Roll Call

[wade]

 
Hi Wade, The smoker I have is called the American charcoal smoker BBQ, as pictured, just thought it would be a good starter unit and upgrade as I progress, I live in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

Cold smoking sounds a challenge.

Andy

From what I can see online it looks as if will make a fine grill and could also be used as a square kettle smoker. It may be possible to set it up for indirect heat using a snake or Minion of briquettes at one end and - in a similar way to using a Weber. The challenge though may be the fine control of the air to manage the temperature - it is not clear from the photos how effective the front air vents would be fir fine tuning but sticking some heat resistant aluminium tape over two of the vent holes would probably help.

Don't be afraid of cold smoking. If you want to catch the bug then start with something simple and effective like cheese. Once you have smoked your own cheese you will want to try more things. When you get to cold smoking meat though tio ensure that what you produce is safe you will need to do some reading on the subject and/or ask for advice on here.

 

[wade]

 
Hi All,

My name is Gaz and I live in Glossop - between Manchester & Sheffield. 

My bbq story started when I spent time in South Africa and learnt to braai. Following a couple of trips to the US, I started smoking and experimenting with larger pieces of meat. 

Firmly believe that the skill of the griller is more important than the kit used (that and the fact that the Mrs would go mental if I spent a fortune!). I have an old weber kettle and a basic barrell bbq. 

I love playing around with new recipes and flavours. Still very much learning. 

Last year I entered a local competition at our local rugby club and managed to win. It is approaching again this year so looking to gain some tips, advice and recipe ideas. 

Look forward to getting involved on here. 

Cheers

Gaz

Hi Gaz and welcome to the UK Group.  It sounds as if you had some good experiences to get you started and am sure that you will be able to feed back some of that diverse experience to us on here. It is always good to see how others have adapted the different techniques they have learned and we are all keen to try out new ideas. Between the Weber and the barrel I expect you can smoke pretty much anything you set your mind to.

Looking forward to your posts and seeing lots of photos

 

 

[steve44]

hi all i am new to this site have been into bbqs for years, now smoking and made my own. cook every week snow ,rain  i live in Braintree essex have a small engineering company so being outside cooking is a release for me  

my house has just been finished the deck is all done and the pond all done so its all set for the bbqs have a big one one on bank hols really looking forward to it catching up with friends . i think the site is well good and loads more info than i thought there would be. hope to learn a lot more    

please have a look at my bbq i made it over a year ago but it cooks great

regards

steve 

HAVE A BIG BBQ BANK HOLS ,will post pics, had a trial run with scotch egg in bacon wrap sausage meat spiced up to the hilt it was mind blowing also baked potatoes cored and stuffed with mushroom onion garlic herbs slow cooked and in bacon, just building new deck for the bbq to go so all good

 

[smokin monkey]

Hi Steve, welcome to our "Family" and "Adiction"

We have plenty of good members on here that can offer advice.

Good looking BBQ there, like the shy Stella!

Ask all the question you can think of.

You have Wade in your neck of the woods, and I am sure he will be of great help to you.

Don't forget Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures.

We recently had our UK Get together at the beginning of the month.

These photos were taken their. also might help to put a face to the name.
http://www.uk-smf.co.uk/members.html

 

[steve44]

hi Thank you for the comments on my smoker the stella is a great extra :) and a must i will post pics of the bbq in action and our bbq bank hols

the smoking side is new so need to learn lots i am sure i will get the help here

many thanks 

steve 

 

[wade]

Welcome to the forum and the UK Group Steve. There are a growing number of us from the UK and you are helping to balance the geographical spread - we southerners need to stick together to defend ourselves from the hoards up north 

The smoker looks great - What have you cooked in it so far? You will find a lot of good advice from people on here, both from the UK and the USA, and it sounds as if others on here will be able to benefit from your experiences too.

Looking forward to seeing the photos 

 

[kc5tpy]

Hi Steve.  Not much more left to say other than Welcome to the "Family".  Glad to have you.  Look forward to your contributions.

Danny

 

[kiska95]

Welcome Gaz to this insane but beautiful world that is Q

 

[jonty]

Hi guys

Thought I would introduce myself on the UK forums. So my name is Jonty and i currently live in London. I have a small patio which has been taken over by my smoker :)

Fell in love with the food whilst spending time working in America. I will never forget the ribs at Fat Matts Rib Shack.

I bought the ProQ excel a few months ago and have so far smoked a couple of racks of baby back ribs, chicken wings and last weekend a brisket.

Anyway this has been harder to type on a phone than i thought so stopping there :)

Jonty

 

[smokin monkey]

Hi Jonty, once again welcome to the UK Forum of SMF. I f you need any help,or advice, just start a new thread and members will only be too happy to help.

Quick question, how did you find SMF?

 

[jonty]

Hey Smokin

Cheers for the welcome.

I found the site from google searches.  I spent quite a bit of time reading up before purchasing my smoker and also on recipes etc and came across this site.  The forums looked really helpful and the main site pointed me to the UK forums.

Jonty

 

[nick80]

Evening,

As many others, I have been reading the posts for a while and thought I should introduce myself. I'm in Kent and have been smoking for a while now, but have only got a cheapo WSM type smoker. I like what I have been making, but really struggle to keep the temperature consistent - it's one of the smokers where there are no vents on the bottom, it's just open - I think I am right in saying that the vents at the bottom would help me to regulate the temperature?

I have had a lot of BBQ in the states and would love to be able to recreate it here. I am looking to buy/make a new smoker, but don't know what one would be best. I was thinking about making an UDS, but don't know whether I should buy a better water smoker, or look for a offset smoker. The only offset smokers I can find are either Landmann - and I've read a few poor reviews, or really expensive ones from the uk or usa.

Any advice would be appreciated. Also, anyone know anything about meatopia? Its on in September in docklands and I'm thinking of going.

Thanks,

Nick

 

[smokin monkey]

Hi Nick, welcome to our "Family" and "Adiction"

Plenty of good folk on here with all the advice you need for either building or purchasing a smoker.

Looks like there is a growing number of smokers down in Kent.

 

[jonty]

Hi Nick

I have a friend who cooked down at meatopia last year and by all accounts he had a great time.  I can't go this year but from what I have heard you won't be disappointed however that is from 1 person :)

I am a relative novice but the ProQ I am using holds temperature brilliantly.  I tend to use the minion method with Australia heat beads with the 3 bottom vents half open.  This usually holds a temp of around 230 - 250 for 9-10 hours with the water pan full.  I don't think its the best you can get but it certainly works for me.

Jonty

 

[wade]

Hi Jonty - welcome to the forum. It is always good to see others from the South on here. Which part are you from?

I too was introduced to smoking meat when I worked in the USA about 20 years ago. It is good to see that it is finally gaining popularity over here. Some of those out of the way BBQ shacks are amazing aren't they. Once tasted never forgotten.

The ProQ is a good smoker and I bet you are now producing some fine smoked food with it. It can take a while to master the fine temperature control but once you have done that you are on a roll. Are you using a separate digital thermometer or are you relying on the one in the lid. The one in the lid is not usually very accurate - from experience it can show 30 deg F higher than the temperature at the cooking grate.

Looking forward to seeing photos from your next smoke 

 

[smokewood]

Hiya Jonty Welcome to the forum.

I have not been to meatopia, I have only heard good things about it. If it is local it is not to much hassle to nip down and check it out that way you will now for sure.

 

[jonty]

 
Hi Jonty - welcome to the forum. It is always good to see others from the South on here. Which part are you from?

I too was introduced to smoking meat when I worked in the USA about 20 years ago. It is good to see that it is finally gaining popularity over here. Some of those out of the way BBQ shacks are amazing aren't they. Once tasted never forgotten.

The ProQ is a good smoker and I bet you are now producing some fine smoked food with it. It can take a while to master the fine temperature control but once you have done that you are on a roll. Are you using a separate digital thermometer or are you relying on the one in the lid. The one in the lid is not usually very accurate - from experience it can show 30 deg F higher than the temperature at the cooking grate.

Looking forward to seeing photos from your next smoke 

Hi Wade,

I live in central(ish) London at the moment, around Hammersmith but plan to move out a little bit soon.  I am getting married next year and we want to move back to Hertfordshire so hopefully that will make things a little easier, it seems half the forum are from Kent :P  Supplies and space are my current issue but I have an award winning butcher 10 minutes down the road and have to use website to deliver supplies to me.

Do you guys have any recommendation on good online butchers or sites that provide supplies? The current butchers is great but don't always have what I want.

I found that on the ProQ as well so I bought a digital remote thermometer earlier this year so I could experiment a little bit more.  Also, I noticed it was showing around 40-50 F when it was sat in shade on a cold day so figured something was wrong :)  First used it the temperature fluctuated a lot and it lost a lot of smoke out the sides, after a few uses (seasoning?) this has stopped and is now working a lot better, it was pretty frustrating at first.

I finally have another free weekend and plan to smoke some beef short ribs on Saturday for me and the fiance and then on Sunday smoke a whole chicken to eat during the week.  I saw a recipe (on here I think) for a smoked maple bbq chicken which looked amazing.  Do you guys have any tips on the beef short ribs?

I will put some pics up after the weekend assuming I haven't completely messed it up but for now I have loaded a pic of my smoker. It actually looks quite clean so I obviously got it in a good light :)

Jontys Smoker.jpg

• jonty
• Aug 18, 2015

Sorry for another wall of text.

Jonty

 

[wade]

Hi Nick - Where in Kent are you? -  I am from just south of Ashford.

Yes the fine control of air over the burning charcoal is essential to manage the temperature. Having a smoker with an open bottom will result in the charcoal always burning at or near full heat. You may have some adjustment with the top vent but this is likely to be limited.

The choice of smoker will really depend on what you are looking to smoke and in what quantities. I started off with a Weber Kettle 57cm almost 20 years ago and still use them regularly for small quantities of ribs, pork brisket etc. A bullet smoker (Pro-Q or WSM) are good general purpose smokers too (my preference is for the 57cm versions of these too). With any of these you will be able to finely tune the internal temperatures and produce excellent food. A UDS is really a home made variant of a bullet smoker. Many on here make theirs from scratch but you can also buy some good kits to get you started.

Although offset smokers are the ones most people associate with American style BBQ they are also often the most difficult ones to finely manage the temperature throughout the cooking chamber. This is especially difficult with the cheap DIY store bought units. You usually end up with a significant temperature gradient along the short cooking chamber and they tend to be quite leaky. If going for an offset smoker you usually get what you pay for and so should really go for one that is a reasonable size and a one that is not too cheap. There are also offset vertical smokers (I have an old New Braunfels Bandera) which are also very effective.

If you are going to cold smoke too then the offset or larger bullets are better. You need the volume inside to try to prevent the heat from the smoke generator from warming up the smoker. 

Great to see you here and we are looking forward to your posts 

 

[molove]

 The only offset smokers I can find are either Landmann - and I've read a few poor reviews, or really expensive ones from the uk or usa.


Thanks,

Nick

Hi Nick

If you want a modified Landmann offset smoker for free, I've got one you can have if you can pick from SE London/Kent borders.

For photos and description see this thread http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/232589/free-to-a-good-home

Let me know if you are interested else I'll put it on freecycle.

Piers

 

[kiska95]

WOW it seems I am a bit late to the party!!!!! Could be because things travel a bit slower up here in the barren NORTH!!!! 

Remember Wade the last bugger from down there got one in the eye when he thought he was gathering a gang to be king of the hill

So here goes,

Welcome Jonty lovely to have you on board. Could you not get to Smithfields or Borough market for any meat, Ginger pig is in Borough Market and his meat is from North Yorkshire? T & G get their meat from North Yorks too.

Welcome Nick80 great to have you here. I have a couple of UDS, one for cold smoking and one for hot and I think they are great a doddle to build so let me know if you need any help

Welcome Steve44  Welcome on board what a Lovely looking smoker, and you built that yourself? Impressive!!!!! Are you producing them for sale?