If you're anything like me, you ain't scared to eat. And meat is a large importance in that. I've made my own jerky for years. Last year, I started smoking meat and it's become my hobby and greater enjoyments in life.. I don't have a high dollar smoker, but it serve the purpose (for now.) This is my 3rd one. First one was 2 clay pots, a hot plate, and a Weber grill grate. Works quite well, but hot plates are getting weaker and more scarce. My current go-to smoker is a Char-Griller with woodbox attachment. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=558550&stc=1&d=1289415338 It's not the best, but is a great 'both-worlds' grill setup. I've done a couple mods to it to make it a 'better' smoker, and a few more are slated. So far, I've reconfigured the woodbox's fire pit design and height. Also, a water heater blanket addition to help retain and regulate heat stability. This weekend, I'll be extending the 3" dia. chimney's inner length to grate-level, rather than it's factory 1" depth into the lid. The factory configuration lets out too much heat and smoke, too quickly. After that, I'll be adding woodstove rope sealing gasket to the lid section, again to help retain smoke and heat that otherwise escapes from everywhere. Wood of choice: mesquite or apple. Apple is everywhere, here, beings that there are hundreds of apple orchards in the immediate are. Mesquite is not native here, and obviously doesn't grow in this part of the country. So I either have relatives ship me mesquite wood from Texas, or I buy bulk chunk bags, which isn't cheap here. so, if any of you are into smoking meat, let's converse/share

I'll most likely make myself a new one over the winter months..

Smoked 12 racks of ribs yesterday.. (6) St. Louis cuts, (6) BB cuts.

Homemade dry-rub, Mesquite wood for smoke over lump hardwood coal.

For S&Gs, I decided to smoke a few racks on the propane side of the grill..

Took a few mods (quick little 'adjustments', so to speak) to the burner layout for smoke, but it did quite well!

(Gas side on the left)

Above pic taken after I'd already removed some finished racks!

holy toledo.. DEE-LISHUS! lol

Trying a new mod on the grill. [ATTACH]4544[/ATTACH]From the Galaxy S3

Is that some kind of insulation over your grille?

Is that some kind of insulation over your grille?

It's actually a water heater blanket. I was trying something for heat retention. It worked wicked good! From the Galaxy S3

From the Galaxy S3

[ATTACH]4549[/ATTACH]

For some reason tapatalk is turning the pictures...

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:drool:I need to move closer to you! You seem to eat pretty darn well!

I need to move closer to you! You seem to eat pretty darn well!

come on over! Smoking some St Louis cuts this weekend and a brisket. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Convoy to Rick's anyone?

Bring it!Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

I perfer cold smoked meat myself. Not a fan of having my meat already half cooked via the smoking process. I grew up old school, Butcher shops are required to take it up to a certain temp for a set length of time which basically cooks it already. Dam Government regs:doh:.Growing up it was a sin to cut up a beef carcass before it hung for a couple weeks and aged, if it was not covered in natural molds to help tenderize and flavor it you wasted an animal.

Yeah, and people rode horses everywhere. LolSo apparently w&f will be turning down my smoked ribs and brisket.. ;)Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Yeah, and people rode horses everywhere. Lol

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Not quite that old school!

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah, and people rode horses everywhere. Lol

So apparently w&f will be turning down my smoked ribs and brisket.. ;)

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Ribs and Brisket are the waste cuts of meat, what doesn't get ground into burger goes to the dogs.

I am not a fan of BBQ in general. I like my meat straight up Medium Rare with basic spices.

We Never smoked any beef though, we always home smoked and cured our own pork hams and bacon and country sausage. Also smoke deer sausage all cold smoked with apple wood "The best by far"and or Hickory wood chips, have tried mesquite a few times but it can get overpowering if used alone.

I agree on the cuts but they're still good I rarely smoke beef. Pork butts and ribs mostly. I slow-smoked some venison for a coworker a week ago ad it was really good. Used apple and smoked really low and slow for about 13hrs .Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

smoked some more ribs and a quartered pork shoulder yesterday. I changed up a little technique on the fire part. Yesterday, instead of using the grate to hold the fire's fuel, I bought a $10 stainless steel colander from Target (3qt.)

Reasoning:

Try to keep the wood and charcoals together and confined, along with ease of cleaning, and longer burn times

Amount of fuel used:

I used a total of about 5qts of volume of fueling. The initial fill, and one refill of about 2qts worth later on.

About 3 pcs of Hickory (3"dia x 10"long)

Thoughts:

There are both pros and cons..

[*]PROS

[*]much longer burn time per fuel volume

[*]ease of cleaning ash bin

[*]less flare-ups when opening the woodbox door

[*]CONS

[*]The holes in my chosen colander were too small..

[*] Great for long burn times, but

[*]bad for clearing ash. The holes were small at the lower sections of the colander, causing it to be quite difficult to shake out the ash as it accumulated. This causes the burn temp to be a little low for my needs, and I struggled to get the temps up beyond 200-210*F

I can rectify the small-hole issue with my uni-bit, and will retest maybe next weekend.

I had to suppliment the wood's heat with a propane burner. Partly due to it was a tad cool yesterday, and very overcast. My smoker is made of thin metal, and will disipate the heat fairly quickly when it's overcast..