What a site!

[big b smokin]

Wow! I really haven't gotten anything done at work this entire week going through all the threads & questions! I'm in Dallas, TX and completely new to the "smoking" world! I went to a buddy's BBQ joint in the outer banks, NC and absolutely loved the pulled pork, ribs, brisket...all of it!! So I went out and got a Master Forge dual door smoker...see if I can capture some/any of that flavor!

I've got my first smoke tomorrow with a 7lb butt & a rack of baby backs!

I made the dry rub last night..will apply it tonight after work for an early AM smoke. The dry rub called for a 1/2 cup of salt...looking at other recipes..most contain only a couple tablespoons of salt...I'm now freaking out that my dry rub will completely dry out the meat! What do you all think?

Anyway...the forum is fantastic for a newbie like me and couldn't thank you all enough for all the great reviews/tips/etc..

Talk soon!

 

[mballi3011]

 First off welcome Big B to SMF. You'll like it here cause there are alot of really good folks that would just love to help you with anything to do with smoking. Now we like having new folks here to give a new prospective on some of the ways we do things around here. Now if you are really new then I would suggest that you sign up fir the 5-day E-course it free and it will give you the basics on smoking and a few recipes too. Here's a link to it:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/list/127

then you will have a method to your newly found madness and believe me it will be a madness. Then when you start smoking things you will have to learn how to post the pictures / Qview 

here. So here's a link to a tutorial on how to post your Qview so we can see what your doing.

 http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/82034/how-to-post-qview-to-smf

Now the next thing you have to do is run out and get something to smoke. Then just smoke it and if you have any questions just post  them here and we will answer all your questions that you might have. Oh yea there's no stupid questions we were all there in the beginning and we just really like to help others enjoy the fabulous smoked foods that we do. So again

Welcome to Your New Addiction  

Go GATORS

 

[desertlites]

Welcome to the site B b. You will get most your questions answered here.as far as the salt I would say ya that's a bit much depending on how many dry quarts u made.you will find its going to be a taste thing with your rub ingreadents.as far as salt I keep it toned down.Im doing a 34 hr. Reset in Langcaster as I type and was able to get the grill off the truck and smoke some bratts and ham today.welcome to the site and get some work done.

 

[arnie]

Welcome to the forum!

I wouldn't put the rub on more than a couple three hours prior to smoking or you'll end up with a "hammie" taste. IMHO

 

[beer-b-q]

 

Welcome to SMF, Glad to have you with us.
 

This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.
 

For those of you new to Smoking, be sure to check out Jeff's 5 Day Smoking Basics eCourse.

Click Here it's "FREE" ... 5 Day eCourseE

 

[fpnmf]

Welcome!!

 Here's some reading about different dry rub recipes I got from our handy dandy search tool.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/search.php?search=dry+rub+recipes  

  Craig

 

[hmcm]

Welcome aboard Big B!  As others have already mentioned, sign up for the 5 day course and it will help get things moving a little more smoothly.  At least, it did for me.  The best thing about all the stuff you pick up here is the smoked meat you get to try with the different combos of rubs, woods, spritz, sauces, etc!  It's all good!  Oh, and we all like the pictures so don't forget the "QView"!!!

Cheers!

 

[tyotrain]

Welcome Big B nice to have you.. Don't for get the Qview

 

[bmudd14474]

Welcome to the addiction

 

[Bearcarver]

Welcome Big B !

That does sound like a lot of salt, unless you're making a whole lot of rub to save for future smokes.

How much other stuff is in it?

Bear

 

[scarbelly]

 glad to have you here with us

 

[oregon smoker]

i would have to agree with Bear, at what quantity is the rest of your mix with this amount of salt, based on quanttity you may not have that much salt (based on ratios/balance) and as my wife is not here watching "salt is my friend" if the wife is around it is....deny, deny, deny the presence of anything salt related :)

 

[virginiasmokesignal]

Big B, we are really glad to have you join us here on SMF!  As you can tell there is a lot of information here for you to gleam!  One thing you might want to do is to go to the WIKI page and under the letter A there will be a space that says Acronyms, click on it and then make a copy of it and keep it close to the computer, it will help you with some of our lingo that we use here so you won't feel like.....what are they talking about?.  As far as the salt, unless your making a lot of rub that amount sounds a bit high to me too.  Have you checked out Jeff's rub and sauce recipe yet?  Might be a good starter for you to use, I have been using it with great success for about 2 years and it has never failed me on anything I put it on.  I also have a Master Forge 2dr. Gasser!  Again, glad to have you here with us!

Your SMF Friend,

Barry 

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to the party Big B. Yes that does seem like a lot of salt, unless your making a 5 gallon bucket of rub.   

  Seriously if you don't put it on until an hour before you smoke it won't dry it out, but it would give your meat a salty taste. As SmokeSignal says give Jeff's rub & sauce a try. Good luck & let us know how your Q turns out. Don't forget the Qview!

 

[big b smokin]

Thanks for all the tips!

Unfortunately, I put the rub on 12 hours prior...hopefully it's not too much salt...we shall see (was 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup sugar, then a bunch of spices - cumin, pepper, paprika, garlic powder (about a Tablespoon each)

So far I've been having a bit of trouble keeping temp at 225...goes up & down! Trying to get it right! Also, the water pan dried out much quicker than I thought it would...first hour!

My internal temp for the butt went from 40 degrees at start time...and is now at 77 in just over an hour...seems like it's shooting up pretty fast!?!? Is that pretty normal?

Also, not a whole lot of smoke coming out...so not sure what that's all about?

I'll keep tweaking and see how the day goes!

I'll try to post some pics when all is said and done!

Thanks!

 

[eman]

Welcome to SMF!

 Here is my no salt pig rub.

You can add salt to suit your taste.

1/4 c paprika

1/4 cup onion powder

1/4c garlic powder

1/4 c course ground black pepper

2tsp celery seed

2tsp ground mustard

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp nutmeg

1 1/4 c dark brown sugar

Good basic rub that you can add to to suit your taste

 

[mossymo]

Majority of the time thermometers that come with smokers are not accurate and need to be replaced with better quality, accurate thermometers. Do you have an oven thermometer you trust that can set on a rack to check the temperature?

After your smoke you can check the thermometer that came with your smoker by placing it in water as it just begins to boil, should read very close to 212º.

 

[SmokinAl]

40 to 77 in an hour seems about right, but as Mossy said you need to have accurate therms. One for the grate & one for the meat. You don't want a lot of smoke coming out. If you can smell smoke but not see any or see very little that's perfect. Ninja smoke or TBS. Billowing white smoke is not good. Sounds like everything is perfect so far.

 

[big b smokin]

Finished product from the Saturday smoke...pork butt took WAY longer than expected...7.1 lb butt took close to 13 hours....internal temp got stuck in the 160s for what seemed FOREVER!! Totally worth the wait! Removed from smoker once hit 199 degrees...FANTASTIC!!

Thanks everyone for all the help...was a successful smoke!!

Can't wait to try some new rubs/sauces/etc...I think I'll try no foil on the pulled pork next time...was a little too moist (if that's possible!

Pics below:

 

[fourashleys]

now that's what I'm talking about!!! NICE!!