Another newb

Hi All and a big Thank You for existing.

Found the forum 2 days ago searching for smoking tip. Since I'm hosting for the Packers win tomorrow, and I was already planning on smoking some salmon (it's on as I type this), I decided I try my hand a some meat. See, my smoking experience is limited. Only smoked salmon a few times before (and it was fantastic) so I looked to the net for ideas and ended up here.

After searching thru the threads I decided to do a pork butt. Picked up two 7 to 8 pounders yesterday at Costco ($1.79/Lb). One is waiting in the frig, the other is already in vac bag in the freezer. Plan on putting it on early tomorrow, real early since the kick off time is 3:30 here on the left coast. Guess that's the sacrifice I have to make, not have to shovel all that white stuff. Based on what seems to be the consensus here, I'm looking at about 11 hours at 225. I also picking up some johnsonville brats which I put on for a few hours. Going to remove them from the skin since I saw several comments that the skin prevents the flavor from getting in the meat.

Looking forward to learning more.

Pat

Here's a shot taken a few minutes ago of my current set up, salmon inside.
(I just turned it down, want closer to 180). Thank for there thermo tip, never put one in before.

Finished

Here's my second batch of fish today. Two pcs of salmon (upper right) and trout. The tooth picks indicate which have Tony's on them. I did these at 215ish until they reached 140, under an hour and a half.


Wanted to take a pic of my first batch of about 12 pcs of salmon but the battery in the camera died. Had to wait for the recharge.

The first batch was smoked at 185 for 2 to 3 hours, until internal was 140. Have more to smoke, will try those at a lower temp, 160ish and see how that compares.

I also ran a test on brats, 2 with casing and 2 w/o. (Two hours at 200, pulled at 160). To tell you the truth, I liked the casing on as much as I did the casing off. More smoke flavor w/o casing. With casing the brat flavor was more evident. Going to smoke the rest of the package tomorrow while the pork butt is resting in the cooler. 50/50 w & w/o casing. We'll see what the consensus is with a crowd. Of course they'll be competing with the above salmon and trout, plus the pulled pork.