Newbie Smoker From Ohio Checking In

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cellgirl99

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 27, 2013
5
10
Hi all.  My name is Megan and I am very new to this whole smoking your food thing.  I love this site.  I live in Springfield, Ohio and recently married in December with a man that loves to eat & 2 teens that love to eat.  My brother is a big time smoker in California and after his reassurance I could do it, I tried last weekend for the 1st time.  Made a few rookie mistakes:

1.  Put the water pan on the bottom <doh>

2.  Put the wood chips pack next to the food not under <geesh>

3.  Lost a lot of temp towards last few hours & had to re-light some coals

4.  Let my rub sit on too long and it was kinda mushy & not dry

By the way I ventured out the gate with a 6.5 pound bone in Boston butt.  However, even through the mistakes the pork came out good.  Didn't have the smoky flavor I wanted, but very moist after I wrapped it in a towel and placed in a cooler to cool down.

I'm sure I'll have lots and lots of questions.  My dad gave me an old black vertical smoker with no heat guage other than warm, ideal and hot, so I've come to the conclusion that I want a smoker with temp guages.  Brother recommended a Weber 821001 Smokey Mountain Cooker charcoal smoker.  He uses that and loves it.

Today I'm going to smoke my 2nd thing ever & do 2 chickens.  Jeff sent a newsletter yesterday and his injection recipe and marinade sound yum-o, so we'll see how that fares.

Just wanted to introduce myself and ask for your patience should I ask "dumb" questions :)  

BTW:  My username does not mean I recently got out of the county pen....lol    I work for a wireless communications company.....<thats if you were wondering>.

Have a great great weekend!!  It's a beauty in Ohio so far!!

Megan
 
Megan, Welcome to the forum.  Sounds to me like you are off to a good start.  At least you are an adventurist.  Would suggest you consider getting a Maverick 732 and a Thermapen, a little spendy, but will soon pay for themselves.

Tom  
 
Ok Tom, I'll certainly check them out.  Question.....(see I forwarned ya above :)    I have a meat thermometer I use that is a magnet and sticks to the outside of the smoker which is great.  Do you also have a seperate thermo for the actual inside of your smoker, or is the temp guage built in? 

Thanks,

Megan
 
Welcome to the forums, Megan!  Glad you joined us.  You've found a great place to learn and share ideas on our favorite pastime...Smoking and Grilling great food!  Lots of friendly and knowledge folks here who really enjoy helping one another.  Just ask when you need help and you'll get plenty.

Most of us use some sort of thermo that will monitor the interior temps of your smoker.  The ET-732 that Tom suggests does that very well, plus it is a dual thermo that will also measure in internal temp of your meat and remotely send both readings to a receiver.  As you are already experiencing, the stock thermos that come on many smokers are highly inadequate.

Good luck, and don't worry about asking 'dumb' questions, we've all been there.,..

Red
 
Hi Megan! :welcome1: to SMF!!! We're happy you found us! You've come to the right place, we have over 45,000 members who just love to share their experience and over 900,000 posts describing it!
The search bar at the top can be your best friend when you are trying to find answers to your questions but you can still ask too if you want!

Would you do us a favor and add your location to your profile, it helps others to know where you are when they offer advice, Thanks!

You might want to check out Jeff's Free 5 day E-Course, it will teach you all the basics plus a whole lot more!
 
welcome1.gif
to SMF!  We are so glad you joined us!

If you didn't read the "Terms of Service" notes.....please do.  There are a few things that everyone should know about those pesky little rules before plunging into the forums. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/terms-of-service

If you need any help roaming around the forums....just holler!  Happy to help out!

Kat
 
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