Tips on using my meat smoker?

[Lucky]

ok, my neighbor gave me her smoker because she never uses it, for the total sum of weed-eating her fence. great, i've been wanting one recently & this just fell in my lap.

not 100% sure how to set it up/use it, & can't find particulars online.

it's a 'Mr. Meat' smoker. looks identical to this brinkman:

from bottom to top:
--a pan at the bottom,(ill call it "pan 1")
--a rack i added on top of pan 1 (rack 1)
--another pan suspended on wire handles, (pan 2)
--a rack that sits just above the pan, (rack 2)
--and another rack just under the dommed lid(rack 3)

here is how i believe it's supposed to work, correct me if i'm wrong:
-charcoal goes on rack 1 (i added this rack so the ashes can fall thru to pan1)
-wet(?) wood chips go in pan 2
-meat for cooking goes on rack 2 (i'll probably never use it)
-smoked meat goes on rack 3

now my questions:
-am i supposed to burn charcole & add hardwood chips directly on the smouldering coals? if yes, wet or dry?
-if so, then pan 2 is just supposed to be filled with water right?

-or am i supposed to just burn hardwood, no charcole? still with water in the pan.

or do i only burn charcole at the bottom and assume the heat from the coals will heat up pan 2, full of hardwood, enough to make them smoke? (they seem kind of far away form the coals...)

btw, i can pull out the top 2 racks & pan with the wire rack holder thingies...so i can replenish the water or wood? there is a door in front i can add more of the substance to be burned..

--Thanks!, --Lucky

p.s., wouldn't fat dripping from the meat fall in the water/hardwood?

[admin]

ok, my neighbor gave me her smoker because she never uses it, for the total sum of weed-eating her fence. great, i've been wanting one recently & this just fell in my lap.

not 100% sure how to set it up/use it, & can't find particulars online.

it's a 'Mr. Meat' smoker. looks identical to this brinkman:

from bottom to top:
--a pan at the bottom,(ill call it "pan 1")
--a rack i added on top of pan 1 (rack 1)
--another pan suspended on wire handles, (pan 2)
--a rack that sits just above the pan, (rack 2)
--and another rack just under the dommed lid(rack 3)

here is how i believe it's supposed to work, correct me if i'm wrong:
-charcoal goes on rack 1 (i added this rack so the ashes can fall thru to pan1)
-wet(?) wood chips go in pan 2
-meat for cooking goes on rack 2 (i'll probably never use it)
-smoked meat goes on rack 3

now my questions:
-am i supposed to burn charcole & add hardwood chips directly on the smouldering coals? if yes, wet or dry?
-if so, then pan 2 is just supposed to be filled with water right?

-or am i supposed to just burn hardwood, no charcole? still with water in the pan.

or do i only burn charcole at the bottom and assume the heat from the coals will heat up pan 2, full of hardwood, enough to make them smoke? (they seem kind of far away form the coals...)

btw, i can pull out the top 2 racks & pan with the wire rack holder thingies...so i can replenish the water or wood? there is a door in front i can add more of the substance to be burned..

--Thanks!, --Lucky

p.s., wouldn't fat dripping from the meat fall in the water/hardwood?

you have come to the right place.
I ran one of those for 3 years before I bought my Weber smokey mountain cooker.

the big issue with those is controlling the airflow. I actually had 2 of them that I bought
to do a clambake lobster cook for my daughters 16th birthday.
let me find the pictures and then I'll get to the technicals...  ;)

[Night Vision]

I tried smoking salmon once....

boy, was it hard to keep lit  ::)


http://www.brinkmann.net/Docs/Pdf/852-7080-0.pdf

[admin]

ok, from the bottom up it looks like this.

Charcoal pan on the bottom, ( charcoal goes in the pan not on the grate) then
the water pan, then the grate. ( one grate goes on top of the water pan, the other goes up at the top)
basically you are running the heat below the water and thats what controls your temps.
Ideally you want about 210-250 degrees at the cooking grate. ( for smoking meats )
you can leave the pan empty or remove it if you are using it more like a grill.

in terms of wood chips ? very little if any, what'll happen is you'll coat your food
with nasty soot if you use too much.    what I do now and with the previous
unit is to use lump charcoal, depending on the cook, I'll mix it with regular
kingsford because that lasts longer.  depending on what I'm making
I may also throw a few wood chips into the charcoal but the key is to not
do it right away, make sure the coals and food are fairly warmed up, if you
put chips in when you put the food in, the food is typically cold and the smoke and
soot will condense onto the food. yuk, I know this because I've done it.

the picture you see is my custom modified unit, basically because you need to control the airflow
the bottom shouldn't be wide open.  I took the cover from the second unit and turned it into
the bottom of the cooker with an airflow vent. at the time I bought these they were on
sale at casadepot for 35.  I did the modifications the following year after some frustration
with operating the unit as designed.
professional barbecuers use the weber unit which is a bit on the spendy side but the results
are amazing.
check out this site for some good info:
http://virtualweberbullet.com

I will say that I made some great ribs, brisket, smoked turkey, chicken wings and more
on the original unit. plus my kids clambake b-day party was a rousing success also.
it was my wifes idea and at the time I had no idea how to do a clambake but I learned in a hurry...  ;)

-Ron

[Lucky]

ok guys, this helps. A lot!  only difference is my smoker's body is one piece & the lid is hinged.  probably a bit harder to deal with than yours, but that's ok.

i'm trying ot out tomorrow,
Thanks, --Lucky

[admin]

 yes, you can make some goodies on one of those things

the key is keeping an eye on the temps, water and charcoal.
get your hands on a good thermometer for checking your meat temps
and also one for monitoring the grill temps.
check out some of this stuff
   http://virtualweberbullet.com/littleredbullet.html

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h9ftzK1xrU
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejpbwAXdKf0

  example of too much smoke
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RByCC9tqE58


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh1bPbMeMdE

lots of goodies on youtube these days...


oh, one more thing, you'll probably want to drill hole in the bottom charcoal pan
without good airflow, like night vision says, it will be hard to keep the charcoal lit.
ymmv.
-Ron

[Night Vision]

yeah.. .take it easy on the wood chips.... it doesn't take much to over smoke it...

I bought a bag of mesquite to sometimes throw on the webber grill when I cook a steak. I put on a big chunk the first time and it was overpowering...

more isn't always better

[Lucky]

i won't need to drill a hole, the bottom of the unit is open, but the charcoal pan takes up most of the opening. it rests on the legs inside, so there is only about 1/4" all the way around. the top is sealed pretty well, & there's an adjustable vent at the top.  it'l obviously draw air in thru the bottom & the smoke will rise.  between the vents & some wet wood, i should be able to control the temps. 

it also has a temp guage built into the top, there are numbers, but it's graduated into 3 sections: "warm" "just right" and "too hot"  i like that, it assumes it's not all that accurate, & the user will learn where to keep it.

i have a good quality digital meat probe i use when grilling (& in the house too) it's pretty accurate.

i'll go easy on the chips, i'm going to get the cheapest brisket i can find & start with that.  from what i understand, if i do it right, it'll come out great.  if i screw it up, well, it was an inexpensive cut & i can allways order pizza, lol

[kiawrench]

lucky,
    i used one of those for a few years, then switched to "the big green egg" large of course.

  you seem to have good advice on how to do it so far, i had one of those same units you have but i drilled about 30 holes in the bottom of the thing to keep temps up high enough to do the job . each one is different, so you have to tinker with it to get best results.

  as for the center pan-- that is to catch drips/or add in water to keep food moist- smoking can dry it out.  a lot of times, we add in a bit of tennessee whiskey , as it warms in the water, it adds a very southern flavor to the meats you are cooking in addition to the smoke. just dont use whiskey alone, it could ignite depending on temps and brand used .

[admin]

 whoa Kia, how cool is that, a BGE ?
I would love to get one of those, don't know if the
wife would go for it, though, my weber collection is up to 3 now...

  ...but honey, we Need one of those   ;)

on drilling holes in the charcoal pan, Kia, I had to do the same thing,
basically I got a 1" hole saw and did 15 or 20 holes in it to get the air flowing.
once I did that the unit operated much better, but I found that it ran through
charcoal a lot quicker.  other issues were keeping the water pan full.

you know I never tried adding whiskey to the water pan, I add did other goodies
like apple juice, onions, limes, lime juice, beer etc. all of those worked pretty well.



  Lucky, here is a link to the bbq-faq,  well worth reading.

  http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/faq2/7.html

  and the wet wood thing that you mentioned, don't know where that
came from but I don't think I would use wet wood in a bbq smoker.
ymmv.
-Ron

[Lucky]

  and the wet wood thing that you mentioned, don't know where that
came from but I don't think I would use wet wood in a bbq smoker.

says it on the bag of mesquite chips..

something i read online suggested putting the coals on a rack instead of directly in the pan because the ash build up and stifles the coals, so with the rack, the ash can fall thru to the pan by tapping the rack or smoker.  i had a rack just the right size, so it seemed like a quick & simple experiment.

[reckon]

great "dry brine" for salmon:

mix sugar and kosher salt 2:1,...then add a few splashes of liquid smoke and a tiny bit of cooking oil, and mix well till it looks like sand, you should be able to make a clump, but it should break apart very easily: if it's too wet, add some more sugar/salt mix, too dry add some more oil

a nice variation for this is to grind crystallized ginger in a blender, and add apple juice to make a paste, then mix that into the dry brine,...you can omit the liquid smoke on the apple/ginger variation, it'll taste cleaner.

pack the bottom of a glass baking pan with a half inch of the dry brine, the put in the salmon filets skin side down, then pack it over the top, again about a half inch thick, and let sit for at least 4 hours, and no more than 16 hours (or you get gravlax) and then remove the filets, and rinse in apple juice to remove any dry brine that may remain.

smoke over ALDER or APPLEWOOD chips: hot smoke= about 15-20 minutes @200-300 degrees    cold smoke= anywhere from about 3 to 16 hours, depending on how smoky you like it.

this works BEST on super fatty atlantic farm raised salmon, believe it or not,...the result with wild or chinook salmon is good, just not as "buttery".

[kiawrench]

ron,


 The big green egg series of grill/smokers are the best , but be ready to invest in a unit that can and most likely will outlive the original buyer.
these things not only cook good, they look great in almost any landscape design- mine is free standing iron egg holder, with one large chopping block on left side. it looks great in place of my old chimenea .

i got mine for 400.00 at a property sale, divorce  thing. the large will set you back 699-800.00 depending on where you buy it, but it will last for eternity with very little care.
living oceanside, i needed a grill unit that was not going to rot due to salt air.
the grates are cast iron, and once seasoned ,they will last a long long time .
     The trick to using an EGG , is what you burn,as well as how you set it up. i load about 3 lbs lump coal into fire box, add 1/2 pound or so of hickory, and we get about 5 to 7 hrs of cooking time from that , plus additional time of just plain heat as the unit cools down(excellent for making an after dinner fruit pie!)  just dont use chemical fire starters, or liquid fire starters  inside the egg, it will ruin taste of everthing for a long time to come. use a charcoal starting chiminey.

[YellowJacket!]

Step 1. Place in large box
Step 2. Place large box with smoker in back of van
Step 3. Drive Van to DaveTN's house
Step 4. DaveTN will unload van
Step 4.5 DaveTN will also provide Burgers and Beverages
Step 5 Lucky and DaveTN and families will have a good o'l cokkout and smokeout with a nice ride to follow

;D

David

[kiawrench]

reckon-
   we use that very same recipe around here for fish and sometimes for brisket- just cover fish or tenderloin with lemon or lime slices, place it on a cedar plank, then pack all of the dry brine on and around item being cooked, "encasing" it, then bake and eat, the brine forms a heavy crust that is easily removed , and the food is tasty, not salty .

[Lucky]

i did a cheap roast with mesquite chips, the family vote was "Delicious!" pink ring & all!
i tossed the chips right on the coals, they smoked quickly & didn't last more than 20 min.. i tossed some water soaked chips on later & got 30-35 min out of them & much more consistant smoke.

the thermometer barely worked, i used my electronic one in the meat.  after cleaning up i took the thermometer out off the lid & dropped it in slightly boiling water, then calibrated it to about 212

i'm going to do the firepan mod: mount the legs on the outside, threaded rod legs on the fire pan so i can lift the cooker off it to add charcole.

cleaning those racks and the fatty water bowl sucks..any tips on that? (i'm leaving the lower rack out next time, one less thing to clean)

any good uses for the ash? (i've been using gas for many many years.. is it good to add to the garden?)

Thanks, --Lucky

[kiawrench]

lucky-
   to clean that nasty water/fat solution out, dump contents into whatever you chose, then add 3 to 4 tablespoons of automatic dishwasher soap mixed with 1/2 cup warm water into it , srub lightly with one of these green scrubby pads then rinse well .  the soap can be from dollar store ,it doesnt have to be name brand stuff to work,,, it cuts grease better than a butane torch .(it has to to be used in a dishwasher). once cleaned out, dry well and assemble until next grilling period

you can try heavy duty alum foil as a liner, but it is a hassle too .