Hi there, newbie smoker

[Fraser]

Hi there,

I am a smoking newbie, brought on by the fact I was given an old offset smoker to play with. It will be a cheap unbranded one from a main store undoubtedly. I expect it will leak and be poorly constructed but it will suit my intrigue and for free gotta be worth a go.

I have been reading up and looking at youtube, seems most people US side start off with coals/briquettes to begin with and then and large pieces of wood thru out. I did read it can make the meat too smoky and attention needed to id specific flavourings/woods etc. I also saw the users leaving the firebox door open whilst the new wood went on to exhaust the initial white puffy smoke and prevent off flavors on the meat.

If I were to use lumpcharcoal as the main fuel rather than large wood pieces, do I use a separate fire starter to get them going and then add as necessary ? Repeating the process in the Firestarter to avoid the white puffy smoke ?

Seems a lot of info out there, I will be doing a dry run initially to test the temp control out, but unsure if I should be going down the charcoal route or wood for main fuel.

Lots of questions, gotta start somewhere

[sotv]

Hi & welcome Fraser, I am sure when you have decided on your brand and model you want, someone on here will own one and help you out with any questions about it

Edited May 26, 2020 by sotv

[Fraser]

hi sotv, I had a trial run yesterday of the cheap unbranded one I acquired. It very hot very quick with a bag of bbq coals, and then I used oak logs a neighbour gave me to try.

It was a bit faffy but the temp kept within 200-250F and I decided last minute to add some chicken. It cooked and goto a temp of 130F internally so we finished off in our oven. Probably too much smoke flavour for me, not unpleasant, it burnt a thin blue smoke, and the oak was kiln dried, but needs more experimenting. Probably just continue with charcoal going forward and adding smaller wood chunks to get the flavour right. I guess chicken isn't as forgiving as red meats. All in all, nice day, fire, meat and friends, what could be better.