New to the ranks, seeking advise

[Lo-n-slo]

Last month this weird guy with a full beard and dressed only in his red flannels, parked his sleigh, long side my cabin and dumped off a nice offset smoker. While it isn't built on an eighteen wheeler frame, with sleeping quarters and a hot tub it will do fine for my family of three, with occasional visits from sons and daughters, grandkids, brothers and sisters, neibors and and a hungry person or two who happens to wander by.
While I have smoked a turkey or two on my old charcoal Weber and can do some decent ribs on my three burner Weber gas grill(Light one burner, set it on the lowest setting, it holds at a steady 215 to 225 degrees) I'm going to need a lot of help from you guys who have the experiance to smoke brisket, buttes, roasts and fish.
So I thought I would intrduce my self, and mention that my first project will be a butt and I am open to all advice.
Lo-n-slo

[Zeeman]

I use hickory/pecan in firebox to smoke with. Heat pit to temp, rub butt lightly with plain yellow mustard, then rub with your favorite dry rub.
I cook mine at 210-220*, and find that they will take 1.5 - 2 hours per pound. Once internal temp of butt reaches 198 -200 (or bone pulls out smoothly & clean) it's ready and going to make some great pulled-pork sammies.
z

[bigwheel]

Hi Lo..welcome to the nut ward. Assuming you have a Brinkmann Smoke N Pro or maybe a New Braunfels Black Diamond (commonly called an SNPP or NBBD)..or a reasonable facimle thereof. If so..charcoal will become your best friend. Those particular types of pits do not play well with all wood. Would start with about 3 lbs. of charcoal and get it lit. Set a chunk or two on top to make smoke. If the heat drops add charcoal. If the smoke quits add chunks. Swipe a square metal pan from the little bride and set it on the cooking grate next to the firebox and fill it with water to block off some of the radiant sideways heat from the firebox. Cook with the cookchamber door open slightly so it gets plenty of air. When the heat gets total non-existent be ready to clean out the dead ashes from under the firegrate. Leave your exhaust wide open all the time. If you get a real high heat spike be ready to crack the lid to the COOKCHAMBER to dissapte some of the heat till the crisis passes. Plan on swapping the meat end for end a few times so it cooks evenly. Hope this helps. Good cooking to ya. If you get real ambitious and want to try turning a sows ear into a silk purse...or maybe just to gather more info try this link:

http://www.bbq-porch.org/faq/07-2-2.asp

bigwheel

[TB]

Speaking as one of the "ranks", welcome. This place is informative and fun. Everyone is harmless except me (I'm certifiable but live a long ways away). We could use a little more info about the particular offset you got. TB

[Thom Emery]

Lo Where in Calif.?

[herper]

Lo, welcome to the asylum. good people with lots of info, sick humor and fun times
Herper

[CookinOkie]

I'm new myself, been cooking a while but just got started with BBQ as I love to eat it :-). I have learned a lot from reading this forum and really appreciate it. I do have one question, if one or all of you could give me some advice. How do you guys prepare bologna or (baloney if you prefer as I do ) Skin on, Off or punch it full of holes.

[bigwheel]

Got to take off the rind. That stuff is plastic I think. Fella I know cooks it near every day on a little shoppe made offset for his deli sandwiches. Lot of innovative techniques out there in the world but he uses the kiss approach. He takes a 5 lb chub of good baloney Eckrich all beef works well..peels off the rind and puts it in the smoke for an hour or two. Since it already cooked it just be a smoking it up a little procedure. Some days he cooks a whole chub but most days half a chub. Its a real popular deli item. The sandwich lady cut you off a big slab put it on a bun and layer it up with a slice o rat cheese..sauce...onyawns and pickled japs. Whew...sure tastes good and make you burp garlic powder for days:)

bigwheel

[CookinOkie]

Thanks a bunch "bigwheel" I just knowed there was a smoker out yonder in the smokin world could tell me what to do.

Have fun and enjoy, but I gotta go smoke

CookinOkie aka Ron

[vinman]

Welcome Lo!
Welcome Okie!
I'm new in here too and I haven't seen a question go unanswered yet :D

These people are the guru's of slow and low.
And most of them are pretty nice too LOL

[Mac]

Greetings Lo and CookinOkie. I have never known this forum not to have the information asked for. Glad you could join us! 8)

[CookinOkie]

You are so right Vinman these guys are the masters. I sure appreciate all the help I have gotten.

And Mac we are very lucky they are so very nice and want to help all beginners. Very refreshing in this day and time for sure. Thank you all

SmokinOkie aka Ron

[TB]

...These people are the guru's of slow and low.
And most of them are pretty nice too LOL
Yeah, I've been slow for as long as I can remember.

[txbbqcarrie]

Welcome to the forum!

[Crpdeth]

Welcome to the forums Ron!

I am here to learn more than advise at this point, I post very little and read alot, but maybe someday I can contribute a little more as my knowledge grows and my "Cyber Mentors" here at Txbbq start dieing off! :D

I loved your intro and have to concure that while we dont all have pits built on 18 wheeler trailer frames, my small, single axle, off set, keeps the family comming back for more.

Happy Q'ing...Hope to see you here often.

Crpdeth

[CookinOkie]

Many thanks Carrie and Crpdeth . Hapy to be here and will stick my nose in often to see whats new and delicious or just to make sure all are still cookin.

CookinOkie aka Ron

[Paul Taylor]

Hey Lo-n-Slo & Ron, welcome in fellas. Hey Don't think that you have so called"Stupid questions" @ all. "Cause there ain't no such thing with the exception for the ones that you don't ever ask. Hey none of us in here were born knowing how to BBQ the real way. We had to learn @ one point too. I too think of this as an informative place as well as an insane asylum too. Again, welcome in fellas.I have never heard of any bad information or advice comming from in here & I have been here damn nigh 2 years now.

Paul Taylor

[gatorpit]

Welcome. I am with Zeeman. Do the butt the same as he describes. Can't go wrong with keeping it simple. Butt is very forgiving. Hard to mess it up. I keep around 6-8 pounders.

[DoubleBarrelSmoker]

Hey lo-slo-- welcome- one of the things you might want to do is buy yourself a digital remote thermometer. With this you can monitor the internal temp of the butt or whatever you are cooking. Also moniter the pit temp from the comfort of the living room or where ever you are. For a beginer this keeps down the urge to open the pit and check on things and to worry about when things are done. The link below will show you one type -search the forum for other discussions on thermometers. One more thing- like so many things in this life experience is the great teacher keep BBQing and you will gain confidence quickly. You might fail a few times but you will be amazed how quickly you will start to succeed. And read as much as you can on here- there is a wealth of info

http://www.grillmastersgarden.com/store.php?dpid=bd50b0de4c15875dff2691d6d91579a8

[Woodman]

Hey Lo-n-Slo & Ron, welcome in fellas. Hey Don't think that you have so called"Stupid questions" @ all. "Cause there ain't no such thing with the exception for the ones that you don't ever ask. Hey none of us in here were born knowing how to BBQ the real way. We had to learn @ one point too. I too think of this as an informative place as well as an insane asylum too. Again, welcome in fellas.I have never heard of any bad information or advice comming from in here & I have been here damn nigh 2 years now.

Paul Taylor

Well, if he was asking for a "vegan-tofu" brisket recipe???????I'd say that would be a stupid question Paul! :wink: :roll:

[cleglue]

Hello Lo-n-slo,

I’m new to this forum but belong to two others. All the people seem to be very helpful and informative. I purchased an offset smoker from Barbeques Galore about a month ago. I’ve been trying to learn how to use it, as well as, smoke truer BBQ. Since then I did a modification on the smoker box to get the charcoal grate higher up so that air can better flow.
It is suggested to use lump charcoal instead of briquettes. So I’ve bought and used it and also have learned to make my own.

I have smoked chicken breast, ribs, Boston butt, and brisket as well as grilled steak on the firebox side. All were great except the outside of the Boston butt. It had a creosote taste on the outside. I have since learned that these small offset smokers are not all stick burners. My last cook yesterday was a brisket and I use lump charcoal for the heat and small white oak sticks for the smoke flavor.

For fire management this seems to work for me. Get a full chimney of charcoal going good, pour it in the fire box, add a stick or chucks of wood, then another load of unlit charcoal. The chimney is fully open, and the damper is ¼ to closed just depending on the temperature. When I add another stick I need to leave the door open to keep the wood from smoldering and giving off that creosote flavor. As of yesterday when I needed more heat I added unlit lump charcoal. If I were to use briquettes I would use lit charcoal from a chimney.

It seems that a temperature between 200 and 250 is good for good BBQ but I’m a newbie at true BBQ.

I have been very busy with the digital camera during this time and here are the URLS if you want to see any of the pictures.

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Ribs/

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Boston-Butt/

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Brisket/

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Charcoal-Making/

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Charcoal-Making2/

http://usera.imagecave.com/cleglue/Pit-Pictures/

Sorry for such a long post but I’ve been a little obsessed with learning to do much better barbecuing this month.

[Mac]

Welcome Cleglue, it all looks good to me! Glad you could join us! :wink:

[Michiana Mark]

cleglue, you look like you caught on quick. Some good looking Que there glue.

[david brace]

Hey Cleglue, man, what's wrong with those pictures??? NOTHING. The ribs look real appetizing to me and the brisket has a nice smoke ring to it. Next time take a snapshot of the ribs when they're sliced apart.

DB

[bluejaybbq]

Welcome Lo-n-slo. I am a newbie and these guys are the best--I've never been criticized for asking newbie questions. Hope you enjoy this forum as much as I do.

[TexLaw]

Welcome, Lo! It looks like you've already received some very good advice, so I'll just add on.

One of the most important things you can do when you're cooking on that offset is to be patient with it. If you feel you need to adjust something, only adjust it a little bit, and then wait to see what happens. Fire management drives fidgiters crazy because they are always messing around with the fire and never letting it just set.

Until you learn your pit very, very well, you probably will not be able to get it to exactly the temperature you want. Just pick a temperature range and let your fire find its groove in that range. Then, if you just can't stand it, make tiny adjustments to learn your pit. If you can stand it, leave well enough alone. :D

Above all, though, have fun! Congratulations!


TL