Smoker help

[trndobrd]

I just bought a new brick smoker. As a bonus, the seller threw in a house for free. I need some help on getting this up and smoking. It has two grill levels and there is a door for the wood at the bottom. Any suggestions on how to get started, wood to use, inexpensive cut of meat to experiment with?

[trndobrd]

here she is:

[Fire Me Boy!]

That's awesome. When my wife and I move into the city (or nearer, anyway) I have every intention of building one of these for myself.

[osumatt]

Sweet set up!

First...the fuel. If you're going to use straight wood, I'd go with apple, cherry, or pecan. I really don't like the flavor of mesquite, but that may float your boat. :shrug:

Above all, I beg of you, don't use lighter fluid to start your fire. Get a chimney starter. They run about $15-20. You can start off with some lump hard-wood charcoal to get it going and then throw your wood on top of the fire.

Remember, the key to smoking is LOW AND SLOW. You can get a decent rack of ribs for pretty cheap. I take the membrane off the back of the ribs (hell, it may be the front, for all I know about cow anatomy) and dowse them pretty heavy with Head Country seasoning, garlic (the fresh stuff) and onion. Let it set in the fridge overnight in a bag. I also take a squirt bottle with half a beer, about the same amount of apple juice, onion slivers, Head Country seasoning and garlic cloves and set that in the fridge overnight as well.

Get your fire about 200-250 degrees and just stick the ribs in your smoke box (no jokes please) not directly over the coals!! Let them smoke for as long as you can stand it (about 7 or 8 hours) squirting them with the bottle contents every-so often and you're off and running.

[Fire Me Boy!]

A word about chimney starters -- there IS a difference between the Wal-Mart brand and the Weber... grab the Weber. Trust me. I have both now because I figured a chimney starter was a chimney starter was a chimney starter. The Wal-Mart brand now holds the charcoal for the second light if I need more than one fill.

[trndobrd]

How do you make sure the meat is fully cooked if it isn't over the fire?

[cdcox]

Awesome, dude.

I would do a 7-10 lb pork butt for my first outing. Much easier than ribs or a briskett.

You want a temp of 210-225 F at the meat level. I would get a digital thermometer to monitor the temperature. I got mine a Target for about $20. Stick it through a wine cork or small potato so its not touching the metal grill or the meat during temperature measurments.

You'll need to experiment a couple times to learn how to control temperature. Hopefully you have a way to control how much air enters into the fire box, that is the primary way to control temperature. The other way to control temperature is the size of your fire. Remember you have a large mass of brick and mortar to heat, so temperature changes may occur slowly. Make an adjustment with the air or size of the fire, then wait at least 15 minutes before taking another action.

If you can maintain the temperature, figure an hour to an hour and a half per pound. The pork will "pull" at an internal temperature of about 185 - 190 F. you can use the digital thermometer for this, too. If it looks like it is drying out before it is done, wrap it in foil. Let it sit, wrapped for a half-hour to hour after you take it off the fire.

Also, remember not too peek too often. Everytime you do it extends the cooking time due to lost heat.