Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

14 lbs of butt went on an hour ago. I'm going to have to cheat, wrap, and put it in the oven to finish. I may bump the temp up on the smoker as well after the first few hours.

 

Still trying to find a place to get good meat in this town. Everything is butchered . 5lb butt, I'll see where temp is at around 4pm and decide if it will need wrapped. Guess the bonus to it being small is that I have room to cook brats on the outside of it for lunch.

 

I've thought of that, but then I run the risk of the fire burning too hot with no way of controlling the airflow. Besides, my wife has already approved the purchase of a new smoker since I kept her awake 1/2 the night messing with this one.

 

Ribs are on, 1 shot of 1800 down for good luck!

 

Have another! On me!!

 

Done, thanks!!

 

Brisket is half way done and now the chicken is on.

 

going to fire up the smoker in a few for a chicken. Going to be a good late lunch or early dinner

 

Drill one at a time!! I'd keep that old thing and figure it out. Can never had enough smokers!

What are you going to buy?

 

Wtf lol that is awesome
In that setup airflow is what's keeping ur temps down not insulation unless ur in the arctic circle or something lol
I'd be playin with a 3/4" drill bit and some sheet metal (foil for the mockup)
And keep that nasty fiberglass away from the pork lol

 

I took the WSM 14 I picked up off craigslist to Lake Havasu this weekend. Smoked a Costco pre-prepped tri tip and a giant 2"+ ribeye.

I just smoked the ribeye to 140 without doing a reverse sear and it was the perfect drunk snack for us and the neighbors we were partying with. Just sliced it up in thin pieces on a platter.

I also learned that Costco cannot marinate a tri tip better than I can. I was just too much.

So far I am loving the WSM 14 and the ThermoPro.

 

My first smoked meatloaf. It's very juicy and smells awesome. I was going to smoke a brisket but I didn't get my shit together in time.

 

Damn I hate trying to post here with my phone! Poor pic I know, but jalapeno poppers fresh out of my garden just added to the cook. More 1800 has been applied as well.

edit: It's also 76f here on the 4th, instead of being like the surface of the sun. Global warming?

 

From that pic it looks like the juice is... like not done? Shirley you checked the meat temp? Just sayin'

Also, did you mix in mixed vegetables?

 

Don't call him Shirley.

 

This is only my second batch, so I'm far from an expert. First batch the london broils was sliced way too thin. Came out nearly transparent and crispy like pringles. This time we had it sliced thicker - about 3/8". The machine uses numbers and the butcher used 3.5, which we eyeballed close to 3/8". Next time we want a bit thicker, so we'll try 4.5.

Anyway, on recommendation of a friend I use High Mountain cure, cracked pepper and garlic. First time we used the recommended amount of spice but it wasn't enough. This batch I added more, and it was better, but next time I'll augment with my own garlic and pepper.

https://www.himtnjerky.com/Cracked-Pepper-N-Garlic-Blend-Jerky-Kit.html

As for smoking it - I looked at a lot of different techniques and ended up just doing my own thing. Since the jerky was a bit thicker I let it cure for about 28 hours (vs 24 for 1/4" slices). Put the rack in the smoker with CookingPellets 100% hickory in an Amazin smoke tube and let that go for about 3 hours (pellet grill off). Then I fired up the smoker and did my best to keep the temp around 160f. I just checked it periodically until it got to the texture I wanted - a bit chewy, not crunchy, but cooked completely. I would say about 3-4 hours (ground beef needs to hit 165f to be safe, muscle meat is 145f).

 

I took it to IT 160 and it's got cheese, break crumbs and onions mixed in. I'm experimenting on what I like. I sucked at rolling though. I also threw in some seasoning.

 

I talked to the butcher about eye of round. The stuff he showed me was fairly small. I may try a different place and see what they have.

 

This was with a pretty well known rub.


This one was with the Rub-a-dub.

As mentioned earlier, I got a late start. The bark isn't what I wanted, but what I could get in the time I had it on the smoker. I pulled both at around 145, put them in the pans, added some apple juice, wrapped, and threw them in a 275 deg oven. I'm sure the flavor will be there, but will miss the bark.

We are going to eat some today, give some away, then i'm keeping arounnd 3-4 lbs. for some tamales this week.