New to smoking...looking for ideas, advice and tips.

[mckpenn]

Hello,

My name is Megan and I live in Colorado.

I just got a Cabela's Pellet Smoker.  I was hoping for Traeger, just for the brand recognition and the fact that several friends have one. But, this is what my husband bought and he took the time to assemble it so I am going to learn to love it no matter what!

My first project is this Saturday, and I am smoking two whole (4 lb.) chickens.

I plan on brining them overnight and I was wonder if giant Ziploc bags exist?  I could use a huge stock pot but that won't fit in my fridge.

Any tips?

Thank you,

Megan

 

[themule69]

Megan 

Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...

The local Wally world here has 2 and 2.5 gallon bags. They are a little pricey. 

I use a bucket in my project fridge with a zip lock bag full of water on top to keep

it submerged. You can use a ice chest or a bucket filled with ice and your brine

if you have to.
Happy smoken.
David

 

[pc farmer]

Welcome to the forum

My local dollar store has 2.5 gallon bags.

 

[grillmonkey]

This is funny

. In my chauvinistic mind, the man cooks on the grill/smoker, the man gets a smoker he really doesn't want and has to make do with a smile and a "Thanks Honey, I love it!" When I want a big zip-lock bag I just say "Honey, I need a big zip-lock bag.", and she gets me one. If it isn't carried at Ace, Big Ed's Sport Shop, or Uncle Mel's Bait, Tackle & Title Pawn, I don't know where to get it. I didn't know you could get big zip-lock bags until I asked my wife.

My whole world has been turned upside-down.

But seriously, I think today that there should be more women involved in forums like this. I haven't been a member long, just a few months; I didn't know what to expect when I joined, but I did notice that there were very few women members, and that was kind of surprising. I can't say I was shocked, after all, I did grow up in and still live in the chivalrous South, and women, for the most part, get doors opened for them, bags carried for them, umbrellas held for them, etc. They seldom loiter around the grill, smoker, pit, or otherwise get involved in outside cooking, even today; but it doesn't mean that I want women excluded from these activities. In fact, the opposite is true.

Some people, especially older people like me, are resistant to change (sort of set in their ways), and when I read Megan's question about where to get large zip-lock bags, I was taken aback. It was like "What? How could a woman not know something like that?" That's when it dawned on me that because I thought that, I was being closed-minded and started to wonder if I had at some point maybe replied to a woman's post in a way that made her feel that I was treating her differently because she was a woman. I don't think women join forums like this for any other reason than I did: To learn from the experiences of other smokers and share our smoking experiences with like-minded people regardless of race, religion, nationality or gender.

So, back to what I should have said in the beginning; "Welcome to the forum Megan! You can have a lot of fun here and will learn much more if you participate. Ask questions and start your own threads and most importantly, post pics of your smokes (Q-Vue).

Sorry about my rant!

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a beautiful and cool East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just                        about  everything

Looking forward to seeing those chickens

                    Gary

 

[GaryHibbert]

Hey Megan

Welcome to the Smoking forum. You’ll find great , friendly people here, all more than willing to answer any question you may have. Just ask and you’ll get about 10 different answers—all right. LOL. Don’t forget to post qviews.

Gary