Cookshack sm160

I got a used SM150, it's the black steel outside version of the SM160. You bought yourself a top flight smoker !! When you get the 160 do the customary break in: pan of water on middle shelf, one 2 oz hunk of wood in the woodbox and run at 250 for 4 hours. Then slap up a nice pork butt with a good rub and use the pork preset (225 for 12 hours) with a 2 oz hunk of maple wood if ya got it. I put mine in at night before I got to bed and in the morning all my neighbors are looking over to my place wondering what time lunch is. Anyway use a quick read digital thermometer and look for 195 and easy slip in and out everywhere.

Read Smokin's 101 on all the meats.


http://www.cookshack.com/store...kin-Okies-101-Series

Take good notes. You'll do just fine as the pork butt is the easiest and most forgiving cut to smoke. OOOHHH you're gonna have a good time.

WELCOME

BigMike

If you check the top of the Open Forum, you'll find a "lessons for new users" thread. While not all of them apply to the 160, many of them to apply to the electric line of CS Smokers.

Lessons for New Users
Key thing to remember is wood is for flavor only in the 160, not for heat, so less is more.

Thanks for the welcome and the info!

Louie welcome this is a great site for info and knowledge. I have had my sm160 for just over a year, and love it. I can easily do 100lbs. of butts at a time. It holds temp very well and just does what you tell it to do. As SmokinOkie said do not over do with the wood. I use about 4 chunks when I have a full load, and decrease as my load gets smaller. I don't weigh it anymore, but can judge it pretty good by now. I use the chunks like you get from Cookshack. You will enjoy your new smoker. Season as BigMike said and you can't go wrong.
Welcome & Enjoy
Gary I.

You'll find ,like many folks that have Lang's, that they are good cookers.They give a good smoke quality and they can be fun for someone wanting to deal with chopping wood and feeding the fire every half hr.

Many ,when they need to cook often,or get a good nights sleep,tend to move to a traditional CS.
This is particularly true when someone runs a restaurant/vend/cater operation..

It will scare you how simple life becomes to produce high quality Q and still have time to enjoy the other parts of life/business.

Thanks folks for the great feedback, for sure the Lang demands a higher degree of attention..lol..

The CS will be inside under an 8 ft hood/exhaust fan assy, but wondering how much smoke does it generate and if it's a concern?

The real strength of your cooker is that it will roll thru a standard door and operate off of a standard outlet.

They have them in highrise restaurants that operate under strict codes.

Over the years,I have found them in a great amount of commercial kitchens as their workhorses.

Fine dining establishments ,such as Emeril's,use them in older buildings in cities like New Orleans.

Most of us have to run our hands over the tiny exhaust port to check if it is operating.

This is certainly not a technical answer,but hope it helps a little.

quote:

Originally posted by louie

The CS will be inside under an 8 ft hood/exhaust fan assy, but wondering how much smoke does it generate and if it's a concern?

As a restaurant owner who used to own a CS 150 (have a FEC100 now) you'll be more than fine.

Smoker has arrived..it's a beautiful thing!!

Glad to see this positive discussion of he SM160 !. I have a BBQ restaurant opening around end of April, and had been agonizing and planning on whether I could pull it off with just an FEC-120. I recently decided to instal a larger ventilation hood to make room for an SM160, and glad I did ! I think the SM160 will be the perfect side companion to the FEC-120. Will be doing pork butts and briskets in the FEC-120 overnight's, the meatloaf and ribs and other product onto the FEC-120 in the morning. The SM160 will open up the opportunity for better timing my chicken thighs/quarters, and open's the door to smoking sausage also. I think the SM160 will be great for chicken flavor and moisture, then I finish them on the Fast Eddy charbroiler at serving time, so will crisp/glaze the skin nicely.
Rick

Sounds like a winning combination.

Got the rib racks too, should I invest an extra set??

MaxQ- sent ya a pm..

Hey Louie. Glad to see you made it over here. Welcome aboard.
I have 4 rib racks for my FEC. I think I used 2 max at a time for ribs.
I can tell you that 4 FEC RR will hold 80# chicken quarters.

Thanks Jarhead, good intel..

Been doing a ton of reading and searching since getting the new smoker.

Can anyone direct me to "how much wood to use" per load of butts, briskets, ribs and/or chicken?
I know it's here somewhere..

I went to your website and was getting hungry just looking at the pictures. and I loved the name of the company. Then I saw your phone number and area code. OMG! You're Canadian! And you've got Carolina pulled pork and shrimp and grits on your menu. I just can't even wrap my head around this whole thing. But good luck to you. You'll love the 160.

Thanks, we hoping we can measure up!!

Most cooks will tell you to start light and add more for what your taste calls for.Chicken can almost cook with the smoke on the walls.

Ribs have a bunch of bone compared to meat,but they'll take at least 2-3 golfball size chunks to start.Many like more.

On my 160,I use about two to three fist sized chunks for the big meats on a full load.

The cooker is very efficient and easy to oversmoke with.Also depends on the woods.Nutwoods are stronger than fruitwoods.

I have to resist my urge of piling on the wood..
Will be using maple and some apple as it's mostly what's available locally.

I haven't fired the CS up yet, been busy with getting the place set up, but now we're ready and will be seasoning it this morning.

Thanks for all the information all you're tips are very much appreciated..

You may find the maple is very,very mild.

Apple can be pretty mild,as well,and some folks like to use on pork and of course,Applewood bacon.

The box stores in your area probably sell 20 lb bags of chunks-which the cooker is built for.Hickory is a traditional and a bag will last a long time for a very few dollars.

Depending on what your smoking, those fruit woods can be awesome, just milder than Hickory and others. On large meats, like a pork butt, some of the 'taste' of the fruit woods can get lost in the bulk meat. For Baby Backs however, using fruit wood can be a taste sensation ! I've done Baby Backs with cherry, and it's a great cherry taste in the background. Same with Apple. You could also finish the ribs with more of a 'glaze' than a 'sauce' to help to not drown out the wood's taste. Try 1 part cider vinegar, 1 part yellow mustard, and 4 parts brown sugar for simple glaze to finish off the ribs with, which is not overbearing at all and let's those fruit wood flavors through.

However, at the end of the day, most of my folks still say 'that was awesome . . . but we want the punch of Hickory'

One other option that Smokin' used to stress is go buy a couple fryer chickens for around $1 each and try it out.

Cheaper than ruining a load.

Well got it all seasoned up, was a bit of a bear to get it turned on, the controller didn't work at the begining. It would turn on but wouldn't accept any imput on any buttons, but it did start after a dozen attempts..don't know what that was all about,hope it works next time..

I'm going to do a belly and a few birds for a test run.

Was the unit in very cold temperature (outside) when you tried to use it initially ?

Yes it was cool..

First day of spring, dang near a foot of new snow!!!

IQ4 controllers don't like to be cold.
I use an old heating pad to warm mine up, if it gets to acting up.
A hair dryer, held a foot or two away will also warm it up. Be careful doing this.

Thanks guys, I'm guessing that was the problem, although it wasn't outside I didn't
turn the heat up in the raunt until the am, bout when I fired up the cs..

Louie -
My SM160 was on my back patio last night. Around 32 degrees out. Fired up no problem. If your issue continues, I would certainly contact Cookshack. You dont want the unit to act up when you have a load of food ready to go.

I have the SM150, the older version of the SM160, the SM150 having a painted black steel exterior. LOVE IT. Ordered a Cookshack cover right away. I can go outside on the deck where my SM150 is, remove the cover, change out the foil, put my wood and product in and fire her right up. I BELIEVE the cover keeps the smoker a tad warmer and DRY, or at least drier than uncovered. Never had a problem yet. If I did have a problem I would gently warm the head unit with a hair dryer held about a foot away, just wanna toast her up a little - don't wanna be blowing hot air on that control board, the static created by the hair dryer might be a wee bit too much and short a component.

Tried it again this am..I turned the sw on had to wait about 5 mins before it would accept any imputs, it did seem to have to "warm" up first?? Will call CS to see if this is norm...

Update: called CS and apparently there is an upgrade that alliviate's the cold start issue,very helpful folks,

Not to hijack the thread, but two days ago while cooking(or trying to rather) a whole pig on my gas cooker for a photo shoot with Rachel Ray, my pig cooker wouldn't work at all. Talk about pressure and frustration.!!! You definitely don't want controller issues once you get open. It's a very bad feeling.

Water had condensed in the gas lines and frozen during the 22 degree night. Still got the pictures taken, but I had to give the pig a fake tan with kitchen bouquet. Look for the tanned and raw pig in a summer issue of RR's mag.

Wow, goes to show there's more than one way to skin a cat..

Hey Todd. Where do we get to see you with Rachel Ray? Got a shot you can post?

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
Hey Todd. Where do we get to see you with Rachel Ray? Got a shot you can post?

You definitely don't want to see a picture of me, especially after the day I had! I specified a butterflied pig, but got a whole, un-butterflied, head on, FROZEN pig. Frozen! As in pig-sicle solid frozen. Then a cooker that wouldn't fire. I was not happy. I think they took one picture of me just for the company scrapbook. Absolutely NOT for publication.

I'm working with a fairly new company to develop a variety of concepts, and we were doing a photo shoot that will be used in RR's magazine, as well as some photos and video that will be headed to Oprah and Martha Stewart too. Everything from simple picnic type shots to very elaborate wedding and corporate catering type settings. These people (my employer) are SERIOUS about their publicity. I wish they were as serious about the food, but sizzle seems to sell. At least for now........

quote:

Originally posted by Louie:
I have to resist my urge of piling on the wood..
Will be using maple and some apple as it's mostly what's available locally.

I haven't fired the CS up yet, been busy with getting the place set up, but now we're ready and will be seasoning it this morning.

Thanks for all the information all you're tips are very much appreciated..

Louie - Here's a Boston Butt and Brisket on the SM160 this weekend. Butt (top) went 14 hours at 225 degrees to hit 195 internal. Brisket went almost 18 hours to hit internal 190. Used 2 chunks of Hickory. Turned out great.

Very nice!! Planing to cook a load of butts n briskets Thursday as a test run and hope to open right after Easter..

quote:

Originally posted by Louie:
Very nice!! Planing to cook a load of butts n briskets Thursday as a test run and hope to open right after Easter..

Good luck opening ! I'm looking at opening last weekend in late April or early May. Will depend on the timing of a few things - but will work out well either way.

butts n briskets on---news at eleven..

Good luck gents on your openings. Keep us posted.

quote:

Originally posted by Louie:
butts n briskets on---news at eleven..