Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker. Read the
whole FAQ for this group, and let me tell ya, that's a lotta stuff to
digest in one sitting! Great info, certainly. Anyway, since I bought a
new Weber One-Touch Silver 22-1/2" before Labor Day, I figured I was
pretty well set. Reading about all this fine pulled pork and other
real bbq delectables was makin' my mouth water, though, so I took the
plunge.

I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Wide Body Gas Smoker
for the same price of the smaller version (box was mis-marked). Yup, I
admit it. I'm just too lazy to start out with a charcoal job. And, I'm
afraid I'd give up too soon if I tried charcoal first.

Already got my favorite meat market saving me a nice 7-pound pork
shoulder. I should be able to get this contraption put together and
seasoned tonight, get my pork all rubbed down, and do some real bbq
tomorrow.

Wish me luck! I'll post pictures if it lasts long enough for me to get
any.

EZ Larry from St. Louis

EZ wrote:
> get my pork all rubbed down, and do some real bbq
> tomorrow.


> Wish me luck! I'll post pictures if it lasts long enough for me to get
> any.
>
> EZ Larry from St. Louis

I think you can omit the pictures EZ Larry, but the rubbing of the pork
is why we are all here!

EZ wrote:

> I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Wide Body Gas Smoker
> for the same price of the smaller version (box was mis-marked). Yup, I
> admit it. I'm just too lazy to start out with a charcoal job. And, I'm
> afraid I'd give up too soon if I tried charcoal first.

On a recent trip to the east coast a friend served some brisket
and ribs cooked in one of those. It all came out great. You might
want to keep an extra tank on hand though. I think he said he
was getting around 15 hours per.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

"cl" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> EZ wrote:
> > get my pork all rubbed down, and do some real bbq
> > tomorrow.
>
>
> > Wish me luck! I'll post pictures if it lasts long enough for me to get
> > any.
> >
> > EZ Larry from St. Louis
>
> I think you can omit the pictures EZ Larry, but the rubbing of the pork
> is why we are all here!

Nah, we like all pix on alt.binaries.food. Let him post 'em.

kili

"EZ" > wrote in message
...
> Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker.
> .................................................. .........................................
> I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Wide Body Gas Smoker
> for the same price of the smaller version (box was mis-marked). Yup, I
> admit it. I'm just too lazy to start out with a charcoal job. And, I'm
> afraid I'd give up too soon if I tried charcoal first.
>
..>
.................................................. ................................................>
> EZ Larry from St. Louis

Hi EZ,

I have the smaller. Would have liked to comment before, but I thought "Gas
Smoker" might not be well received here.

Get/use a direct/remote type thermometer to check grate temps. My "in the
door" was off about 40 degrees. My first cook was an overnight brisket that
I did at a door temp of 225 degrees. It was nearly jerky after 8 hrs. Found
out later that at the grate the temp was ~265 degrees.

The gas valve is very sensitive. Takes about 30 minutes to zero in on your
desired temp, but then your good to go for all night. I've got excellent
results with chicken and brisket at about 215 degrees and cook forever. <g>

The wood chip box is pretty small. I use a second that is at least twice as
large as the little one. I have got rave reviews using "Jack Daniels Smoking
Chips".

I once had the same item (no gas). Did a large turkey, cooking it at least
30 hours. Best turkey I ever ate. Had to tend the box every 4 hours for lump
and smoke chips. I'm retired now and I don't think I will hear that many
alarm clocks the rest of my life.

Good eats,
Robin

On 9-Sep-2005, "Robin Wier" > wrote:

> "EZ" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker.
> > .................................................. .........................................
> > I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain Wide Body Gas Smoker
> > for the same price of the smaller version (box was mis-marked). Yup, I
> > admit it. I'm just too lazy to start out with a charcoal job. And, I'm
> > afraid I'd give up too soon if I tried charcoal first.
> >
> .>
> .................................................. ...............................................>
> > EZ Larry from St. Louis
>
> Hi EZ,
>
> I have the smaller. Would have liked to comment before, but I thought "Gas
> Smoker" might not be well received here.
>
> Get/use a direct/remote type thermometer to check grate temps. My "in the
> door" was off about 40 degrees. My first cook was an overnight brisket that
> I did at a door temp of 225 degrees. It was nearly jerky after 8 hrs. Found
> out later that at the grate the temp was ~265 degrees.
>
> The gas valve is very sensitive. Takes about 30 minutes to zero in on your
> desired temp, but then your good to go for all night. I've got excellent
> results with chicken and brisket at about 215 degrees and cook forever. <g>
>
> The wood chip box is pretty small. I use a second that is at least twice as
> large as the little one. I have got rave reviews using "Jack Daniels Smoking
> Chips".
>
> I once had the same item (no gas). Did a large turkey, cooking it at least
> 30 hours. Best turkey I ever ate. Had to tend the box every 4 hours for lump
> and smoke chips. I'm retired now and I don't think I will hear that many
> alarm clocks the rest of my life.
>
> Good eats,
> Robin

Not hard to figure why you would think that 'GAS' would not be well received
here. We get pretty vocal about the merits of good 'lump charcoal'. Generally
speaking, we don't put much merit in the quick and easy either. But we have
to give some slack to those who are still forced to work 60 hrs/wk due to
financial or familial pressures. But matter of fact, one of our major contributors
here, 'Jim (Big Jim) Whitten) manufactures and uses gas fired BBQ pits. His
pits produce damn fine 'Q'. I 'spect any or all of the major makers of custom
pits would make you your choice of gas fired or wood fired pits as does Big
Jim.

You fit here unless you don't know or care about the difference between
grillin' and Q'n. We do both, but we don't confuse the two. We use gas,
briquettes (gag) and lump charcoal.

I personally have an offset cooker and a gas fired verticle barrel cooker.
I have no idea what your smoker looks like, but if it can produce some
miner smoke and maintain something like 225° to 300°F for a few hours
it will produce some fine 'Q'.

The Brick said that (Don't bother to agree with me, I have already changed my mind.)

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I have heard and read that gas requires more oxygen to burn and
maintain temperature. With more air passing through the meat, it's
more likely to dry out. So if one really does not want to fuss with
charcoal, an electric smoker (which needs no oxygen to maintain
temperature) is much better. I have not verified this myself since
I've pretty much always have had a charcoal smoker. Can anyone verify
or give a more scientific explanation?

"eelhc" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I have heard and read that gas requires more oxygen to burn and
> maintain temperature. With more air passing through the meat, it's
> more likely to dry out. So if one really does not want to fuss with
> charcoal, an electric smoker (which needs no oxygen to maintain
> temperature) is much better. I have not verified this myself since
> I've pretty much always have had a charcoal smoker. Can anyone verify
> or give a more scientific explanation?
>

If this was fact, there would also be a big difference between gas and
electric ovens for the same reason. I've never heard or read this and have
my doubts.

"Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote in message
>
> "eelhc" > wrote in message
> >I have heard and read that gas requires more oxygen to burn and
> > maintain temperature. With more air passing through the meat, it's
> > more likely to dry out. So if one really does not want to fuss with
> > charcoal, an electric smoker (which needs no oxygen to maintain
> > temperature) is much better. I have not verified this myself since
> > I've pretty much always have had a charcoal smoker. Can anyone verify
> > or give a more scientific explanation?
> >
>
> If this was fact, there would also be a big difference between gas and
> electric ovens for the same reason. I've never heard or read this and
have
> my doubts.
>

I suspect you're both right, eelhc for the basic observation and yourself
for the relative importance of those small differences.

I do note a certain humidity coming out the chimney from an empty cooker
just from the charcoal burning that I don't feel off a gasser. No opinion on
electric, but the basic observation could be right, though as you say,
probably too small to bother with.

D
--

eelhc wrote:

> I have heard and read that gas requires more oxygen to burn and
> maintain temperature. With more air passing through the meat, it's
> more likely to dry out. So if one really does not want to fuss with
> charcoal, an electric smoker (which needs no oxygen to maintain
> temperature) is much better. I have not verified this myself since
> I've pretty much always have had a charcoal smoker. Can anyone verify
> or give a more scientific explanation?

Nope. There's all kinds of airflow inside any cooker and
it's due to convection, not oxygen consumption. I have all
three kinds you mentioned and there's no truth to the idea
that gas per se will dry out meat more, or electric less.

There are definitely some good reasons to use an electric, but
It's got nothing to do with lower consumption of oxygen.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

EZ > wrote:
> Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker.[ . . . ]
>
> Wish me luck! I'll post pictures if it lasts long enough for me to get
> any.
>
Well, good luck to ya, Larry. Relax. Drink lots of beer. It ain't brain
surgery, but ya do gotta tend yer temps. It's ready when it's ready. ENJOY!

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
their families:
http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !

"Robin Wier" > wrote:
> "EZ" > wrote in message
>
> > Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker.
> > .................... I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain
> > Wide Body Gas Smoker

> Hi EZ,
>
> I have the smaller. Would have liked to comment before, but I thought
> "Gas Smoker" might not be well received here.

Hey. I saw "Stalag 17"! Blue flames in b/w. ;-D
>
> Get/use a direct/remote type thermometer to check grate temps. My "in the
> door" was off about 40 degrees. My first cook was an overnight brisket
> that I did at a door temp of 225 degrees. It was nearly jerky after 8
> hrs. Found out later that at the grate the temp was ~265 degrees.

Get two of 'em. Stick the 2nd one in yer meat.
>[ . . . ]

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
their families:
http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !

"Reg" > wrote in message
>
> Nope. There's all kinds of airflow inside any cooker and
> it's due to convection, not oxygen consumption. I have all
> three kinds you mentioned and there's no truth to the idea
> that gas per se will dry out meat more, or electric less.

One thing I forgot to mention. What is one of the by-products of combustion
when burning propane? WATER
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

One place I heard this was on Alton Brown's clay pot pulled pork
episode. This is the one he ussed 2 terra cota pots with an electric
hotplate + pie pan to smole pulled pork.

Professional Chefs prefer dual fuel ranges (gas burner, electric oven)
these days but the electric oven preference is primarily because of
temperature regulation.. which would in fact make it preferable to gas
for smokers however the lower end smokers are not closed loop feedback
temperature control.

If aiflow in fact does not contribute to barbecue drying out (again..
I don't really know) then one should not need a Gas smoker. A single
burner $99 walmart gas grill with a heat deflector should serve to both
grill and que. No?

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
> "eelhc" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
> >I have heard and read that gas requires more oxygen to burn and
> > maintain temperature. With more air passing through the meat, it's
> > more likely to dry out. So if one really does not want to fuss with
> > charcoal, an electric smoker (which needs no oxygen to maintain
> > temperature) is much better. I have not verified this myself since
> > I've pretty much always have had a charcoal smoker. Can anyone verify
> > or give a more scientific explanation?
> >
>
> If this was fact, there would also be a big difference between gas and
> electric ovens for the same reason. I've never heard or read this and have
> my doubts.

> wrote in message
...
> "Robin Wier" > wrote:
>> "EZ" > wrote in message
>>
>> > Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker.
>> > .................... I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky Mountain
>> > Wide Body Gas Smoker
>
>> Hi EZ,
>>
>> I have the smaller. Would have liked to comment before, but I thought
>> "Gas Smoker" might not be well received here.
>
> Hey. I saw "Stalag 17"! Blue flames in b/w. ;-D
>>
>> Get/use a direct/remote type thermometer to check grate temps. My "in the
>> door" was off about 40 degrees. My first cook was an overnight brisket
>> that I did at a door temp of 225 degrees. It was nearly jerky after 8
>> hrs. Found out later that at the grate the temp was ~265 degrees.
>
> Get two of 'em. Stick the 2nd one in yer meat.
>>[ . . . ]
>
> --
> Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
> their families:
> http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
>
> Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! !
> !


Hi Nick,
I have a two probe remote. I only use the meat probe if I'm doing a higher
(250+] grill temp cook. At ~215 I just cook until everything falls apart. My
teeth are store bought, and I'd just as soon gum tasty, tender meat.
Rob

Thanks, everybody, for all the great comments and replies. Yup, I've
got my 7-pound pork shoulder in there, got my babe's extra-fancy
Pampered Chef probe thermometer buried in the thick part, and I'm
enjoyin' the light wispy smoke coming off the smoker.

I've posted two pics next door - one of my dry-rubbed pork shoulder
just before I put 'er in the smoker, and one of my smoker doin' its
thing. Hopefully, I'll have an after pic.

Take with my camera phone, so they're not high quality. But, I'm
betting the Que will be!

Thanks again.

Larry from St. Louis

"eelhc" > wrote in message

> If aiflow in fact does not contribute to barbecue drying out (again..
> I don't really know) then one should not need a Gas smoker. A single
> burner $99 walmart gas grill with a heat deflector should serve to both
> grill and que. No?

For centuries, bbq has been made in stone pits, holes in the ground, old was
tubs, etc . New fangled smokers just make it easier to do and control.
Only problem I have with most electrics is lack of power, especially in
cooler weather.

"Edwin Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Reg" > wrote in message
>>
>> Nope. There's all kinds of airflow inside any cooker and
>> it's due to convection, not oxygen consumption. I have all
>> three kinds you mentioned and there's no truth to the idea
>> that gas per se will dry out meat more, or electric less.
>
> One thing I forgot to mention. What is one of the by-products of
> combustion when burning propane? WATER


And the amount of moisture that does result and doesn't go out the exhaust
is miniscule compared to the amount of moisture produced by the meat itself.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

> "Reg" > wrote in message
>
>>Nope. There's all kinds of airflow inside any cooker and
>>it's due to convection, not oxygen consumption. I have all
>>three kinds you mentioned and there's no truth to the idea
>>that gas per se will dry out meat more, or electric less.
>
> One thing I forgot to mention. What is one of the by-products of combustion
> when burning propane? WATER

Your pet cat gives off heat too, but it's not something you factor in when
deciding what furnace to buy.

I've gone through several hygrometers trying to measure this in
different cookers and cold smoker units. The main factors that effect
humidity level a

1. The size of the meat
2. The 3d size of the cooking chamber
3. The amount of airflow

The type of heat source doesn't make any measurable difference.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

eelhc wrote:

> Professional Chefs prefer dual fuel ranges (gas burner, electric oven)
> these days but the electric oven preference is primarily because of
> temperature regulation.. which would in fact make it preferable to gas
> for smokers however the lower end smokers are not closed loop feedback
> temperature control.

I have a GE Profile dual fuel in one of my kitchens. The electric
oven heats up faster than gas. It's also more responsive, it changes
temps much faster. It's also very accurate.

You're right, low end smokers aren't thermostat driven. You can
get a decent (my standards, admittedly) insulated, thermostat
driven smoker for around $400 US.

> If aiflow in fact does not contribute to barbecue drying out (again..
> I don't really know) then one should not need a Gas smoker.

Who says airflow doesn't factor into drying things out? Airflow
is always a major factor. You began by asking whether oxygen
consumption is a factor, not airflow.

> A single burner $99 walmart gas grill with a heat deflector should
> serve to both grill and que. No?

It could. You can use a grill to Q but it's much easier in a
dedicated smoker. And more fun (again, my bias).

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

"Robin Wier" > wrote:
> > wrote in message
> > "Robin Wier" > wrote:
> >> "EZ" > wrote in message
> >>
> >> > Well, I finally broke down and bought my very first smoker.
> >> > .................... I managed to get a Great Outdoors Smoky
> >> > Mountain Wide Body Gas Smoker
> >
> >> Hi EZ,
> >>
> >> I have the smaller. Would have liked to comment before, but I thought
> >> "Gas Smoker" might not be well received here.
> >
> > Hey. I saw "Stalag 17"! Blue flames in b/w. ;-D
> >>
> >> Get/use a direct/remote type thermometer to check grate temps. My "in
> >> the door" was off about 40 degrees. My first cook was an overnight
> >> brisket that I did at a door temp of 225 degrees. It was nearly jerky
> >> after 8 hrs. Found out later that at the grate the temp was ~265
> >> degrees.
> >
> > Get two of 'em. Stick the 2nd one in yer meat.
> >>[ . . . ]
> Hi Nick,
> I have a two probe remote. I only use the meat probe if I'm doing a
> higher (250+] grill temp cook. At ~215 I just cook until everything falls
> apart. My teeth are store bought, and I'd just as soon gum tasty, tender
> meat. Rob

I drink booze while I'm cookin'. If I did a packer cut brisket at 215° F,
I'd fall apart before the meat did!

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled War on Terror Veterans and
their families:
http://saluteheroes.org/ & http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not forgotten. Thanks ! ! !

On 10-Sep-2005, wrote:

> "Robin Wier" > wrote:
> > > wrote in message
> > > "Robin Wier" > wrote:
> > >> "EZ" > wrote in message
> > >>

<Major snippage>

> > Hi Nick,
> > I have a two probe remote. I only use the meat probe if I'm doing a
> > higher (250+] grill temp cook. At ~215 I just cook until everything falls
> > apart. My teeth are store bought, and I'd just as soon gum tasty, tender
> > meat. Rob
>
> I drink booze while I'm cookin'. If I did a packer cut brisket at 215° F,
> I'd fall apart before the meat did!
>
> --
> Nick.

ROTFLMAO; I represent that remark Nick. Now I can say that I cook at
higher temperatures so I can still be upright to eat when it gets done. Makes
sense to me.

--
The Brick said that (Don't bother to agree with me, I have already changed my mind.)

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