SnP Pro Smoking

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

subzero

Newbie
Original poster
May 21, 2009
27
10
Sin City
Greeting All!
I'm a newbie and hoping to get some guidance.

My step-dad gave me an SnP Pro the other day. It's well used and has seen many smokes.

I tried my very first smoke ever today (2 pork picnic shoulders). I must admit, it was quite the trial. My biggest problem was temperature control. I had a heck of a time getting, and keeping it under 300.

Here's what I did..
1.5 full chimneys of unlit briquettes into the firebox, then about 15 briquettes of lit on top of that, off to the vent side of the firebox. Threw on about 4 chunks of hickory, opened the firebox vent all the way, and closed the lid.

(Then the meat goes on)

Within 20 minutes or so, the temp was over 300. I closed the intake vent half-way, and waited another 20 minutes. Same temp. Now it became a game of constant tending, and chasing temps. Opening the cooking door to lower the temp, closing the vent, spreading out the charcoal...etc.

At about 1.5-2 hrs in, I was able to maintain around 240, then the temp dropped to 200-210. Frustration set in at about the 6hr mark, where the internal meat temp was at 155. I pulled it off, and foiled it, popped it into a 250 oven for the remaining cook, until it hit 198, then rested for 2 hrs and pulled/shredded.

I guess my questions are:
Did I start with too much charcoal? Should I have started with the vent less than fully open? Was that too much wood? Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully in the future, my posts will be long with Q views :)

On the plus side, once all was said and done, the meat was fantastic!

Thanks!
 
Off sets are a challenge. I have an inexpensive Charbroil Silver Smoker. Similar to yours?
Thin metal and leaky. What I do with the fuel.

Fill the charcoal basket with wood and charcoal keeping it piled toward the vent side. I use lump for cooking.
Add 10, or so, lit briquettes to the fuel. Not on top but to the side away from the vents. Typically vents are not open more than half way.
Close it up and wait for the white smoke to disappear.
Adjust vents as needed.
Catch the temps on the way up and manage them that way. Once they get too high, you are in for a ride.
When you add fuel, push the hot coals away from the vents and add as much fuel as you want to the vent side of the charcoal basket. Do not add on top of the hot or you will get lots of billowy white smoke.
Good luck and have fun.
 
subzero -

you ahve a great unit that needs just a little tweaking. i'd suggest downloading the BBQFAQ and having a look at that. here's a link to a SAFE zip of the word document file. you can put it on your desktop and refer to it anytime:

http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2-w97.zip

beyond that, there are some easy and auick modifications you can do in order to even out the temps of your unit. some quick and dirty ones (for lack of a better term) are to raise your "drip pan" up above the hole between the firebox and smoking chamber - this acts as a bit of a baffle/manifold and also helps force smoke and heat along under the grates, evening temps, airflow and so on. also, put your charcoal up on the top grate of the firebox (the one that is usually meant for grilling). this will give yu lots of airflow underneath and promote even and efficient burning. finally, go to a muffler shop with your chimney base and have him swage in a length of exhaust pipe. the total length of the pipe should be 9.5 inches WITH ONE END CUT AT A 45-DEGREE ANGLE. the pipe needs to be fitted so that the angled potion sets flush above of your 3rd grate. this should only cost 4 to 6 dollars. one last thing is to get some dryer vent tape and close up the big holes at either end of the smoking chamber. this will keep heat and smoke and air going where they are supposed to go.

the mods described above are first steps only and written for the brinkmann SnP. yours being an SnP pro, there might be slight differences, but the baisic diea should be the same. once these are done, start saving up for a well-designed charcoal basket (RIVET'S design is the best i've seen and the same one that i use now) and a good baffle/manifold for your unit (once again, RIVET'S design is an outstanding place to start. you will see dramatic improvement in your unit's performance with these final mods and you should be able to tune your pit so that temps are consistent across the smoking chamber and you also use much, much less charcoal. with just the beginning mods mentioned above, i've cut my charcoal use in half.

but, all that said, the SnP is still a bit of a hog when it comes to charcoal due to it's size and incredible cooking surface area, as well aas it's beautiful draw on air. think of it as a nice double-pump holley carb sitting on top of an LT-1 on a camaro. sure, you could get from point A to point B in a daiwoo, but why the heck would you want to?

when RIVET catches this thread, he'll be able to give you some really good technical information - if you ahve any further questions, just ask!
 
I've caught it!
biggrin.gif


But then again....there's not much I can add right now to what TasunkaWitko said up there. He's nailed it dead on!

Dont be afraid to ask questions and get ideas. You may come up with something none of us have thought of before!
 
Awesome. Thanks guys!

I'm sure the next smoke will go a bit smoother now.

Thanks for the tips!

Next time...q view
PDT_Armataz_01_34.gif
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky