First time smoker - need some help!

[shag]

Hey, all. Brand new smoker here looking for some help. I was given a Brinkmann Gourmet Electric as a gift the other day - just put it together, and am looking to fire it up for the first time this weekend, if possible. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. :) I don't really cook, and I'm an average/infrequent griller at best, so I don't have a lot to go on here. I've been starting to read through various threads around here, but there's a crazy amount of info, and trying to pull it all together in a short time is difficult. I'm hoping you guys can get me started until I learn more...

- What's a tasty, easy smoke for my first go? I'm thinking a cheaper meat would be best, so I'm not out much if I ruin it. :) Wood recommendations, marinade/rub recommendations, and cooking tips would be much appreciated.

- Any suggestions for a cheap way to measure ambient smoker temps and meat temps? I had a cheap electric meat thermometer, but it died the other day, so I'm without a thermometer right now.

- Any other suggestions for a first-timer?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[shooterrick]

Ok lets start with seasoning your smoker. Clean it out well to remove any manufacturing dust and grime. Dont use solvents just water and then let it steam dry. Spray the inside all surfaces with Pam or equivelant. Run your smoker up to about 250 degrees and add your wood. Any hard wood like oak, pecan, or fruit wood like apple or pear will do. Let it smoke for a couple hrs adding wood if needed. The longer you season the better but at least 2-3 hrs.

I am not familiar with electric smokers but all smokers need cured to start. There will be someone who knows your smoker well to continue with operational info. As far as an easy smoke try a pork butt. It is hard to ruin one. Just look under the sticky for pork and you will find an exceptable technique. I should also say that cooking on a smoker is not as much about time as internal temps of the meat so get a good probe thermo to start. Good Luck!

 

[ghost308]

Everyone has a first time, your luckyer than most you found this forum, after you season your smoker if it was me I'd do ribs with the 3-2-1 method and Dutches Wicked beans, all the info for both is here and not hard at all to do, just make sure you go through the section on preparing the ribs. And Welcome to SMF.

 

[old poi dog]

Aloha,

Ribs for a first smoke may be a good idea. Start off with the 3-2-1 if doing beef ribs and 2-2-1 if doing the pork ribs. Read about it in the sidebar to the left. That way you'll only need one thermometer to guage the temperature at the grate level. Stay away from cheap thermometers....Try to get a good one. I have a Maverick, its costly but its worth it. Someone else will probably come along and recommend a comparable quality one at perhaps a more affordable price. I ruined 4 racks of ribs on my first 4 smokes because I thought the guage on my smoker was close enough.

 

[fire it up]

Hey Shag.
You're starting out on the exact smoker I started on so I'm sure I'll be able to help you out on things.

OK, hope I don't forget anything.
Firstly make sure your element is on top of your lava rocks and not under them.
When placing wood on try to use chunks and place one chunk directly between the front parts of your element making sure that the wood doesn't touch the metal. This will keep it from bursting into flames nonstop.
I also always had a damp rag that I stuffed down into part of the lid because it let out way too much heat and smoke.
wrap your water pan in foil. The biggest pain was cleaning that damn water pan everytime and with wrapping it in foil you just have to peel it off afterward.
If you don't have a thermometer I would suggest trying your hardest to get one that way you can keep a good eye on the temp inside your smoker and you will need to temp the meat before you pull it.
Mine usually held steady temp around 200 and after using it so many times I had a feel for the temps inside the smoker, but there are so many variables that can change the temps inside you can never be sure.
One sure fire way to have a successful first smoke would be to try out a fattie. You don't even have to stuff it, just season up a chub and toss it in for 2 1/2-3 hours, until the center reaches 165.
My first smoke I did turkey legs and a fattie and and they turned out great.
Also, don't add smoke the whole time, you don't want things to get oversmoked so I would add probably a total of 2 chunks of wood (not together) but one at a time.
If you have any other questions just ask or you can always shoot me a pm.

 

[bassman]

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you aboard. You'll be smoking like a pro in no time.

 

[shag]

Thanks, guys!

I had actually started the seasoning process just before I made my first post - guess I should have mentioned that. In my excitement to even fire it up, I forgot to wipe it down for any residue out of the box. Doh. Hopefully, running it for ~3 hours will burn off anything bad. I did coat everything with Pam, but the instructions say not to use wood during the curing. I only have 3 smallish chunks that came with it, anyway, so that may be moot, and hopefully not necessary. :)

Pork butt, ribs, and a fatty. The first two sound great, and after googling what the heck a fatty is, that sounds good, too, lol. Not sure I've ever had a pork butt. The fatty sounds like it may be the easiest of the bunch, which is definitely appealing for the first smoke. I wonder if I can find one at my local meat market. What kind of wood would I use?

I guess I'll have to see what I can find for a thermometer or two tomorrow. I'm guessing a remote thermometer is pretty much required? Any recommendations here would be great.

Fire It Up - thanks for the tips! I need to figure out where I can pick up some wood chunks...

 

[bigsteve]

Shag, good luck, and listen close to fire it up. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff he cranked out on the same cooker you have.

By the way, my first fattie wasn't stuffed. Most of it I chopped up and added to Spaghetti sauce the next day. Oh man, that was good!

Hope your first smoke goes well. And don't forget, Rome wasn't built in a day!

 

[bigsteve]

I don't imagine you'll find a fatty at the meat market. It's ground pork sausage, like Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage, stuffed with anything that sounds good:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...ad.php?t=68353

Wood chunks.... just about any hardware or home center store. Sometimes supermarkets. Don't confuse chips and chunks. Chunks are bigger and last longer.

 

[fire it up]

Glad I could help.
You should be able to get at least hickory and mesquite at your local Lowe's or Home Depot. You're better off checking out some of the fatties on here instead of Google.
You just buy a chub of sausage and go from there.
They are so popular they have their own section on the site, check some of them out.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/for...play.php?f=175

You won't believe what folks come up with

As for wood, I prefer and love hickory, but that is just my choice.

 

[shag]

Okay, first smoke is going! :) Doing a couple fatties today, just to see what happens. Have one normal JD chub with some pork rub on it (bought/made at the local meat market), and one simple pizza fatty - "hot" JD chub (wanted italian - hope this is similar) with some pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. Followed the fatty-rolling guide, and it was pretty darn simple. No bacon this time - maybe next time. Forgot to take "before" pics, but will grab some of the finished product which will only really be exciting to me. ;)

I went all over town looking for a multi-probe thermometer, but no luck. Ended up with just a single probe one from Wally World for now, and have a turkey fryer stem thermometer (that I had lying around) wedged in the body/lid gap, sticking just below the top rack. About 20 minutes after firing it up, that thermo read around 230, so I'm hoping it's fairly accurate. Going to watch Ebay for a maverick, probably.

With two fatties and only one probe, I stuck the plain chub. I'm hoping they will both cook at close enough to the same rate that when that one hits ~165, I can pull them both. Is that a safe assumption?

I also bought a 5lb pork shoulder (same as a butt, right?) today that I will probably try tomorrow. The guys at the meat market were recommending I brine it - no idea what that means, lol. I was just planning on putting on a dry rub tonight, let it sit overnight, and pop it in in the morning. Any issues with that?

 

[shag]

Also, how much smoke should I be seeing? I've seen references to a thin wisp - I'm definitely seeing more than that - it's smoking pretty good. Should I move the hickory chunk further from the element?