What to do with a big smoker?

[burg]

I have never smoked anything and I have moved into a house with a giant smoker in the garage.  It is electric, seems to be 20-30 years old, and says "Harris" across the front.  It has the capacity of a large refrigerator and a large smokestack out the roof.  I am not sure if it works yet, but am thawing out a pork loin for the first attempt.  

What I really want to know is, for what purpose is the smoker so large?  I can only eat so much meat at a time.  

 

[so ms smoker]

 Welcome to SMF! I sure hope that big smoker works for you. Right now it may seem to be too large but as you use it you will make lots of friends that will help you eat all that you can smoke! Good luck and have fun with it.

Mike

 

[adiochiro3]

I fill my smoker up almost every time I fire it. We can eat a week + on a good smoke. Start small and get the hang of it, and soon you'll probably be filling it up too! And So MS is right -- you're about to make a bunch of new friends once the word is out!

 

[SmokinAl]

Bigger is better!

 

[alblancher]

Burg,

Welcome to the forum

First thing to do is go outside and turn the smoker on.  They may have left it there for a reason!  Bring your heat up gradually as high as you can then let it settle down to the 240 range and let it go for a while.  Get an independent temp gage and check the actual chamber temps.   One thing you don't want to do is put food in the thing, have it get hot and then find out that after an hour or so the elements burn out.

If if has been sitting a while you may want to make sure there are no critters living a happy life in there somewhere and check to see if it needs a good cleaning.   After getting it hot you may be able to go in there, scrape off some of the accumulate gunk, and give it a good wipe down.

Like adiochiro3 said once you get it going buy a large freezer and vacuum sealer.   Smoked meat freezes well once sealed.  It can be expense running it all day so make the best use of it and fill er up.

Al

 

[sunman76]

Got any pics of it to post up.. sounds like a heck of a deal

 

[alelover]

 Glad to have you. Can't wait to see some pics of your new smoking beast.

 

[tjohnson]

Fill It

Smoke it

Go Broke

Do ti again!

TJ