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chris9matt0

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
10
10
Scott AFB, IL
If anyone has seen Good Eats then you know what I am about to attempt with my first smoking session. Got the meat, just need to get the wood chips tonight or tomorrow and start smoking Monday first light.

My wife and I got hooked on pulled pork that we tried at Smoky Bones when we got transfered to Scott AFB, Il. A US Marine, not an airman. Then our neighbor smoked a couple of pork shoulders. Could have been a little more flavorful throughout but still a good taste to keep us interested in doing our own.

If our session comes out well, then we will upgrade from Alton Brown's cheap smoker to one a little more costly (say $50 >). Any ideas? I was thinking of an electric one in a metal trash can (brand new or cleaned to perfection) and installing a grate, cutting some holes, and inserting my burner.
 
Welcome to SMF, chris9matt0. You have been giving some noteworthy advice about going with an electric smoker. Please, for your families health and well-being forget about the trash can smoker; brand new or cleaned or otherwise. Galvanized trash cans will give off a toxic poison when heated and I would not want to subject any of my family to that. There was a recent discussion on this board on this very subject. As had been previously mentioned, there are some excellent electric smokers out there-a quick search on the 'net "electric smokers" will reveal a ton of stuff.

Also check out tulsajeff's 5-day eCourse. It has a lot of info in it that anyone smoking foods should know.

Check out the different topics and the great photo's that folks have posted here.

Also, from one old, gimpy prior service member (Go Army!! :D) thanks for your dedication in serving this great country of ours!
 
Glad you are here. Ask lots of queations because these folks know smoking. I too love Alton Brown's shows. I was tempted to build a smoker like his, but fell under the spell of my GOSM.

Have fun!

Meowey
 
Yeah…that Alton is real entertaining, my favorite cooking show! However for the money you wonâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t beat that deal at Loweâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s. Plus itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a decent smoker-easy to use. I did that clay pot thing Alton did…fun, but I wouldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to do that every time I smoke. Welcome aboard and prepare yourself for some gourmet grubbin!
wink.gif
 
Welcome to the site. I agree with everyone, go with the Brinkman electric over the trash can idea. You will get good use from it, lots of help using it here, and you won't get caught by the neighbors "pulling your dinner from a garbage can" :) . Have a great holiday weekend, and thank you for keeping us all out of harms way!!
 
I posted this in the electric smoker thread, but instead of buying the trash can, I bought the Charbroil H2O. I am just going to use the plate warmer that I bought earlier for my Good Eats design and will convert my H2O into an electric smoker.
Thanks for all the advice everyone. I look forward to some "Good Eats."

Matthew
 
Hopefully, your hot plate will put out enough watts to get your temps up. I tried using one in my brinkmann, to lower the temp some so I could smoke some snack stik, but it was too low…only 700 watts. The normal one for the grill is 1500 watts. Hopefully yours has more watts than my hotplate. Good luck! :roll:
 
welcome to the club. your going the extra mile with your first smoke arnt you? you are not playing games, pulled pork is one of my favs but it takes so long to cook, especialy with the smoker i have (i have to tend the fire every 30-60 min +/-) and that is why i have been thinking of adding to my collection an electric smoker. it will be easier to do cheese too.

we deff want to see some pics of that when you get done!!!!!!

again welcome
 
Good choice on the smoker. That is the very one I started with. Why convert it? It is a good charcoal smoker, They do make an electric model. Home depot sells them.

In any case, grab a cold one or two, and jump right into the fray. This little hobby you are starting is going to make for some good friends, and great food.
 
10 Hours later and I am finished. At least for smoking the butt. Now it is wrapped in foil in the oven to allow jucies to redistribute throughout.

Did run into a few problems early on. First, the burner could not maintain a high enough temp for any long period. So, I opted to use charcoal instead. This is the second problem. I knew about this but didn't act properly on it. I lit the charcoal while it was underneath the butt. Of course this caused some unwanted cooking. Throughout the day I found that I needed to add some charcoal to maintain the desired temp. Think I should invest in a charcoal starter. I'm sure others have run into this problem as well. I will read some more in the Charcoal topic to get some good advice for my next smoking session. Hopefully this weekend when all 6 inlaws come into town.

Here is what the butt looked like pulled straight from the smoker.
a58bcf67_vbattach10967.jpg
 
Matthew..
Welcome aboard...Glad you found this great fourm...
I also have an H2O..that I started out with...great little smoker...There are however some mods you might want to think about making to it to put you in control of it. makes things work a lot nicer..Go up to my album ..I have some pics of all the mods you may want to make..they are all from tips ..picked up here on the forum here..most are on pg2...
Looks like you had a good time with your first butt...good job...
Good luck

Again..Welcome

Later
Richard
 
Welcome aboard...A Marine on an Air Farce base?? How'd you pull that duty??!! Nice looking butt, I didn't get to do any smoke this weekend, so that got me drooling. I have electric smoker and absolutely love the convenience in my hectic schedule. I have produced some awesome product for friends and family. Take warning this stuff is addicting!! This is a great website to get ideas for throwing in the smoker...good luck in your smoking ventures! And Semper Fi to you brother...
 
I take it you are either in the Marine Corps or were. Never the less Semper Fi to you as well. I got stuck at an AFB because my monitor told me that is where he needed to send the next SSgt in my MOS. Lucky me.
 
Yes I was in the Marine Corps, 87 - 91...couldn't hold off on that promo one month could they! Funny, same stuff, different day...You'll have to work hard at changing from hurry up and wait to slow and low with this smoking habit...
 
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