Just bought a smoker...

Nice start, you will either
1) hate it cause it's hard to control temps
2) figure it out & make a few mods to make life easier
3) get addicted to cooking with wood and get yoself a bigun

Either way, don't listen to all the crap on the web (not necessarily here) about how hard COS's (cheap offset smokers) are to use. Just get after it and you will learn a lot about fire management & air control and make a bunch of good Q in the process.

BEST OF LUCK:thumb:

PS: use the search tool at the bottom of the page and try a search on "COS mods".

Congrats! :eusa_clap

What you are referring too is seasoning the smoker. Rub down the cooking chamber with oil or spray heavily with Pam. Then start a fire in there and try to play with the temp a little and see if yiu can somewhat dial it in. Run in for a few hours minimum like that before adding food to season and get rid of excess grease that may be in it. Congrats for n your purchase. If you have any specific questions, just ask

Make it memorable brother. Butts, thighs, nekkid fattys, turds. Again. Wipe it down, spray with Pam, lard, coconut oil etc light a fire and go. Everyone here is either in the same state or has been. From Australia to England you got help.

Congrats!

ytrebil said:

Awww cheers boys.

What's the best way on a COS (thanks for the education with the acronym!) to elicit the smoke? Pellets or chunks?

Will have a proper search for COS mods etc tomorrow.

Click to expand...

It's a stick burner. Use wood splits. To get it started lots of use lump and a coupe small splits. Then add another split ever 45-60 minutes. You are cooking in a range rather than a certain temp. If you want 275 then you will be cooking between 250-300. When it drops to 250 add a split and it will go up hopefully not too far above 275 but it will go up over your ideal temp. Don't sweat it. You will go crazy if you try dial it in to an exact temp like a charcoal cooker. Also, most cookers have a temp range that it just likes. It is best not to fight that temp once you figure out what that temp is. Any other questions just ask. Congrats on the new cooker!

thats the way, jump in there and give it a try and when you learn the ins and outs on it you should be able to cook on just about any stick burner.

Nice to see that you are already figuring her out. If you want pulled pork see if you can find a pork butt (pork shoulder) with the bone. The bone will wiggle freely when it is done. If you cannot find one with the bone in don't sweat it. Just cook until it probes nice and tender. I would get a cheap oven thermometer and put it on the grate to see temp on the grate level vs the therm in the door.

The first time I put an offset fire box on my Char-Griller I made the mistake of trying to smoke with plain ole charcoal. I could never get the temp high enough in the chamber and had to do some reading on several forums to realize that I had to use wood in the offset fire box to get enough heat. You can use hardwood lump charcoal or you can use split wood, but don't make the mistake of being 3 or 4 hours into a cook before you realize charcoal just won't cut it.

Enjoy getting to know your smoker and learning meat that you love to smoke. That is about the same smoker I started with years ago before I got my Lang 84" Deluxe.

Never used one so my experience is useless here good luck and welcome to the addiction.

Make sure you season it- spray down the inside really good with pam Do the first cook low and slow- a great choice is a couple of nsake fatties. Make sure the pit has settled in before cooking- you dont want a light of white smoke- That may take an hour or so to achieve Check out the Mavericks for pit and food Temps
Congrats and Enjoy

Since you are new to stick burners, take a look at the following. Not saying he is a guru, just a good first stick burner video...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS1veMrDOC4"]Offset Smoker Fire Management - How To Video - YouTube[/ame]

ytrebil said:

Cheers for the advice and well wishes.

So far for the pork I've picked up tips:

- roughly 1 hour per lbs @ 250f
- internal temp 190f for pulled pork
- bone side down
- 'mop' with oil/apple cider every 45mins - 1 hour (worried about disturbing it on the rack tho keep opening the lid?)
- let it stand for 15-20 mins after cooking

Any recommendations on an easy rub with usual home condiments/spices?

Also, any recommendations on a cheap remote thermo for the grill and internal meat temp?

Click to expand...

ytrebil, congrats on getting it up & running right away !!!

Seems like it maybe took a little long for your burgers, but hey it's a start......try a little something, think it might help....

Start off maybe a dozen or a few more briquettes, then add in wood pieces....
Wait just until they start fire & burn a minute, then close the lid of the firebox....
Leave the smokestack most or all the way open, and as a start, open the low vents on the end of the firebox to 1/2 open.......see where it starts to settle.....

Hopefully, the smoke will be of the relatively thin & wispy variety & sort of "pushing" out the upper exhaust stack (that sort of shows you the cooker is moving air through at a decent clip)
Check quick after maybe 45 minutes & add in a little wood....if you have split strips, great.....chunks will work but you may use more that way.....
The idea is to run with the smallest, cleanest fire you can use & still get to the temperature desired.....
Air incoming, evenly spaced adding of wood / fuel.....if it seems to lag, you could add a few lit briquettes to get it up to bang.....
With this type cooker, you're cooking 'around' an approximate temp......say 260f, then between 235 & 290 might be a 'range' to shoot for.....

Terry's got you a great video there.....his is a bit larger cooker, so scale everything down just a tad.....he gives a good general speech at about 16:00

Even a test cookup with a pan of cold water on the cooking grate might be in order, but gee, you've already done up food, so I wouldn't want to slow you down now!!!!

For your pork, the cut most would be referring to here is the upper front shoulder, don't know they'd call it Boston Butt there

Here's some mapping......don't let them sell you on the LOIN ( a possible common switch-up that gets suggested)...although good, cooks quite different than the shoulder.......

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...S-cuts-attempt-make-life-easier-shoppers.html

http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/ap_pigc.html (#406 here)

You could forego the mop & keep the cooker closed more......test out those types of things after you get the hang of it.....

The rub might be flat grain Kosher salt, a medium grind pepper, maybe something like rubbed dry tarragon, spicier additions like hot paprika or a ground chile pepper if you like.... dampen the piece, coat all over medium density & let sit while the cooker heats up....
Real good idea you will see in the video is to get the cooker up to a good running heat BEFORE the meat goes on.....
What you get from the original coating changes somewhat after hours of cooking & that's what 'mopping' is about....adding layering onto that original coating.....the pork itself will drain out "X" amount of moisture & fats while cooking & that combined with the first coating should be enough to create a good finish "crust" or "bark"..........

Go for a skewer or probe to slide easily into the piece.....it's like you're going to just fall right thru the meat....VERY easy to puncture....it will be 190f, and more likely above (200~205f)

Personally, I wrap in tinfoil & let rest for a minimum 1 hour, ideas vary on this.....sometimes it depends on how hungry you & guests are !!!

Aim for smoke that appears like this at the thickest:



If it looks puffy & white & struggling.....try 1st opening the intake vent & see if more air will get the fire running cleaner.....

For your first butt try just salt and pepper.
Learn your wood types ie, flavors.
Try to cook at 275*-350*F.
Do not mop.
Do not foil.
If your lookin you not cookin.
Remove from cooker when the bone moves freely.
Let rest uncovered until you can pull it by hand(1hr+).
Serve with out sauce.
This will be your base to work form in the future.
And welcome to the stick side.

Later,
Doug