# Ssmmookkin!!



## Indycuts (Feb 8, 2012)

Well, guess this is a fitting spot.
thinkin about doing some smokin . I got some nice cherry and from what I am told.. some type of hickory so it was looking into getting a smoker and giving it a whirl :bang:
Any smokers here?
Looking at doing some pulled pork, might even do some beef brisket.
I read that the combo grill\smoker combos suck unless they are big dollar units. strangly enough the webber smoky mountain is about the best when ya look at reviews.
any one got home made jobs?

you are reminded, it dont exist if you aint got pic's :haha:


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## EDMman (Feb 8, 2012)

I bought a char-broil silver smoker... Did quite a few mods to it.. I only use it for smoking. It kicks out some mighty fine grub... Smoking is the only way to go.. But remember it takes time ....... and lots of beer ..... lol


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## Genius. (Feb 8, 2012)

Yup, I love smokkin. As a hog farmer it only makes sense right?

I have one of those grill smoker combo's, it is the CharGriller. The reviews on it were great when I got mine (about 7 years ago). I have great luck with mine, I made a few simple mods to mine to get longer and more efficient burn times.

Our family love ribs, Boston Butt and Briskit. But, there is not a piece of pork that with a rub and time on the smoker that does not turn out awesome.

My father in law has a few of those propane smokers and he has great luck with them. They are actually easyer to run, but he can't get the amount of meat on his that I can get on mine. Plus he is limited to wood chips. On mine I can use wood pieces, and can go to my woods to get my wood. Oak, maple, apple, pear, cherry, hickory. All trees I have that I use the trimmings from for fuel. Mine also serves as a grill too.


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## Indycuts (Feb 13, 2012)

*Well got my smoker!*

Kept an eye on the local CL and found a guy unloading this smoker 
I saw in his listing where he said " you might need help loading it in a truck cause its HEAVY" 
That caught my eye since those side be side bucket smokers from char-broil I looked at were not heavy at all. 100-125lb tops.
This did not look like much from the pic he had posted but when I got there this thing was all 1/4in steel, even the wheels were steel. (250lb min)
Very little rust and after looking at the welds either they welded for a living or this was a high end smoker. 

View attachment 223749


Anyway, for 100bux I took it home and smoked up a chicken and a pork shoulder.
Went pretty good even though it was cold out.
My only complaint is the food had a little bitter bite to 
I did have to feed the fire after the food was on so it might just be that my wood is not seasoned enough for cooking? I used beech logs.
I also used hickory chips that last all of 10 min even wet. Guess I will try some cherry logs once it sits a few more months.


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## greendohn (Mar 4, 2012)

careful with the cherry. while i use cherry quite a bit i trashed a ham a while back. 
i used 100% cherry for aprox. 6-7 hours and the flavor of cherry was sooo strong that you would of thought i cooked it in cherry kool-aid. 
this time of year i usually throw a shovel load of coals from the OWB and smoke only pork and chicken.
i supplement the coals with select splits from the wood pile.
a rule of thumb i use is if the smoke/wood from the woodstove doesn't smell delicious, then i don't use those coals. ie..i wouldn't use hackberry, hedge, etc..Ash provides a nice smoke. toss in the "fruit and/or nut" wood on top and let 'er smoke 'till the meat is falling off the bone..mmmmm good,.

cold beer seems to work well for the cook .:msp_biggrin:


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## Indycuts (Mar 5, 2012)

Thanks for the tip. I tried another cookout and this time it was pork ribs from the meat market in Chicago and I started by baking the ribs in the oven for 1.5 hrs while I got the smoker warmed up. I used charcoal this time to get a nice roaring fire going and then once the coals turned white I tossed on a few nice logs! After a few hours on the smoker.... Ewwwee, good eats!


greendohn said:


> careful with the cherry. while i use cherry quite a bit i trashed a ham a while back.
> i used 100% cherry for aprox. 6-7 hours and the flavor of cherry was sooo strong that you would of thought i cooked it in cherry kool-aid.
> this time of year i usually throw a shovel load of coals from the OWB and smoke only pork and chicken.
> i supplement the coals with select splits from the wood pile.
> ...


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## Stihlofadeal64 (Mar 5, 2012)

The transfer smoker should work good. One simple rule...low and slow. Stay with the hickory, the advice given about the smell of the smoke is very wise. If you use seasoned hickory you can't go wrong. Brisket takes longer for me than chicken but it is well worth it. If you alternate between smoking and wrapping it so you can preserve the juices you will learn a happy medium. On that note my parents traveled to south Texas last year. She had eaten my brisket here, and thought she'd get some of the same there -- she said what she ate there was awful, cooked to death and dry as a bone. (That's not to say all Texas brisket is that way...being fair). Your new experiment can yield many tasty results. Happy Smokin!


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## SS396driver (Mar 6, 2012)

chargriller here also . been smoking for years started with a coleman. picture is worth a thousand words ..
brisket 






chicken and ribs


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## k5alive (Mar 6, 2012)

i use turkey oak in my smoker, but the wood has to soak for at least a couple days


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## Indycuts (Mar 6, 2012)

k5alive said:


> i use turkey oak in my smoker, but the wood has to soak for at least a couple days



Interesting you soak em. I started soaking them but then read that wood will only soak up 20% of its weight so it really does not do much as the water in the wood vaporizes almost instantly. 
Guess I should soak some and do a comparison to see how much of a difference it makes. hmmm, ever soak it in beer?
The wood, not you...lol


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## crowbuster (Mar 6, 2012)

I've found chunks instead of chips work a lot better for me. You wont have to add any through the course of smoking and the chunks absorb and retain water after soaking for 24hrs better. Dont forget apple wood is great as well.


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## SFC B (Apr 1, 2012)

The Mrs. got me a Treager pellet smoker for my 40th and it is AWESOME For pork I use 2/3 hickory 1/3 oak and for beef I use all oak. Mine has an electronic thermostat sooooo......start it up, put in a loaf pan with apple cider/water mix in it for moisture and then only turn every hour(while drinking malted beverages). A full hopper will just about cook a full pork butt. Prior to that I used a Weber kettle and had really good results. It required quite a bit of attention to maintain the temp but worked well. I used charcoal for the heat and then a couple of hickory chunks every time I replenished the charcoal. Positive of the Weber was that it was also a great griller. Either way smoked pork is always my fav!!!


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