smoking/smokers (of the meat variety)

[thecrusader]

Anyone smoke there own meats? i have just converted
a weber kettle to a smoker and was wondering if anyone else
does it. there are a couple of threads on it in chit chat,i have looked
at them but theres not much. i looked all over the web for info before
i started,and there is a lot of conflicting information to say the least.

i was thinking some of us smokers could share some info.
wether to brine or not,wether you wet the wood and put it
directly on the coals or in tin,or even if you use coals or
something else. i am using briquettes,and was using hickory.

so far i have done some beef and a sausage in it. the beef was topside,
cut into two steak size chunks and submerged in "brine" 1 cup salt,3/4ltrs
water,pepper,rosemary and some vinegar. soaked for nearly two days,
washed, then smoked for about 4hrs at about 175 degrees. not enough heat i dont think.i am new to this,the brine i just made up,after looking on the net, tweaked it to what i thought.

do i need to brine the meat? or is it just for preserving? no doubt it
adds flavor, and makes the meat soft as,probably the way to go.
do i brine sausages? this might all sound stupid but im a newb.
help/input would be appreciatted. one of the problems i am having is getting
the temp right without it dropping off after half an hour. i think
the tiny bbq im using isnt helping,making it hard to regulate temps.
im going to have another go at it today or tomorrow.

so far i have been using hickory wood and about 10-12 briqquettes.
i have used foil and no foil,dry and wet wood.

here are my questions layed out from the babble.
*do i brine everything?
*is the wood suppose to burn? sounds dumb but i read somewhere,
you dont want it burning or it can taste rancid?i think me worrying
about the wood "burning" has made my life hard, constantly changing the wood chips when its maybe not needed.
*to use alfoil or not
*to use dry or damp wood chips.


heres some pics.
the weber i have i only use the bottom grill to hold the coals,
and have made two hooks in the roof to hold the meat inside
the lid, near the thermometer i fitted, havnt seen this done before,works great. if anyone else has a smoker or some tips,post em up, that would be awesome.
thanks in advance.

this next photo looks like a porno shot from E.T.
is actually a Cumberland sausage.

cheers.

 

[Del Montess]

if you read the other threads on here, you probably saw mine which was about my failure to make my own smoker. we ended up buying a pellet smoker (treager) which was pretty much the smartest investment ever!

anyway. first things first. make ABTs.
heres the link to ABTs:
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6253

I dislike spicy, so I scrape the inner membrane off of the jalapenos, then soak them in milk for 10-15 minutes (neutralizes the capsacin).


my recipe for amazing corn on the smoker:

take 4 ears of white sweet corn, remove a couple outer layers of husk (leave enough so that you can't see the kernels still), pull back the remaining husk and remove the silk (Leave the husk on!).

place the corn vertically in a pot that is deep enough to get the whole cob in, leaving the pulled back husk out, put enough milk in the pot to cover the cobs. (you have to mix the milk with stuff now, so take the corn out again. don't make a huge mess like I did). melt 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) and add to the milk. make a very saturated simple syrup (boil 1 cup water, and keep adding sugar until no more sugar will go into solution) add that to the milk and butter mixture, stir. put the corn back in. let soak for 15-20 minutes. remove corn from the mixture, kind of wipe off the weird goo that accumulates on the corn, season with seasoned pepper (or whatever you like to season corn with), pull the husk back over the cobb of corn, stick them on the smoker. I have no idea how long I cook them for, or at what temp. I just do what feels right. but it always ends up delicious.


my rib rub recipe is a very modified version of this:
http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/r/bl40228a.htm
i inculded brown sugar, but I don't remember how much. basically made the recipe on the website (minus whatever ingredients I didn't have) then added stuff until it tasted good to me. but that on the website is a great starting point.

in the reviews on that page there is an apple cider vinegar, water, brown sugar mixture that is suggested, and I LOVE basting ribs with it a couple times during the cooking process.

I also throw a pan of apple juice in with the meat.

I made an awesome brisket once with the same rub and same basting process, but I also injected some of the apple cider vinegar mixture into the meat then let it hang out for a little while in the fridge before smoking. if the meat hadn't been a horrible cut with a crapton of nasty fat all through it, it would have been amazing, the edible parts were delicious, haha.

 

[EeePee]

You're not allowed to reserve space here.

 

[Rig Rocker]

you're not allowed to reserve space here.

lol!!!!

 

[Del Montess]

You're not allowed to reserve space here.

I'm pretty sure i just did.














I'll send you some pumpkin bread if you don't ban me.... :mrgreen:

 

[Sydwaiz]

Del Montess, mind sharing the link again here? I just bought a Traeger as well! I have yet to smoke in it though. But it does bake one helluva wood fired pizza!

I grew up with my dad smoking in a Komado smoker. He would always soak the wood chips. Everything he smoked was sorta small like pheasants and fish so he never got the hang of long smoking times. Before my Traeger, I was smoking in a vertical smoker with a side fire box. I would use straight hard wood sometimes or charcoal briquetes with dry hard wood chunks for the smoke. Before that I was using a small Weber kettle. Indirect charcoal and soaked wood chips directly onto the coals. No foil. Small, thin walled smokers are hard to maintain the heat in so you have to watch them more often. I also use a horizontal smoker at my folks cabin and I use natural lump charcoal and dry hardwood chunks.

IMO poultry should be brined, everything else should just be rubbed. Chips should be soaked, chunks should be used dry. No foil.

 

[badger]

Anyone smoke there own meats? i have just converted
a weber kettle to a smoker and was wondering if anyone else
does it. there are a couple of threads on it in chit chat,i have looked
at them but theres not much. i looked all over the web for info before
i started,and there is a lot of conflicting information to say the least.

i was thinking some of us smokers could share some info.
wether to brine or not,wether you wet the wood and put it
directly on the coals or in tin,or even if you use coals or
something else. i am using briquettes,and was using hickory.

I have learned everything I know about smoking meats from http://www.bbq-brethren.com. Great group of guys over there.

 

[ROCKWHORE]

there is so much to learn about smokeing i have a offset smoker ......for one smokeing susages is pointless... theres a hard skin on the outside your not going to get smoke in it (the smoke ring) the best temp to smoke at is 275 deg`s as for burning the wood you want i nice light blue smoke.
not a thick white smoke.. that will give you a acidic like bark on the outside . if you are useing wood chips put half them in water for 30 mins and half in dry .that way it will burn longer. i like me self a lump hardwood charcoal then put my wood in well im dumping the coal in...look up the minion method it will show you the best way to lite up...brine...dryrub...and injecting is all up to what you like... i like to inject let sit over night and then dry rub



theres just so damm much to tell
so here

http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/index.php

 

[ROCKWHORE]

IMO poultry should be brined, everything else should just be rubbed. Chips should be soaked, chunks should be used dry. No foil.

by poultry you do mean poultry and fish right


o and thecrusder you need a lot more coal then that. i use 6 to 8 pounds every 8 to 9 hours

 

[Del Montess]

reserved space in unreserved

 

[mann0mann]

I tried once when I was younger...I just wasn't flexible enough.

Oh wait....we're talking something else aren't we! :shock: :mrgreen: :ror:

 

[Cave Dave]

I have learned everything I know about smoking meats from http://www.bbq-brethren.com. Great group of guys over there.

Definatly go check out the BBQ-brethren, I learned a lot on that site.
We use this for smoking and for cooking whole meals somtimes.

Boneless pork loin wrapped in bacon.......

In the foil on top are onions cut star shaped covered with butter and garlic.

 

[ROCKWHORE]

cave dave thats a nice looking set up "thumbsup"


man do i wish it wasnt so cold out i could really go for a nice pulled pork

 

[The Violator]

I am not sure about BBQ, but I do know this. Krawlfreak smokes meat almost everyday. He is the best.

 

[Rig Rocker]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm......

 

[dieselfuel]

There's definitely a lot to learn. My family and I have a bbq competition team. Look a couple pages back here in chit chat for "trailhound smokers gets a new bbq", posting from my phone otherwise I'd just link it.

We only brine poultry, everything else just gets rubbed. (poultry gets rubbed too.) As for wood, we use cherry, pecan, maple and Apple. Never soak it because we use logs. But even in the small smokers, I never soak it. Try to maintain 220-250*, I've never cooked above or below that. One of the most important things is to be patient, it'll be worth the wait. And the more you open the cooker, the longer the cook.

Just yesterday we cooked 12 racks of pork ribs, 2 briskets, 2 pork butts and 30lbs of chicken. Fed about 45 people.

 

[dieselfuel]

There you go.

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279262&highlight=trailhound

 

[thecrusader]

first off, kudos to yo guys for taking the time to respond
and post links and pics. thats a real nice setup Cave Dave.wow.
i was thinking if i really get into it i might stand a toolbox
i have, on its end and convert that to a smoker.it is galvanized though so i dunno about that.

on the sausages you were right,they barley tasted of anything,
cooked well though. i found im battling with the size of the weber.
getting it hot enough to last anytime and burn the wood without
initially burning the bbq down. obviously adding wet wood chips
to the coal trys to put them out,this i have to account for.
i now use dry wood chips and have been upping the number of
briqquttes, as wel as experimenting with fresh coal.there is quite an
art to this,definitely takes time and patience.im also experimenting
with putting a tub of water in there.

its been a quite expensive learning curve so far, but its been fun.
on saturday i made a dry rub,the outside was washed then hit
with mustard,half australian half english and a bit of chilli sauce.
then it got salt,pepper, paprica and cajun added to it. cooked for
4 hours at 225,came out lovely and spicey.smoke and spice together
are like sex in your mouth :mrgreen:. i have pics but my pc is being an ass.
will upload them later

half of the beef i bought was done this way the other half is still in brine,
awaiting smoking. brining the beef might be overboard but i was told
by someone to do it so i do,now i know about the dry rubs that will be the
go i think. the meat doesnt last long enough to require true preserving.
looks like i got some reading to do,thanks again ile keep you updated
on my new little hobby.problem is i usually drink when im tending to it,
by the time its cooked i eat it hot,often one slice after another.
this usually means theres none left the next day,especially seeing
as my old man and mates love it :x lol. gotta start small though.

Del Montess
gotta give atb's a go,they look delish, thanks for posting the link.

im jealous of Cave Daves smoker. lol. makes the weber look
like child fodder.