Going from Green Egg to a 66

I have a 66 and can tell you that they are pretty much set and forget.  I do brisket and pulled pork.  I figure on a 24 hour schedule from the time I start them until they are ready to eat.  I put cold meat into a cold smoker so that I get a longer window of smoke on my product.  These smokers are wood stingy.  I use 4 to 6 Oz. of wood in for beef and some pork.  I do not wrap anything I smoke in the 66.  These smokers are very cook with a very moist environment.  I start the smoker at 250 degrees in the mid afternoon and let it go at this temp until bed time.  I turn the smoker temp down to 215 degrees when I go to bed, and then turn it back up to 250 degrees when I get up.  Depending on what the remote read meat thermometer is showing by mid-morning I may crank the smoker temps up to 275 or 300 degrees.  I start probing the meat when the internal temp. hits 190 degrees.  When the probe goes into the meat and it feels like you are sticking the probe into warm butter the meat is done.  I pull the meat out of the smoker wrap it in foil and put it into a warm ice chest type cooler for 2 to 4 hours.  You will have plenty of bark and depending on what your tastes are like you should have plenty of smoke.  When I started cooking with these smokers I did get way to much smoke on almost everything.  You will not get a good smoke ring with these smokers simply because you are not burning enough wood to develop a smoke ring.  The SMO 25, 45, and 66 do have a default setting for the first 30 or so minutes after they are started.  The smoker will run on high during this start up time period. 

I agree with everything idahomike said. On my sm066, the deviation from the set temp is never more than two degrees once the slight overshoot on startup is done. One caution: on a very short cook like fish, by the time the startup is done, your fish will be more than halfway there. As an example, I smoke 8 oz. salmon fillet pieces at 200F looking for a IT of 140 - 145. When the smoker settles in at 200, the fish is usually already at 90 - 100. As idahomike said, overnight cooks are easy once you figure out the temp and timing sequence.

What they said.  Nothing more to be said except to enjoy the 66!

I have had my SMO66 for about 6 months. NO comparison to a BGE which I have also owned for over 20 years.

The 66 produces so much better flavor and is so much handier to use. You will absolutely be blown away.

as for bark and flavor? You will be especially delighted from your first cook. the program to set and hold will take the worry out of your time schedule and worries about getting home in time to pull your product.

Do pay attention your first few cooks on how much wood to use. In fact if you have a kitchen scale weigh it. It will get bitter easily if you make the mistake I made and get too carried away.

As for flavor? My husband insists it is better by far than any BBQ joint in Kansas City and that is a bold statement.

Well said Debrajo11.

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Looking at the date that they signed up is always a clue.

Reported it yesterday.

Stuart is taking care of it.