My first go with new smoker

[thesmokindogs]

Yesterday was mostly a learning experience although it included some pretty decent ribs. My 9# pork shoulder *finally* turned out pretty good, too.

I smoked both with a mix of 2 parts apple and 1 part mesquite. That turned out to be a good ratio with the mellower apple reining in the sharp flavor of the mesquite just enough for a nice balance. I used the wood chips for about 4 hours on the shoulder and for 2 on the ribs.

My biggest hurdle was temperature, though. Being the first time I've used the MasterBuilt Pro smoker combined with a few newbie errors, things really didn't get stabilized for a while. No matter how carefully adjusted the flame, I was suddenly at either 325° or 150°. I finally hit the 230° mark about 3 hours in. [emoji]128563[/emoji]

The first rack of ribs were tender but could have stayed on a couple hours longer. The second rack, which did get an extra 3 hours, were perfectly done and tasted phenomenal. Literally melt in your mouth. I paid the highest price for my goofs for the shoulder, which took 18 hours.

Hmm, pics won't upload from my phone. I'll try on my computer later.

 

[hinson1123]

Hey... I just got a new smoker for my birthday a week ago. It's like night and day bc I was using my grill with the side smoker. Never liked it bc if I had to add Charcoal then I had to open the grill and I lost all my heat and it just wasn't efficient. So.... I upgraded to a DynaGlo Smoker with the offset Charcoal Box. I love it bc I can add Charcoal or wood and not have to open the Smoker and all that so it can maintain a constant temp. It still was a challenge bc it made some things some much easier.... I had a few goofs with temp myself bc I tried Hardwood Lump Charcoal and it was great at first. It burned hotter and was ready faster but didn't last long so I ended up adding Kingsford at the end and it finished the cooking.... just keep trying and you'll have it down in no time. It's like riding a bike... once you got it then you got it!

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like your first run turned out pretty good.

It gets easier each time.

Al

 

[hinson1123]

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• hinson1123
• Jun 19, 2017

 

[hinson1123]

This is the new smoker I went with. It's not the most expensive or the top of the line by any means but I think it did awesome to be less than $200. When I get more experienced and all that.... I'll invest a little more in a smoke but I'm comfortable with this right now.