Well I finally tried out the pitts and spitts saturday. The wind was calm and a real nice day. I have here two 12.5 lb. brined turkeys, five chicken leg quarters, 1, 5 lb. butt, 1, 3 lb. butt and a 3 1/2 pound cured pork loin (canadian bacon ) and still had alot of room left. So I used a charcoal chimney for the first time and maybe put a couple sheets of news paper too many but it worked out. Put the charcoal in and added a few hickory splits and she started smoking real quick, so I added the meat. After 1/2 hour I just checked the fire box and the wood, flameing away was about gone and when I added wood it would catch fire real quick so I started wetting it down abit. As you can see in pic #2 I definitley had a thin blue goin on, almost so thin you could only smell it, not see it.
This pic is 1 hour into the smoke and started mopping with pretty much soflaquers finishing sauce except the bacon. It was very easy to control the temps for awhile UNTIL the wind came up blowing at a constant 25 to 30 mph. and never let up. Also when I quit adding wood after most everything hit the 140/145* range she started to drop below 200* I would add more pre lit charcoal but was having a tough time getting her back up so I just threw in some more splits and it came back up.
The turkeys I think I put too close the the fire box side, got almost burnt looking on the back and turned out ok allittle dry in spots. It was first try on this smoker so next time I won't put anything that close. I guess I have the electric one down pat they allways come out juicy. I did re- calibrate the temp guages using my digi set inside and using the propane option. The rubbed chicken leg quarters scared the crap out of me, they looked perfect, the leg was practically falling of the thigh they were so tender. They came off first so I set em in the ice box to cool allittle and took a big bite and it was so tender and the flavor was great until I looked at my bitten area it was like all bloody looking. Now I know that brined meat from the past turkeys and chickens I have done do look pink and maybe even red, but these were not brined and being that tender I Know they were done because undercooked chicken is more rubbery so The only thing I can think of is the yardbird didn't bleed out when slaughtered. The pork butts turned out good of course and the canadian bacon is great. I thought I had picks of these in the P bucket but don't see em must still be in the camera. Im not even going to proof read this it's too looooooonng.
This pic is 1 hour into the smoke and started mopping with pretty much soflaquers finishing sauce except the bacon. It was very easy to control the temps for awhile UNTIL the wind came up blowing at a constant 25 to 30 mph. and never let up. Also when I quit adding wood after most everything hit the 140/145* range she started to drop below 200* I would add more pre lit charcoal but was having a tough time getting her back up so I just threw in some more splits and it came back up.
The turkeys I think I put too close the the fire box side, got almost burnt looking on the back and turned out ok allittle dry in spots. It was first try on this smoker so next time I won't put anything that close. I guess I have the electric one down pat they allways come out juicy. I did re- calibrate the temp guages using my digi set inside and using the propane option. The rubbed chicken leg quarters scared the crap out of me, they looked perfect, the leg was practically falling of the thigh they were so tender. They came off first so I set em in the ice box to cool allittle and took a big bite and it was so tender and the flavor was great until I looked at my bitten area it was like all bloody looking. Now I know that brined meat from the past turkeys and chickens I have done do look pink and maybe even red, but these were not brined and being that tender I Know they were done because undercooked chicken is more rubbery so The only thing I can think of is the yardbird didn't bleed out when slaughtered. The pork butts turned out good of course and the canadian bacon is great. I thought I had picks of these in the P bucket but don't see em must still be in the camera. Im not even going to proof read this it's too looooooonng.
