New in NC

[nctim]

Hi all,

I've been smoking on small bullet smokers for years and lately on a WSM. My wife bought me an offset smoker for my birthday and now I'm here to learn the best methods for success on this equipment.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[mike5051]

Welcome Tim!  I use a WSM, but there are lots of offset users on the board.  Glad you joined us.

Mike

 

[joe black]

Welcome from SC, Tim. It's really good to have you here on this great site. Where are you from in NC? What kind and size of smoker do you have. I am a stick burner and really love it. I know you will enjoy this site. There are lots of really good folks who are always ready to share their ideas, recipes and tips. All you have to do is ask and keep reading.

Good luck and good smokin', Joe. :grilling_smilie:

 

[nctim]

Thanks Joe, we're in Fairview, 15 miles outside of Asheville near Chimney Rock. I've got a WSM 18.5 and my wife gave me a Brinkman offset last year for my birthday. I finally added onto my "Tiki Hut" (Smoke shack) this spring so I could put together the smoker. We put it together yesterday and she was was pissed. She said it'll blow away in the wind! She was sooo disappointed in the lightweight metal and cheap fit. I'm okay with it right now. She's getting me an Oklahoma Joes for my birthday this year but I'll use this to practice offset smoking in the meantime. Thanks for the welcome!

Tim

 

[joe black]

Tim, There are many different ways to fire up offset smokers and each way has its merits and its proponents. I put Royal Oak lump in my basket to about 2/3 full and light it with about 2/3 chimney of Royal Oak briqs. When the lump is fully involved, I put 2 or 3 pre-heated wood splits in and when they are burning nicely I close the CC doors and let the CC get up to temp. When I reach my temp, I put the meat in and add a couple more splits and some chunks of flavor wood. Keep a good, hot bed of coals and always pre-heat your splits.

Season your smoker, and while it's seasoning, play with the size of fire and the air intakes to see how your smoker likes to run. I usually leave everything fully open and keep a small to medium hot fire. My smoker likes to settle in at 260-275*. When it gets to about 255*, I put a couple of pre-heated splits in and prop the door open about 1". At 260*, I close the door. I am really convinced that pre-heating the wood is a key to good fire management. The wood ignites very quickly which keeps the temp from dropping too far and also keeps the smoke very clean.

Give this a try and see how your Brinkman likes it. Good luck, Joe.

 

[nctim]

Hey Joe, thanks for that. I have a couple of apple trees I cut down last year and I've used it my WSM. It burns pretty fast, though. I'll experiment while I season it. I haven't seen the Royal Oak Lump around here. I do use Royal Oak Briqs for starting and base fire in the WSM so I think I can get a good even fire going for the seasoning. I've never consider preheating the splits. How exactly do I go about that? The FB doesn't look big enough to set them off to the side?

Cheers,

Tim

 

[joe black]

Tim, You should find Royal Oak lump at Walmart. Lowe's and Home Depot used to have it, but they may have dropped it. It's also available on Amazon. It's good stuff.

To pre-heat your splits, lay them on top of the FB. If the FB is not flat, you will need to be careful at laying them out. I once thought about making a saddle for round FB. Take some strap metal and bend it around the top and then up on the ends. Two of them will make a saddle for 3 or 4 splits. Give it a try. It just might work. If it does, we'll get a patent for the saddle and in just about 10 years, we may be able to make enough to buy a hot dog.

 

[nctim]

I'll check WM for the RO Lump. My FB opens from the top so a saddle won't work. I guess I could warm them on the gas grill, I often use that monster while I'm smoking to keep things warm and up to temp while move stuff around and bring the fire on the smoker under control. Check out my avatar for a pic of one of my pigs on the drum. I guess you could say it's not really "smoking" in the sense of an offset style, It's more of a Carolina style of cooking BBQ on a covered pit over coals.

Cheers,

Tim

 

[SmokinAl]

Welcome to the forum!

Glad to have you aboard.

Al

 

[nctim]

Hey Joe,

Got a large bag at Wall-mart. Thanks for the heads-up. It was on sale? $7.00 for 16-something lbs. Been raining all week so I'll season tomorrow and smoke on Sunday. I'm going to try a 3lb chuck roast and a 5lb pork shoulder together. I've never made a rub for chuck. You got any suggestions?

Tim