Good ol' ECB first timer here....

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bigbountybbq

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 1, 2010
20
10
Palm Springs, CA
Just got the little guy a few days ago, did the fire pan mod, and was smokin in no time!. Didn't have many problems keeping up temps but did have a layer of what looks like fine ash on the top of my pork shoulder after 4hrs. The sides and bottom looked great, but the top looked almost blackened? I'm thinking I added too many wood chips throughout the process, would that be it? I was adding a handful of wet and dry Jack Daniels chips every 30-45 mins or so. Any ideas/tips? 
 
Hmm, sure it was ash??  maybe you were making too much smoke??  Were you shakin the coal pan around alot??.... bc just like grilling when you disturb the coals too much....ash goes everywhere and in a smoker the only place for it to go is on your grub.   i don't know, i'm sure someone else will chime in here shortly....when i use my ecb i sometimes make a chip pouch out of foil bc I found that I was burning my chips up too fast just tossin them on the coals.
 
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Thanks for the reply porklvr, I'm pretty sure I was adding too many chips. I smoked a 3 lb shoulder last night with only about half as many chips, came out perfect! I did make a newbie mistake and started "smoking" without the water pan for the first 20mins, haha guess I had it lightly grilled before I started the smoke...
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Live and learn my friend. That's what this is all about. Have fun with it and ask questions. Lots of great people with lots of experience to share.

If you haven't taken the E-course you should check it out. Good info for the beginner smoker.
 
Live and learn my friend. That's what this is all about. Have fun with it and ask questions. Lots of great people with lots of experience to share.

If you haven't taken the E-course you should check it out. Good info for the beginner smoker.
Thanks so much! People around here seem to be real friendly! I'll be sure to check out the E-course! Smoking is really great, I'm 24 and all my friends look at me like im an idiot in the backyard tending to fire n smoke. But they don't get invited to dinner
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Hey brother,

What ever you do, don't tend the fire with the barrel over the coal bed. I remove the barrel most of the time to add briquettes,  etc. If not, I have notticed that more often than not, I'll have ashes on the meat. With removing the barrel and placing it on a flat surface, you don't lose tons of heat. Also, when you add coals, you can shake a bit of the ashes off and let the fire stand in the open for a minute if needed to get things heated up again before placing the barrel back on the fire.

I have the Gourmet, which is a step above the original, but it still needed plenty of mods to get it so you could have good fire control.

Good luck with the new toy! I love playin' with mine just for a bit more challenge...my other rigs are too easy...LOL!!!!!!!

Enjoy the forums!

Oh, please, drop by Roll Call when you get a chance and introduce yourself there, so we can give you a proper welcome to the boards

.

Eric
 
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If they look at you like you're an idiot now, wait till you start taking pics of your food. My wife still looks at me like like I'm a dope
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LOL...My wife looks at me the same way...till it's time to eat....every time she sees me with the camera she says "You are out of control"
 
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