Can someone explain to me, exactly, how to use an offset charcoal smoker?

[remsr]

You are right, I am building to big a fire I fill my ring with unlit brackets I put maybe 4 good sized chunks of wood around the edges buried in the unlit brackets and thin get a dozen or so ready in my starter. But I spread them out thinking I can get up to temp faster. Maybe I need to get the idea of faster out of my head when it comes to smoking? I was thinking of putting some lava rock or even crumpled up foil in a small bowl then putting my wood on top of that reproducing the same thing as I did in my gas smoker. What do you think about that? I have read articles that say soaking   the wood does nothing more then drop the temp, but I have done this for years on my gas smoker and had good results. I am open to new ideas though and will try things that others have had good results with. We had a barbeque in our back yard last year which more the 50 people attended. I was told by a family from Texas and a couple from Kansas that my ribs were better then they can find where they lived. I think I have the ribs down pretty good but brisket and butts can be improved. I have smoke brisket that came out so tender, smoky and juicy that it was like slicing jello, and then the next time it was over done, I have a single probe digital thermometer and a Weber double probe as well. I will be using them from now on. I have a Texas recipe for brisket but I am not completely happy with it do you have one that I could try? and what do you think about brining the brisket instead of marinating?  Actually what I understand about braining I can add what ever to the brine and get the flavors to penetrate better. Thank you for the tips, I look forward to your response.        

 

[remsr]

I can not figure out how to use roll call, post threads or post anything about myself and my equipment?????

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

I can not figure out how to use roll call, post threads or post anything about myself and my equipment?????

Try this,

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/how-to-post-a-new-thread

Hope it helps....

 

[smoking boy]

@REMSR
Filling your fire ring with charcoal, is going to make for a mighty hot fire that you'll have to keep chasing. I assume you're seeing big temperature swings. The problem is with a fire this size you have to shut off your vents nearly all the way and then you get a smoldering fire that can cause a creosote build up which is likely leading to that over smoked flavor that was your original complaint.

Try a scant chimney of unlit charcoal. Start another chimney of lit charcoal and when ready drop this in your WSM. Place your wood chunks around but not directly in the fire. Let your WSM come to temperature, I generally shoot for 250-300 degrees or so. Obviously the temps are going to drop when you open her up. Once I'm going I cook between 235-220 degrees, depending on where she wants that day.

Watch your temp profiles, as always I highly recommend the Maverick FT-73, as the temperature at the grill starts to climb, shut one of the vents completely and rely on the remaining two to feed the fire. Generally, but not always I'm running wit two vents closed, using the remaining vent partially closed to throttle the fire.

Again I'm cooking on splits, not chunks and quit smoking at 140 degrees internal meat temperature.

As for a good Brisket recipe go on YouTube and search cooking with Franklin. He's one of the countries great PitMasters and offers a lot of advice about all things BBQ. There are also a world of experts on this forum that offer great advice. As for brining, I've never done it except for a Turkey, which I personally didn't like. I keep my brisket simple. Salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Just a simple rub.

As for the lava rock and foiling your chunks, I'll bet you won't need to do that. You're already having success so keep track of what works and what doesn't.

And don't get in a hurry with the WSM, she'll fight you all the way. Low and slow with plenty of beer. It's a Zen thing.

 

[s24smoove]

i have that same smoker, i modified it a bit, but what i do is, outside of the smoke i burn a thicket of wood/charcoal, when this is ready i shovel it into the firebox. also, start out small, start out w/ some chicken wings, chicken thighs, some store bought sausages, something w/ a small mass, work your way up to ribs, turkey breast, and actually turkey breast is easy, just brine it while u are building your fire, then smoke for 3hours@225 or thereabouts, good luck.y