New Grill / New to real smoking

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bytespy

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 29, 2013
1
10
San Diego, Ca
Hello all,

  My family pitched in together and got me a new grill for xmas.  After putting it together with one of my son's, we wheeled it outside. snicker snicker yea we put it together in the living room.  All proud of the new present and the location in the back yard, we stood back, the first question out of my mouth, I wounder how I am suppose to maintain temperature in this beast? My son said, pffft "Google it". I googled temperature control Oklahoma joe's longhorn smoker. I ended up here.

  So after stalking a few threads I went to burning. I seasoned the grill, started a fire, and away I went. I started with charcoal & wood chips, then quickly to chunk charcoal and wood chunks. dam chips would all fall through the grates, and boy does this thing eat fuel.  After reading more SMF I started moving around the fire grate,  modifying an old ss smoke box into a ash catch / diffuser plate, and started another fire. New years eve I picked up some green egg gasket, only 10 miles out of the way, and maybe I did I go to far, when I also purchased the BBQ guru...  I stopped and got more fuel and a 90 degree down pipe.

  I got home drilled a hole, mounted the fan adapter, added a cleaned but old grilling plate, wired up the guru, and started the fire. Talk about nervous, new smoker, new equipment, new years eve, and 5 tritips. I trimmed, oiled and rubbed the meat, hmm should I re write that, nah, checked / verified fuel and temps. I started cooking ~4pm @ 200 degrees. after dark it was about 48 degrees outside and stayed that way through the cook. the guru made the beast almost breath, as it burped the smoke out in a weird but rhythmic heart beat. I was hard to resist the temptation to look under the lid and check how things were going. ok ok, I opened the lid 3 times the entire time. 2 times to many I'm guessing.

I would say, that with some help from people here and some previous grilling experience, it was successful.  well it was 11PM when I took "A" tip out. it was the closest to the fire, just @ 157degrees dead center, juicy smoked perfection...  ok, biased opinion.

  It was a new years party, did they really want to eat before 11pm. oh well the meat was great, I learned a lot, and I didn't make jerky.

 I added the green egg gasket the next day, and properly leveled the grill.  maybe I will not burn as much fuel, and pool drippings. 

Thanks again for the help.





 
Hello and Welcome to our addiction.  A word of warning: There is no 12 step program for this one!  Many good folk here with a load of experience that they are more than willing to share.  If you have specific questions just start a thread and someone with experience will be along soon to offer advice.  All info you can provide us with such as smoker type, location and so on will help us answer any questions you may have.  Spend some time doing some research on the forums, tons of advice and recipes already available there.  Looks like you had a really good first run.  We look forward to your contributions.  Have fun.  Good luck.  Keep Smokin!

Danny
 
Welcome

We are happy you joined our forum. Need help?  Use the search button at the top of the page OR just ask!  Plenty of friendly folks here that love to help  Check out the free 5 day E course for a great basic information on smoking. 

Brian
 
[h1]
texas.gif
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.   Really looks good, i guess iam going to have to up my smoker.
[/h1][h1]  [/h1][h1]Gary[/h1]
 
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