Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I did put some sauce on it....didn't need it but it was delicious nonetheless!! Second butt I've ever made , first on the gator.

 

Loved the bacon I made, but it was really greasy. So I just started a 9 lb pork butt curing into buck board bacon. Broke it down into 2 lb chunks for better cure. Should be ready to smoke Friday night or Saturday. Should be like a ham got together with a pork belly and had a beautiful, bacony child. Can't wait!

 

Got a couple racks on the smoker now. I'm doing some experimentin' for an End of Summer BBQ I'm having soon. Wrapping one using the 3-2-1 method with a little beer under it and honey drizzled on it, while the other no wrap. All have the same rub but I'll lightly sauce 1/2 of each rack towards the end so that I'll have 4 different kinds/methods to taste. Using CookingPellets brand Hickory...

I'd like to get a brisket and 4 racks of ribs on my smoker for the party but it may not fit. I'm looking into a rib rack or baking rack.

 

Rib racks are awesome. I can fit 5 racks of ribs on my egg-type smoker in a rib rack.

 

Taking it easy tonight with a pork loin.

 

So here are the results of my rib tasting according to the group:

The same dry rub applied to all:

Ribs smoked with no wrap, very light sauce = #1
Ribs smoked with no wrap, no sauce = #2
Ribs with 2 hour wrap using 3-2-1 method (beer w/some honey drizzle in the wrap), light sauce =#3
" ", no sauce =#4.

I used a smoke tube filled w/hickory pellets and dust for about 5 hours. You could taste the smoke flavor in the unwrapped ribs (not overwhelming) but it was absent from the wrapped ones. Also, the texture of the wrapped ribs was slightly - mushy.

Hands down unwrapped was the unanimous winner!

 

They are amazing and cheap too. I love to use it for everything. Cheese comes out GREAT!

 

Your almost braising when you add liquid to a covered or wrapped meat. When I do the 3-2-1, I typically add a bit of dry rub and maybe some fat(butter) if they were trimmed or looked lean. I usually do the 3-2-1 when I don't have as much time to monitor them if we have people over, it's not as easy to mess them up.

 

I'm looking at renting an offset smoker within the next month or so. I've been looking to buy one, and figured it's time to see if this is the route I want to go.

I've done overnight smokes with briskets before, but I'd like to try it with the offset. Does anyone have experience doing it? Would it be possible, and if so, how long can you leave the box unattended before you need to stoke it or add more wood? The smoker I'm going to look at getting would be a 20" dia Trailer Smoker and grill 60” cooking area, 58” tall smoker and 26” fire box grill.

 

I've read that depending on the size of the wood and box will determine how often you need to check it.

 

I've done it and its just a lot of work keeping the charcoal going...

I want to get a true smoker like the weber.. but money doesn't allow for that

 

Right now, I'm using my little old smokey (medium size and doing the fuse method with pecan chunks). It's worked out well, but I'd love to have more space.

For the cost of renting the smoker for the weekend, I could easily buy an electric one for the same price

That's what I figured. I didn't mind doing it when I was learning. But now that I've gotten good with the fuse method, it's nice to not have to babysit all the time.

 

I want to say mine would go for around four hours on a loaded fire box, though my smoker had crappy insulation and I run a fan controller.

Hard to say, every smoker has it's own personality.

 

It depends on how well the offset is built. Thicker fire box 1/4" or more tends to hold heat better and not need as many logs. My Lang 60 needed a split about every half hour to an hour to maintain 250F.

 

This would be the smoker I'd rent:

http://texasoriginalpits.com/collec...ucts/luling-offset-smoker-pit-trailer-mounted

 

^This. I started using a new brand of pellet in my smoker and while they are miles ahead of the old brand in flavor they burn both hotter and inconsistent. I bought some fire brick from Lowe's and lined the bottom of the smoker under the drip tray. It's helped even out the temperature swings from the inconsistent pellets and opening/closing the lid.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_34454-215-6...dcastle&CAWELAID=&CAWELAID=320011480001416589

 

That is poetry man, almost brought a tear to my eye

 

I might throw some of these in during the winter!

 

That is a nice rig. Most stick burners eat fuel so you will need a good source for wood. The first hour or two takes a lot of fuel until you get a good coal bed going, then it's just maintenance after that. A small hot fire is easier to control than a large inferno. You will want to first run the smoker with the firebox door open and the stack open and let it get up to temp say towards 300F. Then dial the heat down to 250 or your desired temp via the door and dampers then add your meat the the cooking chamber after you start seeing sweet blue. Make sure to use good seasoned splits (not whole logs) as they burn cleaner and catch easier.

If you want to see where the hot spots are get some cheap biscuit dough and place the biscuits all over the chamber and see which ones cook first. Also a good method of keeping clean smoke is to place the next split or two that you plan on adding on top of the fire box to preheat it. Do it about 15-20 minutes before you plan to put it in otherwise if you forget about it they can catch fire. I use a pair of thick welding gloves to move my wood around...wait that didn't come out right.

 

I don't even need latex gloves to mess with my wood....