help! i don't want to quit smoking!

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rmazey

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 28, 2009
3
10
Fort Worth, TX
Hey gang, new to the smoking world, just got one the other day, smoked a 3 lb. pork butt today, turned out great. meat tasted great, very tender, juicy, but had no smoke or apple flavor (used apple chips), so I have some questions. just got some great help in chat room, but wanted to see some other opinions.

As i said, meat was great, but tasted no smoke flavor. used apple chips, put apple juice in water pan (saw on website somewhere). brined the butt overnight, smoked today for about 3 hours, wrapped and cooked without smoke for last 3 hours. here are my questions:

1. i set temp at 210, but temp stayed around 190-195 most of the time. Is that normal? After I wrapped, jacked temp up to 225 and temp stayed around 200-210 the rest of time.

2. the apple juice in water pan had evaporated (don't know exactly when), and all the drippings from the meat ended up in the water pan, burnt to a char. no grease at all in the drip pan or the grease trap. should I keep liquid in water pan the entire time? and is that normal for the grease to fall into the water pan?

3. I soaked my apple chips in water for about 30 minutes before adding. should I soak longer or shorter to get more smoke. Should you only put one cup of chips in at one time? that's what manual recommended. I read on a forum that people get more smoke by opening damper at top, so I left it about half open the entire time. Got some intermittent smoke, but nothing constant.

Thankks in advance for any responses.
 
Welcome to the SMF. I use hickory myself for red meats and save the apple,cherry and maple for poultry and fish. Just keep reading and smoking and you will be a pro in no time. Tell us what kind of smoker you have and someone will come along and share there knowledge.
 
Welcome, Glad to have you with us. This is the place to learn, lots of good info and helpful friendly Members.

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Welcome to SMF. What kind of smoker are you using? Personally I just use water in the pan and I fill it as needed to keep some in it through out the smoke. Apple wood is a very light flavor maybe try hickory for a medium smoke or mesquite for a heavy smoke flavor. I use smoke the whole time adding chips or chunks as needed to keep a thin blue smoke or at least the smell of smoke unless I foil the meat then no smoke. You will find many opinions on soaking the chips all I can say is try both ways and see which you like.
 
The first time I used my MES I got very little smoke too. The problem was the placement of the chip pan. When you slide it in, it must be in contact with the heating element. It is easy to slide it in incorrectly (too high above the element). Hope this gets you going.

Mark
 
First off welcome to SMF. You'll like it here cause there are abunch of good folks here that would just love to help you out with just about anything to do with smoking. We really like to have newbies here because they can bring in a new propective to how things are done. There's nothing like a new set of eyes to give and new way to make things that little differant to make things alittle better. So I hope you know about the Qview here.
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Here's a link to photobucket it's free and easy to download pictures. Then if your really new to smoking Look up the E-course.
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It's also free and it will give you the basics of smoking. So after all of that you just need to go grab something to smoke and if you have any question just post them here and we will answer it quickly so you don't have any mishaps with your smoke.
Welcome To Your New Addiction
 
I use Apple wood chips almost exclusively. The Apple wood is more mild but it is more forgiving, I have used hickory several times and you can overdo the smoke flavor easily. I would suggest not soaking the wood chips at all. I have had better luck that way. You will get more smoke and sooner that way.

Good Luck.
Dave
 
Welcome aboard, and to the SMF, where hopefully you'll get several opinions on ways to smoke. Here's my .02 cents. I would smoke with the temp around 220 -250 for pork. Wood varies on your taste, I'm sure even with some of the milder woods you can "induce" a strong smoke flavor. Myself I live in Thailand and my favorite wood is mango. The store bought woods are hard to come by and expensive. I have tried the wood wet and dry, to me it's about the same.

Are you using a thermometer to check your meats with? Most of the people on this forum use temperature to cook by rather than time, with the exception being ribs. There are several ways to do those also based on the type of rib you are smoking, and\or how you are smoking.

Stop by roll call and tell us a little more and maybe someone else will have your answer.

Charlie
 
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