First timer looking for a smoker

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Well we had the inaugural smoke this weekend and everything tasted amazing. 1 Boston butt, a rack of ribs, ABTs, and some smoked potatoes.

I had a hard time getting the chips to smoke at a reasonable rate until I added an old pie pan on top of the burner. The place they provided for the chips must not have been heating uniformly but the pie pan solved that very quickly. I'm going to keep an eye out for a cheap-o cast iron skillet to toss in there eventually, but for now the pie pan works just fine.

My only real problem I ran into was cooking the potatoes. Sweet potatoes got 2 hours in foil, and the smaller baking potatoes got a little over an hour. Some were cooked perfectly, some weren't even close to done, so I probably have to play with the height more. I didn't notice any real flavor difference between smoked and regular baked potatoes so I doubt I'll try it again but it was still a good learning experience.

Now to find more tender vittles to smoke up...

 

[GrogNerd]

Well we had the inaugural smoke this weekend and everything tasted amazing. 1 Boston butt, a rack of ribs, ABTs, and some smoked potatoes.

I had a hard time getting the chips to smoke at a reasonable rate until I added an old pie pan on top of the burner. The place they provided for the chips must not have been heating uniformly but the pie pan solved that very quickly. I'm going to keep an eye out for a cheap-o cast iron skillet to toss in there eventually, but for now the pie pan works just fine.

My only real problem I ran into was cooking the potatoes. Sweet potatoes got 2 hours in foil, and the smaller baking potatoes got a little over an hour. Some were cooked perfectly, some weren't even close to done, so I probably have to play with the height more. I didn't notice any real flavor difference between smoked and regular baked potatoes so I doubt I'll try it again but it was still a good learning experience.

Now to find more tender vittles to smoke up...

pics!

 

[BrewerBear]

Well we had the inaugural smoke this weekend and everything tasted amazing. 1 Boston butt, a rack of ribs, ABTs, and some smoked potatoes.

I had a hard time getting the chips to smoke at a reasonable rate until I added an old pie pan on top of the burner. The place they provided for the chips must not have been heating uniformly but the pie pan solved that very quickly. I'm going to keep an eye out for a cheap-o cast iron skillet to toss in there eventually, but for now the pie pan works just fine.

My only real problem I ran into was cooking the potatoes. Sweet potatoes got 2 hours in foil, and the smaller baking potatoes got a little over an hour. Some were cooked perfectly, some weren't even close to done, so I probably have to play with the height more. I didn't notice any real flavor difference between smoked and regular baked potatoes so I doubt I'll try it again but it was still a good learning experience.

Now to find more tender vittles to smoke up...

Glad to hear it went well. You may not have noticed a difference in taste but why fire up another heat source just for the potatoes?

 

[gueykewl]

I've used a Traeger Junior Elite in the past after smoking on a WSM with a BBQ Guru DigiQ, I immediately sold my Traeger for a WSM and upgraded to a BBQ Guru DigiQ DX2. They have since come out with a CyberQ WiFi which I am eyeing but I will wait for my DigiQ DX2 to die before I pull the trigger. I may be waiting a while since these DigiQ's area pretty solid product.

 

[Chadwick]

I've got an offset smoker for $20 at a yard sale. charcoal. it's almost set and forget. at the point where I can get it up to and keep temp for 3 hours, along with adding some wood once an hour for smoke

so, all my meats are only 3 hours in the smoker, then finish up in the oven.

pork butts are friggin' torture, filling the house with delicious smell for up to 8 hours and lingering for days.

View attachment 204716

My smoker grill is identical to this one. I've even smoked malt on this. I'm an old fashioned "charcoal or wood only" kind of outdoor chef. This unit has suited my needs well. There are better smokers for certain. However, this thing has done everything I've ever wanted done well enough to make me happy. Which reminds me, tomorrow the sockeye salmon will be seeing some slow smoking along with a nice portion of pork ribs.

 

[Cheesy_Goodness]

Glad to hear it went well. You may not have noticed a difference in taste but why fire up another heat source just for the potatoes?

Just to make sure they're done

It was pretty odd though. I had two sweet potatoes that got 2 hours and a bunch of baking potatoes that got a bit more than an hour. Maybe 2 of the baking potatoes were done, the rest might as well have been raw. Same with the sweet potatoes, one was cooked perfectly, the other seemed to be raw. All were coated with olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper, and wrapped in foil.
I figured there would be a temp difference between racks but it seemed to be more drastic than I accounted for.

Pics of leftovers won't be as sexy but I'll try to snag a few before they get gone

Chadwick can I ask your process for smoking malt? Might be interested in giving that a go next time I brew up a barleywine.

 

[BrewerBear]

Just to make sure they're done

It was pretty odd though. I had two sweet potatoes that got 2 hours and a bunch of baking potatoes that got a bit more than an hour. Maybe 2 of the baking potatoes were done, the rest might as well have been raw. Same with the sweet potatoes, one was cooked perfectly, the other seemed to be raw. All were coated with olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper, and wrapped in foil.
I figured there would be a temp difference between racks but it seemed to be more drastic than I accounted for.

Pics of leftovers won't be as sexy but I'll try to snag a few before they get gone

Chadwick can I ask your process for smoking malt? Might be interested in giving that a go next time I brew up a barleywine.

What I do is put the potatoes whole in a pot of cool water and bring to a boil for five minutes to get them started cooking,then I usually cut them into quarters,pat them dry and season them and toss them on the grill. I've done the same and put them on whole instead of cutting them.

 

[FoamFollower]

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