Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

New from North New Jersey

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    New from North New Jersey

    Hey everyone! I've been using this site on and off for the last two+ years, and found myself using it much more recently now that I feel I'm experienced enough in smoking to try brisket (my first test run will be in a week). So I decided to join the Club.

    I got into smoking because my wife wanted us to get a charcoal grill when we got our first house. Coming from a gas-grilling background, if I had to deal with the extra effort of charcoal, I figured in for a penny in for a pound and got a COS. I knew the warnings, but I just couldn't justify the cost of an EOS as I didn't even know if I would like smoking and charcoal grilling. Clearly I liked it.

    My current setup is a Char-Griller 2137 Outlaw 1063 sqin grill/smoker with the 2-2424 side fire box. My current mods are simple. I extended the smokestack down to grate level, made a heat/smoke deflector plate from a cookie sheet that I flattened and bent at an angle, and attached a welding blanket to the outside of the cooker to help on inclement and colder days. I got three high-walled aluminum baking pans to act as drip trays for easy cleanup, one of which I use as a water pan near the firebox to even out the temp of the cook chamber. After reading up on thermal mass, I figure I can use the middle pan for water too. Though it's not really a smoking mod, I replaced the grates with Grillgrates, which I LOVE for steak because I can us them grate side up away from the coals to bring the steaks up to temp and flat side up over the coals to sear afterwards and get that nice brown crust all over (yum!).

    I'm now adding a couple more mods so that I can smoke in the winter, which I haven't tried before but would expect to experience issues from what I've read. I figure that a Traeger insulation blanket (modified to fit the shape of my handle), fire bricks in the bottom of both the cook and fire chambers, and 1/4" mild steel (i.e., low carbon steel) plates to replace the cookie-sheet deflector in the cook chamber should set me up fine with a nice mix of exterior insulation and interior thermal mass. I also got a miter saw so that I can cut my firewood to fit the firebox and try stick burning.

    In addition to grilling, I've used the Char-Griller to smoke wings, halved chickens, ribs, and pork shoulder. I didn't like using it for pork shoulder because the long cook time meant getting up far earlier than I'm willing to, since I can't just set the fire overnight and go to sleep. So I got a small GMG Davy Crockett to test out pellet smoking and allow me to easily have pulled pork ready by an early-afternoon BBQ. Now I've upgraded, since we almost ran out of food at our last BBQ. Out of one whole pork shoulder, three racks of St. Loius spares, and 3 or 4 chickens (I can't remember exactly), all that was left was half a chicken. Some the pulled pork and ribs went so fast that some people missed out on the pork and almost missed out on the ribs. So I just got a larger pellet smoker for extra room and to allow me to try brisket (which won't fit in the Davy Crockett). I settled on the Pellet Pro 1190 from Smoke Daddy Inc. with their extra Magnum P.I.G. cold smoke generator to add the additional smoke flavor I feel is lacking in my Davy Crockett, and with their Sear Daddy searing station for grilling when I don't want to deal with charcoal (I often find myself doing stakes and burgers inside on my stove/oven for that very reason). Can't wait to unpack it and set it up tomorrow!

    #2
    Welcome to fun and learning.

    Comment


      #3
      Hey joeytree . Are you a professional auto mechanic? You sound like you're describing your latest hot rod! Very enjoyable. Welcome!

      Comment


        #4
        Welcome from the Southern Tier of New York, joeytree .

        Comment


          #5
          Howdy from Kansas Territory, Welcome to th' Pit!
          Ya' got a nice assortment of cookers, lookin' forward to some tricks n' pics from ya!

          Comment


            #6
            Welcome aboard from Rockland County NY. What part of north jersey are you?

            Comment


              #7
              Welcome from Indiana.

              Comment


                #8
                Welcome to The Pit.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Thank you all for the welcome! I'm in Morris County NJ. I'm not a mechanic, but my undergrad degree is in chemical engineering. So I kinda like tinkering a bit and solving problems. I also like to cook, so this website with it's science-based cooking info was perfect!

                  Btw, how did you all add your gear lists that show in the fountain pen nib icons below your user name in the above posts?

                  Comment


                  • kmhfive
                    kmhfive commented
                    Editing a comment
                    You'll get a homework assignment soon. But in the meantime, you can edit your "signature" in your profile in the upper right corner of the page.

                  #10
                  Welcome joeytree

                  Comment


                    #11
                    Welcome to the Pit!

                    Comment


                      #12
                      Welcome From CNY

                      Comment


                        #13
                        Welcome aboard!

                        Comment


                          #14
                          Welcome from Putnam county, NY.

                          Comment


                            #15
                            Hey Joey welcome to the Pit from the Great Lakes State!

                            Comment

                            Announcement

                            Collapse
                            No announcement yet.
                            Working...
                            X
                            false
                            0
                            Guest
                            Guest
                            500
                            ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
                            false
                            false
                            {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
                            Yes
                            ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
                            /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here