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Who's smoking meat this weekend?

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Mesquite fire in the BGE

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Hickory smoked Conocuh sausage with roasted asparagus and foil-packed potatoes (purple, red, and white). poor picture, but man was it good

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Are your BGEs kept out in the rain? I know the glaze has cracked a bit on mine and if it was in the elements, I assume some water would soak in. As it is, kept under cover, I have never seen it sweat.
 
Add wood for smoking during the first hour, especially when the meat is cold. I usually add a handful of chunks right when I add the meat, and a handful after 30 minutes ish. I don't think wood after that is useful. I use large chunks, no need for the little chips, and no need for soaking in water.

I pull between 200 and 205. Lower than that and it won't pull off the shoulder blade the way you want. So temp is good.

Takes me, in my WSM, about 10 hours. I smoke between 225 and 250.

I know you didn't ask, but...

Pork's cheap. I usually do 4 boston butts (bone in). Tangy sauce added, then I portion it all in Foodsaver bags. Freeze.

I shred in the mixer with the dough hook. So much easier than forks.


I always did by hand, but **** dough hook work on kitchen aid? And gotta love my wsm.
 
Ok good! I knew I had done my research correctly haha


If you can get cherry, try it. Apple is overrated compared to cherry. Chicken turkey fish and pork all work well with cherry. Briskets needs something more harsh.
 
If you can get cherry, try it. Apple is overrated compared to cherry. Chicken turkey fish and pork all work well with cherry. Briskets needs something more harsh.

I got cherry. ordered it on Amazon. Did my first smoke tonight with Apple and hickory. Turned out great? Will prob try cherry next
 
Add wood for smoking during the first hour, especially when the meat is cold. I usually add a handful of chunks right when I add the meat, and a handful after 30 minutes ish. I don't think wood after that is useful. I use large chunks, no need for the little chips, and no need for soaking in water.

I pull between 200 and 205. Lower than that and it won't pull off the shoulder blade the way you want. So temp is good.

Takes me, in my WSM, about 10 hours. I smoke between 225 and 250.
I usually run 250 at the grate on my WSM and will sometimes run 275-300 if I'm running short on time or to move things along. Dome temp seems to be almost 50 degrees lower. I use a DigiQ and running 3 or 4 butts at a time in most cases, adding additional briquettes about 3/4 of the way through, this will take me about 14 hours... as much as 16, to get to 200 internal temp. I tend to pull around 195-200 and then wrap in foil and rest in a cooler till serving time. For pork butts I always start out with a full water pan as well as a large cordierite pizza stone covering the water pan.

Pork's cheap. I usually do 4 boston butts (bone in). Tangy sauce added, then I portion it all in Foodsaver bags. Freeze.
This.

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17951853_10210778040820650_1536912518248852870_n.jpg
 
Smoked 2 briskets for Easter Sunday and managed to time things perfectly, which is a first. Briskets are hard to time right. They were on the lean side so I ended up foiling for the last hour or 2, but they turned out fantastic and the crust was still in perfect shape, so it was great. Simple Texas 50/50 S&P rub. Wife's Polish family LOOOOVED the polish sausage I threw on the smoker, too. After pulling the briskets to rest, I threw on a whole pile of regular and a special garlic Easter sausage we get locally with some fresh chunks of wood and smoked @275. Combined with the homemade kraut from the freezer, it was outstanding. Was too hectic, so no pics. :(
 
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If you can get cherry, try it. Apple is overrated compared to cherry. Chicken turkey fish and pork all work well with cherry. Briskets needs something more harsh.

Pecan is great as well. I usually do a pecan/fruitwood blend on poultry and pork.
 
Are your BGEs kept out in the rain? I know the glaze has cracked a bit on mine and if it was in the elements, I assume some water would soak in. As it is, kept under cover, I have never seen it sweat.

That's it. The ceramic isnt sealed and due to expansion/contraction if you look closely it's got tons if tiny cracks, it looks like a spiderweb. So it'll absorb a little moisture especially if uncovered, which sweats out when you cook. It gets worse if you go for a period of time without using it, and it gets brown and gross looking if the inside is especially greasy from low n slow cooks. But it isnt anything to worry about and is common, just cook it out.
 
I usually run 250 at the grate on my WSM and will sometimes run 275-300 if I'm running short on time or to move things along. Dome temp seems to be almost 50 degrees lower. I use a DigiQ and running 3 or 4 butts at a time in most cases, adding additional briquettes about 3/4 of the way through, this will take me about 14 hours... as much as 16, to get to 200 internal temp. I tend to pull around 195-200 and then wrap in foil and rest in a cooler till serving time. For pork butts I always start out with a full water pan as well as a large cordierite pizza stone covering the water pan.


This.

I also use an Auber smoker controller, so am getting grate temperature. I don't use water in the pan (or any other heat ballast).

Also, I see your claws below. I have a pair of "bear claws" that I got off amazon. They work OK, but still the mixer is better for me.
 
Yes. It was crazy. Only on the lid though. It had a thick layer soot on the inside... being ceramic it makes sense. Looked into it and it's pretty common. Used grill, previous owner probably never did a burn clean... and it's Oregon

View attachment 396926

So what's the solution? Live with it? or do multiple attempts of a burn clean trying to purge it?
 
Pecan is great as well. I usually do a pecan/fruitwood blend on poultry and pork.


I'm not a huge fan, but I'll use it over hickory. Hickory just makes everything taste like bacon. Which is good for bacon.
 
Pecan is great as well. I usually do a pecan/fruitwood blend on poultry and pork.

Pecan is ok for light smoke on poultry or fish for me and that's pretty much the only times I'll use it, works great for nova lox btw and so does oak. I like cherry for pork ribs, oak hickory mix for pretty much any kind of beef, and apple hickory mix for pork butt. Mesquite is also good for poultry, especially turkey.
 
Gonna smoke my first ribs this weekend. Got 2 giant racks from costco (depending on how they fit I may have to cut them down). Was planning on doing a 3-2-1 cook on them. I may do more 3-1.5-1.5 to try and get more bark on them. Probably gonna put some HB hefe in the foil with them along with a touch of honey. Was thinking of doing 90% hickory with a pinch of mesquite unless anyone has better options? Currently I have apple, cherry, hickory and mesquite, but I can always run and grab different wood. Ive read that its hard to get thermo readings on ribs so I was probably just gonna go sans-thermo and go by the bend test. Since Im a newb and these are my first ribs, does this plan sound good? Im open to any and all suggestions
 

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