When do you put your meat in the smoker?


 
J

Jason Pedu

TVWBB Member
Good morning. I'm making some BB's this afternoon. I wonder the same thing every time I do a cook. I use a Guru, so I lite the lump,turn the Guru on. When I do BB's at 325 I wait until the temp is about 200 then put the ribs on.
How do you guys do it? Do you put the meat on earlier or do you wait until you get to the cooking temp?

Jason
 
I prefer to put them on once the smoker has gotten up to temp. I also top the water pan off at that time.

I find that it helps keep the temp down and prevents the smoker from running from 200 to 275 (or more).
 
Jason,I'm still pretty new to this,but I put the meat on as soon as I fire the bullet up. I think I get more smoke flavor that way,and haven't had any complaints.
 
I pretty much always Minion the start and always load the meat immediately. (It's one of the operative points of Minions starts.) I haven't used a Guru in a long time but I losded the meat immediately then too. I see no point in waiting.
 
LOL, I'm a Q-A-Holic too.

Well I think I'm going to put the ribs on right away. Got to go with the Olympian. That is how I used to do it. Can't tell you why I changed. I guess I was worried about funkie flavors. Although I never really tasted any...I think.

Thanks for the quick responses.
 
I load the meat right after I put the coals in for my minion method, and get it all closed up. I don't like to open any more than I have to once the pit is going.
 
I put it on as soon as I fire up the coals.

Alleviates me from having to lift the lid and fluctuate temps.
 
How are you lighting your coals? I have a guru and I minion and then put the meat on immediately.

btw, I never cook the ribs higher than 250 and for me, 225 works best.
 
I use a torch. I light it in the middle and then at four corners. Gets hot rather quick. It's running at 300 right now. doesn't seem to want to get hotter than that.
 
I fill the charcoal ring, get my lit started, then put the meat and probes in and put the lid on. When my lit is ready I dump and add smoke wood, then pick up the wsm, meat, probs and all and set it on.
 
I minion the start, and like to wait for things to warm a bit (120*) before I put the meat on and wait a bit more before I add wood. I've noticed when things are cold, the wood burns a bit smoky with thick white smoke and there's a slight bitterness to the meat. I attributed it to creosote condensation due to burning wood in a cool chamber.

I do think it helps develop your smoke ring when you put your meat on when temps are low and to gradually come to temp.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brandon A:
I fill the charcoal ring, get my lit started, then put the meat and probes in and put the lid on. When my lit is ready I dump and add smoke wood, then pick up the wsm, meat, probs and all and set it on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
He took the words right out of my mouth
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave/G:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brandon A:
I fill the charcoal ring, get my lit started, then put the meat and probes in and put the lid on. When my lit is ready I dump and add smoke wood, then pick up the wsm, meat, probs and all and set it on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
He took the words right out of my mouth </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Mine too. I have a cheap charcoal chimney that doesn't hold as much as the Weber chimney, and I light it 1/2 to 2/3 full of lump. Once that's going and I dump it into the charcoal ring and put the WSM together, it doesn't take long to reach cooking temp. So putting the meat on when I add the lit charcoal makes sense to me.
 
I personally let the WSM run a little before I put the meat on. Not because I am waiting for it to come up to temp or anything, but I like to make sure the temp is stable and not on a slow increase (or decrease). I want to know its pretty stable so I can just put the meat on and walk away knowing that the temp won't change drastically too quickly.

Whenever I don't wait and just throw the meat on at the begining, I always find myself going back to check the temp.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Brandon A:
I fill the charcoal ring, get my lit started, then put the meat and probes in and put the lid on. When my lit is ready I dump and add smoke wood, then pick up the wsm, meat, probs and all and set it on. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Almost the same for me too. I first dig out some leftover lump and get the chimney going. Fill the ring with lump and get the meat on the grate/s and put the probes in through the eyelit if using a temp device. Dump lit on and the place the smoke wood on top of the lit. Pick up mid section and set it on the charcoal bowl, then the lid goes on and plug in probe/s. From start to finish takes less than 15 min.
 
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