Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:tu:tu:tu Have fun!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

My experiences using too much smoke wood usually also always involved the food taking on a bad flavor from too much smoke. Oversmoked mesquite = tar, oversmoked hickory = chemical, almost like a petrolium taste, similiar to lighter fluid, oversmoked cherry & plum = very bitter. YMMV.

IIRC, brown sugar burns at about 350F, so it's possible that you might have hit the burn stage at some point.



(BTW, Gator is an expert, no matter how many times he tells you he isn't)

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

anybody ever tried mulberry tree for smoking? my yard is surrounded by them

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

A quick google search indicated that's it's ok to use.

Reference guide for Woods used to Smoke Food

ACACIA - these trees are in the same family as mesquite. When burned in a smoker, acacia has a flavor similar to mesquite but not quite as heavy. Is a very hot burning wood.

ALDER - Very delicate with a hint of sweetness. Good with fish, pork, poultry, and light-meat game birds.

ALMOND - A sweet smoke flavor, light ash. Good with all meats.

APPLE - Very mild with a subtle fruity flavor, slightly sweet. Good with poultry (turns skin dark brown) and pork.

ASH - Fast burner, light but distinctive flavor. Good with fish and red meats.

BIRCH - Medium-hard wood with a flavor similar to maple. Good with pork and poultry.

CHERRY - Mild and fruity. Good with poultry, pork and beef. Some List members say the cherry wood is the best wood for smoking. Wood from chokecherry trees may produce a bitter flavor.

COTTONWOOD - It is a softer wood than alder and very subtle in flavor. Use it for fuel but use some chunks of other woods (hickory, oak, pecan) for more flavor. Don't use green cottonwood for smoking.

CRABAPPLE - Similar to apple wood.

GRAPEVINES - Tart. Provides a lot of smoke. Rich and fruity. Good with poultry, red meats, game and lamb.

HICKORY - Most commonly used wood for smoking--the King of smoking woods. Sweet to strong, heavy bacon flavor. Good with pork, ham and beef.

LILAC - Very light, subtle with a hint of floral. Good with seafood and lamb.

MAPLE - Smoky, mellow and slightly sweet. Good with pork, poultry, cheese, and small game birds.

MESQUITE - Strong earthy flavor. Good with beef, fish, chicken, and game. One of the hottest burning woods.

MULBERRY - The smell is sweet and reminds one of apple.

OAK - Heavy smoke flavor--the Queen of smoking wood. RED OAK is good on ribs, WHITE OAK makes the best coals for longer burning. All oak varieties reported as suitable for smoking. Good with red meat, pork, fish and heavy game.

ORANGE, LEMON and GRAPEFRUIT - Produces a nice mild smoky flavor. Excellent with beef, pork, fish and poultry.

PEAR - A nice subtle smoke flavor. Much like apple. Excellent with chicken and pork.

PECAN - Sweet and mild with a flavor similar to hickory. Tasty with a subtle character. Good with poultry, beef, pork and cheese. Pecan is an all-around superior smoking wood.

SWEET FRUIT WOODS - APRICOT, PLUM, PEACH, NECTARINE - Great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish. The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory.

WALNUT - ENGLISH and BLACK - Very heavy smoke flavor, usually mixed with lighter woods like almond, pear or apple. Can be bitter if used alone. Good with red meats and game.

Other internet sources report that wood from the following trees is suitable for smoking: BEECH, BUTTERNUT, FIG, GUM, CHESTNUT, HACKBERRY, PERSIMMON, and WILLOW.

Types of wood that is unsuitable or even poisonous when used for grilling. Don't use any wood from conifer trees, such as PINE, FIR, SPRUCE, REDWOOD, CEDAR, CYPRESS, ELM and EUCALYPTUS, as is the wood from SASSAFRAS, SYCAMORE and LIQUID AMBER trees.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Mulberry


A mild smoke with a sweet, tangy, blackberry-like flavor


Good with Beef, poultry, game birds, pork (particularly ham).

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

tuxpuff, thanks for the info.

was more or less just wondering if anybody on the thread had experience with it. gave a couple local friends of mine some to use and they seem to like it.

if anybody would like ny to try, let me know. i could pack a flat rate box ptretty tight.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ooooh I see! Well at least we got a good wood post out of it :) I've never used mulberry...if you're packing boxes I wouldn't mind trying some out.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

i agree, that was a great "good wood" post, very informative.


pm me you addy tuxpuff... and you looking for seasoned, or fresh? what diameter and how thick of pieces suit you? i have a guy pm'd me already for some, so i will be sending out some soon.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Hope I have time this weekend and good weather!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I may also thaw out a double pack o rack o ribs. I have a few catfish fillets I don't feel like
frying or baking, so I might as well smoke them, too. I just love messing with my smoker.
I figure use it now before the bottom falls out. It WAS second hand after all.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoked a 6 lb. flat cut brisket from Stop & Shop. 9 hours to the second total cooking time. Foiled for the last two hours. Very juicy and tender. Two CA forum members came by for some before smoking cigars.

Cigar was Punch SS No. 1

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Smoking a 6lb brisket flat. It just hit 170 and I put it in double wrapped foil, a bit of butter and beef broth. :tu

Thanks to everyone for the support and help! Especially Smokin Gator, Tuxpuff, and T.G.!!!

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...gs/brisket.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

DayUM brother that is a good lookin' flat. My mouth is literally watering!!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

dam that dools tasty!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

mmmmm looks great!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks great, nice job!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Here it is ready to serve! I wrapped it up in towels in the cooler for a couple hours and it was still nice and hot! Super moist! It was FANTASTIC!

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...risketdone.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

:tu:tu:dr

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Electric Slicer; that is what I need. Looks nice.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I would say you are now officially hooked!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks good. :tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Very Nice!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

my goodness... i love bbqing... and now u guys got me wanting to start smoking! gotta concentrate on getting married first... but come winter... i'm going to be asking a lot of questions :).. looks amazing guys... well done!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

how do you guys find the time to do this. i love slow cooking, but i am kind of the set it and forget it type.

been dying to get into smoking though

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

You start on Friday night with a couple of drinks and a few cigars. You get the meat on and fall asleep. You wake up the next morning, have some coffee, and have a cigar. You check on the meat and figure out how to correct your mistakes. You have another cigar and get the rest of the stuff ready for a meal. About that then it is time for a drink and another cigar. You pull the stuff off of the smoker and have another cigar and drink. About the time those are done you are ready to eat.

I don't see any problem with any of that:tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I am doing a smoked turkey for Easter, never tried it before. I'm going to brine it for 24 hours, dry rub it and put it in the smoker with some kickory. I going to use Dr. Pepper and Scotch in a spray bottle to spray it periodically and get a good glaze on the skin as well. Wish me luck of the family is going Sizzler for Easter dinner.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Hard to go wrong with a smoked turkey. Here's a tip that will help get it all done at the right time...

Set the turkey out a couple of hours before it is going on the cooker with the breast up. Put a ziplock bag of ice on the breast. It really helps the breast reaching the proper doneness when the rest of the bird is ready:tu

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Ill do that, thanks my friend. Do you put it in a foil roasting pan while doing it or just right on the grates with the drip pan below the grates. I am actually using a gas grill with a built in smoker box for this. Im not using my barrel smoker because I dont know how cool or windy it will be outside.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

What he said!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Yesterday evening, I grabbed a 7-bone chuck roast from Safeway before the sale changed, it's been chilling in the refrigerator with a coat of worcestershire sauce and rub since last night - depending on what the weather looks like today, I'll either fire up a pit in a few hours or wait until tomorrow.

To be continued...

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I don't see any pink. Looks a little overdone. ;)

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Can you just leave it overnight even if its not gas? wouldn't the fire go out? Or does that not matter?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

If the fire goes out, not down, but OUT, depending on what you are cooking and how long it stays out, you might not be able to recover. Even if it doesn't go out, if your temperatures are down for too long, you still might be screwed.

Most pits will run 5-7 hours on a standard load of fully lit charcoal, if you need a longer cook than that here's how to get 6-18 hour overnight cooks out of most smokers: The Minion Method

It's written for the WSM, but it's easily adaptable for most pits.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

TG thanks for the link. I saved as a favorite interesting read.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

The WSM will never get much beyond 8 hours on one load of charcoal. It's easy to totally refill and not lose power. Pick the center top piece as one unit, dump more charcoal and put center/top back on. Takes one minute.

I would not feel comfortable for anything beyond 5 hours without intervention on the WSM.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

So basically, according to you, the author of that article and the thousands of people who use the linked method are imagining the fact that they load their WSMs, use the minion method, then run the WSM on that original load of charcoal for 12+ hours.

Glad to know we've been all been imagining these long cooks all this time.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I have done many, many 12-16 hour cooks on a WSM not using a water pan and using quality all natural briquets. :tu Using a UDS I have had it at temp for 24-30 hours on one load of charcoal. During the warmer parts of the year, I have done tons of 16-20 hour cooks on the Spicewine. For long cooks having as many air leak spots sealed up is a must.

On the WSM I sealed the door with high temp stove cement and put stove gasket around the lid. I would have only one bottom vent barely cracked and it would chug along happily. If you are only able to get eight hours I would check for air leaks.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

A 7-Bone chuck roast over plum wood from earlier this week...

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=3955
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=3956
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/pictur...pictureid=3957

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

This is bad my smoker has mieces living in it.

I have not touched my smoker since August

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

I fear barely keepin one intake open will make it die out. I'll give it a go the next time. I want to try sand in it and will get some on Tuesday. I tried my last brisket with no water and even just one barely open it was getting too hot.

The smoker will go more than eight hours, but I have keep opening the intake more to keep it going, so it's not really set and forget. At that I point I may as well just add more charcoal.

Maybe the Kingsford Comp does not last that long? This is the only brand I have used.

I would like to try the coffee can method to get the charcoal spread, anyone try it before?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

It shouldn't die out, if you look around on the site I linked to earlier, there are plenty of documented long cooks with 2 vents closed and the third barely open.

If you have to mess with the intakes that much, something else is wrong, either your technique or the cooker. Try following Jim Minion's advice to the letter and you might just be surprised at what the WSM can do. If you want complete set and forget, then get a stoker or a guru controller, they aren't permitted for competition though AFAIK.

My last few cooks I've used nothing but KF-comp, and I'll sum up my early impressions for BBQing with it as "meh". Biggest problem is that it burns too quickly and I've had to up the volume of fuel I load in by about 30% to get the same length cooks as I was getting with KF blue bag. It doesn't do anything for the flavor, good or bad - it's the same. So basically, it costs more, you need to use more, you get less in a bag and it doesn't do anything special. Once I use up the KF comp I have here, I think I'm done with it.

If you want a really long burn time, pick up some Rancher brand from Home Depot. That stuff burns forever.

Can't say that I've ever heard anything earth shattering about the coffe can MM.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Putting my turkey on tomorrow at 11 am. I took a page out of smokingators book. Thanks Brent!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

This should read:

If you have to mess with the intakes that much, something else is wrong, either your technique, the cooker or your fuel. You can pretty much rule out the fuel since you are using KF, despite all of KF's shortcomings, it's almost certainly the most consistent natural fuel on the market. Year after year, bag after bag, briquette after briquette, it never changes.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

2 pound pork sausage roll, with apples, pears, and mozzerella.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDMtMTUxN.jpg

3 ribs. 1 real spicy , 1 medium spicy, and 1 only rubbed with pepper.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDMtMTUyM.jpg

when the ribs and sausage were almost done, i tossed on the 9pound boston butt. all night cook with this, and take it to moms for easter dinner.

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDMtMTc0N.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDMtMTgzM.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDMtMTg0N.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

dam, ribs look burnt in the pics, but they were not. the rubs seemed to dark carmelize for best description i can come up with.

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Looks good Wes.

Nice little smoke ring going on there in the sausage roll. :tu

How did things work out with the vertical pipe draft arrangement? Did you have to resort to the auxiliary air vent?

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Adam, that chuckie looks killer. It is one of my favorite meats. The leftovers make killer tacos, burritos, etc.

BTW... an air control devise is allowed in comps in KCBS and Florida BBQ Association. I am not sure about others but have never heard of a sanctioning body not allowing one.

Wes, that fatty looks killer and the ribs ain't no slouches either!!! You guys are making my mouth water!!!

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

Thanks Gator, it's fast becoming one of my favoriates too.

It seems I was either misinformed or had memories confused on the controllers - there it is, plain as day in KCBS rule #6 "Electrical accessories such as spits, augers, or forced draft are permitted."

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

it is working out rather well, no need to use the other vent. 3 holes open, ran about 300. 1 hole open about 200. temps are based off a cheap thermo, so i will have a better idea when i get a digital.


finished pulling the pork a bit a go, and made a sammich...

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDQtMTI1M.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/s...0MDQtMTMxM.jpg

Re: What's in your smoker?
 

In my book there is not much better than a pork butt cooked on a UDS!!! Your's looks awesome!!