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I’ve got an electric Masterbuilt and the water pan is rusty—don’t have time to get it all off before smoking today. What are the chances that throwing some aluminum foil over the surface of the water pan will work? The smoker itself is seasoned just fine, it’s just this water pan that makes me nervous. Does it even matter for 1-2hrs smoking? Maybe I try and get a new one after this? For ref I don’t smoke a ton, I made a mistake by leaving water in the water pan for awhile and now it’s quite rusted—so much so that vinegar and lemon juice didn’t really work. But I need it for one more short smoke. All other components, racks etc are clean and fine
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Feb 5, 2021 15:02
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I’m relatively new to smoking, as in I’ve only gotten to use my smoker a small handful of times, so I had been under the impression that it needed humidity from water in that pan based on instructions and recipes I’ve read and used. Of course, Masterbuilt’s own instruction booklet with this electric smoker and their recipes mention adding different liquids like lemon juice and such, which I’ve since learned add zero of their flavor to the meats and only water should really be used in there if anything—a’la Meathead, whose book I’ve been reading religiously and has gotten me back into smoking. Thanks for the advice, I’ll cover with foil and maybe not put any water in it. If it matters for anything practical, the pork shoulder is going to be in a sous vide water bath from later this morning to tomorrow morning before being dried off and rubbed again then smoked.
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Feb 5, 2021 15:51
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Yeah it’s my electric smoker.ZombieCrew posted:Rust wont matter. You arent using the water pan as a cooking surface. Just dont drink the water when you are done. See I was thinking it was gonna like be in the humidity floating around and make its way to the food. I know a small amount of rust won’t hurt if it’s just a spot or two though. I just was afraid with no rational reason I guess, but still
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Feb 6, 2021 02:13
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Internet Explorer posted:I totally misread your post and thought you had a hole in it. Yeah, it's not a problem at all. Just watch for what will come next, a hole in the bottom of it. Here I was feeling like I was gonna get dog piled by smoking goons for letting rust get inside my smoker, now it sounds unavoidable
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Feb 6, 2021 02:30
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ZombieCrew posted:Nope, when water transitions from liquid to gas it will leave everything else behind. Good to know. What I did know was that some of the rust was stubborn even after sitting in vinegar or lemon juice for awhile and then being scrubbed with a wire brush. I just got tired of doing it and said gently caress it
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Feb 6, 2021 03:17
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So dumb question: my pork shoulder is toward the end of smoking and while the rub has darkened, the “bark” isn’t quite hard. Is it supposed to be hard?
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Feb 7, 2021 00:03
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Bob A Feet posted:How long or at what temp are you? It’ll naturally harden a bit after you take it off/it cools. If you’re pulling it, it won’t really matter because the bark will mix in together with the rest of the pork. I just said gently caress it, it looked the right color (like a molten lava rock), so took it out and pulled it because we had some hungry family. Turned out great, and the bark did kind of harden a bit but not too much. I’d say it turned out perfect—it’s a great feeling feeding a lot of people who genuinely seem to enjoy the food you just cooked
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Feb 7, 2021 01:12
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Internet Explorer posted:I have the cover for it, but mine lives outside without a roof and the cover itself isn't completely waterproof. In retrospect, I would put the water pan and the catch pan inside, upside-down, so they don't collect water. As far as worrying about harming your food, it's perfectly fine. I had to get all the rust I could off the cooking grates and shelves, but stopped because I figured that was enough. I put foil over the pan so I could just wad up the foil and toss it.
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Feb 7, 2021 01:35
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vulturesrow posted:I know this is the smoking thread but I figure this is still the best group to ask this question of. I'm currently in the market for a new grill. I've been using a Weber Spirit for 9 years and while she still works great it's time to move on. I don't have any specific requirements other than I'd prefer a gas grill. I do find some of those new Traegers tempting though. I’ve heard Weber gas grills are nice and well-made. You pay dearly for that however, because you probably know they are expensive as hell. Traeger is expensive too. I have a char broil hybrid grill and while it does the job, it’s not made that well. They are decent grills for what they are and aren’t that expensive. As you probably know also, every grill needs maintenance so it doesn’t end up looking like a charcoal grill in a public park, and if they get that maintenance they will be good to you.
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Feb 8, 2021 18:02
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Infinite Karma posted:It's honestly just the size that's gonna make it a little bit unstable. Still, I'm head over heels for my big kamado, it's worth the effort IMO. I'm also starting to appreciate the results from more hot-and-fast style smokes at 250-275. At 225, a lot of stuff really dries out during the longer stall. Assuming a shorter stall I’m also assuming you’re not having to crutch. Are you just powering through the stall? Are you remedying a longer stall at 225 or waiting that out too?
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Feb 21, 2021 19:59
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um excuse me posted:Double postin' to remind yall that were in peak cheap pork season. Stock up on butt, ribs, and belly! But why is it cheap pork season? Just because? I may run to my local butcher and grab some pork ribs for sure since my last pulled pork was a loving hit. I also have never done brisket before...but that’s not pork. I just wanna try it
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Feb 22, 2021 15:17
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If my wife would let me I’d get one of those entry-level drum smokers, but she’d probably be all, “I got you the electric one you wanted for Father’s Day, why do you want a different one now?” Not sure yet how I would answer. Probably that the electric one only has so much temp control and for bigger projects like multiple briskets or something it doesn’t have the space one of those drum smokers does. There’s no way at my current skill level that I’d even bother trying to convince my wife to get a BGE or anything similar—I’d just wait until I’m good at doing it the traditional way and then spend my discretionary money on it if I still wanted it. But, Meathead says in his book you can smoke on a gas grill with indirect heat and even on a small Weber kettle grill the same way. Maybe I could try that first.
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Feb 23, 2021 00:40
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BraveUlysses posted:you can certainly just get a bge (or akorn or broil king keg) and learn on that, it will have tons of capacity once you figure things out. my first bge was a used medium and then i quickly moved up to a large a year or two later when i found a deal on another used one. Are they halfway affordable if small and used? Last I looked a BGE at least was quite a lot of cash. I’ll check on the others, it never occurred to me that other brands of this type of smoker might exist in different qualities. In other news I’m thinking of smoking salt just to say I did because I’ve never met anyone else who smoked salt before
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Feb 24, 2021 14:35
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Infinite Karma posted:The Louisiana Grills version of the BGE XL (24" size) sells at Costco every spring/summer for $500-$600. I think the BGE brand one is over 2 grand, and they're close to identical. Yeah they are proud of those things
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Feb 24, 2021 15:57
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Trastion posted:Do it. I smoked a bunch a few years ago, probably posted photos here... That’s something I wonder about—do you just have to work fast to get the flavoring in so the salt doesn’t dissolve? Smoked sriracha salt sounds pretty nice
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Feb 26, 2021 17:49
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ZombieCrew posted:I usually use kosher salt for most things i cook. Would kosher salt work if i wanted to smoke some? How long do you normally smoke it for? Steven Raichlen’s Barbecue Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades (knew I’d read about smoking salt before and forgot where so checked in one of my cookbooks) says sea or kosher salt, so coarse either way, but in a smoker at 250F, 4-6 hours is what the recipe says. On a charcoal kettle, it’s 30-40 minutes on indirect.
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Feb 26, 2021 20:02
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Olpainless posted:Just seasoned up my smoker with a block of lard and cleaned up a couple of spots where moisture has done it's thing ready for the year now... Can't wait to get this thing running regularly again for the year. I used mine for the first time in awhile just before the big freeze of the century hit North Texas, and it felt good. Now I’m convincing my wife we need to stock up on pork and beef. I told her I’d like to smoke a brisket next, which I’ve never done but like the potential versatility of use outside the usual way we eat it (someone in this thread or the GQ thread mentioned tossing some chopped brisket into chili and my mouth watered). And I wanna smoke some salt still. I may do that this weekend. Now all there is is to figure out how to do a brisket in my tiny electric smoker.
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Feb 28, 2021 23:25
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Planet X posted:I dont know if it's frowned upon in this thread, but I'm looking for a new gas grill but can't decide between (7mm) stainless steel and enameled cast iron grates. The two Webers (weber spirit e330 vs sp335) I'm looking at are very closely matched, but I don't know in which direction to proceed. 100% would avoid stainless. It shouldn’t rust but I’ve seen it happen, and yeah to the other poster’s point, you can’t really expect stainless not to stick even with a good bit of oil. I cook with stainless pans sometimes but I generally avoid it in favor of nonstick pans (not Teflon, gently caress Teflon coated pans) or cast iron. Cast iron grates will definitely be tougher to keep clean, pumice bars help to that end and will conform to the grates when you use them enough, but leave a good bit of dust. Just scrape the grates (too bad they aren’t easier to deglaze) with a pumice bar or a scratch pad and then oil them up, should be fine and not rust even in your humid environment as long as you keep them oiled. You could also look into these: GrillGrates You can buy them pre-cut but I believe you can also get them custom-cut to order to fit your grill, and they are conducive to burning wood chips if you want some smoke flavor with your normal grilling.
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Mar 2, 2021 01:35
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Flowers for QAnon posted:Are there any ways to determine if it was too hot other than grey smoke clouds? What should the wood look like after? (This is my first time trying to smoke) Depends on what you are using...I use chips and it's charred and blackened, basically charcoaled
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Mar 5, 2021 01:15
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Flowers for QAnon posted:They were chips, they looked mostly charcoaled, but there were some white spots (size of a quarter) - would at indicate some combustion? Well yeah it’s burning, if that’s what you’re trying to figure out. You want “blue” smoke—barely should visible if I remember right. I could be wrong about poo poo because I haven’t been smoking long, myself e: I think about cooking on a charcoal grill—it’s [i]hot/i[] hot when it’s white all over. So perhaps it’s an indication it’s too hot. I have an electric smoker that doesn’t go up to 300F, and my wood chips get a little white, but it’s mostly charred black and then breaks down. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Mar 5, 2021 |
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Mar 5, 2021 01:57
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Olpainless posted:gently caress sake. Ordered a new thermometer for my smoker (the old one had cracked over winter) and its not got the adapter to fit even though its clearly pictured on the product. More like oladapterless
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Mar 6, 2021 14:38
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Olpainless posted:Managed to smash something together with a bunch of spaces and washers. It fits and feels solid. It'll do. What brand was it?
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Mar 6, 2021 14:56
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Bloodfart McCoy posted:Hey so I have a friend, whose a little slow, and he wants to know if he can kill two birds with one stone and burn some accumulated leaves and twigs in his verticals smoker to clear out some mold spores in said smoker. Not for sure but there’s some trees you can’t burn in a fireplace, like some soft woods for instance, so stands to reason you might not wanna burn it in your smoker. Creosote/soot might not be awesome for your smoker and if you don’t know what the twigs and leaves are from, probably also not awesome What’s wrong with just smoking something in it?
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Mar 11, 2021 02:19
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Bloodfart McCoy posted:I want to get it nice and hot to kill off any microbes clinging to life in there. Yeah, not a good idea to burn any old whatever in there, burn something you can identify for sure. Regular firewood would be plenty fine
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Mar 11, 2021 02:53
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So our local boutique butcher and meat shop was having a sale on raw prime brisket. Wife went to get our kid from school yesterday and asked if I wanted her to stop by and buy some, and I was all, “DO I?!” So she calls me a few minutes later and tells me, “The smallest they had was thirteen pounds so I just got it.” Also she just picked up some prime ribeye on a whim too, which, that’s just primo wifery right there. Anyway the brisket’s size is both good and bad. Good because 13lbs of prime brisket on the cheap, bad because that’s way too goddamn large for my little electric smoker. Oh and I just tossed it in the chest freezer because I had no idea what else to do with it. Naturally I’ll have to thaw the motherfucker over 2-3 days in the fridge before I can do anything, but having never smoked a brisket before, is it gonna hurt anything if I just chop it in half? Normally they’d probably cut it there at the butcher but it seems this was already vacuum packed. Should I re-seal one portion raw and freeze it again, or should I just cut in half and smoke both? Yes I was gonna sous vide it first because it’s not as hands-on and I’m not sure I have time to crutch this honker through the inevitable stall.
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Mar 13, 2021 14:33
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Dango Bango posted:You should have separated the flat and point when you got it home. You can still do this once you thaw and refreeze the rest with some minor meat degradation. Or do the flat one day and burnt ends the next? drat. See, since I never did one before I had no idea that was a thing. BRB, looking up how the gently caress to do that Bob A Feet posted:You had me up until here Can’t captivate everyone I guess. Good thing that part was toward the end so you had to read the whole thing
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Mar 13, 2021 14:48
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Hasselblad posted:When I get a whole brisket I in no way get all surgeon on it: I just look at it, make a mark where the obvious flat begins getting drastically thicker, and rend that sucker asunder. Having residual flat as part of the point has no downside, IMHO. Is there a practical reason you separate them outside of making it more manageable to smoke them in smaller smokers? I mean I get burnt ends, I've had pork/bacon burnt ends before and they are delicious, but like, is it otherwise necessary or could the entire brisket theoretically be smoked at once and get enough smoke flavor even with fat? nwin posted:Apparently it might be an allergic reaction...maybe pork, maybe the sauce, maybe the rub. More tests to find out later. Samesies. I'm going to have to separate, though I'm glad I knew there's a certain way to do it and that cutting it in half may not be as desirable. Wish we could have had the butcher do it though, too bad it was already vacuum sealed.
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Mar 13, 2021 19:45
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Internet Explorer posted:I'm no pro smoker, but to me the flat seems to require a different cooking temp/time than the point. I always split mine because I have an electric smoker, but I think I would anyways. Yeah my smoker is also electric so no getting around splitting them I think. um excuse me posted:More bark surface area is my reason. That's a pretty good reason.
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Mar 13, 2021 19:48
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um excuse me posted:New toy day. I guess they got as far as opening the three or four box flaps then said gently caress it.
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Mar 15, 2021 23:15
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Gonna separate the point and flat on a brisket today. I have a tiny electric smoker and this is my first time doing this so send thots and pryrs and hugz my way plz. Hopefully the smoker can handle it. How long should it take to smoke a 13lbs brisket without crutching it? The more I think about it the less I want to sous vide it first because it’ll be tough to handle it after without it falling apart before I can get it in the smoker so though I’m not completely decided against it I’m leaning that way heavily
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Mar 30, 2021 16:01
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I'd sous vide it ideally to like ~160F and smoke it the rest of the way to temp, less babysitting but potentially harder to do a transfer from water bath to smoker. Plus this brisket is a honker and all I have is a 5gal bucket (it's HDPE and is suitable to use at higher heat) to sous vide in, and while I'm aware that it would take more babysitting, it's not hard to imagine I can prep it the night before and wake up like one hour earlier than usual to throw it in the smoker if I'm gonna be home all day to add wood to the tray, etc
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Mar 31, 2021 01:24
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ZombieCrew posted:It aint bad if you prepare. Put your rack on a sheet pan. Put your bag of meat on the rack. Cut it open and gently flip it onto the rack. Minimal movement. I separated them today and gently caress is that more involved than it looked. The video I watched had the guy trimming lots of fat off so I did that also, and it looks like I butchered it (heh), but the point and flat are separated. Not ready to use the point yet so I froze it again. Rubbed the flat with salt and meat church rub and it’s in the fridge ready to smoke tomorrow morning. I want to try doing it without the crutch but idk how long it’ll take to power through the stall so I may end up crutching it once the stall becomes apparent.
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Mar 31, 2021 23:24
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toplitzin posted:The split pieces stall much much less. If at all. Good to know. I don’t know how to do the burnt ends yet so the point is gonna stay in the freezer until I’m ready to do those. Funny thing is it doesn’t even need to be butterflied
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Apr 1, 2021 02:41
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Well here we go. We doing this now Edit: been in the smoker since around 8:30, started making smoke but now has stopped. I hope that means it’s making blue smoke but I haven’t seen any even though it appears the wood has burned down now. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 18:17 on Apr 1, 2021 |
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Apr 1, 2021 14:35
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So I just pulled my brisket flat at 209F. Is it going to hurt it that it went a few degrees above target? I just powered through the (pretty short) stall and ended up running out of hickory and finished with alder, but it’s got a really nice smoky smell to it and the bark turned put nice except for some moist and mushy part on top e: haha it kinda looks like Ohio (I’ll show myself out) 
life is killing me fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Apr 2, 2021 |
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Apr 2, 2021 02:32
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TITTIEKISSER69 posted:212 is when the water would theoretically boil, so as long as you don't hit that it's probably A- good instead of A+ good. Does it look like it should look? Probably a silly question but I’ve only ever seen brisket sliced up. It shrank a good deal too so it looks like I’ll be cubing the point and doing burnt ends sooner than I planned because we had plans to eat some of the brisket and save the rest for other applications like brisket tacos or chili. But now it seems it’s good for two meals or one and leftovers Also do I need to rest it if we aren’t eating it tonight? life is killing me fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Apr 2, 2021 |
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Apr 2, 2021 02:47
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TITTIEKISSER69 posted:The look question would be answered by slicing it. As far as resting goes, the main thing is to not let it get below 140. You could let it rest until it gets close to 140, after that you'll need to freeze it. You mean...if I slice it I can’t just throw it in the fridge?
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Apr 2, 2021 03:30
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Bob A Feet posted:Any tips on a flat only brisket smoke? I promised my wife brisket and have only ever done packers. My grocery store only had flats. Planning to do just the same ole thing (salt and pepper over hickory at 250-275) unless anyone’s got some good tips! I found out yesterday that yeah, almost no stall, and mine went to 209 which basically killed the very ends and made them inedible. The rest of the flat was fine if slightly a tad dry. It was still delicious, just tougher than I meant it to be. I pushed the ambient to 250 to try and power past the stall because I had someplace to be and didn’t have the time—so when I came back the brisket was beyond 202 internal. I’d have left mine at 225 otherwise. I’m hoping I can take this experience and use it to do a better job on the point later on. I can’t do a packer in my smoker because it’s too small. All I can think of is maybe to remember carryover, pull yours out at 195 and let it rest for an hour or two because the flat is so lean it needs the rest? Or maybe I’m just a dumbshit who has no business giving advice being that I’m pretty new to smoking brisket
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Apr 3, 2021 05:08
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Olpainless posted:A productive day yesterday. All of that looks loving delicious but JFC who in the world were you cooking for with all that plus burgers and dogs and poo poo?
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Apr 4, 2021 14:10
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Any tips on how not to overcook the thinner part of the brisket point? I got some hickory wood chips and was planning to go the more traditional route as far as rub, namely just salt and pepper and possibly sugar. I suppose this one I could sous vide before smoking to compare, as I know/am fairly sure the brisket point, being fattier, will take longer in the smoker anyway. But assuming I go the smoker route all the way, do I just get it to 195 and remove, then count on carryover? My principal mistake when I did the flat was to leave it in til 209F (I was away from the house for 3 hours and it went too long) which made the ends overcooked and tough. I threw the ends away, actually. I don't wanna make the same mistake with the point.
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Apr 9, 2021 21:08
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