Hello from frozen Pittsburgh!

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roborules

Newbie
Original poster
Feb 19, 2015
3
10
Hello SMF!

Rob from Pittsburgh here. It's -4 degrees as I sit here itching to begin smoking.

I've been thinking about smoking meats for a few months now and this week I purchased a Masterbuilt Pro propane box smoker from home depot.  I also bought the Bayou classic needle valve propane regulator, Maverick ET-732 wireless dual thermometer, a quick stick & read thermometer and a few other odds & ends. 

I've enjoyed cooking & grilling for years, with good success, but I've always marveled at the meats pulled out of the smokers.

I'm a mechanical engineer at my day job, a janitor/fix it guy at my gym (for free premium membership) in the evenings, and an auto mechanic at a local shop roughly one day a week.  I don't get paid at the auto shop, my best friend is the chief mechanic there and I work there more to learn than for pay.  I'm big into jeeps & 4-wheeling.

My wife laughed at me when I started on this meat smoking adventure.  You see, I have just about zero patience, and all my cooking to date has been on "HIGH".  All or nothing.  Fast and hot.  That's Ok for grilling hot dogs & hamburgers.  She doesn't think I have it in me to slow cook something for 6, 10, 14 hrs. 

I'm going to give it my best try; and finding this site with all the good experience and advice here should give me the best chance at success.

Thanks in advance,

Rob
 
Welcome to the board, Rob! -3F here now, headed for -8 this morning. Use the Search to look up your smoker and see how people use them. If low and slow is new to you, then you might need to deny your impulse to get it cooked NOW, and wait and watch.
 
texas.gif
  Good afternoon and welcome to the forum, from a cloudy and chilly day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary
 
Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome!

It warmed up all the way to 38°F here east of Pittsburgh and I took the opportunity of this mini heat wave to season my new smoker.  The door thermometer was reading off by as much as 40° but my Maverick dual thermometer set-up was typically reading within a couple degrees of each other (both just hanging in smoker during seasoning).  I think with the Bayou needle valve regulator I will be able to maintain a good temperature throughout my cooks).  I've got a meat injector on order and will probably try my first cook next week sometime.  I can't wait!

Rob
 
Great luck, Just yesterday for the family Easter dinner I smoked two racks of ribs, nine bacon wrapped, cheddar stuffed chicken breasts, and nine 3/4 lb bacon wrapped mini-meatloafs.  I used Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub & cherry wood for the ribs (3-2-1 method) and Simply Marvelous Pecan Rub and Pecan wood for the chicken & beef. 

Everyone loved the selection of smoked meats!

Suggestions for this smoker (based on help & information from the reviews  & forum posts).  Don't use or trust the door therometer or the on-unit flame strength adjustment knob.  Get a good dual thermometer setup (one probe chamber temp., one probe internal meat temp.) and get the bayou needle valve adjustable regulator.  I just turn the smoker unit on full and make all flame adjustments with the little needle valve.  If it's not too windy out, I can keep it uniformly within about 10 degrees of desired temp with this regulator.  Also get a 8 or 9 inch cast iron skillet for the wood chips - better prevents wook flare-up.

Best of luck!
 
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