# Howdy from Atlanta



## deadmessengers (Mar 11, 2007)

Greetings from Georgia!  I'm new to this forum, but have done a fair bit of smoking over the years.   Until a few weeks ago, I did most of my smoke cooking using my trusty old Weber kettle grill (cooking indirect, of course), but recently, at my wife's urging (believe it or not!) I got a beautiful Chargriller offset smoker, which I have nicknamed "the new hotness."   

I've done mostly grilling in the Chargriller until this point, although I just finished a beautiful batch of smoked pork chops a little while ago.   Tomorrow, though, I'll get to really put it through its paces, when I'll smoke up a couple of racks of pork ribs.   I'm also going to do a couple of fatties, which is an idea that had never occurred to me before I found this forum a few days ago.

Anyway, I'm glad I found this place - I've learned a lot just reading for the last few days, and I'll hopefully get to learn a lot more... and maybe even teach a thing or 2.


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## jmastera (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome aboard DM.  This site is great, I had never smoked before and while I am still an amatuer I am doing great with all the help supplied by the other members.

Smoke Away


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## deejaydebi (Mar 11, 2007)

Well Hello there Dead Messenger 

Welocome to the SMF! I'm sure you'll learn alot here and share what you learn with us as well. Do make a point to sign up for Jeff 5 day smoking Ecourse it free and filled with lots of helpful information to get you started.


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## salbaje gato (Mar 11, 2007)

welcome to the best forum on the web, in the words of the late great ray charles. "you got the right one baby"  glad to hear that your lady is on board too. i too have learned a lot from these guys and the tips just keep coming. im building a new smoker that has a new feature that im sure all will enjoy. its in the beginning stage, but everyone thats seen it is blown away by the design. ill send pics as soon as i charge my camera.  wildcat


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## peculiarmike (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome Dead! 
We like pictures so don't hesitate. Let's see those ribs.
You will get used to your wife and family asking why you have to take pictures of everything you smoke before they can eat.
Smoke on!


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## ultramag (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome to SMF deadmessengers!!! It always helps to have the wife on board. Enjoy the forums.


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## ga_smoker (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome to the forum DM. If you haven't already, search the forums for "Chargriller" and you will fine tons of great info on modifiying it to turn it into a much better smoker. I've had one since Christmas and have done a few mods and she cooks great. It's not bad out of the box, but can be improved.

Steve


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## smoked (Mar 11, 2007)

well howdy!!!  and welcome to smf new old seasoned and plain old smoked....we like everyone, tons of info here and we love to share tons of info....especially that delicous food porn.......uhhhhhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhh


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## meowey (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome, welcome!! Glad you are here.

Don't be afraid to ask lots of questions.  The friendly folks here at SMF will make answer.

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey


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## meat~smoker in n.j. (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome To SMF Dead, this is the best place to be ....lots of great people here with ton`s of info , always willing to help out.!!! pull up a chair & enjoy !! also don`t forget to share ,we also like food porn(pics) take care


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## cajunsmoker (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome aboard DM.  Used to live in Atlanta myself. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





   Glad to see you here and hope to see some good pics from you later.


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## tonto1117 (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome to the SMF deadmessengers and congrat's on " the new hotness". Glad you found us!!


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## smokincowboy (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome  and enjoy


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## chris_harper (Mar 11, 2007)

welcome to SMF. i have a friend in cumming. everyone else already covered what i was going to say; so i will add have fun, and eat alot of smoked foods.


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## pigcicles (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome to the forum DM. Glad to have you hear and congrats on the new smoker. Looking forward to seeing your posts

Keep Smokin


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## gunslinger (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome to SMF.


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## deadmessengers (Mar 11, 2007)

So, I'm putting my chargriller through it's paces.   I have a chimney going, and the ribs are rubbed and ready to go.  I'm also doing what I call a "poor man's pastrami" today, a corned beef brisket flat rubbed with lots of black pepper and garlic salt and smoked.   

Food porn, you ask?  But of course... 








More later...


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## iceboxbbq (Mar 11, 2007)

Welcome aboard DM.


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## vulcan75001 (Mar 11, 2007)

DM...Welcome...Glad to have ya here...


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## Dutch (Mar 11, 2007)

Well, well, well-deadmessengers signed up and a day later he's posting food porn!! Outstanding!!  Looking forward to seeing pic's of the finished products. 

Oh, yeah-Welcome to SMF and enjoy!!


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## deadmessengers (Mar 11, 2007)

The "poor man's pastrami" and ribs have now been in the Chargriller for 2 hours.   I haven't quite gotten the hang of temperature control on this beast just yet - when I went out there after the first hour, the lid thermometer read almost 300F.  I closed the intake about 90%, and the temp has leveled off at a more respectable (but still too hot) 245.  This will NOT be my finest culinary hour, but hey - mediocre ribs are still pretty darn good, right?   

After 2 hours, the beef is at 167.  I've got the alarm set to go at 180, and I'm figuring the ribs will be done right around that time, as well - they're darn close now, as it is.


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## deejaydebi (Mar 11, 2007)

Although ... it might be rather dangerous if you are say ... a vegetarian!


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## deadmessengers (Mar 11, 2007)

Well, my first real smoke in the CharGriller is done.   Overall, I guess it wasn't bad.  I did have temperature problems, and it showed in the final result.  

The ribs were good.   It was pretty obvious that they'd been cooked too fast - the sugar in the rub burned a very little bit on the end that was closer to the firebox during the initial temperature spike.  It wasn't bitter or charred, just a bit caramel-y.   

The "pastrami" wasn't quite so good.  When I've cooked a corned beef brisket in this manner in the past, it wasn't quite so tough.   This brisket was more than a little leathery.   It was also extremely salty - if I use this particular brand again I won't use any salt whatsoever in the rub.     

One other thing that I noticed was that the smoke flavor really wasn't as strong as I would like.   Both the ribs and the beef had a little smoke ring, but I didn't taste the smokiness the way I wanted.  I used a couple of great big handfuls of hickory chips for this cook, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to buckle down and try to find a good source for chunks or splits of hickory and oak.   

Another issue I had was with the temperature gradient at the 2 ends of the smoke chamber.  I had read that that's a problem with most offsets, the CharGriller included.  I really noticed it today, though - during cooking it was very obvious that the ribs at the "cold" end of the smoker just weren't getting the same heat as the ones at the hot end.  I've seen plans for tuning plates, and I think I'm going to have to go re-read those.   

All in all, it was a good dinner, though.  My sweetie is a rib fanatic, and if my ribs got past her high standards they couldn't have been all that bad, right?


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## meowey (Mar 11, 2007)

Nice smoke ring!

Take care, have fun, and do good!

Regards,

Meowey


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## cajun_1 (Mar 12, 2007)

Welcome to the SMF


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