Smokers / Grills

chaos said:

I got that Camp Chef smoker, assembled last night and it is sitting in my basement. If all goes well I'll be smoking a brisket on Saturday. Got a well-reviewed dual probe thermometer as well. Really excited about this.

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Let us know how it goes. I have been looking at that one for awhile now

Did the bacon today after it sat in the fridge curing for 9 day.

Yum.

Slicing..

Ritley said:

Let us know how it goes. I have been looking at that one for awhile now

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It turned out ok, not amazing, but I think that's my fault.

I know how to grill, I have never really smoked anything before though, and I'm reading that brisket is actually pretty difficult to nail. I smoked it for about 10 hours and finished in the oven because it started raining, which no rain was called for so that sucked. The ThermPro remote thermometer I got from Amazon worked great. The smoker itself held temp pretty well. I didn't put the gasket on the door yet that everyone recommends, but it wasn't an issue. I decided to try mesquite, turns out that was probably a mistake. It gave the meat a very strong flavor, for sure, but I think maybe too much. The meat was tougher than I would have wanted. Reading up online it seems there are a few different things that could have caused this. I maintained temp pretty well, and at 10 hours I was still at 154 degrees when I transferred to the oven. I took it out of the oven at 197, and it hit that super quick after transferring to the oven. The meat was, again, not tough, but definitely not the tenderness I wanted.

So, I think 1. put the gasket in, 2. use hickory, 3. maybe an overnight smoke, but do it a bit slower and leave in the smoker rather than finishing in the oven. From what I've read, I should get a better result with this. As far as the smoker goes, I'm happy with it. I only smoked the brisket, I think this coming weekend I may do a pork butt and some jerky, there's a ton of room in there so I should be able to fit it no problem.

chaos said:

It turned out ok, not amazing, but I think that's my fault.

I know how to grill, I have never really smoked anything before though, and I'm reading that brisket is actually pretty difficult to nail. I smoked it for about 10 hours and finished in the oven because it started raining, which no rain was called for so that sucked. The ThermPro remote thermometer I got from Amazon worked great. The smoker itself held temp pretty well. I didn't put the gasket on the door yet that everyone recommends, but it wasn't an issue. I decided to try mesquite, turns out that was probably a mistake. It gave the meat a very strong flavor, for sure, but I think maybe too much. The meat was tougher than I would have wanted. Reading up online it seems there are a few different things that could have caused this. I maintained temp pretty well, and at 10 hours I was still at 154 degrees when I transferred to the oven. I took it out of the oven at 197, and it hit that super quick after transferring to the oven. The meat was, again, not tough, but definitely not the tenderness I wanted.

So, I think 1. put the gasket in, 2. use hickory, 3. maybe an overnight smoke, but do it a bit slower and leave in the smoker rather than finishing in the oven. From what I've read, I should get a better result with this. As far as the smoker goes, I'm happy with it. I only smoked the brisket, I think this coming weekend I may do a pork butt and some jerky, there's a ton of room in there so I should be able to fit it no problem.

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What temp did you use for the smoker and oven?

225-230 in the smoker, 250 in the oven. Went with 250 in the oven since I read about finishing like that in some epicurious article where they said basically all the smoke flavor is gained in the first couple of hours.

nope, common myth but proven false- hit up amazingribs.com site is awesome for information. what happens is the outside gets dry thus smoke does not stick, spritzing the meat with apple juice or water will enhance smoke uptake.

brisket is about the HARDEST meat to get right. i have not tried it yet.(wife does not like it)

mesquite - is a VERY strong tasting flavor. only use 1 or 2 chunks total, and use other fruit woods for finish- apple cherry or pecan are the most used imo, only one or two chunks at a time you want light blue smoke kind of wispy, not heavy white smoke. remember too much smoke =BAD you can always ADD wood to make more, if there is not much, but too much you get ash tasting stuff.. i typically start with 2-3 chunks of wood, once they are about gone, add 2-3 more...repeat until finished.

What You Need to Know About Wood, Smoke, And Combustion

Thanks for that. That matches up with what I have been reading as well.

So my wood didn't really have visible smoke. I could definitely smell the smoke, and taste the smoke, and the wood definitely burned down, but the smoke wasn't really visible. I soaked the chips overnight, maybe a mistake? Different sites online give different advice about soaking/not soaking.

from the article i linked

Use dry wood. Wet wood makes bad smoke. It also cools the fire. Read my article on soaking wood. Some pitmasters will even put the wood on top of their smoker to drive off any remaining water.

blue light wispy smoke is fine.. all the wet wood does is, make steam until the wood dries- it also delays smoking until it reaches higher temp, soaked wood, will delay the actual SMOKE part you want by up to 30 minutes (from the article link posted in this reply. - again all articles are by meathead

It's raining all weekend, won't be able to get out there again until the following weekend.

heh.. umbrellas work. i've smoked during snow/rain- you just get a bit wet.

the visiongrills version or the pitboss version?

i own the visiongrills version and it is awesome. (i have a pellet grill/smoker too)

GOOD choice. one item you might want to get is some high temp gasket (food grade) caulking. i had an issue where the gasket for the electric lighter insert flap disconnected...

if you plan on smoking-a lot, i'd recommend getting the bbq guru setup - costs 155-325 depending on which version you get- (expensive one has wifi/cloud)

I have a dyna glo large vertical one and love it. It is propane and I do have issues with getting 225+ when it is under 80 outside. Chicken is the only thing I smoke at that plus though. I had issues with chips burning to fast until I started buying large chunks instead and I split them up.

I Have the mastercraft? propane cabinet smoker (smaller one) and my only issue with it- it did work well- is maintaining 225...i have the opposite issue than olebass, i have to run the propane- no matter WHAT the temp is outside- at just about the lowest setting, with vents 100% open to keep it under 250...

which is why i got the pellet one- it's "better" at temp control...and a lot larger.

doing pulled pork on saturday for a party, going to start it at like 6am...

I'm still considering if I want to get up super early and start my pulled pork or try to smoke it overnight starting Friday. Lots of people online saying they have success with overnight, still have about 20 hours or so to decide though.

I might just start it at like 2 am Then goto bed. Set smoker to 215 put meat on insert probes then check on it 6 hr later. That way will have 15 hr for the cook.

I did another chicken tonight once I got home from the hospital. I used a pan last time, this time I placed a pan on the rack under it to catch the juices. We had brined it for about 8 hours in salt and I rubbed it down with lemon pepper, black pepper and sea salt. It cooked in just under 3 hours to 163.
I had the propane set to high and vents closed and it stayed at 230ish all 3 hours.
I went with the dynaglo because the burner itself was cast iron instead of steel so I am hoping it lasts longer.
Amazon product ASIN B007YX9KRUThis is mine.

Tonight was the 3rd time using it.
I am no longer using the water pan that came with it and instead using a aluminum roasting pan on the bottom rack for water and to catch droppings.
Still figuring out the wood chips. I have tried apple, cheer, hickory and love apple the most but they burn up fast once they start smoking like in 30 minutes.
Soaking them and wrapping in foil only delayed when they smoke, not how long they last. I think this is due to them being right over the burner and the fact I have to run it on high.
I need to get hi temp caulk for all the handles and stuff and a fireplace gasket for the doors and I will be 1000% happy with this sucker.

I'm still embarrassed and upset about the 2nd smoke in which I was handed 2 logs of pork, 2 chickens and a chunk of beef and I was cooking it based on assuming the pork was butt and the meat was brisket.
The pork ended up being tenderloin( I was at 150 internal when I found out so not totally wasted but overdone) and the meat was skirt steak folded over. I didn't do the marinating or anything so my handling was pull out of bowl and place on rack. $50 in meat not ruined but not as it should be. Rule #1 now in our house is I won't cook anything unless I know what it is. I should have known, I used to be a lead kitchen cook back in the 90s but I hadn't messed with those meats in ages. Still learning.

I want to tackle raw shrimp and wings this weekend for the first time on it. I had been using my grill below which still works great after 4 years and was a cross between direct/indirect with the plates making it infrared.

I'm mostly sad that the smoker cost 25% what the grill did and even with some mishaps, things taste better. If people don't own a smoker and you ever cook anything. Get one. Seriously.

I have much to learn but I have already learned that as long as you check temps and know what it is you are cooking, you are already doing acceptable grilling. The rubs, sauces, marinates and shit is just a bonus.
Since this is reviews, the reason I went with this one was price/feedback ratio. It is wide and tall. Some are pretty narrow and some have burner issues and issues with wind. It was gusting 20 mph today and while I have leaks I need to address, burner flame was never an issue. I looked for months at every brand, size and comments on walmart, amazon and anyplace I could find them. This was for me the highest rated for price range option for propane.

Why propane?
I have electric outside I ran myself but it feeds off the kitchen fridge circuit. I had concerns about running 1500+ watts on a circuit that already has at times a heavy load for long periods. Everything I read said propane favored charcoal in flavor more than it did electric and that electric had the least flavor. I assume due to the water/wood not getting the flame/super heat effect. Electric only had one real advantage to me and that was it was very easy to control temp due to being well electric. It just shuts off and on as needed to hold it.
I already had multiple propane tanks in circulation due to bitumen roofing back in the day and my infrared grill.
Charcoal is a bit more work and the best flavor I learned but the propane I turn off, unhook tank and set into my patio cabinet, throw the aluminum disposable pan in trash and done. Ready for next time.

For this model and 15,000 btu burner using AmeriGas propane exchange( which fills to about 15lbs instead of max of 20 ) it appears I will have ~22 hours per tank smoking in 80-90 degree weather. Exchanges around here cost $20. I may start taking them to the gas shop to get more and cheaper once these run down. Normally I was only using 2 20lbs a year and I have a 100lb tank I keep around in case the world ends.