Newbie

[the may]

My husband and I have a new Masterbuilt propane smoker.  Christmas present.  We grill a lot but have never smoked anything.  We are very excited and are going to season today.  One question though.  When seasoning it says to put in 2 cups of chips but doesn't say if they should be soaked or dry.  Help!  Can't wait to noodle around the site getting all kinds of tips and recipes. Forgot to mention we live in Kent, OH and new to the site.

 

[davidhef88]

Welcome to SMF. Any thing you need to know about smoking you will find here. I don't soak my chips but some people do. I don't notice any difference if I soak or not. I think it's more of a personal preference.

 

[kathrynn]

 to SMF!  We are happy you joined us here!  I agree with David's comment.  There are just as many who soak their chips/chunks that don't.  I dont!  I find that I get TBS/smoke faster that way.  Either way will work...just try and you will find the one that works best for you and that particular smoker.

Have you signed up for Jeff's E-Course yet?  If not...here is a link to get you started. That course has a lot of useful information that helped me feel better getting started with Smoking foods.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/127/5-day-smoking-basics-ecourse

If you have any questions...just holler.  We will be happy to help anyway we can!

Kat

 

[the may]

Thanks for the info. Thank you Kathryn N for the link to the course I couldn't find it earlier.

 

[handyandy]

Welcome!

I also received this smoker for christmas.  Just a few tips - follow the chip pan mods here on the forum or use a cast iron skillet.  And use chunks.  I can't get mine to work worth a darn with chips.  Trust me, you will be much happier with chunks.  Also - get a remote (meat probe) thermometer and an oven thermometer!  I think I picked both of them up at Wally World for less than $20 total.  You will be VERY surprised at how far off the door thermometer is.  Other than that, have fun!

 

[the may]

Thanks for the tip Andy. It said to get the smoker to 400 degrees when seasoning and we could only get to 250.  At least that is what the door temp was.  I am getting an oven thermometer on my next trip to the store.

 

[old sarge]

Welcome from Arizona.

 

[handyandy]

I had the same problem with the seasoning - are you using water in the pan during your seasoning?  You're not supposed to.

After the recommended time I just let it go full bore to see what temp I could hit.  I finally hit over 400 in about 1 hour.  Of course, it was only 30* and windy when I did this.  I'm smoking today and the temps have been falling all day and windy.  It started raining about 30 minutes ago.  Got a crazy idea to build a wind block and 4 pallets later the smoker's dry and it's been holding at 225-230 since about 8 this morning.  

I'm looking into insulating the unit, but a cool "smokehouse" project sounds like more fun.

 

[s2k9k]

 to SMF!!! We're happy you joined us!

Wet wood won't smoke, it will steam until it dries out then it will smoke. Do yourself a big favor and dump the water in the pan and fill it with sand!