Hello All,
I took the cover off of my propane tank offset smoker for the first time since 2016. After a brief three year foray into professional BBQ, my subsequent sabbatical is over. And as my BBQ Brethren rating states, I’m looking for wood and matches.
My earliest memories of BBQ are my grandfather cooking in a backyard, homemade brick pit in Southeast Texas. Even my grandmother had her own bullet-style smoker for turkeys. BBQ was something in which we all partook during my childhood and I have continued to enjoy since then.
Following computer sales to Fortune 500 companies, then 18 years as a stock broker, I became a stay-at-home dad while our daughter was in school. It was during this time my dream of professional BBQ was sparked and eventually came to fruition. I rehabbed an old motor home that became a BBQ food truck. About nine months later, a friend invited me to be the exclusive food vendor at his microbrewery.
While at the brewery, my little company fulfilled “back of the house” operations. It was a handshake deal that never argued over money, but how we could create unique memories for our customers utilizing the venue, beer, food and service. In addition to table service in the tap room, we catered weddings/parties both on-site and off, as well as beer festivals and concert events on the brewery grounds. A change in circumstances away from the BBQ prompted me to end one of the hardest working and funest chapters of my redneck life.
I joined the forum because, in my opinion, nobody knows everything about smoking meat. Seldom do I come away from a BBQ conversation, with a veteran or noobie, that I do not learn something. I look forward to interacting with the Brethren.
Warmest regards,
G-man
PS – some of you have quite a long list of BBQ equipment in your signature line. In addition to BBQ prowess, if all of that equipment is in your backyard, you must have expert skills in managing spousal relationships. :razz: Below are the various pits/grills I have used, but only the two marked with an asterisk are at my house now. And, I get grief from my spouse over one of them.
East Texas until 1987
Homemade rectangular grill/pit, inside dimensions 18” tall x 36” wide x 24” deep.
Various bullet-style smokers
Central Texas – 1987 - 2005
Bullet-style smokers
Homemade Offset smoker, 20” pipe x 38” wide, plus firebox
Massachusetts 2005 - Current
El Cheapo, big box store offset smoker with gas grill components added
* Self-made offset (propane tank) 30” x 43”, fire box with 2-10 CFM blower
Cookshack SM-105
* Southern Pride SRG-400
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
I took the cover off of my propane tank offset smoker for the first time since 2016. After a brief three year foray into professional BBQ, my subsequent sabbatical is over. And as my BBQ Brethren rating states, I’m looking for wood and matches.
My earliest memories of BBQ are my grandfather cooking in a backyard, homemade brick pit in Southeast Texas. Even my grandmother had her own bullet-style smoker for turkeys. BBQ was something in which we all partook during my childhood and I have continued to enjoy since then.
Following computer sales to Fortune 500 companies, then 18 years as a stock broker, I became a stay-at-home dad while our daughter was in school. It was during this time my dream of professional BBQ was sparked and eventually came to fruition. I rehabbed an old motor home that became a BBQ food truck. About nine months later, a friend invited me to be the exclusive food vendor at his microbrewery.
While at the brewery, my little company fulfilled “back of the house” operations. It was a handshake deal that never argued over money, but how we could create unique memories for our customers utilizing the venue, beer, food and service. In addition to table service in the tap room, we catered weddings/parties both on-site and off, as well as beer festivals and concert events on the brewery grounds. A change in circumstances away from the BBQ prompted me to end one of the hardest working and funest chapters of my redneck life.
I joined the forum because, in my opinion, nobody knows everything about smoking meat. Seldom do I come away from a BBQ conversation, with a veteran or noobie, that I do not learn something. I look forward to interacting with the Brethren.
Warmest regards,
G-man
PS – some of you have quite a long list of BBQ equipment in your signature line. In addition to BBQ prowess, if all of that equipment is in your backyard, you must have expert skills in managing spousal relationships. :razz: Below are the various pits/grills I have used, but only the two marked with an asterisk are at my house now. And, I get grief from my spouse over one of them.
East Texas until 1987
Homemade rectangular grill/pit, inside dimensions 18” tall x 36” wide x 24” deep.
Various bullet-style smokers
Central Texas – 1987 - 2005
Bullet-style smokers
Homemade Offset smoker, 20” pipe x 38” wide, plus firebox
Massachusetts 2005 - Current
El Cheapo, big box store offset smoker with gas grill components added
* Self-made offset (propane tank) 30” x 43”, fire box with 2-10 CFM blower
Cookshack SM-105
* Southern Pride SRG-400
p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 120% }
