- Aug 23, 2017
- 3
- 10
I have the 16 x16 x 36 Smokey Mountain smoker (A032142). It's about 12-14 years old. I never really had great results with it; at least compared to my (don't laugh) Brinkman Smoke and Grill electric smoker which has no temp gauge and no vents. The Brinkman always seemed to do my ribs, wings and even pork butts really well; almost set it and forget it. I always used liquid in the water pan and had great bark on my pork and decent skin on the wings although I would usually flash fry them or crisp them up on the grill after they were done. With the SM, I always had a hard time keeping a consistent temp although I just installed a needle valve which really helped keep the temps more stable. I usually keep the 2 bottom side vents as closed as possible - to the built-in stop on the vent. This would keep it about an inch to an inch and a half open. I would usually play with the top vent although it usually ends up in the same position as the side vents. I use soaked wood chips in the wood box. I usually fill the wood box (about 8"x8"x2") to the top with the soaked wood chips. I noticed yesterday that when the wood chips started really smoking and smoldering the temp goes up about 10-20 degrees.
Yesterday I smoked 2 racks of baby backs; cut in half since the cooking racks are only 14.5" square. I had always done my ribs in a rib rack with the ribs on their side (not lying flat on the cooking grates). Yesterday I did them flat on the grates; 2 per grate. I have also always keep the food as close to the top of the smoker as possible. After 6 hours uncovered, unwrapped the ribs were still not done. I kept the smoker around 225-230 throughout the cook. It would sometimes go to about 235 but I either open the door for a couple seconds or lower the flame slightly. It was a calm day with little to no wind and about 80-85 degrees. I did notice that when I opened the top vent a little the smoker temp actually went up. I do get some leakage out of the bottom left side of the door near the hinges and a little bit where the temp gauge mounts to the door. I have to realign the bottom hinge for a better seal.
I did my first brisket a couple weeks ago. It was a 12 lb packer that I had to cut some of the flat off of to make it fit on the grates. It ended up being about 7.5 lbs after being cut to fit and trimmed. I started it at midnight expecting a 12-15 hour cook but at 7am the IT was about 201 and it was very done (but extremely moist); almost pot roast like at the point. I used a ThermoPro TP08s to monitor the cooker temperature. I must have slept thru a high temp alarm somewhere between 3:30 and 7 am because when I woke up at 7am the cook temp was about 285 so I guess that would account for the quick cook time. Every other time I would use this smoker my cooks times were very long with Ribs & Pork Butts, My last pork butt (7.5 lbs) took over 12 hours and only got to about 185 degrees before I had to take it off due to my daughters very busy social life. :-)
All that being said, I have the following questions:
Where in the cook box should I keep the meats? Top, middle or just above the water pan? With the Brinkman the meat was about 10" above the pan which sat about 2-3 inches above the heating coil and the dome cover was about 8-10” above the top rack.
Should I be able to get great results from this smoker? It's a single wall non-insulated smoker. I am thinking about doing the thermal blanket wrap on it.
Should I use less wood chips and refill it more often so there is less of a temp spike when they start smoldering? I usually fill it twice throughout a long smoke.
Is there some type of thin material I can put around the door frame to better seal it?
I just put about $50 into this smoker with a new water pan, needle valve hardware and a new ignitor. The electric Masterbuilt 30" looks like a good replacement but I would prefer to see if I can get this SM to do what it should. A new smoker is not really in the budget right now. I don’t need to do competition style smoking but I would like to be able to fire it up or even plug it in, put the meat on and not have to baby sit it start to finish.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I can provide pics if necessary.
Thanks Guys!!!
Steve
Yesterday I smoked 2 racks of baby backs; cut in half since the cooking racks are only 14.5" square. I had always done my ribs in a rib rack with the ribs on their side (not lying flat on the cooking grates). Yesterday I did them flat on the grates; 2 per grate. I have also always keep the food as close to the top of the smoker as possible. After 6 hours uncovered, unwrapped the ribs were still not done. I kept the smoker around 225-230 throughout the cook. It would sometimes go to about 235 but I either open the door for a couple seconds or lower the flame slightly. It was a calm day with little to no wind and about 80-85 degrees. I did notice that when I opened the top vent a little the smoker temp actually went up. I do get some leakage out of the bottom left side of the door near the hinges and a little bit where the temp gauge mounts to the door. I have to realign the bottom hinge for a better seal.
I did my first brisket a couple weeks ago. It was a 12 lb packer that I had to cut some of the flat off of to make it fit on the grates. It ended up being about 7.5 lbs after being cut to fit and trimmed. I started it at midnight expecting a 12-15 hour cook but at 7am the IT was about 201 and it was very done (but extremely moist); almost pot roast like at the point. I used a ThermoPro TP08s to monitor the cooker temperature. I must have slept thru a high temp alarm somewhere between 3:30 and 7 am because when I woke up at 7am the cook temp was about 285 so I guess that would account for the quick cook time. Every other time I would use this smoker my cooks times were very long with Ribs & Pork Butts, My last pork butt (7.5 lbs) took over 12 hours and only got to about 185 degrees before I had to take it off due to my daughters very busy social life. :-)
All that being said, I have the following questions:
Where in the cook box should I keep the meats? Top, middle or just above the water pan? With the Brinkman the meat was about 10" above the pan which sat about 2-3 inches above the heating coil and the dome cover was about 8-10” above the top rack.
Should I be able to get great results from this smoker? It's a single wall non-insulated smoker. I am thinking about doing the thermal blanket wrap on it.
Should I use less wood chips and refill it more often so there is less of a temp spike when they start smoldering? I usually fill it twice throughout a long smoke.
Is there some type of thin material I can put around the door frame to better seal it?
I just put about $50 into this smoker with a new water pan, needle valve hardware and a new ignitor. The electric Masterbuilt 30" looks like a good replacement but I would prefer to see if I can get this SM to do what it should. A new smoker is not really in the budget right now. I don’t need to do competition style smoking but I would like to be able to fire it up or even plug it in, put the meat on and not have to baby sit it start to finish.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I can provide pics if necessary.
Thanks Guys!!!
Steve
