I'm new to the forums. I mainly joined because I would like to build a heater meter and I'm lost. So you can expect lots of questions about it in the future.
I've been smoking (meat) for about 12+ years. I started with doing some low and slow on a weber kettle I inherited from a relative. After that I graduated to an offset smoker from the retail chain Barbecues Galore. I did pretty well with it but I decided that dealing with managing wood and cleaning up was a pain. After using it for several years I decided that putting raw wood in the smoker was making the meat too bitter so I was trying to use a fire pit to get wood pre burnt into coals then adding that to the smoke box. It turned out to be very difficult and took way too much time. I ended up just pulling meat after four hours, wrapping in foil, then finishing in the oven.
So for Christmas I got a Weber Smokey Mountain and I love it. It's so much easier to deal with and the clean up is a breeze. I've done baby backs, St. Luis style ribs, beef short ribs, chicken, duck, and a whole ham. All the cooks I've done with the water pan empty but lined with foil. The last one was baby backs with water in the pan. I don't think having water helped the finished product at all and the clean up was a lot messier. Since I learned temperature control cooking with wood and charcoal is so much easier with the WSM I don't feel I need the water.
Like I said earlier I would like to build a heater meter. I've briefly dabbled with learning to build electronic stuff so I feel this would be a good next project. I started with a CMOY headphone amp and a minty-synth. I've also dabbled with repairing a few instrument and mic cables over the years too.
I've been smoking (meat) for about 12+ years. I started with doing some low and slow on a weber kettle I inherited from a relative. After that I graduated to an offset smoker from the retail chain Barbecues Galore. I did pretty well with it but I decided that dealing with managing wood and cleaning up was a pain. After using it for several years I decided that putting raw wood in the smoker was making the meat too bitter so I was trying to use a fire pit to get wood pre burnt into coals then adding that to the smoke box. It turned out to be very difficult and took way too much time. I ended up just pulling meat after four hours, wrapping in foil, then finishing in the oven.
So for Christmas I got a Weber Smokey Mountain and I love it. It's so much easier to deal with and the clean up is a breeze. I've done baby backs, St. Luis style ribs, beef short ribs, chicken, duck, and a whole ham. All the cooks I've done with the water pan empty but lined with foil. The last one was baby backs with water in the pan. I don't think having water helped the finished product at all and the clean up was a lot messier. Since I learned temperature control cooking with wood and charcoal is so much easier with the WSM I don't feel I need the water.
Like I said earlier I would like to build a heater meter. I've briefly dabbled with learning to build electronic stuff so I feel this would be a good next project. I started with a CMOY headphone amp and a minty-synth. I've also dabbled with repairing a few instrument and mic cables over the years too.
