My Amerique arrives tomorrow!

The company usually suggestes a empty break in run.Here is the link to the Cookschack site so you can down load the manual.

http://www.cookshack.com/operators-manuals

hope thatthis helps. enjoy

john

Thanks for the link to the online copy of the manual John.

My plan is to do the breakin smoke as instructed in the manual, four hours at 200 with six ounce of wood. Then I'll pop a pork shoulder in late in the evening just before I go to bed.

I'll be eating pulled pork on Wednesday.

When I seasoned mine at 200* and there was no load in the smoker, my smoker only put out a small amount of smoke and lasted a short time.

The wood was only charred, but there was color on the walls and thats what a person NEEDS.

As I look back at it, I wish I had put it a little higher 250* or so don't know if it would have mattered.

What I'm sayin' is don't think there's a problem when there isn't, AND don't be afraid of wearing it out!

Congrats on your purchase of the Amerique, you're really going to love that thing! You can season it with or without meat, I don't think it really matters, just smoke away and have fun!

If you're at Sam's, buy a least two butts, I'd suggest four. They come in two packs, just bought some this weekend, 1.68 a lb. I'm smoking all four Sunday, freeze one or two, eat the other ones.

Butts freeze nice, whether cooked or not..

I have a butt in the freezer that has been there about a year. I lost it in the bottom of the freezer, and just found it yesterday It has a green tint, like the fat has turned green, inside the vacuum bag (Food Saver). I'm going to throw that one out.

I like the bone-in butts that they sell at my nearest Sams. But Costco is closer, and their boneless butts are good too. That's what I'll be using.

I'm about to call Fed Ex... they were supposed to be here between 08:00 AM and noon with my Amerique. It's 12:01. They are late!

It's here! It looks beautiful. I unboxed it and took it off the palette in the driveway, then picked it up and carried it to my backyard. I thought it would be heavy, but it was not too bad, and quite manageable due to the compact size.

I inventoried it. It looks like everything is present, except for the cover which will be shipped in June when it becomes available.

Now when I can take a break from work later, I'll go assemble it and do an empty break-in smoke.

It looks really heavy duty, and very well made.

Even without the pallet, that thing has got to weigh well in excess of 100 lbs. and bulky. Your adrenalin must really be flowing to carry it to the backyard. Enjoy.

You're right Pags, it must have been adrenaline. Later when I picked it up to put it on a table so I could put the casters on, it seemed a bit heavier.

I assembled it, wiped it down on the inside, and put in six ounces of the hickory, foiled the bottom and smoke box cover (just to get in the habit) and now I'm doing the break-in smoke. With no meat, though. I'll be smoking a pork butt tomorrow.

It seems to be doing fine.

This cooker is a really well-made piece of equipment.

Ah yes! It hasn't been long enough that I have forgot that feeling of my seasoning smoke. I was quite worried, how could a small clear blueish stream of smoke ever put any flavor in a big piece of meat.

Everything that I had ever learned about smoking told me,"Cal you gotta be fooling yer self, smoking can never be this easy".

Now almost 6 months later all I can say," I BELIEVE"!

I can only say I still get that same feeling just sitting there staring at my CS, just like your doing now. Have a lifetime of FUN with your AmerQ.

It has been great fun indeed so far, cal. My AQ just finished it's four hour break-in. It came through with flying colors.

The temperature remained within 1 degree of the set temp the entire time. The smoke coming out was thin, almost invisible, and it smelled lovely.

Pork shoulder tomorrow, but I won't start it until quite late so it can cook overnight. It's prepped and in the fridge.

As to your first of many smokes, repeat daily, "It's done, when it's done". Every smoker has it's sweet spot for cooking times, nothing written in stone. You read some of the older posts, guys will cook butts at 225 for 16-20 hours, butts done. My Q takes about 22-24 hours APPX to get butts done. So, get out the probes, give yourself a wide open smoke window, log your smokes and after awhile, you'll start to see a pattern. I have 4 butts (8.5 lb range), going in Sunday morning around 9ish, I'm planning to take them out around Monday morning, 24 hours later, pending meat temps, double foil wrap, eat early afternon.

Just my two cents.

I'm just going to smoke one butt. I weighed it, and it was 8 lb 10 oz. I put the other half of the 16 pound package in the freezer so I can use it in a few days to make tasso.

Does the smoking time take longer for a fully loaded smoker vs a lightly loaded one?

At 8 lb 10 oz, I figured about 12 or 13 hours to cook. It sounds like that might not be enough. I'm going to smoke it at 250, per SmokinOkie's comments in various threads.

I don't have an AmerQ,only the cs020, but seems like a little bigger load smokes better,IMO.
Heck bet there's not 15 min. different in smoking in -10* weather as opposed to 100* weather, so why would two BPs make any difference?

Yep, the smoking will start answering most questions that the reading has you wondering.

GREAT idea using Smokin's advice, that way it's HIS fault if the timing dosn't work.(LOL)

The length of the smoke depends on the size of the individual pieces of meat. Figure 1.5-2 hrs/lb for an 8 lb pork butt. Three 8 lb pork butts will take about the same time. Hope that helps some. Like Cal says, 2 butts won't make much difference.

Listen to the good cooks above, and my one constant comment is KISS.

When something don't work-and the forum can't solve it-then you start using the tricks.

Then when you get good,you quit the tricks and go back to KISS.

My first smoke was a success. The 8 lb 10 oz butt took 11.5 hours to cook, and it is delicious. The bark came out great, only a little hard in one spot. The meat is juicy, it pulled easily, and it tastes great.

I am really impressed with this cooker. The Amerique is the best thing I've ever smoked in.

congrats SkipQ!

The subject isn't covered a lot, but I tie ALL the meat that goes in my smokers with kitchen twine (cotton string) so as to make as compact a package as I can.

Otherwise, IMHO, sometimes straggley hunks of a roast will stick out and get cooked faster than the rest of the meat...and sometimes gets all its fat rendered too quickly and gets hard.

Just a thought to consider. I know lots of forum folks do not tie...but I do.

SkipQ,keep in mind that part of the "charm/character" of a butt,or two can be the difference in taste and texture as you pull them,mix together with a little of your rub,and even a little of Smokin's Vinegar type baste/sauce.

Just a thought.