Getting back into smoking in Minneapolis

[Skip]

Welcome from southern Minnesota. Good to have another Minnesotan on board.

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

Pork butts are one of the most forgiving hunks o' meat, and that's where I'd start. As mentioned above, chuck roasts are also a great way to start. They cook very similarly, but since chuckys are usually smaller than butts, they cook faster.

Edit to add that even though a lot of people say to cook at 225°, don't get hung up on that. I normally shoot for 250° to 275°, but I'm OK with keeping the temps between 225° and 300° for beef or pork.

[Texas Larry]

Welcome from south Texas!

[mcook2201]

Greetings and welcome from North Carolina.

[jfmorris]

Welcome to the Pit, and congrats on the new smoker - I am sure you will love it!

[ecowper]

Welcome aboard and enjoy the new cooker! One tip I’d give is add chuck roast to your smoking journey. You can legitimately smoke like a brisket and get a similar outcome. It will help you get ready for that first brisket!

[ofelles]

Welcome from the California Delta

[JZMack]

Wow! thanks for the outpouring of support. My plan was to start with Ribs and Pork Butt but I'm really excited about the suggestion from Draznnl ecowper WI Bubba and others for a Chuck Roast as I know I have one from a side of beef I bought in my freezer. There is actually an arm and a cross-rib roast in there as well. Hadn't thought of that, which is why I'm here!

[ecowper]

The other cool thing with a chuck roast is to smoke it to about 150F, then chunk it up and use it for the base meat in your chili

[swartzster]

Welcome from the Pacific Northwest

[JZMack]

Welcome to the pit. Hope you love that MAK! After way too many pellet grills getting there, I’m loving mine. Most important MAK tip you rarely see is the fan algorithm changes at 250. So, anytime you think you want to cook at 250, cook at 245 instead. Mention me or PM me if you have any MAK questions and I’ll help you if I know or try to redirect you to some others that might. Dennis at MAK is totally awesome for any questions too.

As far as where to start, cook a fatty. Go buy a pound of sausage and smoke it. Cook it plain, stuff if with cheese and peppers, or wrap it in bacon, doesn’t matter, it’s fun. Then smoke a few chuck roasts. Buy some unbleached butcher paper, wrap when bark looks good to you (150-180 usually), cook to 205-207, then turn down MAK and hold meat over 200° for an hour. Let rest a while and enjoy some shredded beef. After you’ve mastered that get some Wagyu beef tallow and use when cooking a brisket, wrapping in that butcher paper after bark is good. Follow with long rest…reading ecowper, chud bbq, or Franklin’s tips.

Finally, if you don’t have a wireless thermometer get a Fireboard to babysit your grills. The MAK is the best pellet grill I’ve had, but still needs a supervisor at times.

Thank you. This is exactly the kind of advice I'm looking for. The new MAK actually has wireless integrated. I am going to see how that works before I invest in a fireboard. I know it's not as robust of a feature set but I'll see if it works.

[glitchy]

Mine has WiFi and it works OK. On overnight cooks especially, I like having the Fireboard and setting low and high alarms and configuring them to repeat and such. It lets you know if you’ve run out of pellets, had a grease fire start etc. The MAK has some of those alerts, but sometimes they are delayed and they only come once. A couple times I’ve gotten the MAK alerts hours later. It seems MAK’s flameout and fire alerts are when you’re 100° plus or minus set temps.

[glitchy]

I’m partial to Fireboard because I use it on multiple grills and also use the fan control on my kamado, but even a $50-100 Maverick, SnS, or Inkbird thermometer can cover if you plan on doing overnight stuff or let it run long times without watching over it. If you’re going to check on it regularly the built in might be all you need.

[Soonerpop]

Welcome from north Texas. I always start with a pork butt, but a chuck roast will be great. Let us know how it turns out, and enjoy the Pit.

[Spinaker]

Welcome to the Pitmaster Club. We are happy to have you here. Great to have another member from MN in the Pit!

Thank you for the support!

[rickgregory]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the most important part of a cook. Pics. Gotta take pics and post them... or it never happened.

I'll 87th the chuck roast idea. In fact, reading this over has me ready to go get one for a weekend smoke...

[Santamarina]

Welcome from California!

[Richard Chrz]

Welcome from La Crosse, Wi