Need a few pointers

[grothe]

Welcome to the forum! This site is as addicting as the actual smoking.

 

[ibsmoking]

Wecome Badwind, you might also enjoy Jeff Fee 5 day course it has a lot of info. you can find it on the left side of the screen.

 

[stoneysmama]

Yes, definitely keep that chimney damper ALL the way open. You may also have crowded the meat. Someone wrote recently complaining that he'd ruined $100 worth of meat on his first smoke -- that's a lot of meat, even now! He might have tried to do what it showed on the box label when I got my smoker -- ribs, chickens, sausages, etc., even a turkey, all crammed together. Gotta keep the smoke circulating and moving on out. Keep trying -- it gets a lot easier with practice!

 

[bb53chevpro]

As some one mentioned earlier, no white smoke billowing out of the smoker. Most of the bitter taste will be coming from this smoke. Ideally, you want thin blue smoke to kiss the meat. If you can smell the smoke, you are smoking. There are some who pre-burn the wood before it enters the smoker. Do a search if you are interested in the pre-burning.
Hope this helps.

 

[erain]

welcome to smf!!! i see you have already gotten some good advice and this is just the beginning of the knowledge shared freely at this site. cant wait to share some smokes with you thru qview!!!

 

[norrell6]

Welcome to the SMF! I can tell that you cant wait for this weekend so that you can give it another try. I am wanting to get a smoker like yours, but all operate pretty similarly. Got to have vent to let out smoke and another vent to let ait into firebox. The firebox vent will help control your temps. More air = Higher temps. I agree with putting on a couple hickory chunks at a time. Most people say only smoke meat to 140F and then stop adding wood. If you are not using hardwood lump charcoal, you should probably get some. It burns hotter and longer. Well, Good Luck and I hope to see some pics of your Butt youy do this weekend.

 

[the_selling_blues_man]

Welcome from Northern Indiana.............

Enjoy the SMF - There are some great people here!

 

[bbqgoddess]

Greetings,
The best mod you can make for this weekend's smoke is a charcoal basket..this keeps the coals up and the ash down and the air flow good...i put the coals on one side of mine and a chunk or two depending on the size and what kind of wood on the other side, never letting the fire touch the wood....
do a search on the charcoal basket I think you will be really surprised at the difference...get a good thermo too!
Happy smokes!

 

[badwind]

Greetings All,
Sorry for the delay in posting the outcome of my Labor Day smoking adventure. It turned out great, I smoked my first butt and it was fantastic. I opened the chimeny as suggested and that did it thanks for the great advice. I even tried ou the ABT's which turned out to be very tasty, tasty indeed. If i can figure out how to compress my pitures down to the size they need to be to post, I'll get them posted here.

Again Thanx
Steve

 

[1894]

Sounds like you are off and running

photobucket works great for me , just tell it what size pics you want ( 800 X 600 works good

) then upload your pics and then copy / paste here

There is a photo sticky somewhere , makes it pretty easy.

Looking forward to seeing your qview

 

[deadeye126]

hey bad my biggest fault was not leaving exaust fully open after learning to adjust heat with intake i was smokinnng and use a thermometer

 

[carnuba]

well??????

was momma impressed?