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bigrnm13

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 15, 2010
13
10
Hi All,

I am new to this site.  First of all, thank you for allowing me to join.  Second, I am completely new to smoking.  A friend has gratiously (I think.  Might have an alterior motive) given me a second hand smoker.  I am picking it up this Sunday.  Have not seen it yet.  But he says it works fine.  I believe he said it was a horizontal smoker, not vertical like the Rocky Mountain Smoker.  My question is, once I get the fire going, and have it to the temp that I want, and if the temp starts going down, how do I raise it up again.  I know that you have to add more charcoal, but does it have to be lit already, or do I just add the new charcoal on top of the old one, and it will lite itself up?

Be patent with me, I will probably have a lot of more questions before I start, or after I start. 

I think I am going to start with chicken.

thank you,

Big R
 
welcome and enjoy.

leave your exhaust wide open and control your temp with your air intake. i dont use charcoal except to start. i keep adding wood after it cooks down though. 

someone will be around to offer more info
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the SMF, I see you've gotten a reply to your question. I moved your thread to roll call, so that everyone will have the chance to greet you. It;s all good my friend.
 
Welcome to SMF!

 Do a search for the minion method .This is the best way i found to use charcoal in my offset.

 If you are going to do chicken check into  tips slaughterhouse brine to brine the chicken.

I will never cook poultry on my smoker or in the oven without brining again.

 I think both the minion method and the brine are listed in the wiki section of SMF.
 
Thanks guys, I feel right at home already.  Ok, as the answers come in for the first question, and I will follow up on those suggestions from you all, here is another question.  I see that eman will never smoke chicken without brining first.  Why is that?  I have heard conflicting tales about brining chicken.  Does that go for, let say, chicken legs, quarters, thighs as well?

the smoker that my friend has that he is giving me, I have no idea how good a shape it is in.  It has been at his mom's house for a while, and he hasn't used it.  But I don't belief it is has an offset firebox.  It think it is just one unit if I am not mistaken.  How will that affect the cooking process?

Thanks again, and please keep me posted on how to keep the fire going once I start it.
 
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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Thanks guys, I feel right at home already.  Ok, as the answers come in for the first question, and I will follow up on those suggestions from you all, here is another question.  I see that eman will never smoke chicken without brining first.  Why is that?  I have heard conflicting tales about brining chicken.  Does that go for, let say, chicken legs, quarters, thighs as well?

the smoker that my friend has that he is giving me, I have no idea how good a shape it is in.  It has been at his mom's house for a while, and he hasn't used it.  But I don't belief it is has an offset firebox.  It think it is just one unit if I am not mistaken.  How will that affect the cooking process?

Thanks again, and please keep me posted on how to keep the fire going once I start it.
Welcome to the forum.  Post some pix of the unit and we can give solid advice specific to your rig.  Brine or don't brine -- it's about flavor and personal preference, not food safety (unless you're cold smoking -- which is an entirely different animal).  I've smoked many an unbrined bird without any problems.  Just got to cook it through to the right temp to be safe.
 
 
Hey Meateater, what does qview mean?

And yes, i will post some pix of the smoker my friend is giving me.  how do I do that here?
 
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First off Welcome Big R 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.  
 
Thank you mballi3011,

I was going to start smoking this weekend, but the smoker that my friend was going to give me, turned out to be a regualar charcoal grill.  The charcoal was going to be at the bottom, and I would have a hard time barbequeing in in-direct heat.  So this weeken, I am going shopping for a smoker.  I want to start with chicken, but want to do the parts of the chicken instead of the whole chicken.  (ie. legs, quarters, thighs, etc.)  Any suggestions on the rub?
 
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