New to smoking, and hoping to get going on my first smoke next weekend!

[-c0de-]

Hello from Tennessee!

I am new to smoking, but not new to eating smoked meats. I'm hoping to enjoy a new hobby and break away from the monotony of just grilling foods, which I normally do a few times a week.

I have a Landmann Smoky Mountain 3895GWLA that I just ordered, and I am hoping to do my first smoke in next weekend.

So, if there is a **must do** first smoke food that is the easiest way for me to break into this new hobby, let me know!

Thanks,

-c0de-

 

[bauchjw]

Welcome c0de!
You picked a great place to come and learn some things about your new hobby! My vote for the first " must do" is a 10 pound bone in pork butt for a traditional pulled pork. It's a forgiving hunk of meat, tastes awesome, feeds a lot of people, and confidence booster! Keep us posted on how it goes!

 

[-c0de-]

Thanks Bauch! This is exactly what I had planned on doing. I love brisket, but my wife loves pork bbq more, so I figured if I could win her over first, then she would support my new hobby!

 

[bauchjw]

Hehe, that's the best way to ensure support to your new hobby! Do you have meat probes for internal temp? Like a Maverick or iGrill? Those are good investments. Since moving onto long slow cooks of big meat I've learned internal temp drives everything. Common internal temp to do pulled pork to is 202 degrees then let rest 30min to 1 hr. Same for brisket! One 10 pound butt will take 13 hrs to smoke at 225 and the next will take 18 hrs to get same temp. Give yourself at least 18 hrs. If done early wrap in foil then beach towels and stick in a small cooler. That'll keep the pork hot up to 4 hrs. I recommend using a finishing sauce after you pull the pork, it ups the taste by magnitudes! Use search function on the forum and look up finishing sauces to get plenty of options for a sauce you'll like! Let us know if you have any questions, keep your smoke posted!

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to the forum!

Congrats on the new smoker.

I think for a first smoke I would do chicken thighs or wings.

Very cheap, easy too smoke.

Al

 

[HalfSmoked]

Glad to have you on board lot of great guys and gals here with tons of info. I

that Al said something easy until you lean how to control your smoker doing so for a long smoke can be difficult until you get the hang of it.

Warren

 

[-c0de-]

Hehe, that's the best way to ensure support to your new hobby! Do you have meat probes for internal temp? Like a Maverick or iGrill? 

I ordered an Ivation IVAWT738 Dual Probe Long Range Wireless Digital Thermometer  which appears to be a rebranded Maverick and was $20 cheaper. I figured that was a good place to start, and if I end up getting really serious into smoking, I could always pick up something like the Tappecue 4 probe remote thermometer. 

The smoker actually arrived last night, which is almost a week earlier than the original estimated arrival date. When my wife got home and saw the box, she asked if I planned on smoking anything this weekend. I told her I was going to do some pulled pork and she was ecstatic.

I went ahead and assembled it last night, and then went to Lowes to get the parts necessary to fit my Bayou Classic 0-30 PSI Adjustible Regulator/Hose Assembly  to the stock valve. I went ahead and picked up some hickory chunks as well. 

I plan on doing the initial burn off/seasoning of the smoker tonight, and to get a feel for keeping a steady temp in the smoker.

I have a latch-action toggle for the door, as well as a Nomex High-temp Gasket Kit  on order, which should arrive Thursday, and will get installed that evening.

The only other mods that I want to do in the near future would be to windproof the bottom of the smoker a little better like Lamar did, since my back porch sits directly in the wind. I will also most likely add the small mod to the side of the smoker to allow my temp probes easy access like Lamar did, and I need to figure out a way to add casters to the bottom of the smoker for easy transport. 

Other than that, I should be good to go for my first smoke. I plan on grabbing a nice Boston butt and doing an injection and rub on it Friday night, and then wake up early Saturday morning and getting it started. My wife has also been craving some corn, so I figured I might as well smoke some corn and maybe even some cabbage while I am at it as well.

 

[-c0de-]

 

Glad to have you on board lot of great guys and gals here with tons of info. I

that Al said something easy until you lean how to control your smoker doing so for a long smoke can be difficult until you get the hang of it.

Warren

This Saturday is the first truly lazy Saturday that my wife and I have had all year. I plan on pretty much being a bum on the back porch with the smoker and watching the magic happen. 

I plan on doing the initial firing of my smoker tonight and learning how to get a nice and steady temp on it tonight.

 

[bauchjw]

Ma

I ordered an Tappecue 4 probe remote thermometer. 

The smoker actually arrived last night, which is almost a week earlier than the original estimated arrival date. When my wife got home and saw the box, she asked if I planned on smoking anything this weekend. I told her I was going to do some pulled pork and she was ecstatic.

I went ahead and assembled it last night, and then went to Lowes to get the parts necessary to fit my Bayou Classic 0-30 PSI Adjustible Regulator/Hose Assembly to the stock valve. I went ahead and picked up some hickory chunks as well. 

I plan on doing the initial burn off/seasoning of the smoker tonight, and to get a feel for keeping a steady temp in the smoker.

I have a Nomex High-temp Gasket Kit on order, which should arrive Thursday, and will get installed that evening.

The only other mods that I want to do in the near future would be to windproof the bottom of the smoker a little better like Lamar did, since my back porch sits directly in the wind. I will also most likely add the small mod to the side of the smoker to allow my temp probes easy access like Lamar did, and I need to figure out a way to add casters to the bottom of the smoker for easy transport. 

Other than that, I should be good to go for my first smoke. I plan on grabbing a nice Boston butt and doing an injection and rub on it Friday night, and then wake up early Saturday morning and getting it started. My wife has also been craving some corn, so I figured I might as well smoke some corn and maybe even some cabbage while I am at it as well.

Two things:
- I've never injected, but read a lot about it here. Be careful injecting, you bring bacteria into the meat that normally gets immediately cooked off. Check USDA guide or search here, but I think if you inject internal temp needs to hit 140 within 4 hrs to be safe.
- when you get your probes boil water and put the probes in without touching metal. If they read 212 degrees (depending on altitude) then they are set, if not note how many degrees off they are so you can be sure you have accurate readings.

Congrats! Good luck! Post pics!

 

[-c0de-]

Ma
Two things:
- I've never injected, but read a lot about it here. Be careful injecting, you bring bacteria into the meat that normally gets immediately cooked off. Check USDA guide or search here, but I think if you inject internal temp needs to hit 140 within 4 hrs to be safe.
- when you get your probes boil water and put the probes in without touching metal. If they read 212 degrees (depending on altitude) then they are set, if not note how many degrees off they are so you can be sure you have accurate readings.

Congrats! Good luck! Post pics!

Agreed. I want to get out of the "danger zone"  as fast as I can. I plan on smoking at 230 degrees, which should get me past an internal temp of 140 degrees after 3 - 3.5 hours. I have watched maybe around 5 hours of video on Youtube of various personalities giving their take on smoking a pork/boston butt. Half of those recommended injecting and usually stressed the importance of getting to the "plateau" within 4 hours of the meat hitting 40 degrees.

I planned on doing the probe test tonight, along with the probe that came with the smoker so that I can see exactly how "accurate" it is. While I don't plan on using the door thermometer as my main thermometer, it would be nice to know how trusting I can be of that when bringing the smoker up to its initial temp before adding any food. 

 

[sfprankster]

 
This Saturday is the first truly lazy Saturday that my wife and I have had all year. I plan on pretty much being a bum on the back porch with the smoker and watching the magic happen. 

I plan on doing the initial firing of my smoker tonight and learning how to get a nice and steady temp on it tonight.

First rule of Smoke Club:

No peeking... 

 

If you're lookin', it's not cookin'... 

 

 

[-c0de-]

 
First rule of Smoke Club:

No peeking... 

 

If you're lookin', it's not cookin'... 

 

HA!

I mainly meant sitting in my chair, feet propped up, and making sure I only have TBS coming out of the smoke stack. That is when all the magic is happening.

Besides, I have the thermometer there to tell me how things are going inside the smoker. I won't take a peek until I go to put my probe into the pork around the 3 - 3.5 hour mark. My main concern is with this being my first smoke, I want to make sure I'm not seeing any heat spikes or dips, and that I am sitting at a nice constant temp.

 

[sfprankster]

Enjoy the day off and have fun!!!

 

[-c0de-]

 
Enjoy the day off and have fun!!!

Most definitely!

 

[hoity toit]

we want to see pictures of the final product please....

HT

 

[-c0de-]

 
we want to see pictures of the final product please....

HT

But of course!

 

[-c0de-]

Alright, I did the boil test last night. My infrared thermometer showed the water at 210°F. Believe it or not, the stock thermometer that came with my Landmann 3895GWLA was actually spot on and sitting at 210°F. I then tested my Ivation IVAWT738  (a rebranded  Maverick ET-733) and both of the probes showed 210°F, right within the allotted ± 2° variance.

While I was at it, I went ahead and tested the two other meat thermometers that I had in the house, and found out that one of them is straight up busted. I'm not sure what happened, but it would only go up to 180°F, so I tossed it into the trash. My wife has really dried out some chicken a few times recently, and I now think  that she was using her "trusted" thermometer that she has had since her bachelorette days, when in reality it was wayyyyy  off.

TL;DR: No more dried out chicken

 

[bauchjw]

Goo

Alright, I did the boil test last night. My infrared thermometer showed the water at 210

°F​

. Believe it or not, the stock thermometer that came with my Landmann 3895GWLA was actually spot on and sitting at 210

°F​

. I then tested my Ivation IVAWT738 (a rebranded  Maverick ET-733) and both of the probes showed 210°F, right within the allotted 

± 2° variance.​

While I was at it, I went ahead and tested the two other meat thermometers that I had in the house, and found out that one of them is straight up busted. I'm not sure what happened, but it would only go up to 180°F, so I tossed it into the trash. My wife has really dried out some chicken a few times recently, and I think now that she was using her "trusted" thermometer that she has had since her bachelorette days, when in reality it was wayyyyy off.​

TL;DR: No more dried out chicken​

Good call! My wife has the same issue!