Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

Hey my family loves your recipe! Thank you! We made it last month but I never got around to saying thanks.

Tonight, your hot Italian sausage recipe will be paired alongside @Cold Iron 's famous TacomaWorld smoked mac n cheese. A TW recipe feast!

 

When I try the 3-2-1 method, the ribs fall apart, lol they are great but just fall apart.

 

I'm glad you like it!! I just ground up 50 #'s of venison/pork put it up in casing links

 

Folks be askin’ You “How’s it Hangin’ “ once you open that Lunch box.

 

I will PM you my address.

 

Ive done the 2-1-1. Just have to find the right combo for you. Id reduce the wrap and cook time if you want less fall off the bone

 

I am changing it to something like this next time, probably still a 3-1-1 though. Same smoke time, small steam, then good temp for bark.

 

I've kinda followed Aaron Franklin and just done 2/2 on spare ribs.. I haven't had any issues with following that.

That being said ... everyone is different is how they want their ribs.. just keep track in a notebook what happened this time..what you wanna change next time etc until you find out exactly what works for YOU.

 

So it's been a while... Winter *was* over and I have 4 racks of ribs and 2 pork shoulders with rub on them sitting in the fridge for the weekend. I woke up to 3" of snow this morning, it snowed all day, and we got about 6" total. Thankfully it is supposed to be warm the next several days so hopefully it will melt.

Anyway... I finally got around to upgrading my holding cabinet with a charcoal "grill" to add heat. I wanted to be able to control the temperature a little more easily, and I went back and forth on how I wanted to do it.

Goals:
1. Cheap (relatively speaking)
2. Easy to use
3. Accurate
4. Use off the shelf components readily available from Amazon or a hardware store.

Here is what I ended up with:



What your looking at is my brainchild for controlling draft of a small charcoal fire. The "pit" consists of a 6" deep steam table pan, and a 4" deep perforated insert. I got a 3/4" barbed bulkhead fitting and some high temperature silicone tubing from Amazon, along with a cheap 12V air mattress pump, a PID temperature controller, a K thermocouple, and a 12VDC speed controller.

Bill of Materials:
Temperature controller:

$30 AGPtek® Universal Digital PID Temperature Controller RNR Control Out Dual display For Fahrenheit(F) and Celsius(C)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007MMOEWY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8
$25.99 - There are cheaper ones, but this one was available for prime delivery today.

Thermocuple:

Thermistor K-Type Probe Thermocouple Sensor & Meter Temperature Controller, 50mm/2" Long Probe Thermocouple Temperature Range from 0 to 600 °C MT-205-C-50mm

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MGG6DPH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8
$14.99 - Same as above, but this one had M8 threads which made it a perfect fit for a rivet nut in the existing hole in my smoker.

Bulkhead:

$20 Beduan 3/4" Hose Barb Thru-Bulk Bulkhead Straight Hex Union Stainless Steel Fitting

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08691NLRB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8
$21.99 - Brass would have worked just fine and would have been cheaper (~$12), but I like stainless.

1/2 size perforated pan:

AmazonCommercial 1/2 Size x 4" Deep, Anti-Jam Perforated Stainless Steel Steam Table/Hotel Pan, 22 Gauge, Pack of 2

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZQY5WJL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8
$10.00 - 2 pack so I have a spare when the first warps to shit.

1/2 size steam table pan:

6" Deep Steam Table Pan Half Size, 10 Quart Stainless Steel Anti-Jam Standard Weight Hotel GN Food Pans - NSF (12.8"L x 10.43"W)

https://www.amazon.com/Steam-Stainl...011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&s=industrial&sr=1-8
$19.99 - I didn't use this specific one because I already had one. This one sould work just fine.

Air pump:

WEY&FLY Quick-Fill DC Electric Air Pump Car Use Only, Portable Air Mattress Pump, Quick-Fill Inflator Deflator for Inflatables Items, Ideal for Outdoor Activities and Travel

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MYFNWNS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8
$7.99 - This is about as cheap as you can get one of these things. It works fine, but it isn't the best quality and I expect to wear it out at some point. For $8, I'll buy another.

Silicone Tubing:

Silicone Tubing, 3/4" ID x 1" OD - 5 Feet

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ5ZK53/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8
$22.99 - I could probably have found something cheaper and shorter, but I needed it in 2 days.

12VDC speed control:

$7 FTVOGUE 6-28V 3A Reversible Pulse Width PWM DC Motor Speed Regulator Controller Switch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PBD4CNH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s01?ie=UTF8
$4.29 - These are everywhere in all different flavors and it really makes no difference which one you use. I got this one because I can panel mount it when I am ready.


The idea is that I will pass the tubing through one of my lower vents and place the pan at the bottom of the cabinet. Everything else goes outside, and the thermocouple is mounted where the original thermometer would have been. The PID is very responsive, and the quick and dirty auto-tune I did isn't too bad. I set it to 80 degrees at the beginning, and then switched over to show the duty cycle from the PID loop. You can see it jumps up fairly quickly and then when I warm up the probe with my hand it drops back down. I used a wet paper towel to cool it a bit more to show it climbing back up. I will need to play with the speed of the blower to have enough draft to make heat quickly when I have to open the door, but not too much that it overshoots and runs away. At about the 1:45 mark, I turned up the speed control too far and the crappy 12V adapter I had couldn't handle the POWA! I'll use a be using a higher current one in normal use. I am going to set it up on the smoker tomorrow for a test run and get the PID tuned properly. Once I am happy with it, I will put it in an enclosure and make a mount for it. Wish me luck!

 

Dr Frankenstein, I presume?

 

Nothing wrong with experimenting!

 

Nah, I'm just more of a build not buy kind of guy. I get this picture in my head of how I want things to be, so I go off to the internet to search it out. Inevitably, exactly what I want doesn't exist so I resort to just making it the way I want. I freely admit, this could be a complete failure. I already know of a few potential issues. For one, the air tends to come out of the holes on the opposite side of the pan from the inlet more, so the fire will burn hotter/faster there.

 

I’ve used hot plates, tiger torches, whatever you got handy as long as it’s not lead or toxic to burn whatever you’re smokin’. When it’s Cold the key is to keep heat in. I’ve seen some pretty innovative ideas in backyards. I’m sure some have gone to market too.

 

Well, It works, but it was too hot. I put wayyyyy too much charcoal in to start with and by the time it got completely going and in the smoker, it just started to run away. It crept up to 300F before I gave up. I have a feeling that a 1/2 size pan is too large for my smoker. It's pretty well insulated so it doesn't take much heat to keep it at temperature. Too late for this weekend, but I am going to try to find a 6" deep 1/4 pan and perforated insert to do the same thing. For tomorow I'm just going to put a stainless bowl with some gravel in it to block off part of the insert. That should be enough.

 

After 2 months, I finally have a functioning smoker. First cook on it right now.

 

Been quite a while. Only variable today is that as of late the pooper has decided to spike and dip like nuts!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt080KSjvlA

 

I did not need that!

 

Thick cut pork chops, Pork Barrel rub and cherry wood.

 

Ribs. Tater salad, green beans.