New (to me) Pitmake Safe. 1st cook help.

[levithan9]

Hey guys,

`So, I live in Houston, and found a great deal on a Pitmaker Safe In Lafayette. Drove out there last weekend with my son, and picked it up, then went and got some Boudin from Billy's right before the ride home.

Got home and had my friend come over to help unload it. I wanted to fire it up on Sunday (10-28-18) but the trip caught up with me and i was just too tired. I'm no spring chicken anymore !!

So, this weekend, were going to have incredible weather for smoking or cooking. So yeah, i'm firing this thing up.

I've got 2 pork shoulders ready to go, and i'm thawing out 2 racks of pork ribs. I'm also going to pick up a Prime brisket and see how it comes out.

Now, i'm used to my masterbuilt 40" and my Pitboss 820 smokers, so going to something like this is completely new to me. I want to pull off a successful cook. It doesn't have to be perfect, as i fully expect to have a learning curve in figuring out this insulated smoker.

So, any tips from any of you guys who have one of these smokers?

How do i lay out the charcoal in the basket?
Do i use wood chunks, or can i put logs on top of the charcoal?
Kingsford Blue charcoal, or B&B Oak charcoal ?
Do i light the entire basket, or just a small corner?

And, can I light it up friday night, let it go thru the night without babysitting it; Or should i start early Saturday morning and keep an eye on the temp?

I've been told and have read that these cabinet smokers can hold the temp extremely well without a lot of USER INPUT. I also plan on adding water to the smoker, as i've read that adding water will keep the temp from running away and going over 300 degrees.

Thanks alot for ANY input from you guys.

 

[Scott Eisenbraun]

Checkout YouTube on the Pitmaker Safe. I watched a couple videos showing cooks on them. They were pretty thorough. Very nice smokers!

 

[SonnyE]

Checkout YouTube on the Pitmaker Safe. I watched a couple videos showing cooks on them. They were pretty thorough. Very nice smokers!

Yeah, there's a bunch! https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pitmaker+safe+smoker

I went to their web site and about swallowed my cud.
$3100 new. Umm yep, not in my price range.
And I'm not about to mortgage the farm.

 

[levithan9]

I got mine for $1400.

And my brother threw in $800. Early Xmas present...and to kinda make up for the last 24 years of us not seeing eachother.

So basically, $600 out of my secret bank account.

 

[SonnyE]

I got mine for $1400.

And my brother threw in $800. Early Xmas present...and to kinda make up for the last 24 years of us not seeing eachother.

So basically, $600 out of my secret bank account.

Sweet!

 

[Scott Eisenbraun]

You did well. Take some pics of your cooks for us.

 

[levithan9]

Well, Saturday is over , and I just finished cleaning up the smoker

Lessons learned : This smoker cooks incredibly fast!

I fired it up about 6:30am, and it was ready to rock and roll about and hour later. I threw the brisket on and the pork shoulders. Then went to get the ribs ready.

That's about half way through the cook.

Here are the ribs

And the pork shoulder

And I made Dutche's wicked beans

Here is the brisket

Now to me, the brisket came out not that great. I was going to get a choice or PRIME brisket, but when I got to the store they were completely sold out So it seems that everyone else had the same idea of smoking brisket on such a beautiful day.
The flat came out very dry, and even my wife said the cut of meat was sab-par.

Not only that, but learning how to cook on a new smoker, I'm not going to spend a lot of money until I can get the results that I want and expect.i will say that the point came out very juicy ,and was good, but to be honest I've had better results from my Master built smoker .

Looks like I'll be smoking on this thing for the next several weekends until I can get it dialed in

 

[Scott Eisenbraun]

Did you foil the brisket? Use the waterpan?

 

[SonnyE]

All in good time, All in good time.
I would never expect you to nail the first cook. Just work into it at your own pace.
The cookin looks good, anyway.
One step at a time. One step at a time, like an old mule pullin a plow.... :confused:o_O

I think you spread yourself too thin with so many things cookin at once.