Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

do what you will with this....

I have a charcoal barrel grill. It can get a “smoker box” on it but I just do coals on the regular grates and it works well enough for me. I got this as a dual gas and charcoal grill because I wanted both. I use both frequently but next time I won’t be buying a combo and I’ll likely look for a nice pellet smoker and then a mediocre gas grill.

Don’t sleep on the cover/shelter. If it can be in an overhang or car port, do it that way for sure, obviously being aware of ventilation as needed.

 

Sorry it’s probably sideways from my phone. But commence operations Tuesday smokehouse.

butt is on. Forgot when I do a butt I have to take out the top grate. So that wrinkles my plan. Was planning to smoke into the stall, toss it in the oven for a few hours and leave the house for a bit, then come back and do ribs and sausages in the smoker and I’d just put the butt back on. Won’t have room for that without my grate so might have to leave the butt in the oven to completion tonight if I want to do all my goodies.

I’ll figure something out

 

Who has refinished a traeger? Have any step by step? Looking to refinish my old one to lend it to friends and such

 

I second the Pitboss Pro 1100,
I went back and fourth deciding on switching to a pellet grill, so far I am very happy with it. Make sure you keep extra pellets on hand and keep an eye on the hopper when it is getting low

 

Using the cheating method. Went in the smoker around 730 or so this morning. Went into the oven around 1130 due to a combination of rain and me leaving the house.

Change of plans, am finishing inside due to rain and have gotten two pork loins since they were out of turkey breasts soooo later this week will be ribs pork loin (two) and then 10 sausages. I might have Over estimated my intake.

 

Hope you have a freezer!

 

Well - I also have friends. Some of us have those

I can only eat so much pulled pork, so I'll probably vac freeze some of those. The sausages will go fast, those my favorite. Was really looking forward to turkey

Side note, my venture tomorrow is going to include cleaning my shed out, cleaning my grill....I have barn doors to my shed, I'm thinking of trying to move it inside my shed. I'll have to move out whatever can't be soaked in smoke (bicyles...) but I have a barn door on one side, and a window on the other, and a door on the third. Planning to put the grill either against the 4th or between the door and barn door on the other side. Would have to move a cabinet. It's a propane grill combo so it's a little dicey, but I'm thinking of winging it - the entire back side needs to be re-done anyway since it doesn't hold back water in wind driven rains

If/When this grill "dies" I'd set up an overhang and have the propane actually "outside", and a smoker cabinet with ventilation to the outside against a wall.

 

I've read this like 3-4 times trying to picture this in my head.. but if you're actually saying that you want to run your grill inside your shed.. I'd totally advise against that.. from a a fire hazard, a health hazard and a mess hazard.

 

...that was my thought

I can get some pictures of my plan. It's detached from the house. Alternative, I could get a (real) smoker and rig up ventilation to the outside. But, my grill now is a charcoal grill and propane grill, not a smoker, which is definitely...dicey, depending what I'm doing, from a fire safety standpoint.

 

I'm thinking eventually something like this: http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=27650.msg329751#msg329751

just a quick google to find it, but maybe with a pellet smoker - not sure yet, this whole idea is in the very early stages of conception, and to be honest I've had a few beers today which isn't helping.

 

Having any sort of smoker/grill heat source inside a building liek that is liekly a violation of your local fire code but you also have to be aware of Carbon Monoxide

 

So, first and foremost, CO - I won't be sitting around inside the shed with this, enclosed for hours on end. When using it, the "barn doors" would be open, as well as either the normal door/window, so I appreciate the heads up on CO, that one I'm not worried about (for reasons as noted). I might be stupid but I'm not dumb but that is a good point.

Secondly, good point - I'll have to look at code and see if it's even allowed.

This is a ~5x10 shed in my backyard, not attached to the house. It does have electric run to it, and it's on a slab. I'd like to get my grill out of the elements and have seen a lot of enclosures, my 3-beer idea was "hey I've already got an enclosure" so this is in the very early stages of bad ideas.

 

You mentioned it wasn't in good shape? Maybe remove a couple walls and make it basically a roof type thing?

 

Smoking my first pork belly. 9 lbs worth from Costco. 6 hours in, several more to go. Going to hit a internal temp of 200F before removing. Hope this goes well!

 

The only downside is I have to explain to my wife that I need to do either a few hours of work to water tight the thing, orrrr knock it down, build a half-size shed of what we currently have (will still need some outdoor enclosed storage) and half overhang/open. So I can smoke my meats with less rust? She's a vegan



when I have a few beers I make good decisions, get bad ideas. I'll revisit in the morning!

God speed, good luck - let me know how it goes, might be my next venture.

 

I moved it inside to see what it would look like. Sorry the shed is a little messy right now.

so as mentioned CO not a problem. Now that it’s actually inside I think this is a terrible idea for the grill I currently have.

 

You are correct about keeping eye on pellet level. I think because the hopper is so big when you get to under 1/4 full they tend to "hole out".

 

Very well organized shed. Looks like a keeper. Just build a new covered BBQ area.

 

It's a terrible idea to grill inside any structure. The radiant heat from the grill would definitely catch the wall on fire.. and when you open the lid.. a flare up could easily start a fire.

Please don't put your grill in any enclosed space with the intention of using it there.

 

Have to agree with all of this and then some.

During Desert Shield\Storm was the Main Engineering Group Supervisor on the aircraft carrier USS America in addition to a few other duties.





@DC 17_3 knows what he is talking about and I agree. Totally agree.

With that said I grill on a wood deck off the second floor in large part due to mosquitoes which are the Mn. State bird here for the couple of months that we have piss poor sledding. I feel covered especially if going with a pellet pooper is important, but it has to be open also. And height for the cover better be a lot of height. More than one on here have had pellet poopers turn into a ragging fire with flames shooting up. It is a fine line. No matter what smoker or grill you are using. I do not have a cover for that reason on my deck.

I will not do an unattended cook no matter how long. Or where it is done. Have extinguishing agents in several nearby locations but they don't do you any good if it gets even a few minutes head start on you.

And happy birthday @taco-houla hope it was a good one for you. Doesn't get much better than smoking a meal on your birthday from my standpoint no matter what time you started