New to Smoking and need advice

[MarkV]

Good day folks, as you can tell I'm new to the group and wanted to first off say hello and introduce myself. I'm Mark, some call me Cwire (An old nickname given to me in the military), I just got my first Offset Smoker for an early fathers day present. It's a Char-Broil Silver Smoker. I have absolutely no idea what I'm really doing and I'm ok with admitting that hehe. I used it this weekend, with some Kingsford charcoal and a bag of hickory chips but maintaining heat I wasn't too sure about. I ended up using almost a full 16 pound bag of charcoal smoking some chicken and pork. Not sure if I was doing things right and I haven't gotten the hang of the when to open the baffle on the smoke stack or close it, when to open the vents on the smoker side. So I guess what I'm looking for is some advice for a beginner and I hope I am in the right place to ask this silly question. Thanks and I'm really happy to have found this forum, I love BBQ but am a novice but I Think with the experience I've seen on this forum so far, I'll be a decent BBQ/Smoking dude in no time.

[LarryO1947]

Welcome to the Brethren and the Forum,Mark.

[PNW Smoker]

I'm still a novice too. My advice...

1. read a lot here, there is a ton of info
2. practice practice practice. be prepared to not like everything you do, and learn something from every cook you do
3. take notes for every cook you do until you get everything dialed in.

have fun

[Big George's BBQ]

Keep the smoke stack open When first starting it let the smoker selttle in so as to get rid of that thick white smoke You can prob use bigger pieces of wood tro keep the ire going- warm up the wood on the smoker before putting them in the fire- cuts down the white smoke I am sure someone will come along and tell you about modifications that you can do Congrats and enjoy

[Bamabuzzard]

I'm still a novice too. My advice...

1. read a lot here, there is a ton of info
2. practice practice practice. be prepared to not like everything you do, and learn something from every cook you do
3. take notes for every cook you do until you get everything dialed in.

have fun

I'll borrow and add to what this brethren has already said. Use every "failed" bbq experience as a learning opportunity. It is in the failures that you'll learn the most if you allow yourself to look past the disappointment of messing up a cook. Welcome aboard! :clap2:

[SmittyJonz]

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=199954


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=207672

You Need to buy some firewood.

[SmittyJonz]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BS1veMrDOC4

[smokainmuskoka]

Welcome to the forum!

What I've learned from the more learned Brethren(as mentioned above) is when you can see smoke, the fire isn't burning efficiently. It needs oxygen and flow from the intake to the exhaust to burn clean. (Edit) keep the stack damper open all the way. Be patient and wait for the smoke to thin out to the point where you can hardly see it. The chemical compounds that flavour the meat are still floatin' around in there.(end edit)

I dinked around for years with a gas grill and something similar to what you have before I found this forum and amazingribs.com. After reading a lot here, I got a used Weber kettle, things started to improve greatly. I built an Ugly Drum Smoker a few years ago and cook on it through the year, and finally upgraded to a better-for-the-money offset.

The community here is generous with information and encouragement. You'll learn a lot and have a lot of laughs, too.

[frognot]

Welcome aboard Mark!

Some good advice posted above above from George & Smitty.

[oldbill]

WELCOME!!! This is something that I keep on file for anyone that can use it, this fire building method places the emphasis on building a good coal bed for more consistent temps / cleaner smoke and can be tweaked to fit pretty much any size offset. My pit is fairly large in comparison to most (especially the mass produced box store pits), so instead of using an entire bag of lump (1/2 lit, 1/2 unlit) you may only want to use a chimney of lit coals and smaller splits than I do to start with.:-D
STARTING AND MAINTAINING A FIRE IN AN OFFSET SMOKER
The best way to run your offset is to build a good, hot wood fire and to develop a thick bed of coals to thoroughly heat the pit. With this method it takes a little time initially to get the pit ready for cooking but it will be well worth it as the cook will be a LOT easier for the pit master. It's important to note that you should leave the exhaust damper wide open and adjust the temps with your intake damper. Here's my fire building method...
Open the doors and all of the dampers to the pit. Start with an 8 to 10 lb bag of LUMP charcoal, filling a chimney with about half to light and pour the rest into the firebox. When your chimney is thoroughly lit, pour the lit coals on to the mound of unlit coals in the firebox, put a couple of wood splits on top and allow them to burn down to begin generating more coals. When the wood splits have fully ignited and are ashed over, shut the doors and leave the dampers fully open to allow plenty of draft as the pit heats up.
Once the temp climbs to about 25 degrees or so above where you want to cook at, begin adjusting down on the intake damper until you have dialed in your cooking temp and then once the first two splits have sufficiently burned down to coals add another wood split to begin a routine of a split every 45 minutes to an hour. This way you are constantly adding to the coal bed and your temps are staying pretty much consistent. As long as you add your splits when they are needed your pit will practically run itself and though there will be SOME fluctuation in temps when opening the firebox door and when the newly added split catches on, the pit will recover very quickly, you'll be cooking in a ZONE.
If you want to cook at 275 for instance, work to maintain a zone of 50 degrees and maintain the temp in an area between 250 and 300. The temp will fall to between 250 and 275 when the pit is ready for another split and then the temp will rise to between 275 and 300 as the split ignites but eventually the temp will settle in to the 275 that you have the intake damper set for. Again, as long as you're adding your splits regularly your pit will pretty much be on auto pilot and you'll never have to worry about losing your temps or dirty smoke.:wink:
P.S. Again, it's important to make all temp adjustments with your INTAKE damper only, the exhaust should remain wide open throughout the cook.

[Big George's BBQ]

I use lump all the time and love it But it burns hotter than briquetts and when I had an offset it was too hot Was easier to use briquetts and wood For briquetts I really liked Stubbs Also NEVER use lighter fluid

[MarkV]

Already I can see I've found a home :) You guys are already amazing me with your help. My Offset is fairly small, it's a Silver Smoker model and we didn't want to get a more expensive one until we learned out to use it. Thanks so much already for the info and am looking forward to hearing more from you Pro's :)

[MarkV]

Ok Dumb Question and this shows me knowledge about the PIT. When you talk about a chimney I'm lost?

[Shagdog]

A charcoal starter... Like this -

http://www.yardandpool.com/weber-rapidfire-chimney-charcoal-starter?gclid=Cj0KEQjw1pWrBRDuv-rhstiX6KwBEiQA5V9ZoU3QiJRSE_Rn5K95Tkv3NVXz3AiXLIBg qhtVAoh6C_EaAt318P8HAQ

Welcome to the forum!

[oldbill]

Ok Dumb Question and this shows me knowledge about the PIT. When you talk about a chimney I'm lost?That would be your smoke stack, on top of which is your exhaust damper.:wink:

[MarkV]

I use lump all the time and love it But it burns hotter than briquetts and when I had an offset it was too hot Was easier to use briquetts and wood For briquetts I really liked Stubbs Also NEVER use lighter fluid

Never use Lighter Fluid? How do you get your charcoal going?

[Bamabuzzard]

Never use Lighter Fluid? How do you get your charcoal going?

If you use a charcoal chimney (someone posted a link to one) you put paper under it and light it to start the charcoal.

I use a chimney but use lighter fluid. The main thing is letting it burn completely off before using it to cook meat. I used to be anti lighter fluid until I saw Myron Mixon (famous championship BBQ'er) pour a crap load of lighter fluid on his charcoal to light it. He was asked about it and his response was something to the effect of "That's why you let it burn off first." The guy wins comps all the time. As long as I allow it to burn off I've never had it impact the taste of my meats. But do what you feel comfortable with.

[SmittyJonz]

I ALWAYS use lighter fluid.

[SmittyJonz]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCH_sTO1hoY

[SmittyJonz]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j4ScS5FskhE

[nmeyer414]

welcome aboard mark. lots of good info here.

CWIRE you say? I had a soldier that I named CWIRE, you wouldn't have been stationed at FT. Lewis and deployed to IRAQ when you got that name.............?

[oldbill]

Ok Dumb Question and this shows me knowledge about the PIT. When you talk about a chimney I'm lost?

That would be your smoke stack, on top of which is your exhaust damper.:wink:LOL!!! Sorry, I've been up since 1:30 this morning and when you said chimney I didn't read "chimney starter" but chimney (as in the exhaust stack on the pit)!:doh::crazy:
I use a Weber chimney filled with lump and I light it with 3 rolled up sheets of newspaper. It lights easily and there are no fumes from lighter fluid.:-D

[viking72]

This is Old Rusty, hand me down in 2003, still making Q.
The only changes I have done is to add a convection plate last summer and new handles.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10006381_705533266207880_3834955209684490903_n.jpg ?oh=bf42b1ae29f607702614a5fe988ebc06&oe=55F3B5F7
Also added the Tel-Tru in 03.
Later,
Doug

[MarkV]

welcome aboard mark. lots of good info here.

CWIRE you say? I had a soldier that I named CWIRE, you wouldn't have been stationed at FT. Lewis and deployed to IRAQ when you got that name.............?

haha Thanks for the welcome but no not the same CWIRE, I got my nickname during an exercise in Korea when I (a medic) infiltrated the command tent and then got caught on the CWire on the way out after planting explosives (fake of course) and fell and broke my elbow :)

Anyhooo :) So far the information I've gotten is just what I'm looking for, I'm really excited to be a part of this forum.

[MarkV]

This is Old Rusty, hand me down in 2003, still making Q.
The only changes I have done is to add a convection plate last summer and new handles.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-9/10006381_705533266207880_3834955209684490903_n.jpg ?oh=bf42b1ae29f607702614a5fe988ebc06&oe=55F3B5F7
Also added the Tel-Tru in 03.
Later,
Doug

WOW that looks almost identical to my new offset :)