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Rookie Errors "What are they"

Great thread guys.

My biggest mistake was waiting too farking long to get a smoker. I shouldve made the jump to a smoker years ago.

And once I got mine I was trying to make sure that I had everything perfect before I did my first smoke. I bet I put it off for 2 weeks. Finally after Troutman threatened to come down here and kick my ass did I give it a go and you know what? It came out great! Pork Butt that is.

Jump in and learn from your mistakes. Have fun.
 
Lets hear from the judges out there.................

What mistakes do you see when judging a contest?
 
The first time I cooked on my WSM, I got the temp up to 230 at the top grate (probe run through a 1/2 potato) & 250 in the dome (candy therm in exhaust vent). It stayed there perfectly for the longest time without me having to do anything.
I began to worry that something was wrong. It just didn't seem right that the WSM would hold such a consistent temp for so long without me having to do anything.
After about 2 hours, and way too may trips out to the smoker to see what the temps were, I convinced myself that it was going to start dropping soon, and I needed to do something.
Rookie mistake: I lit a chimney of coals, and when ready put about 8 to 10 of them in the WSM. This shot the temp up to 275. I then fought with getting the temp back down and getting it to stabilize again.
Lesson learned: If it ain't broke, don't fix it !!!
 
Not allowing the smoker to go above the cooking temp I actually wanted. TO give enough time to add the meat before I lossed valuable heat.
 
So 'splain me this:

How does one "control the smoke" when one is cooking with wood? Controlling the heat, I get. Is having several types of wood available the answer?
 
I think you'll find that my rookie mistakes will be found in the Roadmap section :oops: .....talk about a green horn! But these brothers brought me through and taught me the art of low and slow.......:wink:
 
J,
When cooking with straight wood (y'all correct me if I'm wrong) controlling smoke and controlling temp are hand in hand. You need to keep a fire that is small but hot. This allows undesirable chemicals in the smoke to burn, while having the temps in the cook chamber low, where you want them. If you have a bigger, cooler fire, the smoke will be white and contain a lot of crap you don't want on your meat won't get burned off.
 
Of course there's the BIG HOT FARKING FIRE that you get sometimes - which tends to clean all the oil and grease out of your rig in a hurry, taking paint and the original shape of the steel with it. Beware that one...
 
Lump charcoal burns hotter and can get the heat up in a hurry, which is good. Then it's all about keeping a good airflow going to allow for complete burning - and don't throw too much cold wood on at once. Feed it. Also, as you've probably read in countless posts here, pre-heating the wood allows for a cleaner burn too.

Playing with fire - it's a Q thang.
 
ALways have a backup meal jsut in case, burgers franks chicken cutles pizza whatever
 
jsimonson0 said:
So 'splain me this:

How does one "control the smoke" when one is cooking with wood? Controlling the heat, I get. Is having several types of wood available the answer?
Click to expand...

Same way you do it with any fuel....... be it charcoal, lump, wood or even gasoline, by ensuring that you have the proper air fuel mix. You dont want your pit smoking like a beast anymore than you want your car smoking.

The trick is how much air are you going to supply to the fuel (in this case wood). The more fuel the bigger the fire, the more air the better the fire is what an old timer once told me. That and "seasoned, dry hardwoods" lol

Now the best way that I have found to be able to make a fire like that is by having a few friends come over on a regular basis and drink, eat and critique you while you play with fire.
 
Arlin_MacRae said:
Of course there's the BIG HOT FARKING FIRE that you get sometimes - which tends to clean all the oil and grease out of your rig in a hurry, taking paint and the original shape of the steel with it. Beware that one...
Click to expand...

Not that you would know anything about this:biggrin:
 
VGuilford said:
Whats the key? More lump coal and less wood? Or vise versa?
Click to expand...

When I had my small pit, I used lump for heat and a single chunk of wood for smoke. Worked great, clean smoke and perfect temp.

Now that I have big ol Hottie, I only use lump to make a bed of coals to start my fire. Use small chunks of wood to maintain my heat and smoke. Good small hot fire, nice amount of blue smoke. I have found that if I let my first fire get the pit to about 300, it gets a great bed of coals going with the first amount of wood. Add a chunk or two of wood, close the damper down and load the meat, the temp drops to about 200 and will climb to 220-250 again and sit pretty till she needs more wood.

Takes trial and error to know how your particular pit works. It took about 10 cooks before I found the best way to run my pit, but wind and air temp changes things almost every time. But I love it!
 
Brethre, I need advise. Friend gave me a NB Bandera 2 yrs old never used. Made Firegrate, heat deflector, and door seal mods. Fired to cure without water pan...heated to 300 in 10 minutes...drank beer and let settle about an hour to around 225. Added 10 brickets and small pcs oak every 15 mins to try keep stable. Worked okay. Added 1/2 pan very hot water...never got temp above 195 anywhere in chamber for next hour. Checked with remote temp gauge. HELP ME, SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!
 
Alton has done a couple of BBQ shows. He does give credit to the fact that BBQ is part art, science and knowledge. Find the episode where he makes a cold smoker out of 3 school lockers and you will understand
 
Cooking on a Brinkman smoker and a New Braunfels which required much too much time to control temps. Finally I got a WSM and got some sleep during overnight smokes.
 
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