Hello All,
Well, new to smoking/bbq and new here, but have been lurking for a while and trying to learn. Just signed up for a premier membership as well, as this forum has already been of value to me making decisions about smoking, so I feel it's important to support the group here in any way I can.
Anyway, this whole thing really started off with this past deer season, where I got two in the freezer. (Lost out with hunting last year due to contracting Covid.) I had been making venison jerky inside in my oven, but my wife was not a fan of leaving the oven on for 5-6 hours, and I had to leave the door cracked, to get down to about 160 degrees, and she wasn't really fond of the jerky smell throughout the house. So, looking for a better solution, and to also making venison summer sausage and other goodies, I ended up here on the forum.
Before I found the forum, I had purchase a Masterbuilt vertical electric smoker from Lowes, but after reading a number of comments on temperatures, and controller issues, I opted to just return it (still in the box) back to Lowes. I then researched other options, read a lot and thought more about my own needs starting out, and ended up buying a Pit-Boss Pro Series II, 4-Series vertical smoker. Starting pellets will be the Pit-Boss brand "competition blend", as it's what I could get easily.
The smoker has only arrived as of couple of days ago, and as a result. it's not assembled yet, just still in the box in the garage. Also bought a ThermoPro wireless thermometer with 4 probes, which seemed like a reasonable option starting out. Not sure I want to spend more on the Fireboard-2 at this point, so we'll see how it works out. So, there will certainly be more to come with trials and tribulations as I try to get this all figured out.
One of the things I read here about Pit-Boss, or at least with the earlier versions, was the debate on incremental settings for temperature, so I ended up calling support. On the grill I purchased, here's what I got from Pit-Boss support, and I don't know if that aligns with you all in terms of actual experience.
150-200 degrees - "Smoke Mode" Nothing on incremental settings within that range.
200-300 degrees - 10 degree temperature increments.
300-400 degrees - 25 degree temperature increments.
400+ - 50 degree temperature increments.
First test will probably be some more venison jerky, then on to a smoked backstrap recipe which I saw here recently, and then venison summer sausage.
Later,
Randall
Well, new to smoking/bbq and new here, but have been lurking for a while and trying to learn. Just signed up for a premier membership as well, as this forum has already been of value to me making decisions about smoking, so I feel it's important to support the group here in any way I can.
Anyway, this whole thing really started off with this past deer season, where I got two in the freezer. (Lost out with hunting last year due to contracting Covid.) I had been making venison jerky inside in my oven, but my wife was not a fan of leaving the oven on for 5-6 hours, and I had to leave the door cracked, to get down to about 160 degrees, and she wasn't really fond of the jerky smell throughout the house. So, looking for a better solution, and to also making venison summer sausage and other goodies, I ended up here on the forum.
Before I found the forum, I had purchase a Masterbuilt vertical electric smoker from Lowes, but after reading a number of comments on temperatures, and controller issues, I opted to just return it (still in the box) back to Lowes. I then researched other options, read a lot and thought more about my own needs starting out, and ended up buying a Pit-Boss Pro Series II, 4-Series vertical smoker. Starting pellets will be the Pit-Boss brand "competition blend", as it's what I could get easily.
The smoker has only arrived as of couple of days ago, and as a result. it's not assembled yet, just still in the box in the garage. Also bought a ThermoPro wireless thermometer with 4 probes, which seemed like a reasonable option starting out. Not sure I want to spend more on the Fireboard-2 at this point, so we'll see how it works out. So, there will certainly be more to come with trials and tribulations as I try to get this all figured out.
One of the things I read here about Pit-Boss, or at least with the earlier versions, was the debate on incremental settings for temperature, so I ended up calling support. On the grill I purchased, here's what I got from Pit-Boss support, and I don't know if that aligns with you all in terms of actual experience.
150-200 degrees - "Smoke Mode" Nothing on incremental settings within that range.
200-300 degrees - 10 degree temperature increments.
300-400 degrees - 25 degree temperature increments.
400+ - 50 degree temperature increments.
First test will probably be some more venison jerky, then on to a smoked backstrap recipe which I saw here recently, and then venison summer sausage.
Later,
Randall
