New from Austin TX

[johnksimmonds]

Name is John. Been smoking with my buddy for about 2 years.

Just bought a weber kettle 22.5" and going to smoke with it.

Im confident in what to do but came here to look for help and tips etc...

Smoking a pork butt all on my own this saturday (5/16/15).

I already have about 10 pages of notes on how to smoke different things and some previous practice.

Im also a professional photographer, so many images to come soon.

 

[noboundaries]

Welcome to SMF Johnksimmonds!  You can do some great smoking on the Kettle.  Use the search feature to see how folks set them up for long smokes.  My one recommendation for the Kettle would be don't sweat temp swings, especially with a pork butt/shoulder.  That is one forgiving piece of meat that handles chamber temp swings of up to 100F and still comes out delicious.

Looking forward to the pics.  BTW, don't peek to take lots of pics.  You'll get those ops when you need to add fuel.  Just let it go until you hit that magic IT of roughly 200-205F. 

 

[sota d]

Welcome John! You'll find a lot of nice people here who are always happy to help.

 

[disco]

Welcome from Canada, John.

You will be popular with your photography background! We love pictures.

Disco

 

[rabbithutch]

Howdy, John!

I'm up the road from you in Temple. I have a OTG kettle and use it to smoke smaller quantities (I use the MES 40 for larger quantities). I've done 5 butts in the last 2 months, 3 in the kettle. Search here for the 'snake method' of setting briquettes. It will give you the right heat if you set 2 rows against each other with another row on top. I can get 18-20 hours on a 3/4 or 7/8 lining of the outside of the kettle. I put hickory, or mesquite or whatever chips on about the first third of the ring. Meat won't absorb smoke deep into the cook.

Be careful with lighting the ring of briquettes. Use only as many hot coals as are necessary to start the cold ones to burn - six or eight are about right. Place them next to the cold ring start overlapping only about half of the hot ones. If you dump too many lit coals at the start or place all the hot ones on top of the cold ones, you will get a temp spike at the start. When you get your burn started, put the top in place, leave your top vents wide open and set your bottom vents at about a quarter to a third open. Let it reach the temp you want (I try for 225-250) before you add your butt (or other meat). I use a Mav 732 or 733 (I have both) to monitor the kettle temp throughout the cook. It really helps by alerting me if the temp goes too high or falls to low.

HTH

 

[gary s]

  Good afternoon and welcome to the forum, from a warm cloudy day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary

 

[johnksimmonds]

Thanks yall for the warm welcome!

I have learned the hard way over the past 2 years about smoking with my buddies weber and his Gourmet Electric smoker.

I have pages of notes from this site about smoking my butt and I know patience is key, especially when i want to take photos.

As for smoking my butt, i got those briquet holders, and was going to put on either side to start and try to keep a steady temp of 225 for 4 hours then put in oven to finish. I have metal bowls to place on grate for water to help regulate temp and moisture. Also the reason im doing a butt is because it is hard to mess up. Its more of a trial to get to know my weber/smoker. I have smoked one all by myself once, but first time with my own setup.

The snake method intrigues me, but seems a bit daunting to tackle right away. Ive spent hours researching smoking methods.

I bought some goodies today at the restaurant supply store, knife, skewer (for the wood chunks), squirt bottle and more.

I will try and post something on sunday when its all done.

Next week, BEEF RIBS! i want to make them as good as John Mueller here in Austin, dubbed best beef ribs in the world.

thanks again

-john

 

[roller]

Welcome !

 

[rmmurray]

Welcome to SMF! :welcome:
We're glad to have you. The search bar at the top is your most valuable resource here. This forum has been around for over ten years, so there is a good chance that any questions you may have, have already been answered (they may have 10 different answers, but you'll get an instant response non the less).
Please be sure to post your smokes along with your process and recipes. We will be glad to help you along the way and we may also learn something new ourselves in the process. Also, don't forget the very important Q view! (We're mad for pics on here [emoji]128513[/emoji])
Always remember to have fun because it's not fun if you have to work at it.
Thanks for joining,
- Ryan