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9 replies

Second Smoke

FM Former Member
I have some buddies coming in to town this weekend and they are all excited about the new smoker. I also got rave reviews at work when I took the leftovers from my first smoke in on Monday (my "leftovers" fed 12 people for lunch).

I have four ~10 lb pork butts in right now. Three of them are sold to co-workers who are going to come by and pick them up after work tomorrow. The other one is for my buddies and me (4 people total).

I have the FEC-100 set to 190 for 9 hours with a hold temp of 225. I'm shooting for a 195 internal temp at 4 to 6 pm tomorrow. Hopefully I'm not too far off. The smoker did take a while longer to ignite the pellets today (I actually took a few handfuls of pellets out of the pot because it was about to overflow before it ignited). But other than that, everything is going to plan so far.

This is also my first smoke with the new cover on the smoker. Is it normal for it to be hard to zip one of the front flaps when you close it up? I found that the zipper stops about 8 inches from the bottom on the seam between the smoke box and the pellet hopper.
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C chaplainbillMember
Glad you're having a great time. Your butts are very forgiving. You can boost them if you need to speed the up a little. If they are done too early, double foil and cooler them with towels and pillows filling up all the free space in then cooler. I've kept heavy meats for 10 hours like that.

As for your cover, if you can't get it to work, call cookshack, they'll make it right, right away!!!
cal 2cal 2Member
When starting the FEC, it is important to make sure the pot is clean. If ash is in there, the pellets can't come in contact with the igniter very good. Which will cause the pot to fill snuffing out the starting fire.

I also like to put a small handful of pellets in at the very start, don't ask why, it was just what I was taught...never had a problem starting the FEC by following these two small steps.

Have FUN!
FM Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by wilheldp:
...

This is also my first smoke with the new cover on the smoker. Is it normal for it to be hard to zip one of the front flaps when you close it up? I found that the zipper stops about 8 inches from the bottom on the seam between the smoke box and the pellet hopper.


Nope, they should zip all the way down. Just move it around and it should fit perfectly. When smoking, I leave the three sides on and put the flap over the top so I can get in and out. main thing I do is protect the pellet hopper/electronics.

Keeping the flap zipped up during a cook isn't required unless you've got strong winds and you need to keep it from blowing away.
FM Former Member
I didn't fiddle with it too much last night because it was cold. I did zip it as much as I could, though, because it was supposed to be windy and there was a chance of rain last night. I'll try to get it situated correctly at some point.

I'm now a big fan of the Maverick ET732. I had an older Maverick with one probe and a transmission range of "100 ft." I couldn't get a signal on that thing just on the other side of the garage door. With the ET732, I have both smoker and meat temp, and it transmits all the way into my kitchen.
FM Former Member
That was kind of a disaster. I had my coworkers over here and the butts were only at around 180-185. I stalled them with beer for about an hour and a half, but the meat never made temp. I sent them home with double wrapped butts, and said they could finish them in the oven if they needed to. I think they'll be OK, but I still feel bad. I cranked the temp up to 275 for most of that time, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

I guess I underestimated the added time for 4 butts vs. the 2 that I cooked in my first go round. I didn't think it would take more than 22 hours though.
cal 2cal 2Member
Sorry for the anguish! some thoughts thou...

The FEC can vary in temps from shelves to shelves, also from corner to corner. I'm not talking a couple degrees,but rather 8-15*.

Could be you were cooking at 225, then again it could have been less/more. Learning you smoker by cooking on it will result in becoming a Pit Master, but times like this will be the most trying/beneficial.

Cooking time can be made up by using Heavy Duty foil, wrapped double tightly around a product...but some would say the bark will pay the price,oh well... sometimes a cook has to do what a cook has to do.

Oh, 4 butts cooked instead of two caused no difference in time,IMO.

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