New Smoker...I'm New !

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sbukicker38

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 19, 2010
25
10
Long Island, New York
Hello All...i am a new guy when it comes to smoking...i have just a few questions. i smoked my ribs and they came out falling right off the bone...but my main question is the actual smoking part...

first off, do i wait to put my ribs in after my smoker starts smoking or put them in right away when i put the wood in?

my other problem was, my wood was burning quick, and i was using wood chunks. i soaked them for about 30 minutes. Should i soak them or not? and how do i keep the wood smoking nicely and not have it burning and that burning smell?

my other concern is, some people i know put charcoal in their pan on the bottom and then put the wood on top. does using charcoal make it better to smoke the food? what can that help for me?

some tips would be great...thanks everyone!
 
welcome to the site... When I use chunks in my GOSM, I only use one or two at a time. You don't need to see a bunch of smoke coming out of the smoker. If you can smell it, it;s smoking the meat. You will get heavy smoke to start with, keep the meat out while it's heavy but maintain your desired temp. When the smoke starts to turn blue and thins out a bit, you can add your meat. each chunk of wood should go a couple of hours. If you get to where you can't see or smell smoke, quickly add another chunk. Be sure to keep the cover over the chipbox. I have had my chips catch fire when I left it uncovered. You can preheat your next chip on the shelf next to the waterpan to help it get smoking sooner when placed in the chipbox..
 
Hello All...i am a new guy when it comes to smoking...i have just a few questions. i smoked my ribs and they came out falling right off the bone...but my main question is the actual smoking part...

first off, do i wait to put my ribs in after my smoker starts smoking or put them in right away when i put the wood in?

my other problem was, my wood was burning quick, and i was using wood chunks. i soaked them for about 30 minutes. Should i soak them or not? and how do i keep the wood smoking nicely and not have it burning and that burning smell?

my other concern is, some people i know put charcoal in their pan on the bottom and then put the wood on top. does using charcoal make it better to smoke the food? what can that help for me?

some tips would be great...thanks everyone!
Welcome Kicker, do you have the Wal-mart smoker with the small itsy bitsy smoke box, if so you may want to search here for some modifications.

2nd, if you use chips, you can make foil packets and poke some fork holes in the foil if you plan on using the little smoker box

Soaking is not necessary

a lot of individuals soak thinking it keeps the wood from burning up and in my opinion it only delays the inevitable.

My thoughts are to limit the air to the chips and they will not burn up so quickly.

Chunks should work fine

one of the reasons your wood may be burning up too quick is too much heat and air to the wood, are you using the smoker box lid, have you calibrated your thermometers, you may need to make some tweaks.

Don't sweat if there is smoke or not, just make sure the smoker is is a little above your desired temp when placing the ribs in, the temp will drop but its better to work down from a temp then increase, IMHO. I will usually get it up to 300 degrees before adding the ribs.

TIP: boil the water for the water pan then add, it saves a little on preheating.

Heres a blog that may help you a bit

GOSM BB Blog

I had the same one as you for years and just got the BB a while back.
 
okay...so far so good...thanks everyone, well i dont use the chip box anymore, i bought a big aluminum pan, so i can put more in...

also the last time i used it i jacked the temperature up to heat the smoker quicker, bad idea...should i start it low and gradually let it got hotter itself for about an hour?? maybe thats why my wood was burning...

if anyone has more tips to my questions feel free to add...thanks so much
 
Welcome to the SMF, and congrats on the new GOSM. I see you're getting some good advise from fellow members. It's all good my friend.
 
i dont have the big block...can someone either send me the link of this smoker or put a picture, i searched it, but im getting nothing back from my search
 
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First off Welcome SBU kicker Guy to SMF. you'll like it here for there are alot of really good folks here that would just love to help you with just about anything to do with smoking. Now there are alot of proven recipes for some amazing things here too. So if you need sign up for the E-Course it's free and it will give you the basics of smoking and some good methods to use also. So the next big thing for you to do is go out and get you something to smoke and if you happen to have any questions just post it here and we will be happy to answer them for you.

Welcome To Your New Addiction
 
Hello SBUKicker - welcome to SMF. Looks like you already have lots of good feedback - glad to have you here with us - be sure to get that qview up
 
lol... no worries. The Q-view is what we call the pictures we post of our smokes, smokers, smoking pals, and anything else you care to smoke. 
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 I know one or two of these fine folk have a great step-by-step how to guide on posting pics. Basically as they say.... a picture is worth a thousand words!
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Welcome to the SMF. Glad to have you here. Lots of good folks, great recipes and knowledge. Looking forward to your first qview.
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Geez SQWIB, You have a broom hanging there, clean the floor around that alter of smoke before taking Q-View...
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One thing you'll learn around here SBU, folks will jump on anything in your pics so be carefull. I posted up a pic of my first, beautiful canadian Bacon, and I got jumped on about using coat hangers..
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