be better than none.  Let us know how it turns out.

What internal temp are you taking the backstrap to?

Pictures are always welcome.

 

[returnofsid]

 
Two hours of smoke has got to be better than none.  Let us know how it turns out.

What internal temp are you taking the backstrap to?

Pictures are always welcome.

while it was slightly dry, moist, just not moist enough, it was the best tasting venison I've ever tasted and I eat A LOT of venison!  Spur of the moment smoking doesn't lend itself to moist meat, I've learned...lol

 

[one eyed jack]

 
while it was slightly dry, moist, just not moist enough, it was the best tasting venison I've ever tasted and I eat A LOT of venison!  Spur of the moment smoking doesn't lend itself to moist meat, I've learned...lol

The moistness / dryness is what was on my mind.  I don't have any experience smoking venison.

I wonder how injecting would affect it? 

If it was the best you've had you must be on the right track. 

 

[themule69]

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...
Happy smoken.
David

 

[returnofsid]

 
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...
Happy smoken.
David

Thank you.  I keep reading about QVIEW but have absolutely no idea what it is.  I do post photos in my threads.

 

[one eyed jack]

 
Thank you.  I keep reading about QVIEW but have absolutely no idea what it is.  I do post photos in my threads.

"Qview" is simply the pictures of your smoking projects.  So, your good to go. 

 

[mikerobison]

Howdy from Spokane! Welcome to the forum. I'm fairly new as well and have gained a bunch of help from this forum. I built a Side fire box smoker using this forums calculator and am very pleased with the results. If you'd like to see the thread, here is a link. 

Mike