Hiya!

[rich1651]

Hey, as you can probably guess my names Rich, live in Bristol, England, I've got a barrel barbecue with a side smoker box.

I've been grilling with it for 2 years, when we eventually get decent weather, I've been using store bought smoking chips but I'm looking to venture into making my own charcoal and sourcing my own smoking woods.

So yea that's my hello, I'm grilling tomorrow, doing my first brining, got a small pork shoulder, which I'll smoke, and cook for 6 or so hours, make sure I stay sober enough to get some pictures of the finished product :p

 

[jasper7]

Welcome to the site rich, this is a great place to learn.  Hope everything goes well with your shoulder smoke tomorrow.  Good luck staying sober, we want to see those pictures.  Keep on smokin'.

 

[smokin monkey]

Hi Rich, Welcome to our "Family" and "Addiction"

Plenty of good folk on here, ask any questions you can think of, and you will get your answers.

Please take time to look at the UK Smokers Forum,

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/3161/uk-smokers

And introduce your self on the UK Roll Call
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/229926/roll-call

We have had our 2nd UK Smokes weekend, where members attend and cooked over the weekend, dates and plans are already in place for 2016. Please use the link below to view the website.

http://www.uk-smf.co.uk

Smokin Monkey [emoji]133660013031[/emoji]

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to the forum, Rich!

Glad to have you with us!

Al

 

[wade]

Hi Rich and welcome to the forum.

Great to have you on board. There are a growing number of us this side of the pond and Steve has pointed you towards the UK specific area of the forum. The UK group is fully integrated into the whole forum and is seen by all members and many of our US colleagues are active contributors. We do, however try to tackle some of the challenges that are more specific to the UK and Ireland.

What brand of barrel  smoker did you get? Post up a couple of photos if you get a chance. The evolution from grilling to smoking is a natural one and I think you will enjoy the transition. It does require the development of quite different techniques that will vary by smoker. With grilling you are probably familiar with cooking on graduated direct heat over relatively short periods of time. With hot smoking you will be learning to keep the inside of the smoker as a consistent relatively low temperature for many hours. In order to do this you need to master the fine control of air that is allowed to pass into the firebox and through the cooking chamber. 

Depending on the type of smoker you have you may need to perform some minor modifications to help with the temperature control. The first and most important thing is to ensure that the doors and lid on the firebox are reasonably airtight. Too much air being allowed to pass over the coals will result in temperatures increasing. Having a good seal on the door of your cooking chamber will help too.

Before you try to smoke anything too important spend some time just learning about how to stabise the temperature in your smoker then plump for something that is quite forgiving and inexpensive - maybe a chicken or a rack of ribs. Once you have mastered that then move on to the pork shoulder and the brisket.

 

[smokin monkey]

Hi Rich, Welcome to our "Family" and "Addiction"

Plenty of good folk on here, ask any questions you can think of, and you will get your answers.

Please take time to look at the UK Smokers Forum,

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/f/3161/uk-smokers

And introduce your self on the UK Roll Call
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/229926/roll-call

We have had our 2nd UK Smokes weekend, where members attend and cooked over the weekend, dates and plans are already in place for 2016. Please use the link below to view the website.

http://www.uk-smf.co.uk

Smokin Monkey [emoji]133660013031[/emoji]

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a sunny and hot day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary