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Smokers..Any tips or tricks?


indy82z

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Just picked up a smoker. Going to play around with it this weekend, but curious if anyone has any tips or tricks they use with theirs? I know there are tons of sites about them (my favorite is smoking-meat.com) but curious what everyone is making with theirs and how? Planning on doing Ribs first with mine. Decided on Electric for my first smoker so I could set it and leave it and not have to worry about maintaining the temperature.

 

Thanks in advance..

 

Tom

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I'll just come out and say it....14.5 hrs away from 4/20 i thought this was going to be a completely different type of thread.

 

 

soak your wood for 24hrs is a must. Watching for the temp to spike once your wood is dried out and burnt (although im not sure if youll have that problem with electric).

 

Just about everything tastes better on a smoker. Watch your leaner meats as they'll dry out quickly if not preped. properly (venison, duck, fish, pheasant). My all time favorite are Schmidts Bahama mamas. the only down side is that eating at schmidts will never be as good.

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Last weekend I did a rack of ribs and a pork tenderloin, the tenderloin turned out better than the ribs imo. Like Sturg said, make sure to soak the wood chips. The type of chips will make a difference on the flavor too. I like hickory, Apple is a much milder flavor but is pretty good too.
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<edit>Ahhh i reread and see you got an electric. Wood chips it is.</edit>

 

Wood chips? Come on lol.

 

I have used quite a few different styles of smokers so OP question really depends on what style you have.

 

I currently own a smokey mountain by Weber. Love this one. Have owned BGE, horizontal smokers, electric and gas. Each has it's own merits and pitfalls.

 

I use wood chunks. You can pick them up at Menards or Lowes. I use cherry, hickory, pecan and mesquite depending on what I am smoking, rub and sauce.

 

Good appetizer to try...

 

Take a jap cut in 1/2 lengthways. Add in some cream cheese that has some dry rub and some shredded cheese. You can also add smoked sausage crumbles or shrimp. Then wrap with a slice of thick bacon. Smoke that sucker for about 2 hours. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm :).

 

On starting the lump charcoal, buy a chimney starter. You can pick one up at Lowes cheap. Load it with charcoal. Depending on how long the smoker will be running add UNLIT charcoal to the smoker first, then dump the lit ones on top. This is called the Minion method and will make the burn last longer. Also when starting it I would run the intake baffles open full until 50 degrees under your target temp. Then cut the dampers down to 1/3 open. Always leave the output stack fully open as if not it will create a bitter taste on the meat.

 

SMF FTW. Sounds like you found a great forum to start out on. Jeff rocks!.

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I have a chargrill offset smoker and use charcoal, and wood chunks.

keeping the temp consistent is one thing i notice to produce better results.

havent smoked in a while, as its 6 hours usually keeping an eye on it which is hard with the time i have available.

 

thesmokering.com is also an ok site.

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