What got you started in Q?

I had been grilling unsuccessfully on a gasser for a while when I saw a friend use a chimney on a Kettle. Since I was a failure at properly lighting coals by stacking them and using fluid, I immediately saw the genius of the chimney and saw it as a way to get into charcoal cooking.

That Christmas I got a Kettle and a chimney and started grillin' up a storm while the old gasser rotted away. One day I wanted to do some pulled pork, so I spent hours reading about the best way to do it on a Kettle. After a mildly successful first attempt, I decided I needed to perfect pulled pork and started smoking more and more.

Once I got fairly decent, I started cooking for our parties and realized I needed more cooking space, so I got Earl built and joined the Brethren! It has all been downhill from there, but damn has my Q improved!!!! :wink:

I'm from TN and then moved to baltimore and then to Iowa.

I had to learn to do it because good BBQ places are few and far between in iowa. You'd think with the quality meat up here they would do a better job of it, but the cooking level is no where near the ingredient level.:doh:

My wife bought me a an old brinkmann smoke 'n grill electric smoker one year for Christmas and that was the gateway drug! I'd always enjoyed eating bbq, and always enjoyed grilling, but didn't get into smoking until the wife bought me that brinkmann.

I bought my first grill when I finally lived alone. I had some roommates for a couple of years and one of them had a gasser, which they almost burned the house down with one morning while intoxicated. It was a charcoal, Kingsford Patio Classic, egg shaped with side tables. Like oval shaped kettle, not a flower pot. After burning a brisket to the point the dog wouldn't eat it, I stuck with easy stuff for a while. I had that grill almost ten years till the bottom rack rusted out(still have it in the shed in case I find a rack). I cant find replacements anywhere. Got my Performer Platinum for Father's Day a few years back, but still wasn't happy with the quality of ribs and butts. I looked into smokers and decided to build a UDS, found this place in the build process and my ribs and butts have been getting better ever since. I even smoked a brisket that was worth saving the leftovers.

I found this place....................:tsk: Farkers............helped me spend tons of money.

I grew up helping my grandfather kill and butcher hogs to cook for family events and have had a passion for it ever since. Rest in peace Red!

My Dad, I grew up eating his Q and learned from him. We always had two or three weber kettles on the back patio

one morning in college, I saw a tv show where they were talking to Chris Lilly at Memp in May. it looked so good that I went to the store and bought some pork (sirloin roast) and when I got home I realized I had no idea what to put on it so I rubbed it with some orange juice and salt and put it in the oven. after a few hours I tried it and it was possibly the worst pork ever cooked. From that, I knew there had to be a better way.

Dad used to do Pork Roasts and Beef Roast on a rottiserre on a gas grilll and whole family loved it. I too when I got older bought a gas grill but just did steaks and burgers. I then went to a few BBQ restaurants and had brisket and said. Damn I wish I could cook that. Then a friend of mine bought a Big Green Egg (I could never afford one of these) They just wanted to have a cool toy. Problem was they did not really know anything about grilling or smoking food. I said I would cook for them on occasion if they bought all the stuff. Deal was made. I research smoking food and had some experience doing Thick Cut pork chops and such on my gasser. Did some Beer can Chicken and other things and they were all good on there Big Green Egg. But when you don't own something it is hard to be around a smoker for 14 hours and be checking things like you would like.

Then a friend heard of an inexpensive smoker you could make called the UDS!!!! Joined the Brethren and read the massive UDS thread. My life has not been the same since. Have had my hands on building 3 UDS. Have smoked meals for over 60 people. Probably have done over 100 cooks on my personal smoker.

I got into home brewing for quite a few years and liked the process of brewing beer but started growing impatient spending a whole day brewing and having to wait a month or before i got to reap the rewards. A lot of the home brewers also BBQ'd. So I started smoking some meat while i brewed so I had a tastey meal after the full day of work. From there BBQ took over and brewing got sidebar'd. Started with an ECB (El Cheapo Brinkman) then moved to an electric Smokin-it #2 smoker, then added a Cheap stickburner, a WSM and now a UDS.

Now my old keezer/fermentation chamber is back being used as it's original purpose as a chest freezer for all the meat.

When I was a little fella my dad took me into Arthur Bryants and I would watch Richard at the Pit for hours every time we would go and I told my Dad.."That's what I want to do when I grow up..... I aint grow'ed up Yet..... But I've been Cook'n Q Every Since.

I love pulled pork bbq and ribs. There really wasn't anywhere around here that really wow'd me. In fact, a majority of the restaurants here at the time were pretty terrible, and only a handful I qualify as ok. I consider myself a good cook, so I took it upon myself to learn how to do pulled pork and ribs. I then expanded my repitoire and added brisket, beef ribs, and anything I could get my hands on.

Had smoked turkey legs at Disneyworld, and thought I HAVE to do these at home. Started reading about Q/Smoking and I was hooked! Only had gassers,then bought a cheap charcoal grill, then built an offset from drums,then to a Weber kettle, then a UDS (the offset rusted out)thanks to this site!

I'd been doing the occasional experimenting with grilling for many years, but only ever on a Weber gas grill. My results weren't that great, really nothing much to speak of. Still, I've always been intrigued with grilling. Eating wonderfully smoked BBQ has always been one of my favorite meals. Last summer, the Saturday morning of Memorial Day Weekend- I caught a BBQ Pitmasters marathon on TV. Loved the show said to myself, "Self, that looks like a ton of fun and totally looks like something you could do. You should look into seeing how much you could get your own smoker for..."

I checked the internet to do some checking around to see how much it would cost me to dive into this. Looked at several sites, getting ideas for what I could realistically afford. Really had no idea of the ins & outs of the various types of cookers. Thought I'd take a shot at Craigslist, just to see if anything was out there. Lo and behold, I found an ad for a smoker, Not much detail in the ad, other than brand new, still-in-the-box smoker, asking $200. Figured I would contact the seller, find out a little more about the smoker, and then make a move on it if I was still intrigued at that point. Turned out to be a brand new Weber Smokey Mountain 22. Did some quick research, found several glowing reviews of that model. Offered the seller $125, we agreed on $150. Drove 20 miles, picked up my brand new $400 smoker for $150, drove home, and called 'er good. Had no idea I lucked into a cooker that suited my exact needs before I even had identified what those needs are. Woke up that day having no idea what the day would have in store. On a total lark I ended up getting a great deal on a smoker that I really had next-to no knowledge about. In hindsight, I don't think I could have chosen a better fit for me & my needs than the WSM 22. Total luck, which for me isn't all that common.

After many years of enjoying grilling at a total rookie level, I kinda dove head-first into this neat little hobby in one day. Friends and family have raved about BBQ we've cooked on it. The family stuff has been the most satisfying part of this hobby. Last summer, I cooked 12 racks of ribs, a 15# whole packer brisket, and ABTs for a big family party, all on my WSM 22. Now I don't very often need that type of capacity, but it's pretty cool to know I can easily feed upwards of 40 people on my cooker, and my family raved about how delicious even the leftovers were the next day. My big cook this year will be for the rehearsal dinner for my sister's wedding. Brisket, moink balls, buffalo chicken ABTs are on the menu so far, with more to follow. Can't wait for that. My 7 year-old daughter loves the smoker as well, and we have a great time working together on our cooks. On a stop at Cabela's last week, she was putting the hard-sell on me to buy her a WSM 14 so she could have her own smoker. Can't wait to make that happen one of these days soon.

Always loved eating BBQ, then my wife surprised me on Father's Day with a Bandera (I had hinted that I liked it), Like Ron L said, it's been all downhill from there.

some forty years ago my dad and i raised pig's most of the time we had around 50 pigs. there were no bbq joint's around so my dad and i (i mostly !) dug a pit in the ground lined it with fire brick and started cooking pig's and pig part's that's when i started.

I had a old potbelly stove and wanted to build a cooker out of it. I ran it with wood, charcoal and gas...after that i was pretty much hooked. That led to another smoker and yet another and another. Ever since I've been addicted to smoke!

Almost 8 years ago now, I use to regularly offer burnt sacrifices to the BBQ gods, and had no clue as to what real barbecue was. :noidea: I took my wife on a surprise trip to St. Louis, because she had never been to the arch. While there, we got hungry, and I saw this BBQ joint called Bandanas BBQ. It smelled incredible, and they mentioned on the menu that the pink ring around the meat was mark of real BBQ - the Smoke Ring! Smoke what?? Well, it sounded interesting, so we ordered the sampler platter, and... OMG!!!! The best ribs I had ever had at that time. And, that pulled pork stuff, and... gulp... brisket, was out of this world! The flavors exploded in my mouth. It was so good that we bought 3 slabs of spares to bring home with us, so we would have proof that we had the best BBQ anyone we knew had ever had.

After that, I jumped on the internet, and started searching for BBQ information. How to cook ribs, What is beef brisket, what is a pork butt, etc. I found all kinds of information, and I found several websites and forums, but the one that had the most information, and the nicest folks, is the one I stuck with over these years... The BBQ Brethren! :clap2: :thumb: :-D :whoo:

I found out about smokers, and ended up buying a Char-Griller Smokin' Pro, and a WSM 18.5. Now, here I am, competing in the KCBS (as much as possible), cooking all the family picnics and reunions, and the owner/pitmaster of my very own BBQ biz, with doesn't do bad given the limited number of events I am restricted to by my day job. Well, that's my story!