NOOB in barking on my first smoke. Talk to me!!!

[primo]

Obekaybe, so My name is Jared and I just bought my first smoker. Its a brinkman vertical smoker, got it for 25 bucks has only been used twice looks to be in awesome shape!!!

    Any way I am from Utah we celebrate a holiday called Pioneer day on the 24th IE the up coming weekend.

I am guna pull off my first smoke on this day!!! I will be serving about 15 guests.  

I have decided that since we have an abundance of Tri tip roast's, this is what I will be smoking!

Here is where I would like your input. I will be rubbing them tonight. I have researched many rub recipes and I think I know what I will be doing but any thought here would be great.

Then my main question. . . I will be doing 2, 2.5lbs pieces of meat, Do you think I will have problems with that? Im sure the cook time will change but I do have all day. So how long do you think I will need, to smoke 5lbs of meat?  I read a lot about how I will prolly need to smoke for 2-3 hours for a 2.5lbs piece. I know I need to bring the inside temp of the meat to around 140* and I know that I need a smoking temp of 225* - 250*. And I will let it rest for 20 -30 minutes in some foil.

So any thing you guys can say to help? and what type of wood do you think would compliment the meat best?

any tips, tricks or advice are more than welcome they are greatly needed!!!

P.S. I will post up some pic's of the whole ordeal, provided that it goes well!!!

Thanks in advance. 

 

[rp ribking]

Primo, This answer is about the amount of people your smokin' for.

Either invite less guest's or get some sparesribs to go with it. 

Remember you loose around half of the total weight when the meat is done smokin'.

I do my roast's with hickory.

 

[meatinc]

Jared,

Hopefully you have access to some lump charcoal up there - i'd look for some!  the tricky thing about using an inexpensive cooker is that it doesn't hold temp very well and since it sounds like you don't have a lot of experience using it you may want to test drive the thing with no meats in it to see what you have to do to hold temp.  The lump burns hotter and you use less than regular charcoal so you won't have to worry as much about maintaining temp and recovering back to cooking temp when someone takes the domed lid off - don't worry - they will too!

IF you can hold a constant 225 - 250F grate temp - buy an oven thermometer so you have an accurate reading at the grate - do NOT rely on that gauge they have installed in the lid - tri-tip usually takes about 1 1/2 hours to hit 140.  If you have a wired probe with a digital read out, this will help so you don't have to keep taking off the lid and losing all the heat built up in the dome.  There are cheap ones available at Target or (shudder) wal-mart.

My tri-tip always seems to keep a nice pace between zero and 125 and then it's off to the races and within minutes it can get past you.

You might want to think about another piece of meat too - I usually get enough meat out of an average tri-tip cut to feed 5 people!

Good Luck!

 

[primo]

I will be going out on the town tonight to find some lump coal tonight, I also need to get a few other thing IE a couple thermometers a charcoal chimney and some smoking wood. Thanks for the info!! I will be gaurding the smoker like it is full of gold!!! so I should be able to stop any vultures from removing the lid. I have heard of people using a wool blanket thrown over the smoker to help it keep heat, what are your thought's on that?

I have had the same Tri tips feed 8 with left overs however we have 5 of them. my dad is a farmer so if i need another I can get it.

I have heard not to rely on the smoker's temp gauge so I won't be doing that!!!

Thanks . . really for the help. I will do a dry run tonight! any thoughts on the wood I should use? and should I use it on the dry run? probably huh?

 

[celticgladiator]

looking forward to seeing the pics. tri-tip is one of my favorite cuts of beef! i'll take it over a t-bone anyday!!!!

 

[primo]

thanks rib king will do. maybe I should do some weenies on the grill for the kids. How hard would it be to do some spairrib's???

 

[primo]

ok got some supplys. Found some royal oak coals, got a nice remote meat thermometer and a new thermometer for the smoker.

New question . . . the smoker thermometer I got has a 3" probe on it and requires a 7/8 hole to install. should I replace the stock one in the lid with it, or should i drill a new spot for it? I'm thinking of putting it in the middle of the smoker between the two grills ( its on a vert brinkman smoker) do you think would be a good place??? or should I . . . ?

Thanks

 

[ballagh]

I agree on the more meat :)  At least 1/2 pound precooked per person.  You could add the second temp gauge.  Then you can compare the two.  For beef I smoke with hickory or mesquoite.  I also agree on a two hour test run so you know what to expect.  And yes use your wood on the dry run,  it will effect you temps.  good luck

 

[jjwdiver]

Good luck on the first meal in the smoker, and just play with the thing on the first burn session to see what it does...how it acts when you do lift off the lid, what any wind does to it, etc.  Everytime you fire that thing up will be a learning experience, so dont get frustrated.  Also know that every chunk of meat is different and will smoke up different than the last one, but keeping good notes will sure help to remember what happened and all that.

As for the thermo, not sure exactly on your specific rig, but remember it should register the temp near where the food will be (important to know the temp there) and the end of it cant touch anything (especially food...or it will try to give you the temp of the food and not the smoker - makes you burn the crap out of stuff!  Been there!!!!)

Wood - less is more!  You want a little smoke for a long time, not a rush of smoke!

Have fun and give us updates

 

[mballi3011]

Well there PrimO it sounds like you are well on your wa to some fine smoking. Now I do want to see the Qview for we are just crazy about that stuff.

 

[meatinc]

Jared,

JJDiver is absolutely correct - get the probe / thermometer as close to where you are cooking the meat as possible.  Post a pic of what your current set up is and the parts you got and I'm sure you will get some good suggestions.

For your dry run, no need to waste the heat - put some sausage or a chicken or a fatty in there and take some pics so we can see your progress!

 

[primo]

Good luck on the first meal in the smoker, and just play with the thing on the first burn session to see what it does...how it acts when you do lift off the lid, what any wind does to it, etc.  Everytime you fire that thing up will be a learning experience, so dont get frustrated.  Also know that every chunk of meat is different and will smoke up different than the last one, but keeping good notes will sure help to remember what happened and all that.

As for the thermo, not sure exactly on your specific rig, but remember it should register the temp near where the food will be (important to know the temp there) and the end of it cant touch anything (especially food...or it will try to give you the temp of the food and not the smoker - makes you burn the crap out of stuff!  Been there!!!!)

Wood - less is more!  You want a little smoke for a long time, not a rush of smoke!

Have fun and give us updates

Will do man, I have been taking down notes on everything you guys say. My smoker has 2 grills 1 atop the other and the current thermo ( if you can call it that all it says is cool warm hot) is in the lid above the first rack. this rack is around 2 feet above the coal pan. The lower rack is right on the water pan about a foot lower than the the top rack and the stock location of the thermo. So thats why Im thinking of putting it in the middle of the barrel ( just below the top rack and 8 or so inches above the bottom rack). What do you think??

                          

Here is my rig, It would prolly end up just below the handle.                     This is the replacement thermo I got to put in it, well its just                                      

                                                                                                                             like this one any way. ( a bit longer probe tho) 
 

Well there PrimO it sounds like you are well on your wa to some fine smoking. Now I do want to see the Qview for we are just crazy about that stuff.

The Qview is on lock!!!! I just bought my wife a new HD camera for her birthday on the 13 so Qview is all on her. 


 

Jared,

JJDiver is absolutely correct - get the probe / thermometer as close to where you are cooking the meat as possible.  Post a pic of what your current set up is and the parts you got and I'm sure you will get some good suggestions.

For your dry run, no need to waste the heat - put some sausage or a chicken or a fatty in there and take some pics so we can see your progress!

I like where your heads at!!! I couldn't bare the thought of wasting some delicious charcoal I will fo sho be throwing some food on there!!!

What temp and time and stuff do you cook a fatty at? I guess I could go look I'm sure it is somewhere here.

Thanks guys keep up the good info!!! any more concerns? I would love to here them cause they are helping me prep my game plan!!!
 

 

[primo]

Hey guys I just remembered that I need to post a link to the Qview I posted in my roll call post so . . . here ya go thanks guys it turned out well.http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/96977/hello-friends#post_526400