What's in your smoker?

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by ridenlive

Does anyone have a wood chip combo mix they prefer. I use apple wood and pecan tree mix and it turns out very well.

I pretty much stick to Apple / Alder / Hickory mixed.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by ridenlive

Does anyone have a wood chip combo mix they prefer. I use apple wood and pecan tree mix and it turns out very well.

I keep a number of smoke woods around these days: apple, cherry, plum, mesquite, hickory, almond, oak (from zfactor), persimmon & grape (from TheRiddick), and I just cut down some maple.

I've noticed that I like adding cherry to stuff. Although hickory, almond, oak and grape do quite well on their own. Plum is tricky, it's potent... Mesquite + cherry or hickory + cherry =

[T.G]

Originally Posted by T.G

They are very similiar, it's mainly just some differences in the curing spices and preperation.

These are both good places to start:
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/pastrami.html
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cornedbeef.html

I've done both and if you go the prepackaged corned beef method, I will say that to me, it really didn't make that much of a noticeable difference in flavor if I used the one with the spices in the brine or the spices in the packet, but what did make a big difference was getting one that is USDA Choice versus USDA Select. Wash it for at least 4 times longer than what they recommend (I would soak/wash overnight - otherwise it ends up tasting like a nitrate salt lick).

Oh, and some mustard seed and ground juniper berries in the rub will really turn things up a notch.


PS: TenderQuick is damned near impossible to find out here, only place you might find it is a restaurant supply. You can just salt cure the brisket, but that takes weeks. Packed in a vacuum sealer bag with the brine though that might not be that big of a problem - having a semi-open container of brine and meat in a home refrigerator for weeks is a PITA.

BTW, if you can find pre-pack corned beef that is NOT nitrate cured (Whole Foods maybe?) , I would pay the extra money for it, as you can avoid that strong "hammy" taste that the nitrate cured prepacks will give you. Yeah, the tenderquick prep has it too, but not as pronounced.

You'll understand what I mean once you try it. It might not bother you, in fact, some people seem to like the hammy flavor. Personally, I can live without it.


(sorry about the hard to follow posting, kind of disjointed this morning)

[LooseCard]

Originally Posted by T.G

(I would soak/wash overnight - otherwise it ends up tasting like a nitrate salt lick)

I agree here.
I've heard of people doing it straight from the pre-pack and it turned out good.

This is what I've been planning to do, but haven't gotten arount to it.



Although, Ruhlman's book on Charcuterie has a good recipe too, but I can't do the 'brine' side of it yet.

Originally Posted by T.G

I keep a number of smoke woods around these days: apple, cherry, plum, mesquite, hickory, almond, oak (from zfactor), persimmon & grape (from TheRiddick), and I just cut down some maple.

I've noticed that I like adding cherry to stuff. Although hickory, almond, oak and grape do quite well on their own. Plum is tricky, it's potent... Mesquite + cherry or hickory + cherry =

yeah i've kinda forgotten about cherry i dont why shame on me.

[T.G]

Photo from last night...



Chicken & corn w/ hickory as the smoke wood.

Chicken marinaded in worcestershire, low-sodium teriyaki & my std. rub + some extra rub applied before going in.

Corn went on about halfway through the cook (after about 45 mins).

Total cooktime was about 1:30-1:40. Pit was running a bit hot, no biggie though for chicken.

[T.G]

I've had some requests for a picture of the cold smoke rig for cheesees, there's really nothing to it. It's simply a tin can that was only opened part way, then the lid folded back as a door for filling, with a hole punched in the non folding side of the top lid for sticking the soldering iron through. The soldering iron is an weller SP-23 (or something like that - orange handle, has the neon light up to indicate it's on) none of the other brands held up. They would all burn up after one run. This one, I can't kill.



My ultra-high tech dual layer grating arangement.

[wayner123]

Is that your normal smoker? I can't tell from the pics, but it looks like a weber kettle or something.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by wayner123

Is that your normal smoker? I can't tell from the pics, but it looks like a weber kettle or something.

The coldsmoke photo is just an old weber 18" kettle with the three rotating tri-vents closed and two cooking grates. the bottom grate is installed normally, the top grate is rotated 90 degrees and flipped over so that the handles from both the grates work as the four resting points.

[wayner123]

Originally Posted by T.G

The coldsmoke photo is just an old weber 18" kettle with the three rotating tri-vents closed and two cooking grates. the bottom grate is installed normally, the top grate is rotated 90 degrees and flipped over so that the handles from both the grates work as the four resting points.

What do you normally use to smoke on?

wow thats a very cool idea.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by wayner123

What do you normally use to smoke on?

I have three smokers, the one that gets the most use a modified weber 22"OTS.

Some old photos of the top half here. Sealed one vent, partially sealed the others to reduce airflow (not shown in photos).

[ucla695]

Originally Posted by T.G

Dude, do you have a charcoal burning grill?

If yes, then you have almost everything you need right there to have a smoker.

You can do it with a couple of firebricks ($3/each), some heavy duty aluminum foil or layers of foil (pennies) and any old foil pan or pie tin as a drip catcher ($3 tops) and you have an instant smoker.








You could even just mound the coals in one corner of the grill and set a loaf pan full of water on the grate above the fire to work as a heatsink while you put food on the other corner of the grill.

I think Brad (OLS) has a larger grill and he just mounds coals on one side of his grill for smoking, no heatsink.

Just depends how big your grill is and how the air control is, what you can get away with.

That's a great set-up. I've been wondering about smoking using a kettle. When you smoke on your OTS, do you light all of the coals or do you place some lit ones on top of some that aren't (minion mehtod). Just wondering how long you can smoke and how easily it is to control the temp.

[wayner123]

Originally Posted by T.G

I have three smokers, the one that gets the most use a modified weber 22"OTS.

Some old photos of the top half here. Sealed one vent, partially sealed the others to reduce airflow (not shown in photos).

Thanks for that.

Two more questions. What temps are you usually cooking? And how often do you replace the charcoal?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by ucla695

That's a great set-up. I've been wondering about smoking using a kettle. When you smoke on your OTS, do you light all of the coals or do you place some lit ones on top of some that aren't (minion mehtod). Just wondering how long you can smoke and how easily it is to control the temp.

Thanks.

Depends on what I'm cooking, what temps I want and how long it's going to be in there. For long cooks like pork shoulders / Boston butts, slow cooked chuckies, etc, I'll use the MM and I can get 8+ hours or so at 220F on one chimney of unlit poured in and topped with 6-10 lit. For stuff that runs higher heat, I load a chimney half-full, put the smoke woods on top of the briquettes, then light the chimney, so once all the briquettes are fully lit off you're past the "bad smoke" stage, then you dump it in and add meat, set the vents and you can get 3 hours at 265-300F depending on how you set the vents. Those times and numbers are for KF blue bag BTW. KF Comp or natural lump burns hotter and for not as long.

Temp control isn't any harder or different than most other pits, it just takes a few runs for you to get the hang of how it works and then you're set. Once you've got that, it's very stable and predictable due to the firebricks as a two-way heat sink.

[ucla695]

Originally Posted by T.G

Thanks.

Depends on what I'm cooking, what temps I want and how long it's going to be in there. For long cooks like pork shoulders / Boston butts, slow cooked chuckies, etc, I'll use the MM and I can get 8+ hours or so at 220F on one chimney of unlit poured in and topped with 6-10 lit. For stuff that runs higher heat, I load a chimney half-full, put the smoke woods on top of the briquettes, then light the chimney, so once all the briquettes are fully lit off you're past the "bad smoke" stage, then you dump it in and add meat, set the vents and you can get 3 hours at 265-300F depending on how you set the vents. Those times and numbers are for KF blue bag BTW. KF Comp or natural lump burns hotter and for not as long.

Temp control isn't any harder or different than most other pits, it just takes a few runs for you to get the hang of how it works and then you're set. Once you've got that, it's very stable and predictable due to the firebricks as a two-way heat sink.

That's very helpful! I was thinking of buying a OTG 26" to use as a grill/smoker and you just helped push me over the edge. Thanks!

[Smokin Gator]

Originally Posted by ridenlive

Does anyone have a wood chip combo mix they prefer. I use apple wood and pecan tree mix and it turns out very well.

For pork I only use cherry. For chicken I use either pecan or apple depending on what I grab first. For beef I use mesquite. I grew up using all oak, so sometimes I will use it but not so much anymore.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by ucla695

That's very helpful! I was thinking of buying a OTG 26" to use as a grill/smoker and you just helped push me over the edge. Thanks!

Welcome. Just PM me or start a thread in good eats (there are a few other people here who have similar modified webers - a few extra heads/ideas/experience rarely hurts anything) if you have any specific questions once you start setting it up and operating it.

The one downside to having a single weber that you will go back and forth with is that you're pulling the firebricks, drip pan and coal grate foil in and out every time you convert from grill to smoker. Now, if you are set up as a smoker, and you don't have a large quantity of meat to grill, you can just leave it set up as a smoker and just grill over the small area where you dump the lit coals.

Couple tips:
-only use firebricks. They are about $3 at ace hardware. I know some people use red clay bricks, but those can shatter under heat and the heat dispersing properties of the firebricks are superior anyway.

-you don't have to grind or cut the firebricks to fit perfectly or fit the curve of the kettle. I did simply because I had the tools and blades to do it (skillsaw with dry masonry diamond blade and 4-1/2" angle grinder and composite masonry discs) I would not have bought them for this. Firebrick is also very soft and easy to work with if you do choose to though.

-you do need to foil the area of the coal grate below where the food will be, even with a drip pan. This is to prevent crazy airflow and drafts inside the smoker.

-Get a permanent pen (a sharpie, not a big ol' magic marker), take the ash can off the bottom of the grill, close the vents fully, then start slowly opening the vents, the moment you just see the edge of the blade pass the opening, exposing a clear passage to the cooking chamber, stop and clearly mark this point on the shield that is around the lever (the shield that supports the ash can). Edge the vents open some more, until you get to 25-30% exposure, stop, mark this point. Open them some more until you reach 50%, mark that. then 75% and finally just when you hit 100%. This will help you quite a bit with controlling temps, since now you will have a much better idea how far your vents are open.

-Don't be afraid when cooking at low temps to simply close the bottom vents all the way if you think that's what you need to do to keep the temps down. So long as you have the top vent open, enough air leaks by on the OTs that the coals will not go out but rather just burn very slowly and at low temp.

-It's like a WSM when it comes to smoke wood - the equivalent of one or two first sized pieces is plenty. Sometimes you don't even need that much.


A couple cooks and you'll have it down.

[yachties23]

Did some beer can chickens the other day, came out pretty good must say. Not quite done yet in the photo.

[fxpose]

Originally Posted by ucla695

I was thinking of buying a OTG 26" to use as a grill/smoker and you just helped push me over the edge.

Looking forward to some good eatin' at The Pool Bar & Grill....