First smoke

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cmills

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 17, 2013
5
15
Well this is from last weekend been a little busy and just getting back here. My first smoke I did some chicken legs and a 5lb half pork loin. It turned out great to my standards and the wife and daughter even liked it! Got some pics below!

Some questions I have are:

I'm still using the stock thermometer which came up to 400 easily when seasoning the smoker had a hard time getting to 200 with the water pan and meat in??? Is this common to have trouble getting to temp? Outside temp was about 40. Or did the thermometer go bad?

What should I be doing with the lower vents? Do they serve any purpose when using gas?

Thanks for the help so far!!!


 
Looks great, really nice color to it!
I don't own a gas smoker, so I don't want to give you wrong advice on that.
Stock thermometers are notorious for being off.  I don't know what type of smoker you have, but if you can remove it, test it in boiling water.  Or if you are able to, purchase a digital with dual probes.  Some models have ones specifically made for getting temps from your grates.  Or stick one of the probes through a potato and lay it on the grate while you are cooking.  That is the most accurate way to get your temps.  From what you are describing, that can definitely happen.  It's harder to control temps on the way down than it is on the way up, if that makes sense.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the input! Going to get a new digital thermometer for sure. I checked my stock one in boiling water and it seamed to be with in 5 degrees. We'll see how the next one goes!
 
CMILLS the built in thermometer in my MES is accurate about 20% of the time. I have check it with both boiling and iced water and the consistency of the thermometer is not real good. I have an external one on order.
 
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