Newbie

[w3bcy]

A few questions for the group.
Got smoker this past Saturday. Cured for 2 hours. Then hot smoked for 6. On Sunday, hot smoked a 5 lb. pork shoulder for ten hours.
Questions.
Interior of smoker well cured like a good cast iron fry pan. Ok to leave like this?
During smoking of the pork shoulder, thermomemter never exceeded 220F. Ambient temp 82F, mild breeze, vent open. I thought this unit would get to 300+.
Last, but most important, what is expected life of heating element? I can only imagine smoking for a party only to have heating element go bad. Should I have a spare one on hand?
Thanks for any help. I have a lot of experimenting ahead of me.

W3BCY

[car54]

Welcome fellow smoker.

The black on the inside is fine, if it looks moist you can rub it down with a rag but you don't have to clean it. Also rub the door seals down, these do seem to become sticky.

I do believe the life of the heater is long. I don't recall if any have burned out.

The 220 temperature is high for smoking. Try between 200 to 210.
My smoker will get up to 275 empty with the door thermometer. I have heard that others get up to 300. There is a high limit switch and I don't know when it kicks in.

Check in often, there is a lot of knowledge at this site.

Brad

[w3bcy]

Thanks, Brad. I will be a regular.

W3BCY
Barney

[Phone Guy]

w3bcy,
I will assume you were looking at the door temp. I would recommend a digital probe thermometer like a Maveric ET-73. This will allow you to accurately set the smoker temp to a desired level and more importantly monitor the internal temp of the meat. Time is rarely the cooking factor, meat temp is most of the time.

[car54]

Hi Barney, it is Brad again.

I have had my smoker for over a year and I still consider myself a newbie. I have done about 40 smokes and I become more comfortable each time. I learn every time I smoke. I have some suggestions.

1. Keep a log of what and how you have smoked. At least in the begining. Record temperatures, timesand techniques.

2. Research this site before you do a smoke until you feel comfortable. I just smoked a duck and I did my research.

3. It takes a huge mistake to ruin a piece of meat. Have faith.

Brad

[Gordon]

Uh...how many Gordons we gots here?



What a piece of work is man!

[MallardWacker]

CQ CQ de KA5GDJ


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Phone Guy]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by MallardWacker</i>
<br />CQ CQ de KA5GDJ<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

di da di da di

KF6VAO

a.k.a Phone Guy

[Gordon]

eieio?

What a piece of work is man!

[w3bcy]

Just a lazy general class that forgot code as soon as I learned it for the test.

This forum is fantastic for us new to the BS. The more I read, the more I wish work didn't get in the way of smoking.

W3BCY
Barney
Curtis Bay, MD

[MallardWacker]

I was a code monster.  Loved sitting there late at night picking through the rubble and finding some lost sole with a weak signal and tapping out a conversation to some far off place with a person that loved this stuff as much as I, no matter language.  It was almost some thing romantic, just loved it.


SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Phone Guy]

I just have a Tech license, no code, I practiced for awhile but decided that I was only using 2 meters and some times in the 400 meg area so I have a dual band and a 2 meter mobile and a 2 meter handheld.

KF6VAO

[w3bcy]

8/6/05-Smoked approx. 36 ABT's. XYL (wife) was very impressed. We had some stuffed with shrimp, some with cornbread, some with left over pulled pork from last week.

The shrimp were the least favorite. Next time I will use Old Bay seasoning on the shrimp to give them more flavor. For those of you not used to Maryland seasoning, Old Bay is used on our hard shell crabs for spice.

Smoked for 2 hours-internal temp of chamber measured by remote thermometer probe inserted through vent was 190-200. Ambient temp 82.
Used 4 Pecan pucks. Didn't want to "overally smoke" for first time for XYL (wife)

Tonight I'm experimenting with a small already cooked ham. Going to try apple pucks for flavor. Since it is already cooked, I'm basically flavoring and warming. I've done this many times on a regular grill. I bet the BS will give it more flavor!!

Take care, and keep smoking.

W3BCY
Barney



W3BCY
Barney

[Habanero Smoker]

I use Old Bay Seasoning often. It is also good on chicken.

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

W3BCY,

I thought you would be using packet radio to telemeter out the temp data...[8D]

Welcome to the forum.

Arcs_n_Sparks (spark gap transmitters anyone?)