First Impressions - Smokeete 009 & cart

You are correct on the wheels. They are not useful when it is mounted onto the cart. I have often wondered if I can take them off the smokette and put them on the cart in place of the front legs.

I wouldn't worry too much about the 1" side rule. I've never had a problem. Good luck.

When I attached the Smokette to the CS cart I installed 2 inch spacers between the top of the cart and the Smokette legs, bought some 2 1/2 inch 10-32 thumbscrews and attached the cooker to the cart.

This allowed me to use a larger/heavier drip pan.

I've never had cause for a drip pan larger than my broiler pan.

My wife would prefer that I didn't use the broiler pan.

It doesn't matter how big your drip pan is if you forget to put it under the smoker to begin with. And after almost 2 years I am still forgetting on occasion

All ya gotta do is put it under there right after you rinse it out and before you put the smoker up. (I know, gotta remember that too) If you do, it will be there already next cook.

My first cook

I had 10 pounds of skirt steak ( fahita meat ) that I sprinkled with pickling salt & Cookshack rib rub. Put it in the smokette about 5 PM at 250. The smokette had just completed a 6 hours burn in - seasoning.

When I took the fajita out, it was not quite done & was not browned. So I lit the gas grill, let it get hot, and seared the fajita on the gas grill. Then it was both tender & browned. Tasted pretty good too !

About 8 PM I put 2 8 - 9 pound butts in the smokette. These I had rubbed & injected about 2 PM. I started at 225, but went down to 200 when I went to bed at 11 PM. At 8 AM the butts were cooked to 190. I put them in a roasting pan, covered with foil & towels & am letting it rest. About 10, I will open it up & see if it is cool enough to pull. The butts did have a nice crust from the rubs & browned well. There was not a lot of steam vapor that came out when I opened the door.

I took the racks & side rails & put in the dishwasher, removed the foil cap from the wood box lid & pulled the foil out of the bottom. Then I wiped it with a damp hot rag. Then emptied the grease catch pan.

So it did what I wanted it to do. Cook a butt unattended thru the night & have it ready the next day. Clean up was a lot easier than cleaning out the stick burner.

It would be nice to somehow be able to adjust the rack spacing. I dropped the side rails to the lowest position and used the top rack & bottom rack. I think I can get an extra inch by sitting the rack on top of the slide in location.

But anyway, it did what I wanted it to do, set it & forget it, easy clean up. I'll use it for smaller cooks, and fire up the WSM or stick burner when I have a need to tend fire, poke fire, play with the food, etc,

My third smoke was a butt & brisket. The brisket I had to cut the point form the flat to get it to fit. I put the point on bottom, the flat above that & the butt on top.

The bottom got done fitst, the middle second, the butt third. Not a big surprise.

Although the smoke box only holds 5 or 6 pieces, I think less is better.

Rub, think less is better.

Ease of use, excellent. I put the meat in at 8 - 10 at night, go to bed & take it off at 8 - 10 the next morning.

IF it was my only smoker, I would have to have an 055 for the extra space. Since I got the smokette for the small cooks, it works fine. I just have to remember less is better, #'s of meat too.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but the smokette just doesn't seem to do something as good as the WSM or Offset. A different taste diffence, but I just don't know what. Maybe too much smoke.

Only my third smoke this week, so still experimenting.

Hi FairWeather,

Hey, just an FYI, most folks just fold the brisket under itself in lieu of separating the point from the flat.

4- 6 oz. (2-3 chunks) is all I ever use for a load of butts or a brisket. Not 4- 6 chunks. That would be a lot of smoke!

You'll getter fine tuned and be quite happy with the finished product!

I agree with GeiyserQ, about three chunks of wood should be plenty. Remember the wood is for smoke only and not for cooking like your offset.