received sm25 today

Thanks, looking forward to the pictures.
Congradulations on the new smoker.

recieved my 008 about a month ago and have smoked a pork butt and several briskets on it with delicious results.. my temp control on it would go all the way to wide open no matter what i set the dial on..so called cookshack and they sent me a new temp controller and it arrived in two days!! i installed the new one and its controlling fine now.i guess me rolling it around to several places messed up the temp controller.i now keep it in one area and try not to move it unless absolutely nessacary.thanks cookshack

bigwally -- Please, please take pics and post them. You are treading virgin territory for the forum!

congradulations Bigwallyj, Looking forward to the pics. But i have to ask, how long ago did you order? I have had my order in for a couple of weeks and haven't recieved a shipping conformation yet.-- Wait a second here, you got mine! Put it in the box and send it now! No questions asked. We'll forget the whole thing ever happened. Enjoy!!

i ordered mine on the 23rd of december. i had originally ordered a sm09 but they ran out. i just finished seasoning and put my brisket in. i'll try to post some pics.

this is the smoker after seasoning. look at that door. is it seasoned or what. by the way the ribs were overcooked. i left them in for 6 hours at 225 degrees. they were just for seasoning anyway. but i ate 'em.



here's my brisket. a 16lb monster. seasoned with mustard and cookshack brisket rub mixed with turbinado sugar.
i put the brisket in at 1:00pm, fat side down, and set the oven temp to 200. had to put it on the diagonal but didn't have to curl it. i'm thinking it may take close to 24hrs. we'll see.



the control panel after 2 hours. the extra kick in the wattage i think brings the temp up to the set level efficiently.



i'll do more later.

Not sure what you are looking for a finish temp, but at 200, it will take you at LEAST 24 hours to get there.

Nothing wrong with 225 to 250

Thanks for the photos, I'm sure you'll get lots of questions, you're the first of many

i'm looking for about 195. wanted to slice more than pull. i figured i'd cook it slow overnight. then bump it up in the morning. with the extra wattage i don't want to over do it. it seems to keep a very consant temp. and i'm going more by internal temp than time. allthough now i'm tempted to go turn it up. going to check it at 9:00pm. i'll post the internal and probe temp.

at 9:00pm the control unit oven temp was 201 and the probe temp was 165.
i turned it up to 225 for the next 8 hours. check it again at 5:00am.

at 5:30am the internal oven temp was 225 and the probe temp read 199. turned it off and took it out at 6:00am.




will post more pics when i cut it up.

Looking very good! What time is lunch?

flat end slices. a little dry but not bad for my first time out. i can't believe how fast it cooked.

Great Pics. I'll be there for lunch too! Can bring containers for the leftovers.Do you think the 750w cooking element made the difference or the cut of meat? 17hrs for 16#'s is great.But then again what do I know

this brisket is the best i ever had. i would have easily cooked it for 20 hours if i had not used the probe. it really saved the day.
the only issue is that it only burned about 30 percent of the wood i put in. i think it may be because i started cooking at 200 degrees. i don't know. it did burn all the wood in the seasoning process. we'll see what happens on the next cook.

That brisket is looking mighty fine.

Gotta love dem probes. I don't care what type probe ya use, just use one. For me its the only way.

Bigwally,

Just some thoughts for your next cook.

Dryness is as much a function of the method as the brisket. A brisket without much internal fat can dry out.

If you're probe is right, 199 could be okay. (make sure to occassionally test the probe temp).

If it's "too" tender, just let it cool before you slice.

From the photos, it looks like you cut straight across the brisket. While it looks almost too tender to slice, I'm not sure you cut across the grain. "normally" you'll be slicing at about a 45 degree angle to the shape of the brisket.

If you get a TOO tender brisket

Bigwallyj,

Congratulations on your new rig and thank you for posting info and photos of the work you are churning out. Man, it all looks GOOD.

I’m waffling on whether I should buy the old 008 or the new SM020. Size wise, does your SM025 seem any more advantageous than the older 009?

Darryl