07-21-2017, 06:16 PM
Ok so yer ready to smoke.
You got yer meat all prepped and you ready to kick this can.
Take your protein of the day out and let it warm up a bit while you go outside and get your charcoal ready.
Take your thermometer out first! Or you will break it and have to buy a new one (spoken from experience) then take your grate out, and then the charcoal basket out and dump 10 briquettes (start using briquettes so you get a feeling for how much to use as a starter) and place them in your chimney starter (you have one right? if you are using lighter fluid sell your drum and go to famous dave's because you don't know what BBQ is anyway) Ok get your ten briquettes of kingsford blue going.
Now dump a good amount in your charcoal basket (at least a few inches of the bottom of the basket - I just use the whole bag and save whatever is leftover for later) Take a few fist sized pieces of whatever smoking wood your're using and toss it into the basket (I like to cover the wood with a few charcoal pieces).
When the coals in your chimney are almost all white (nobody has the patience to ever wait until they are totally white, dump the coals over the charcoal basket.
With a leather glove on lift the coal basket into the drum.
Replace the cooking grate.
Replace the thermometer.
Replace the lid.
Remove the 2" bung (I said it) cap form the lid and remove the nipple caps from bottom of drum and open the ball valve all the way.
Now monitor the temp, when the internal temp gets up to 200 place one of the caps back on it's nipple, when it gets to 225 place another. Use the ball valve to control the temp between 225-250. If you want higher temps or are having trouble getting to the temp you want, remove a nipple cap and back off the ball valve slightly.
Remember changes take ~20 minutes to see reflected.
When the smoke is no longer white but a whispy blue smoke, go grab yer meat (the food) and quickly put in the smoker.
If you are beginning, a food temp probe is a good idea. YOu will want to drill a small port for that in the side of your drum. ONly as big as you need to get the probe into the can.
Do not open the lid unless you need to. Opening the lid will introduce lots of oxygen and can create lots of HIGH temps after an initial drop in temp. If you need to open the lid I suggest closing down the vents in the bottom for a few minutes before opening the lid. This will let the fire exhaust some of the readily available oxygen in the cooker so that when you let air in it limits what it can burn. leave the vents closed for a few minutes after opening the lid and then return them to the previous configuration. Monitor temp changes for the next 20 minutes or so.
You got yer meat all prepped and you ready to kick this can.
Take your protein of the day out and let it warm up a bit while you go outside and get your charcoal ready.
Take your thermometer out first! Or you will break it and have to buy a new one (spoken from experience) then take your grate out, and then the charcoal basket out and dump 10 briquettes (start using briquettes so you get a feeling for how much to use as a starter) and place them in your chimney starter (you have one right? if you are using lighter fluid sell your drum and go to famous dave's because you don't know what BBQ is anyway) Ok get your ten briquettes of kingsford blue going.
Now dump a good amount in your charcoal basket (at least a few inches of the bottom of the basket - I just use the whole bag and save whatever is leftover for later) Take a few fist sized pieces of whatever smoking wood your're using and toss it into the basket (I like to cover the wood with a few charcoal pieces).
When the coals in your chimney are almost all white (nobody has the patience to ever wait until they are totally white, dump the coals over the charcoal basket.
With a leather glove on lift the coal basket into the drum.
Replace the cooking grate.
Replace the thermometer.
Replace the lid.
Remove the 2" bung (I said it) cap form the lid and remove the nipple caps from bottom of drum and open the ball valve all the way.
Now monitor the temp, when the internal temp gets up to 200 place one of the caps back on it's nipple, when it gets to 225 place another. Use the ball valve to control the temp between 225-250. If you want higher temps or are having trouble getting to the temp you want, remove a nipple cap and back off the ball valve slightly.
Remember changes take ~20 minutes to see reflected.
When the smoke is no longer white but a whispy blue smoke, go grab yer meat (the food) and quickly put in the smoker.
If you are beginning, a food temp probe is a good idea. YOu will want to drill a small port for that in the side of your drum. ONly as big as you need to get the probe into the can.
Do not open the lid unless you need to. Opening the lid will introduce lots of oxygen and can create lots of HIGH temps after an initial drop in temp. If you need to open the lid I suggest closing down the vents in the bottom for a few minutes before opening the lid. This will let the fire exhaust some of the readily available oxygen in the cooker so that when you let air in it limits what it can burn. leave the vents closed for a few minutes after opening the lid and then return them to the previous configuration. Monitor temp changes for the next 20 minutes or so.
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