In need of help!!!

[ajthepoolman]

My first few smokes looked like the house was on fire I had so much smoke. TBS is the way to enlightenment!

Today was a good day, you learned more than you knew before. Go buy another shoulder and slam it in there! Refuse to lose!

 

[flagriller]

There you go!

 

[pescadero]

RedTab:

Sorry you had trouble and your smoke didn't come out the way you had hoped. But, we all have a few of those things in our past. Some of us(like me) probably have more than we want to admit. LOL

Good news is you have done the right thing. You brought to our attention and I can tell from reading through the replies that you are getting the right answers and the information you need. That is half the battle right there.

I can't really add anything to what you have already read. I can only recap a couple of things. First and foremost, you CAN NOT trust the thermometer that came with your unit. There may be exceptions to that statement, but it is pretty much the rule. Get yourself a good reliable thermometer like, say a Maverick or other good brand. Then check it out against ice water and boiling water. I like to put the probe in a pan of tap water then turn on the heat and hover over it until the water starts to boil. Make sure you can trust it. Then, as others have said, make sure you go by temps and not time. Every piece of meat is a ittle different and even if you bought two pieces of identical weight, from the same butcher, at the same time, there is every probability that they would finish at somewhat different times. Try to keep the amount of smoke to the 'thin blue' and keep your top vent fully open for good smoke passage.

Chalk it up as a learning experience. Even this difficult situation can be turned into a positive if you follow the great advice you have received.

And, don't stop there. Keep asking when you have questions.

Good luck, Skip

 

[redtab78]

thanks everybody for the positive replies...

I went outside a while ago and ATTEMPTED to scrape the cresote off, but its next to impossible...so what I did was built a fire inside the firebox, and got it really hot (300 cookbox temp), that helped alot, but there is still crap all over the inside of it...

If I dont get it all out, will it hurt? is there something else I can do to it, to get more off?

 

[richtee]

Wash and scrub...run a batch of pure lump thru it, with a chunk or two of wood. Good to go

 

[pescadero]

The answers to these two questions are: "Probably not" and "Probably"

First, 'will it hurt'? Smokers always accumulate residue inside. But, this is usually the expected oil, grease and smoke produced form normal use. This accumulation usually enhances flavor, not hurt it. But, when they get a layer of cresote, in all honesty, it should be removed. Probably as much for your own peace of mind as for any actual affect on the Smoker. I doubt if the functionality is going to be altered much, due it's presence. And, unless it is exceptionally thick or exceptionally smelly, it is doubtful that the presence of cresote will taint or contaminate future smokes. However, if the odor is bothersome when you open the door, it may be strong enough to have some influence. At least for a while, until it dissipates. In this case, you should remove as much as possible, without killing yourself in the process. Odor from most everything dissipates over time. This will too. In addition, it will soon get covered by the more normal residue, as mentioned before, which will lower the odor and help shield it from future smokes.

Secondly, 'is there something else I can do'? Scraping and wire brushing, as mentioned by several others, is the common practice. I did try an additional approach, when it happened to me. I removed all the moving parts(racks, pans thermometers, etc. I got the smoker nice and hot, as you did. I used the putty knife to scrape as much off as possible. I wire brushed after that. Then, I fired up my old Power Washer and had a go. I found that I was able to blast off most of what remained. When done, it was pretty nice looking. Then I fired it up again for a few minutes to dry it out. I did go to the extra effort of spraying with a PAM like spray and re-curing the smoker.

After this process it was 'good to go'. If you have a PW, or can borrow one, you might give this a shot. Hope this helps.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Skip

 

[ron50]

Sorry about your bad experience.

Here is what I'd do.

Heat the smoker up as hot as you can to loosen the build up, then get a good wire brush and a putty knife and scrape off as much as you can.

Re-season it with a light coating of oil inside and heat it up for an hour or two with a piece of smoking wood.

From what you wrote it seems like you cooked those butts for about 20 hours. As everyone told you, cook to temperature, but a general rule of thumb is about an hour and a half per pound. Pork shoulder is a forgiving piece of meat but those were way overdone.

Here is a suggestion for the next smoke.

Get your fire going to about 225 -250 degrees. Use a calibrated thermometer that you know is accurate. Use another thermometer for the meat and cook the meat till it gets to an internal temp of about 160 degrees. Use a couple chunks of wood till you see a very thin stream of light whispy looking smoke. If it's thick, white and billowy, remove some of the wood (this is what caused the creosote buildup). You can even stop using wood when the meat gets to 140 degrees because by that temp it isn't absorbing much smoke if any.
When it gets to 160 - 165 wrap the butts in heavy duty aluminum foil, splash them with some aj or your favorite liquid and put it back in the smoker till you get to an internal temp of 195 -205 degrees. Pull it out, wrap the foiled butts in a thick towel and place them in an empty well insulated room temperature ice chest or cooler and leave them there for
1 -2 hours.

Unwrap (be careful it will still be hot) and pull.

 

[muddy pond]

Rood for thought. I clean my log pit inside after every cook. I use a thing called Purple Power and one of those stainless stel scrubbies. Get your cooker warm not hot and spray the interior with purple power and add some elbow grease, rinse thourghly and presto problem solved.

Good liuck on the next smoke as you have been given some great advice.

 

[swkegelguy]

I had the same experience when I got my first Bruanfelds W/SFB about 11 years ago. I used wood the entire cooking time and ruined a whole bunch of pork. I had been used to cooking on an Ol Smokie grill type smoker using charcol with small wood chunks. I learned very quickly to add wood about every hour or so during the cooking time to get the flavor I am looking for and temp is very important not allowing the wood to burn too hot.