Bought a Smoker!!

[joe7670]

We make our own KC rub. A good starter recipe would be here:
http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/r/bl91211a.htm

I tend to use a little less cayenne than they call for and a little more sugar to make it tollerable for the kiddies.

Not sure on the gas smoker as I've used electric and wood. I would think the gas is a bit like the electric in that it's easier to maintain a consistent temp which is key. You don't want the temp spiking.

I think I remember reading that apple wood is a bit too light on flavor for ribs, but haven't tried it. Worked great on chicken. Gave a bit of a sweet smoke.

I'm sure some others will chime in soon.

[THEFERMANATOR]

I don't use a rub on mine as I don't like teh crust, I just use a heavy smokeing during the first hour or so of cooking with alot of sauce. I use teh SONNYS sweet sauce which down here is available everywhere in 3 quart jugs for cheap. For wood I use laurel oak(our common tree down here), and hickory which I buy in bags at WAL-MART in the outdoor section. I like to put hickory chips in the water pot with water covering them, and a nice layer of hickory chunks over my fire box(I use a charcoal smoker). Just be careful sacing at the end as the wet sauce can soak up the smoke really bad and make the ribs very acidic. I normally start off around 250 for 2 hours, and then drop my temp off as they continue to cook longer. The last hour or so I will be down to about 175 or so.

[Blue_Runner]

I buy the rub in Food Lion. McCormicks has a pretty good rib rub also. I can't comment on electric or gas where you use wood chips. All of the smoking we do is with wood coals we make by burning in a barrel w/ a grate in the bottom. As the wood burns, hot coals fall through the grate where we shovel them out into the bottom of the smoker. Oh and by the way....chicken wings smoked at 200 - 220 for 3 - 3.5 hours are FREAKIN REALLY REALLY GOOD!

[joe7670]

Blue's setup and posts is what got me into smokin' a few years back.

[Pipe_Dream]

I'm getting hungry!

Have been thinking about getting a smoker for a while. I want to do boston butts for pulled pork bbq.

[macojoe]

I have some pic's I will up load later today! I seasoned the smoker today with Apple wood as stated in the directions ( it did not say Apple) but thats what I had.
Got a ton of smoke from it, and things looked good. But as stated here I think I will need some door gaskets as there was tons of smoke coming from around the doors. or is this ok??
As stated also was the stock thermometer reading wrong, it read 35* to 40* cooler then the oven type I put in the smoker.

So this leads to were can I get new parts for the smoker?

I am going to try doing ribs this weekend for my first smoke!!

[Blue_Runner]

Well, like I said I have zero experience with that type of smoker but it seems as long as there is smoke around the meat it wouldn't hurt for some to escape around the doors? Is there a stack on top for the smoke to come out?

[Blue_Runner]

I just looked at the pic in the link and read the customer reviews. Sounds like you are not the only one that doesn't trust the thermometer. Also I see the little smoke stack on top now.

Try that baby out and see how it does! Makes me want one for those weekends where it would be nice to "set it and forget it" instead of building a big fire and shoveling coals for 5 hours.