Another new member, novice smoker.

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jcb62

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 31, 2012
5
10
Clarklale, MI
Hello all.  Am I glad I came across this forum.  I'm a long time griller from SE Michigan who has finally pulled the trigger on a smoker. I've smoked a few items on my gas grill with moderate success, but I've wanted to get into this hobby a little deeper, and finally pulled the trigger. After reading a lot of reviews on Amazon, I settled on a Smokey Joe Electric smoker, for both practical and economical reasons.  This weeknd will  be my first smoke, if it's decent weather (is 40 degrees outside too cold for smoking?). Since I'm a noob, I'm going to start with some babybacks and bone in chicken I had in the freezer, so if I screw it up, no big loss.  I make my own BBQ rub and like to make my own sauce so I will be checking out some good sauce recipies on this site...any suggestions?

Couple questions for you veterans.....sorry if they sound stupid....

1. My smoker has a water pan below the bottom rack.  I know a lot of people use apple juice, water, beer, etc in there. Some dont use any...is it then a drip pan?   It seems like that pan will act as a drip pan as well....sort of confusing.

2. Wood chips / cunks...do you soak yours first. I always assumed so, but after reading some of the posts here, it seems like a lot of you dont ( or just dont mention it in your posts)

3. How often do you add chips to the chip tray?  How much do you start with?

Well...hopefully I'll get some quick tips from you folks.  I look forward to learning much from this vast resource.  Thanks guys!

jcb62
 
Hello JCB62 glad to see you found us - 
welcome1.gif
to SMF - On you questions I would post them in the smokers section so we can get you some quick answers. 

Please do us a favor and update your profile to include your location 

Thanks 
 
howdy
welcome1.gif


sorry can't answer you questions I don't cook to much on my sparky, But I have to add some chips about every 20 to 30 mins for the smoke to keep flowing.  As far as the water pan I start off with some water in there but when it is gone I don't ever fill it back up because I just do short cooks on it. 

Someone with that style of smoker will be along to give you some good advise for sure!
 
First off 
welcome1.gif
 to SMF . You have come to the right place for smoking info. This site is loaded with great info just use the search bar at top of page to find what you are looking for. If you can't locate the answer just ask folks here are willing to share there knowledge. I suggest you take  the 5 day e-course on smoking its chuck full of great info.Smoking  5-Day e-Course
Couple questions for you veterans.....sorry if they sound stupid....NO stupid questions round here only dumb question is the one not asked, as we all are willing to help.

1. My smoker has a water pan below the bottom rack.  I know a lot of people use apple juice, water, beer, etc in there. Some dont use any...is it then a drip pan?   It seems like that pan will act as a drip pan as well....sort of confusing. most likely it will act as both I know the pan I use in my smoker does both. 

2. Wood chips / cunks...do you soak yours first. I always assumed so, but after reading some of the posts here, it seems like a lot of you dont ( or just dont mention it in your posts)

I do not soak my chips or chunks, I have tried it both ways and see little difference except the time it takes to get smoke. 

3. How often do you add chips to the chip tray?  How much do you start with? I'll let someone that has your smoker answer this as what I do may not work for your smoker. 

Well...hopefully I'll get some quick tips from you folks.  I look forward to learning much from this vast resource.  Thanks guys!

jcb62
 
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