Cookshack sm160

Pulling the butts now, am impressed at our first non-stick burner cook....meat is impressive, very pleased with the end product, the sm160...AND IT'S EASE OF USE!

Seems to be missing the same salt taste on the rub, but that's proly me...

quote:

Originally posted by Louie:
Pulling the butts now, am impressed at our first non-stick burner cook....meat is impressive, very pleased with the end product, the sm160...AND IT'S EASE OF USE!

Seems to be missing the same salt taste on the rub, but that's proly me...

Glad the butts went well - How did Brisket turn out ?

it turned out great, did another load today ribs tomorrow, curious about cook time though..

quote:

Originally posted by Louie:
it turned out great, did another load today ribs tomorrow, curious about cook time though..

What are you courious about . Briskets take longer that expected ? Last Brisket 'flat' I did went 17 hours at 225 degrees. Briskets are one of those meats where you never know when it's gonna finish.

Hi, was refering to ribs,just finished a case (16 racks), cooked approx 230 degrees for 4 hrs, turned out nice!
Briskets were done around 14hrs..

Sounds good ! Did you finish ribs on anything else or straight off the SM160 ?

did em straight off, hot off the smoker and sauced...did a batch early and another for supper time, sold out--closed n cleaning up the mess now, if I sit down I might not get up again...lol

quote:

Originally posted by Louie:
did em straight off, hot off the smoker and sauced...did a batch early and another for supper time, sold out--closed n cleaning up the mess now, if I sit down I might not get up again...lol

Glad to hear your selling out of ribs ! Hope business going well for you. How many racks you doing per load ?

16 which is a case here..St Louis ribs..

Trouble in the camp!!
Put a case of ribs on at noon, tried to fast track them a tad by setting the temp at 250 for 4 hrs...took well over an hour to get to 160, another hour to 208, hung around there for the better part of the afternoon, finally at 7pm the ribs were done, oven temp eventually was barely 230???
What gives, meat was an inch from the temp probe, yes they were cold, partially frozen but pliable...????

Too much cold meat. I have had this happen in mine. I loaded it with 8 turkey rolls that were 11 pounds each. They were very cold. I had to keep dumping moisture to get it to heat up. It is hard to get very moist air to heat up. They need to come up as close as possible to room temp for that many racks.
Just my experience. I am sure others have a different opinion.
Gary

quote:

Originally posted by Gary I.:
Too much cold meat. I have had this happen in mine. I loaded it with 8 turkey rolls that were 11 pounds each. They were very cold. I had to keep dumping moisture to get it to heat up. It is hard to get very moist air to heat up. They need to come up as close as possible to room temp for that many racks.
Just my experience. I am sure others have a different opinion.
Gary

Yes ur right, they weren't thawed enough, lesson learned..Tks

I have the SM150, essentially a SM160 but with a painted black steel exterior. That's a lot of load to put on the smoker, but as Gary said it's too much COLD meat that is the problem. I let whatever I am smoking come to room temp, if it's a big pork butt or brisket it sits long, all based on it's girth.

But you got your rhythm going already !! Cool !!

Not to vulture off of Louie's post but I'm a new cookshack owner as well. I'm starting a food truck and I bought a SM150 that has been upgraded to the new 160 computer. It doesn't have the door open sensor and as far as I can tell never had a seal installed around the door.

It's taken me three firings to get the pork to the consistency that I want. It definitely does not like to run with just one butt in there. I've alternated between hickory and apple and last fire I added a charcoal briquette to see if a smoke ring would form. Even with a full tray of apple wood the smoke flavor was slight. I don't need a smoke bomb but I've used every single Southern Pride they make as well as several log burners and UDS set ups and I'm worried about the lack of smoke flavor that I'm getting.

Anyone else had this issue?
thanks

@SurlyQue, I have a FEC-100 that gives a mild smoke flavor also.
Since I added an A-Maze-N Smoker, I get a better smoke flavor. Mine is the 18" Tube and burns pellets. You can get a dust burning tray or one the burns both.
Works great as a cold smoker too.

@surlyQ

With my limited experience with the sm160...I use for a load of butts say two chunks of wood, I do get smoke flavour, but no smoke ring as I used to in the Lang.Are you losing smoke without a door seal?


To All...
Noobie question::
When you set your times, say 4 hrs for ribs at 225 for example, is this a preheated start temp or do you just set it and forget it?

@Louie. I do have quite a lot of smoke pouring out both the vent and the top of the door frame. I guess I should check and see if they make a seal for the 150 or that's just the way it is.

When you open the door of your smoker, tons of smoke pours out to where you have to let it clear till you can get to the meat...plenty of smoke. Some smoke from the door is not unusual and will self seal over time.

My first smoker was an old SM008 but it had never been used... I did the break in, and then the pork butt and then ribs. For the first 10 or so runs I was getting smoke out my door. But once I'd built up a lovely patina inside no more.

When I got my SM150 it was used, A LOT, by a guy that had had a ribs place and then moved it into the volunteer firehouse he lived in after his restaurant closed. It was all broken in. Never get a bit of smoke out the door. Just give your unit time, you'll be honeymooning with it for a long, long time. Enjoy yourself. I put my product in and LTSA (Leave That Sucka Alone), I don't open the door to check on it at all. That's because I have confidence in my method, it didn't take that long to develop "my thing", you'll get yours down too. While on your journey to perfection take good notes, I learned the hard way if I am not happy with something I change ONE THING at a time and see if that works, (notes taken), then tweak it some more. I found that making my own salt free rubs was best. And I have a sauce/glaze that is a conglomeration of Sweet Baby Rays/Yoshidas Teriyaki Marinade and cheap brandy. DOGGONE it works so well with my rub and technique.

But you will find your groove and believe me it will be a groovy groove. And be careful with how much wood you use. Once the smoker gets its patina going less wood is better. I use no more than 3 to 4 oz for a big brisket or pork butt. Of couse if you're doing 50 pounds of meat at a time then a little more wood might work.

And lastly I set my temps and forget it. When doing a brisket or pork butt I put it in about 8:30 pm on the BEEF setting (225 for 12 hours) and just let her rip. Come out in the morning and the cats are all hanging around the smoker waiting. The finished product is so tender I have to slide the shelf out and flip it over a waiting hotel pan. Otherwise it falls apart on my trying to lift it off. LOL. Now that's some tender good Q !!

Dang thing is a bear to clean! Those racks..ugh!!!

Try spraying grease lighting on racks first and let sit for serveral minutes then was racks. Works for me.

quote:

Originally posted by G Que:
Try spraying grease lighting on racks first and let sit for serveral minutes then was racks. Works for me.

Ok Thanks, I'll see if I can find that product up here..

Update:
After running numerous cases of butts, briskets and chickens, etc thru the Cookshack, I must say I am very pleased with it and so are my customers!!
Thanks for all your tips and techniques.

Sounds like you are doing great Louie. Congratulations.