New Guy - First Post

AttaBoy Greg...I'm living proof that you won't get "kicked off the forum" for owning an ST1400. You made a great choice in the stainless model, whether CS or ST! ST has been much maligned for their lack of customer service in the past and I'm one of those "malingners" but apparently they have seen the benefits of good customer service, thanks to Cookshack, and got rid of the "old Bat" that handled it before. Now the woman in charge doesn't seem to have NO in her vocabulary. Two examples...I had a problem with my ST (if I left it plugged in) not shutting off because of a thermostat problem...they didn't just replace the themostat, they replaced the entire smoker, freight both ways, and included a cover, five grill racks, and 12 rib hooks which my original unit didn't come with. Recently, I built, or more accurately had built, a cold smoker to sit on top of my smoker.( a future post with pics & dimensions in case anyone wants to build one) I wanted to finish it off with a "factory" exit chimney and called ST to buy the part. The woman at ST wanted to know all about my cold smoker and sent me the chimney at NO CHARGE, second day air! So, I guess they have learned a lesson from CookShack, for which we all should be gratefull. One other thing that they are very sensitive about is the "not made in the USA" slam that they get...she pointed out that if all American consumers bought only made in the USA products there would be a World Wide recession and we would all be driving the same cars and wearing the same clothes. She claims that ST owns and manages the factory in China that they build their product in, controls the quality of the product, and given the fact that such a large number of American companies "out source" to other countries around the world to control their costs and make their products affordable to us at home, why is there a problem! Tough to refute.
CB

First as a guy who's been doing this over 30 years, you're certainly welcome here.

I get asked a lot about why I do all this forum stuff (for free actually) and it's to pass on a little knowledge. If only I'd had the internet when I was starting out...man some of the bad Q I made but back then, I don't remember if they had even telephones.

You ST guys...

Yeah, you're a big part of the forum, we can't help it if you bought the other unit. After all, we're about improving Q overall and helping the less fortunate (ST owners)...LOL.

Welcome Gregg,

Be sure you read the post at the top of the Open Forum, Lessons Learned

Smokin'

hi gregg,
glad you are here!!!!!
if it makes you feel any better they even talk to me when i bring up my old russty trusty weber bullet.
no body here cares what anybody smokes on!!!
all we care about is smokin and exchanging good ideas!!!!!
again welcome
jack

Welcome Gregg,
I too recently bout an ST1400. I have indeed felt welcome here. SmokinOkie does a GREAT job. Be sure to let us know how the pork comes out. Dj

Well, the first smoking attempt is complete �

But first things first �

Chateaubeyond � Thanks for your reply � since I have only dealt with ST recently I can not comment on the past but my experience in the several times I have talked to them both before and after the sale have been exceptional customer service. I would be interested in your cold smoke unit that you have built.

SmokinOkie � Thank you for your reply and the welcome � I am sure glad that you �do all this forum stuff�, your posts have been invaluable to me from the very get go. In fact, the very first sauce I made was your Pulled Pork Baste & Serving Sauce. It is a big hit, everyone likes it.
Yea, I may only have a lowly ST but it sure did a bang-up job on the first pork butt.

Prisonchef313 � Thanks for your reply and welcome � The good ideas that you exchange and your care about smoking means a great deal to a beginner like myself. Also, I believe that you are the one that is waiting inspection, right. At any rate I hope that goes without a hitch. I have a concession unit and was required to get an Arkansas mobile food service permit but I�m thankful that I did not have the issues that I have been reading in your posts. Good luck with your inspection.

Dj � Thank you for your reply � Glad to know that I�m not the only one in that �less fortunate ST owners� boat that SmokinOkie put us in. Yes, SmokinOkie does do a GREAT job.

The results of the first pork butt smoke was fantastic, but sure tested my patience.
It took 19 hours to hit the magic 200 which happened at 2:40 this morning.
However this forum is the reason I got some sleep because I found out about the Maverick ET-73 early in the game. What a great tool. The forum is also to thank for me being able to �Not Open The Door� for 19 hours (a challenge for my personality type to the max) and to rely on the �Done when it�s Done� thing.
But it�s true, I was sure that after 19 hours I would open the door and find a big lump of coal where the meat should have been, but instead there was a pork butt looking just like it should with a great bark, wonderful moisture content, the brown, the white, what a surprise, it worked just like you guys said it would.

Lesson learned � Never question the masters of the forum!

Thanks again to everyone on the forum for all of the great tips and recipes that made this first smoking experience a great success.

Congrats,

SEE we do know what we're talking about

So, a little more detail, were you happy with the smoke flavor, the bark. Did you have to use the SO sauce? For added flavor, you can add some of the same rub after you pull it.

SmokinOkie

More detail you say � Yes, the smoke flavor was fine but think I will add one more ounce of apple wood the next time (which will be this weekend). It would be hard to get tooooo much smoke for my taste anyway.

The bark � Turned out much better than I expected (not sure I know how to judge bark from a pro view). I used Kyle Style Glue (mustard and honey), made up the River City Basic Pork Rub from the recipe, wrapped and refrigerated over night, the next morning when I unwrapped the coating was very moist so I sprinkled (had rub in a cheese shaker) all over with rub again to get a dry coating. Then into the smoker it went.
The result was (to me) a not to thin, not to thick nice crunchy, not chewy blackened super flavored coating.

SO sauce � No, did not �have� to use the sauce for flavor but it is a great enhancer. The thing to me is a smorgasbord of flavors, a few bites no sauce, few bites with sauce, bites with some bark some sauce (well, you get the picture), oh, a swish of Bud Light between bites is required as well.

Did not try adding some rub after pulling � I�m thinking that serving just the way it came from the smoker is in order and letting whoever is eating it grab the sauce bottle and/or the rub shaker (or the slaw dish) and flavor to suit their taste. What is your opinion about that?

Other Data (for anyone interested)
7:38 am Into the smoker set at 225 (meat 38, smoker cold, outside temp 22)
10:10 am meat 101 / smoker 206
11:40 am 128/202
1:40 pm 147/213
4:20 pm 160/214
5:40 pm 165/220
7:38 pm 172/231
10:00 pm 180/224 (went to bed)
2:40 am 200/232 (maverick alarm woke me up)

19 hours total � never opened the door

Way to go Gregg .. and Welcome to the Forum -- from a fellow ST owner and a fellow Arkie Ya might get ribbed a bit for your purchase but all in good fun! When it comes to learning about good Q, there's no better place than here!

Have fun and post often!

Ditto here with what Wheelz says...and by the way I just posted some pics on my cold smoker.

Gregg,

Welcome to the site. I also have the ST 1400. Glad to see the first cook went well. Here's to many many more.


Mike