Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Worthless for internal temps.

 

x2

Just get one og the digital ones that have the steel braided remote cables. Most I ever saw one sold for was 20, least was 1.50

 

If the wood chips are small, i soak them in water other wise they flame up and cause creosote on the meat which is really bitter. If they are larger chunks of wood, i dont' soak them in water.

Like he said, with out the smoker box, put your heat source on one side and the meat on the other. You might even put up a heat shield made of foil to keep the direct heat off the meat.

 

Heat/Smoke residue staining...I use the thing quite a bit, always thought a wire brush would weaken the ceramic

 

Just adds character, no reason to clean it.

 

finally made one of my own mini WSMs. first smoke ever was a 10# turkey for people that didnt have family to visit on Thanksgiving. Second smoke was 10# of spare ribs and 7# of chix wings for the Broncos loss to the ravens. made my own rub from a recipe i found online and even had to make a little shelter to keep the heat in (it was 6-10*F during the smoke). ribs were the best i have ever had!! cant wait to do more...anyways, here are some pics...

 

^this rig is pretty cool too...I've used a shelter in cold weather as well, but not as serious as yours!

 

thanks man! i actually just started out w/ cardboard i was throwing up, but hten remembered i had some leftover wood from making a bed, so made a shelter real quick to replace the cardboard. I will be adding that bubble wrap foil insulation stuff to the inside, as well as a wooden front and roof, just ran out wood.

 

Should I only need to add charcoal once, at the beginning? Same with the wood, only add once?

So, does this sound ok:
- light non-treated coals on one side of bbq, let coals turn white,
- add a couple hand fulls of wood chunks directly on top of white hot coals,
- HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT UNITL MEAT IS ADDED?
- add meat to other side of grill (cooking indirectly),
- cook for 2-3 hours and check internal temp of meat,
- pull meat once internal temp is around 150 F,
- wrap loosely in foil and let sit on counter for 15 min before cutting against the grain.

 

I will typically put some unlit charcoal down first and the put lit charcoal on top of it. As it burns it will light more charcoal and give you a longer burn. Be careful getting too much charcoal lit because you will get your temps too high in the smoker. Your ideal temps are 210* - 250*. I typically will get the charcoal going and let the temps settle before adding the wood and meat. You will also want a water pan of some sort in the smoker to 1) help regulate the temperature and 2) keep the meat moist.

Your internal meat temp will vary with what you are cooking.

pork shoulder - 195*
pork loin - 165*
Chicken/Turkey - 165*
Beef - depending on how you like it 125* - 140*
Brisket - 200*

These are just some rough guidlines.

 

Thanks Adam.

Been watching Pittmasters and getting the urge to smoke.

 

It's addicting. I want to build a smoke house to do colder temp smoking for things like summer sausage and bologna.

 

here is how i load my charcoal... http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/fireup2.html

also how to build a mini wsm.. http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/miniwsm.html

 

Everything looks good! It makes me want to perfect my smoking process. I like the idea of the smoker box. I bet I can come up with something. I like the idea of putting uncooked coal in the bottom of the bowl as well. I usually add some while I am smoking.

 

Buy a smoke generator, you can smoke at any temp you desire. Smoked cheese is the food of Gods..

 

This might be a little long winded but since this thread was started as tips/tricks and techniques I figure what the hell.

Here's what I would do when smoking on that type of grill.

So, does this sound ok:
- light non-treated coals on one side of bbq, let coals turn white, If the grill has intake vents on both the sides I would close the one under the exhaust stack and build my fire on the opposite side and use that vent only to control the air flow. Start with a pile of kingsford blue and mix in a few wood chunks if you're doing a longer smoke like a pork butt or brisket, also place a chunk or 2 on top of the pile. Then fire up 20 or so briquettes in a charcoal chimney and dump them on top of the pile. Let the top and bottom vents wide open until you get within 50* of your target temp then shut down the bottom vents a bit. If you're having trouble keeping temps down close the top vents. Use a little patience and try not to chase your temps, or you'll be out there f-ing with the vents all day, if you find a temp that is consistent let it ride. Anywhere from 225-325* will get er done. I prefer to cook around 275*. If you notice the grill loosing temp too much and notice you're running out of coals just add more on top, at this point you probably won't need to add any more wood.

- add a couple hand fulls of wood chunks directly on top of white hot coals, If you're doing a shorter cook like ribs or chicken start your fire the same way except you don't need to mix chunks throughout, just pile up the charcoal and dump a few lit coals on top, you could just add a couple fist sized chunks on top and that would be fine. Just remember to wait for thin blue before you throw the meat on.

Side note: When I'm cooking on my egg I start it by using a pile of lump charcoal and throwing on 2 weber lighter cubes. After about 10 minutes I place a chunk of wood on each spot and wait for thin blue. I get plenty of smoke this way for everything from butts to chicken. Every pit is different so you'll once again have to figure out what works best for you. I suggested this method for you because I know you will burn through more coals than I do on the ceramic cooker.

- HOW LONG SHOULD I WAIT UNITL MEAT IS ADDED? Wait until the thick white smoke stops pouring out, typically this can take 30-45 minutes. It should turn a thin blue color and will get to the point where you see almost no smoke at all. That's the good stuff. When you hold your hand over the exhaust, smell it, it should still smell like smoke. The billowy white stuff is bad acrid smoke that will impart unpleasant flavor in your meat.

- add meat to other side of grill (cooking indirectly), Yes, and a nice thing about a grill like yours is you can add smoke to pretty much anything by cooking it on the cooler side for a while and searing it over the hot fire to finish, things like steaks, burgers, chicken and tri-tip.

- cook for 2-3 hours and check internal temp of meat,
- pull meat once internal temp is around 150 F,
- wrap loosely in foil and let sit on counter for 15 min before cutting against the grain.

I'm not sure what you're planning on cooking but it's a good idea to keep an eye on the internal temp and the temp of your pit. The thermometer on your pit is probably off as most of them are, and the temp on your thermo is probably reading in the middle of the grill so keep in mind it will be cooler on the side without the fire. The one in-disposable tool I have is my maverick ET-732, it has two probes one for the meat and one for the pit. It's an updated version of the ET-73. The newer version has more range and less problems from what I hear. Spend the extra money, it even comes in

Maverick Wireless BBQ Thermometer Set - Maverick ET732 Special Edition Black

black now. It comes with a clip that you can attach to your grate in the area you are cooking to give you a more accurate pit temperature. I set the alarms for pit and internal temp and put it on my nightstand upstairs in my bedroom so I can get some shut eye.

It's a good idea to rest the meat no matter what it is. Butts and brisket I would wrap in foil and place in a cooler lined with towels for at least an hour. I've held butts up to 5 hours in a cooler and they were still too hot to pull when they came out. 15 minutes would be fine for most meats.

I find that the meat is done when it's done. Use a probe like a wooden skewer or thermometer probe to test for doneness, when the probe slides in like it's going through warm butter it's time to pull. This goes for butts and brisket. For ribs you can use the toothpick test, when a toothpick slides in between the bones with little resistance they are done. I mostly rely on the bend test with ribs though. When you pick up a rack with your tongs and it bends 90 degrees without falling apart they are done.

Sometimes my butts will be at 195 when they are probe tender and sometimes not until 205 or more. Pork I take to about 145 to avoid drying it out. Chicken to 165 on breasts and 175 on thighs and legs, the dark meat holds up better to the higher temp IMO. Wings I've had temp out in the 190's and are just fine. I've never measured the internal temp on ribs, just use the above methods to tell when they are done.

Oh, I almost forgot...make sure you have enough beer.

 

I agree, one of these is next on my list. I can't wait to smoke some cheese.

http://www.amazenproducts.com/

 

My buddy gave me a shit ton of duck, i have a couple bags in my fridge that have been thawing out. I wanted to do something with them tonight so I can throw them into the smoker in the morning, but I know absolutely nothing about duck. Its mostly small breasts, as well as small chunk too. He had them soaking in salt water(?) because it helps soak out the blood of something. I took them out and washed them off, now I dont know what to do. Was just gonna season some with salt, pepper. Throw some in the a bag with some teryaki, then I don't know. I have been looking online but everything is for whole ducks. I don't have apple juice or anything to make a good brine.

 

That is on the list for my smoke house. Its really hard to smoke at the low temps with the weber.