[AZSmoke]

We'll picked up a new Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker this past Wednesday at BBQ Island (along with charcoal and cherry/apple wood).  Had the first smoke on Thanksgiving day, a chicken, pork shoulder, and I forget get what the butcher called this cut but basically it's the cow's belly, not quite a brisket but close.  I picked up the meat from "The Meat Shop", and the quality was very good.  If you have not been there, the folks there were very helpful and nice, I'd recommend them.  The pork is raised just outside of Palo Verde (West of Buckeye), and the beef is grass fed up around Congress, AZ,

I'll have to appologize upfront, I forgot to take pictures until the very end, so I only have pics of the pork shoulder.  

I started off the rub the night before, go this rub off of the Smoking meat forum:
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of paprika
2 1/2 TBS of cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tsp of chilli powder
1 1/2 tbs of garlic powder
1 1/2 tbs of onion powder
1 tsp of cayenne powder
2 tbs of kosher salt

Forgot the chille powder at the store, so I doubled (actually probably used 4-5 times as much) cayenne powder.  I made a batch for each piece of meat, rub them down, put into a gallon ziplock freezer bag and back into the fridge over night.

When I do this again, I think I'll cut back on the brown sugar and paprika, and possbly add a couple other items, but we'll see.

I used the menion (sp?) method to get the charcoal going, got it up to around 325 and put the chicken in.  Let it go to for around 2 1/2 hours and an internal temp of 177 degrees.  I know this is probably higher then most folks take it, but I don't like to take a chance with poultry.  I then foiled it for 30 minutes.  It came out great, very tender and moist, and was probably the best of all 3 pieces of meat I smoked, will definitely have to do this again.

I closed all 3 bottom vents on the WSM, and loaded up with more lump for the pork and beef.  Was able to get the temp down to around 250, and it went up and down, 300-250-275-325-350, for the next couple of hours.  The beef hit 200 after about 3 1/2 hours, a little to quick I think, I took it out and foiled for around 30 minutes.  It had a great flavor, but was a little tough, some was pretty tender, but in general was a little tough. Had a good smoke ring though.

At about 7 1/2 hours, the pork hit 185, so I took it off and foiled it for about 30 minutes as well.  I love pork, and from reading the various smoking forums, it seems to be pretty forgiving as well.  I was trying for pulled pork, and end up with something in between pulled and slicable pork.  Some was pulling, but the majority needed to be sliced.  I'm thinking I needed to take it up to 200 degrees, and I may have had too hot of a fire to start with.

Overall though, I was a great day, started at around 8am and finished around 8pm.  The WSM by far produced better results then the cabela's gas burning I'd tried previously, and my confidence has now been lifted, there may be hope for me!  

Sorry for the long post, but thought I'd share my second ever attempt at smoked anything.

Here's the picks of the pork shoulder:



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[Crash]

Congrats!!  Sounds like it went pretty smooth for the first time.  One suggestion for your pork, either take it to 195+ or better yet, just use the temp probe to check for doneness.  When the probe slides in with zero resistance, it's ready.

Again, good to hear you enjoyed your first cook on your new WSM.

[AzJohnnyC]

Great to hear you,re enjoying the new smoker. Follow Crash's advice and take the pork higher. I usually go to 200-205 for pulled. I may be wrong on the beef, not sure what cut you have, but cooking it lower and slower should make it more tender. Congrats. You're hooked now!

[RobOConnell]

Looks great, but like Crash said, you gotta get it to 195 before you wrap it. Thats the pulled pork temp. Nice bark. How was the flavor? Glad you had a good experience. Yes pork is the most forgiving, its a great meat to start out with the learning process. Keep practicing, before you know it, you will be smoking with the best.

[jmcrig]

Congrats Karl. I'll have to agree with Crash and Johnny. With the beef it does depend on the cut. The Texas Hill Country BBQ, they do shoulder clods at 350 degrees for about 3 to 4 hours, and it's so good, most of the places don't even offer BBQ sauce with it. Basic rub and that's it.

[Gizzy's Smokin Crew]

Congrats Karl.......Glad everything worked out......Looks mighty tasty

[Crash]

Looks great, but like Crash said, you gotta get it to 195 before you wrap it.

HUH???   I never said that....I've been misquoted. 

[jmcrig]

Karl, did those Palo Verde pigs have three butts?

[AZSmoke]

THanks for the tips folks.  I had read on the 195/200 on the pork, but was ready to call it a day so took a chance.  It still taste great, and still supper tender, just not pulled tender.  I'll give it another try, and looking forward to it. 

On anohter topic, I was using one of the maverick probes, it worked pretty good until I shorted out the smoke temp probe, I think I let the wire hang down a little too low to the coals and it got too hot.  Question on these probes for those that use them, do you have any tips on how to get the wires out of the WSM or UDS with out crunching the wire with the lid? or is this an issue?

Mark, don't know about the 3 butt's, but the WSM was glowing green during the smoke!

[jmcrig]

On my WSM's I drilled about an 1/8" hole just below where the top fits on. You can get replacement probes on ebay for the Mavericks if you need one. BBQ Island may also have them.



Drill a hole? I know it's brand new, but you gotta get its cherry sometime.

[azkitch]

Karl, glad it went well. Another suggestion would be cook with the low temps first; easier to raise temp, and you don't waste fuel while waiting for temps to drop 100*. The beef and pork will keep quite hot for HOURS when packed in a cooler wrapped in towels. I saw another tip, this one from my hero Alton Brown of Good Eats on the Food Network. He mentioned that bubble wrap makes a great insulator. I was thinking about the lack of food grade bubble wrap, which AB jokes about in his video (Youtube, he's doing an appearance at Google; Google it!) but if it's already wrapped in foil, what difference!! Foiled, bubble wrapped, stuffed in a cooler, you're good for up to 5-6 hours. Then spike the temps for chicken or ribs.

I take a small chunk of my smoking wood, drill a small hole thru it to hold my probe. (ooh baby) I used a rather small triangular piece, drilled at an angle to have the probe angled upwards. (again, with the oooh baby...) I read somewhere that being in contact w/the grates will cause probe malfunction. Dunno how hot the grates get, but I'd guess they don't get much hotter'n the ambient at 240 ish....or your cooking temp...
Deposit 2 cents please. When does our 2 cents worth go up according to inflation?

[jmcrig]

Good catch Dave, and good information.

[RobOConnell]

Dave, you keep this up and we will have to call you Alton. Good idea. But do you have to describe all that nasty stuff about your probe? 

[n2dabluebbq]

i seem to need to follow Daves path of thinking. i too feel the need to cook the pork till you go AT LEAST to 195. i go to 205 myself. and i follow the cooking though of low and slow. i try to keep my temps around the 200-215 range. i do that for all my meats.
 now maybe the reason for your temp spikes was due to the lump coal you are using. from what i hear, if you use charcoal as opposed to lump coal, you are supposedly not subjected to such temp spikes. now i can't say for sure cause i am one of those screwed up folks who stays up all night with a offset stick burner. hahahahaha

[AzJohnnyC]

The maverick should have come with a clip to attach it to the grate. Did you put the probe wires through the door? How did it get in the coals? You need the temp of the chamber where your meat sits, not the fire temperature. I cooked with lump  the other night, and my Pro Q was holding the same temp all night with no water in the pan and only one vent slightly cracked. Lump isn't that bad.