Assembling a Propane Smoker

[snowangel]

Melissa, how disappointing! Smoking should be fun, relaxing and unbelievably rewarding.

If you're not happy with the unit, return it. I'd vote for a charcoal unit, too, but if you're really not interested in one, have you thought about an electric smoker?

[MelissaH]

Here's the post-mortem report.

A good dinner was had by all. A little surprising, especially to me!

I never did get my nap yesterday. The first friend arrived shortly after 1 PM, and by 2 I was back in the kitchen working on making =Mark's sauce. The shredded meat went in the crockpot with a splash of water, to be warmed. My husband made his Belgian cheese dip and guacamole (two separate bowls!), and I cut up veggies to go with. I also made one of the apple cakes from Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts and, when that came out of the oven, recrisped the rolls I'd made on Sunday.

The meat wound up moister than I had originally thought when I pulled it early Monday morning, and when the stuff from the inside got mixed with the stuff from the outside, the amount of smoky flavor was just about perfect. =Mark's sauce was the hit of the afternoon; we put it in a tiny crockpot to stay hot throughout. And the coarse cornmeal I'd used in the bread was a nice touch; one friend said the bread was the best part of the meal. We completely demolished the guac, and very nearly finished off the cheese dip and veggies. I liked the cake also, which is a good thing because it was really easy to make. And most of the right teams won the games yesterday.

We have lots of leftover meat. Some got mixed with the tiny bit of leftover sauce, and packaged to be our dinner tonight. The rest just got put into one large container, and tonight when we're more awake and are not staring at a large mountain of dishes, we'll parcel it out into more appropriate portions for the freezer. I'm having visions of things we can do with it: as a base for stuffing peppers or enchiladas, into omelets, non-barbecue sauced sandwiches, alongside potatoes for breakfast...

But there's still a phone call or two to be made, because I didn't really want to buy a cold smoker. So no, I'm not entirely happy with the performance, but the end result was fine this time.

MelissaH

[MelissaH]

Post-mortem, test results in:

I made my phone calls. According to the folks at King Kooker, I did everything right. It sounds as though we took all the necessary precautions, and managed to avoid the problems common to these burners, like tripping tank valves due to not getting the flame lit soon enough. (The mystery part, BTW, is apparently a piece that comes and goes with the years; as I understand it, it goes on the ground under the burner, to help protect the ground underneath from hours of burning. ) But all the troubleshooting we ran through related to the burner, not to the smoker. And my husband's a pro with this style of burner, since he's been using one for the past six years or so. Interestingly, they'd heard about me before I called them: the place I bought the beast from called the manufacturer earlier today, to let them know that someone had gotten the wrong instruction manual.

Anyway, I got permission from them to return the beast to where I got it. I called them to give them the heads-up. We'd planned to make a trip down that way anyway, so we'll just add this to our list of errands tomorrow. If they have one in stock, a WSM may be very tempting.

Those of you who are charcoal gods, how do you store it? We don't have much indoor space for that sort of thing, so I'm going to be looking for something that's weatherproof.

MelissaH

[snowangel]

Those of you who are charcoal gods, how do you store it? We don't have much indoor space for that sort of thing, so I'm going to be looking for something that's weatherproof.

MelissaH

I'll admit up front that I don't have a WSM. I have a Weber Kettle. But, I can't imagine storage is much different.

Mine has sat outside, all year round, for almost 25 years and is still rocking and rolling and doing just fine. I think you can get covers for these things, but to me, the cover would be something to find a place for when I didn't need it which was more of a storage problem. If you go to my recent post on ribs, you'll see how my lid looked after I put it on after the coals were going.

[melkor]

I've got a cheapo deck box I keep bags of charcoal, the starter chimney, wood chunks, etc in. The WSM just sits out in the rain year round.

[snowangel]

My charcoal and wood chunks just sit on the deck year round, under the eaves. I store the chimeny in the Kettle.

[lancastermike]

The WSM comes with a cover that I do not use. I do know guys who put a trash bag over the smoker and than use the cover as it is not waterproof. I keep mine outside but do store my charcoal in the garage to keep it dry. I also keep the grates in the garage as they will rust, the WSM itself will not. If outside it is important to clean out the ashes, if they get water in with them they can lead to issues with corrosion of the fire bowl. However, the WSM is a wonderful device that really is not hard to use or to maintain. Years ago I had a cheap-o Brinkman that was such a pain in the ass to use I stopped smoking for several years. Reading the butt thread made me get off of mine and buy a WSM. I have been very happy I did. There is a ton of information on the Virtual Weber Bullet site which will answer any question you would have about it.

[MelissaH]

The propane smoker has been returned. Both the manufacturer and the place I bought it from were terrific about the whole thing. The guy who helped me carry the rig from the car to the store was a little amazed at my husband's dremel tool handiwork, and wondered aloud how the burner ever made it through quality control with that sort of flaw.

I plan to bite the charcoal bullet get a WSM, but probably not until after I get back from an upcoming trip to Belgium and the Netherlands. I'm already scoping out plastic waterproof containers that will be large enough to hold charcoal and wood chips, if not also the chimney starter I'll need, but that can also be weighted or tied down so as not to blow away in our winds.

Another month or so and I should be back into smokingland. I'll have to try chicken thighs again, to try and get them properly cooked this time. Do I sense a brisket coming up for this year's seder?

MelissaH

[woodburner]

good move.

The minimum btu burner for the propane cooker you had should have been about 160,000 btu. output.

I think you'll like to use wood chunks instead of chips.

woodburner

[snowangel]

Woodburner is right. Wood chunks, not chips. Wet charcoal starts just fine if you have a chimney and a propane torch (to light not only the paper underneath, but also give a blast from up top to the charcoal. Trust me. Last time I smoked, the charcoal was wet, and the bag was frozen to the deck.

[fifi]

Welcome to the WSM bunch, Mellisa. Go for the wood chunks. Take a look at the Minion Method of firing on the Virtual Weber Bullet web site. The wood chunks work very well in that method. I think that a variation on this concept is what snowangel uses so successfully in her Weber Kettle. If you do a lot of grilling, the Kettle may be worth considering. But I can't fault the bullet for flawless smoking.

[MelissaH]

Welcome to the WSM bunch, Mellisa. Go for the wood chunks. Take a look at the Minion Method of firing on the Virtual Weber Bullet web site. The wood chunks work very well in that method. I think that a variation on this concept is what snowangel uses so successfully in her Weber Kettle. If you do a lot of grilling, the Kettle may be worth considering. But I can't fault the bullet for flawless smoking.

←

We already have another Weber: one of their propane grills, which has worked marvelously for us for many years. (It was a wedding gift from my uncle! We probably got our two most-used gifts from my dad's two brothers: the grill from his older brother and the pasta pot from his younger brother. And I'm not sure that either of them actually cook much!)

What are your favorite sources of wood chunks? We have lots of maple and ash firewood, but we also have lots of poison ivy that grows in the local woodlots.

MelissaH

[woodburner]

A few common types of Smoke Wood Chunks can be found in local hardware stores, wally worlds, home depot type structures. Most of these type stores will carry chips and chunks, make sure you have the one you want as packaging will be the same on both varities with only the chip or chunk word being changed. Weber Products sells both chips and chunks in hickory and mesquite in what might be 5lb bags if my memory serves me correctly. I've never used the mesquite for smoking so I can not comment on it, but I've heard it should be used sparingly.

For other, more unique woods, pecan,alder, maple, apple, cherry, peach etc. I use a few different sources. One is my local fruit grower, whom I trust regarding their spraying technique and pruning schedule. Secondly I go to Peoples Wood located in Rhode Island for mail order. They have always provided a very good service.

As important, is your fuel source. Hardwood Lump charcoal, and compressed briquettes are two popular choices for fuel. Which one you use is entirely up to you.

I prefer and use hardwood lump charcoal, and the go to guy is theNaked Whiz.

concerning lump charcoal reviews. Lump is not always easy to locate, I buy mine from a local ice house, that provides me discounts for bulk purchase. I'll typically burn about 30, 20lb. bags in a year. I've yet to locate a local supplier for the extruded coconut lump charcoal which has gotten high praises among many bbq circles, for it's extended burn times, and smoke flavor.

woodburner

[lancastermike]

What are your favorite sources of wood chunks? We have lots of maple and ash firewood, but we also have lots of poison ivy that grows in the local woodlots

Maple is fine for smoking. Fruit woods are great for poultry. Check with your local orchard for trimmings. I got a big box of apple from my local orchard for a couple of bucks. Are there grape growers aroung your area? I have never used it but know those that do use grape vines. I do NOT like mesquite for smoking. Grilling, maybe but the taste is too strong for smoking. Pecan, hickory, and other nut bearing trees work well. Your ash would do fine. I would think wood should be easy to find in your area