Virgin Smoker from south eastern VA

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premium08

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 29, 2014
2
10
Jarratt VA
Whats up guys. Wife got me a smokey hollow gas/smoker combo for Christmas. I know its not the best rig out there but if end up enjoying smoking I'll probably upgrade at some point. Attempted my first smoke the other day with a 5.5 lb boston butt. I ended up taking if off the grill at 180 degs so it wasn't fall off the bone, but it was done and very delicious(wife couldn't stop eating). I started the day using briquettes and wood chunks and fought the first half of the day trying to keep a constant temp. Whenever I would put more wood in the box it would flame up and make my temps sky rocket. I ended up going to get some lump charcoal and was able to get my temp under control. I still had to prop the fire box door open a little to get my temp where I wanted. I did use a digital probe temp gauge ,and bought a second the other day so I have one for air temps and one for meat temp.

Eric


 
Last edited:
Welcome to the board! Good start!. One big advantage to lump: it ignites much cleaner than wood or briquettes. The best way to add heat is to have a separate starter fire but if you can't do that, adding lump is your cleanest-burning alternative.
 
Welcome to the forum Eric, as you have already discovered temp control is a vital part of smoking and some units are better than others.  However, just continue to practice.  Looking at your Boston butt, if you wanted pulled port take the butt to 205.  In my opinion most meats smoke well at about 235.  The search bar at the top of the page can be your best friend here.  Have a question, simply search it.

Richard
 
 
Welcome to the board! Good start!. One big advantage to lump: it ignites much cleaner than wood or briquettes. The best way to add heat is to have a separate starter fire but if you can't do that, adding lump is your cleanest-burning alternative.
I got a chimney starter when I got the lump charcoal, so I was doing it in batches. But now Im thinking I can just add it directly to the fire as needed
 
Welcome to the forum Eric, as you have already discovered temp control is a vital part of smoking and some units are better than others.  However, just continue to practice.  Looking at your Boston butt, if you wanted pulled port take the butt to 205.  In my opinion most meats smoke well at about 235.  The search bar at the top of the page can be your best friend here.  Have a question, simply search it.

Richard
thank you.
 
Man !  That looks good

Gary
man was it ever. thanks
 
Glad you joined the group. The search bar at the top of any page is your best friend.
About anything you wanna know about smoking/grilling/curing/brining/cutting or slicing
and the list goes on has probably been posted. Remember to post a QVIEW of your smokes.
We are all smoke junkies here and we have to get our fix. If you have questions
Post it and you will probably get 10 replies with 11 different answers. That is
because their are so many different ways to make great Q...
Happy smoken.
David
 
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