Newish to smoking Near Dayton, Ohio

[fireman1013]

Hi all,

My name is Jeff and I have lived for smoking since my friend who has been smoking for years provided me with my first home smoking experience almost 8 years ago. Until recently, I used a chopped up clam shell grill to provide a sort of meat smoking experience of my own. Finally, my fantastic wife bought me a Camp Chef Smoke Vault 24". Up until this point, I have only been able to smoke brisket as best my conversion smoker would allow. Now I am able to fully enjoy all a smoker has to offer and am looking forward to trying everything from jerky to fish and turkey. I appreciate any advice as I am only an early stage home smoking novice.

 

[Dutch]

Glad to have you with us Jeff. The Camp Chef Smoke Vault is a nice unit; I have a Great Outdoor Smoky Mountain porpane smoker that I got long before Camp Chef decided to move into other cooking areas.
BTW-I'm about 50 miles from the Camp Chef home office.

Best advice I can give you is when you adjust your heat, give the smoker 10-15 to settle down; if you need to adjust further, do so and then let it settle down. If you don't, you'll be chasing your chamber temps up and down during the entire smoke and it won't be a fun experience. Also, I use a couple of tuna can sized chunks of wood in the wood chip box and I don't soak the wood.

Enjoy the Smoke!

 

[fireman1013]

Hi Dutch and thank you for the warm welcome and friendly advice. I did struggle a bit with "chasing temps" after the first use but managed to get the hang of it pretty quickly and my brisket turned out amazing (pics to come). I look forward to many more "learning experiences" along the way and all the forums have to offer!

 

[gary s]

Hello and welcome from a hot East Texas, Dutch gave you the advice you needed, looking forward to seeing your future post and pic's 

Gary S