Got an ideas? I'm new at this....

[bacardi2001]

Originally Posted by JONESY

Welcome, nice cooker. For your first cook until you learn temp and smoke control, I would start with a shorter cooking item. For my first cook I did country style ribs, which are actually cut from the pork but and can be found at any grocery store.

Start with a simple rub
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
3 Tbsp Turbinado Sugar (sugar in the raw)
3 Tbsp Coarse Salt
1 Tbsp Sweet Paprika
1 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp Cheyenne Pepper
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
½ Tsp Onion Powder
½ Tsp Cumin

Smoke at 250-275 for 4-5 hours, then glaze for last 30 minutes.
-Glaze
Honey
Whiskey
Sriracha Garlic Chili Sauce
Ketchup

how much of each glaze ingredient?

[tmkshew]

With Chris Lilly's recipe for dry rub and injection; I used my first smoke (WSM)!

011.jpg

I started a little later than I planned on, and to see exactly weather was going to do.

I maintained the temperature fine, and the wind wasn't bad at all.
It did rain however and used to old towels that I don't use anymore to cover the top to keep the heat in. It seemed to work pretty good.

013.jpg

I used mesquite and hickory mix.

Only bad thing was, I left my tech fork in the cold so I didn't get very accurate readings.
I don't recommend drinking all day if you want to pay close attention...

Anyways, I overshot the cooking time by about 40 minutes.
It turned out drier than I wanted.

Despite all of that, everyone I was with loved them. I was a bit more critical of them because I wanted them to be perfect, but I guess it wasn't bad for my first time.

pork2.jpg

Thanks everyone for all the awesome input and suggestions.

[deguerre]

Certainly looks good! And if it was edible at all, I'd say it was a success!

[rdenn_58]

Do you need to have your new q'er be mobile? I have the 22" WSM version and need to move mine from the backyard during the winter into the garage to get it out of the weather. I put wheel casters that I bought at Lowe's onto the legs. Makes it easier than dismantling the WSM into managable carrying pieces.

This spring, I want to put handles on the mid section for easier lifting when I clean it. Also want to add a side mounted thermometer that will be located just below the top grate.

Good luck with the new q'er. It can be addictive!!!!

[tmkshew]

Yeah I plan to make some real modifications to it once I get a good feel for it. I've only used it once, and I can already spot some leaks of smoke here and there. It will be operating a lot more smooth when I'm done with it.

Thanks for the suggestion though, I'm definitely going to look into that.

[landarc]

Looks good to me

[cbagby64]

I would start with Chris Lilly's recipe for starters. Make sure you let it good long enough, it will hover around 170 internal temp for quite some time while the fat breaksdown in the shoulder. I made the mistake my first time smoking of thinking my thermometer didn't work because it had been at 160-170 for so long and took it off early....it was horrible. You couldn't even pull it. Good luck!