Your best tip for a Newbie (gnubee)

[pit 4 brains]

I'll repeat one or two...
Practice on some cheap cuts like butts a few times until your experience and confidence builds.

Keep the lids closed! Opening that lid to look at the meat every 10 minutes will extend your cook time dramatically.

Use the same fuel type for a while to minimize variables. If you start with Kingsford,

, stay with it. If you start with lump, stay with it..

Get the coals lit and don't mess with them. It's not a fireplace or a campfire. Add wood/coal/chips when necessary and leave it alone.

Adjust damper(s) a little at a time and watch for the reaction. Learn how to use your dampers to control heat and smoke..

You can write info like start time, hourly temps and other notes on your smoker with some chalk. I found it to be handy on long smokes. You can mark your damper positions as well..

Have patience, start early. Nothing will be done when you first expect it to.

 

[bbq engineer]

Don't over smoke...keep the smoke thin and blue...it doesn't take an enormous amount of smoke to make meat delicious. Even if you can't see smoke, if you can smell it, so can your meat.

You can ruin a piece of meat if you have to see massive amounts of smoke to be comfortable.

 

[morkdach]

after you read all of this pop open another cold one and get started dont forget the camera and show us what ya did.

 

[nwdave]

As one of those newbies, I'll repeat a lot of what has been said but, be patient, be a good student and read, read, read. I've found a ton of information which goes into two types of storage, either cut and paste into windows folders if they're the Q-View type (and believe me, there are lots of information associated with those pictures) or if it's a recipe with notes and observations, it goes into my copy of MasterCook, a electronic cookbook within my computer. When I did my New Years Eve Pastrami style Brisket, I had 7 documents with Q-View in my SmokingMeatForums/Brisket/Pastrami folder. It's all there, scattered amongst all those documents is a pattern that's easily discernible.
Know your smoker. Unless it's a home construct, somebody on SMF has probably seen it, used it or knows somebody who has. As far as the home construct goes, somebody may know the flow system involved and can offer advice.
If you haven't taken the e-Course, take it. It may be basic, but it's foundational material and very encompassing.
Jeff's Newsletter Archives. another excellent source.

Unless you've got a lot of experience, don't make your first excursion into smoking one of 3-4 courses of meat and all the families and neighbors gathered around. Baby steps. Smokers cooking in the summer are not the same smoker in the dead of winter. Pilots don't start off with rumbling down the runway in a 747, they started out in ground school first, then worked their way up to that 747.

Oh, and unless you want to get pestered to death, get some kind of camera and learn how to submit Q-Views. These guys and gals figure if there's no picture, it didn't happen.

Carpe diem

 

[travcoman45]

"Good BBQ is like the Mississippi, It Takes it's own sweet time" - Stubbs.

Lotta truth in that statement.

 

[meat hunter]

Don't assume the thermometer that came with your unit is accurate, make sure it is.

Learn the difference between lots of white smoke and thin blue smoke and how you get them.

Ask questions if you don't know, understanding that in here, there is no such thing as a dumb one. Well all started as a newbie.

Keep a log of your recipes and the methods used in your smoke. Makes it much easier to make adjustments to your recipes if you need to as well as knowing how your smoker will work with the given weather conditions, i.e. wind, humidity temp and so on.

Cook to temp, not to time.

Don't be discouraged by undesirable results. If one person can do, so can you. Here's where a log comes in handy.

Have fun doing it.

 

[rickw]

Don't get to excited if you have temp swings.

 

[bman62526]

All good advice...

I would say, start with a small pork butt or a small chuck roast - before trying to tackle a brisket or spare ribs...the latter two aren't as forgiving!

 

[chefrob]

pops and shooter rick said the 1st 2 things that came to me.....


also don't be afraid to ask questions and leave your ego at the door! i have been cooking 25 yrs professionaly, been classicly trained, have certifications but when it came to smoking........i knew bupkis! i might have less of a learning curve but i stll knew nothing compared to many on this board. as an old chef once told me........."you would be surpised at how much you can learn if you would just shut your mouth!"

 

[meat hunter]

LOL. Ain't that the truth.
Thats why we have 2 ears and one mouth. We should listen twice as much as we speak