Break in

I will take a stab at this, those more knowlegeable feel free to jump in here. I think you used a bit too much wood. I used about 4 oz. of hickory for my breakin. The goo you see is creosote, nasty stuff. It is quite normal for the inside of the smoker to be a dark brown in color. If there is goo on the inside of the smoker I would heat the unit up and scrape off the excess. Roger

Thanks, for the info. do you weight your wood?


Terry

I think a golf-ball sized chunk is about 2 oz... you only need 2 chunks of wood, maybe a charcoal briquette, to smoke most anything. for some items, less.

I'd weigh a chunk or 2 if you have a scale just so you can have an idea of how much wood is 2 oz. It doesn't sound like enough when you first start, but it does the job.
Peggy

I purchased a nice digital kitchen scale at the local hardware store for under $25.00. In addition to weighing chunks of wood for the smoker it is also usefull for receipis that use lbs/oz instead of cups/tsb/tsp measurements. After my bride saw the scale and how handy it was; she moved it over to her kitchen! Now I have to go borrow the scale when I need to use it. Roger

Well, Roger.....hopefully it wont be long before her kitchen is your kitchen too!

Don't mis-understand, we each have our own kitchen's. Jane, (my bride of 30+ years) has a very nice kitchen in the house where you would expect one to be. My kitchen is near the exterior in an additon off of our attached garage. Northern Wisconsin's sub zero temperatures precludes one from having a true outdoor kitchen. I have all the amennities including a dishwasher and range. It is just built to clean up with a leaf blower and a garden hose! Just outside the door is my cookshack 55 and gas grill. I use these the year around. Roger

Ahhhhhhhhh, my bad.......I was thinking "bride to be" as in you werent married yet!

Wow..........2 kitchens......that be the cats behind!

I too am new at the "real" smoker. I used a homemade smoker for about a year and never did read anything. I realize now that I also knew NOTHING. One batch of ribs would consume a milk crate full of wood chunks and I wasn't over smokin! I now have a new SmokinTex and used about 6 ozs of hickory for 2 full racks of country ribs and it was too much wood. This learning thing is GREAT! I hope I am allowed to post here and are welcome on this site with a ST.

DJ, you are not alone. There are several of us ST users here.

Welcome to the site.

Thanks Bama,
What do you have a 1300 or 1400?
What's your favorite results, ribs, pulled, etc???
What wood do you use?
Thanks, Dj

DJ,

I have the all stainless. I have had it for about a year now. My best results are with butts for pulled pork. I am still working on my ribs and brisket. They are good and everyone likes them, but I personally am still not completely satisfied. I have also dones some boneless, skinless chicken breasts with good results. For wood, I only use hickory. It gives me the flavor I am looking for. I make my own bbq sauce and the combination of my sauce and the hickory is a good match.

I think you will be happy with it. If you have any questions, give me a shout.

Mike

dj,
heck at home i use my trusty rusty weber bullet and they let me stay
glad you are here!!!!!!
jack

You should have seen my home made smoker. It was really cool made from 2 old beer kegs. The fire box was a 1/4 keg upright. The smoker part was a halfer horizontal. It was awesome but too big.
I just picked up a brisket yesterday to do this week. I used to do them in a shallow foil pan with garlic/basil injector in them. They come out awesome this way as they sit in their own juices. I am also going to try a pork loin tomorrow. I'll smoke it for a couple hours then wrap it up and bake it in the oven. Also just bought a Weber remote themometer today! Life is MMM MMM GOOD!!! Dj from Maryland

And I am going to find some stainless to build a stand for my ST 1400. I think the $150 is too expensive for the one they sell. Besides I would like a cabinet in the bottom to keep my woods and gloves. Dj

Just bought me a Weber remote thermometer. What a cool item! I smoked a pork roast yesterday when it was about 15 degrees outside here in Maryland. I set the target temp at 170. Smoked the rubbed roast for about 5 hours, then wrapped it in 3 layers of foil and baked it in the oven till it beeped. I live in a 2nd floor apartment in a commercial building and this Weber worked great! Man Life is GREAT with a new smoker!!!! Brisket is in the fridge waiting! Dj

I've built and used home made smokers for years with varying degrees of success, but my stainless smokette has solved all of their shortcomings and I've yet to be disappointed even in winter weather. I purchased a stainless prep table from sams club and mounted ten inch wheels on it. Placed the smoker on top and have room for bowls, racks,cutting boards,etc. on the bottom shelf and still have prep area on top, plus it's portable and easily stowed in the garage.

Cool Bullhead,
I bid on a prep table and a cooler on ebay, both in stainless. They were on one auction in Buffalo NY. I can't believe I won the bid at $12.50. Merry Christmas to me! The place that priced out the parts for me to build my own table in Syracuse NY wanted $300 just for about 10 pieces of stainless! So now we are planning a trip to Buffalo next weekend to pick up my purchases, visit a couple meat stores, the casino, go to Canada and get some Molson Brador, spend 2 nites in Niagara Falls, then drive back to Maryland. We have 4 days off and nothing to do. So my SmokinTex will be complete with this stand! Merry Christmas all!