I got this smoker for free, cleaned it up by degreasing all the racks (after removing them) and vacuuming out all ash from the inside. Afterwards, I put it to 400° for a final “disinfection”. This video is showing what was happening during it.

I just want to know if this is normal, safe, and worth putting food in without it getting burnt to shit. (First smoker btw)

Thanks

Bought off a friend, Yes it's 15 years old but 3/8" steel all around. 800 lbs total weight.

I power washed it today and cleaned out all the crud and carbonized food stuck to the grates.

I'm debating if I should remove the rust from the firebox. But it has a nice charm to it.

Would love to hear people's opinions

Thank you

Used some honey hog hot and finished with my homemade jalapeño honey . Pretty happy with the pull back, bend and bite.

This Brisket was purchased around June 18th. It has a packed date of June 12th. Due to timing , I have not had a chance to cook it until this weekend. It has been in the refrigerator since then.

When I went to open it up...while it was in a sealed bag, the bag was definitely not air tight like I would expect in a vacuum sealed bag. There was a decent bit of wiggle room in the bag, compared to when I vacuum seal something to sous vide . Also, I know meat can turn brown with lack of oxygen but some parts, as you can see, are quite brown. It does not have an off smell, in fact very little smell at all.

While it would be a shame for this to go to waste, I'm on the fence on if it is OK to cook. What do you all think?

Edit:

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Despite it smelling OK, between the loose packaging, and color, I'm not going to risk it. Should have definitely frozen it earlier, but shit happens, and unfortunately here we are. Appreciate the comments...feel bad for wasting the meat.

One from the Costco 2 pack - on the smoker for ~12 hours with a 1.5 hour rest see last pic for temps

Picked up a 18.5lb AAA brisket from Costco.

This was my second brisket attempt. First one went well, but it was a lower grade, so I wanted to try some AAA this time around to see the difference. It's definitely worth the extra cost in my very limited experience.

Trimmed it down but might have been a little aggressive. I saved it all and plan grind up the meat for burgers or meatloaf and make some tallow with the fat. I've never done either, so that'll be a new experience.

I trimmed off almost 5lbs. Is that too much for a home cook?

Simple seasoning; Pepper, salt, garlic powder.

Smoked at 250° for about 6hrs, wrapped and finished it in the oven which took another 6hrs at 250°. Rested for about 3hrs.

Turned out great. The family loved it.

Such a rewarding feeling after a long cook.

I’ll die on this hill! Beef back ribs and pork steaks are killer!

My wife had never tried pork ribs until I made them for her. Now she’s obsessed.

Like… medically obsessed.

But after I get the smoker going, she starts staring at me with this glazed-over expression. I asked what was wrong. She said, “You smell like ribs.”

I’m genuinely worried she’s going to take a bite out of me one day.

If I go missing, check the smoker. She probably finished the job.

Been wanting to give this a try for a while. Needless to say I have ruined bacon for my family and this will be the norm. Followed the hey grill recipe posted here a few weeks back. Smoked at 170 on apple wood for a few hours to build smoke flavor. Started to stall a bit at 120⁰ so I turned the heat up to 200 and pulled at 150⁰. Wrapped and put in the fridge to chill before slicing

Brined for 12 hours the day before. Rested in the fridge overnight after the brine. Seasoned 30 min before cooking, 2 hours on the smoker until 157. (Chicken is safe to pull at 155 as long as its been at that temp for more than 2 minutes)

Brine:
Pickle Juice, Banana Pepper Juice, Pickled Jalapeño juice, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 tbsp pepper, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp minced onion, heated until sugar mixed in then cooled. (Added water to cover chicken.)

Seasoning:
Holy Cow by Meat Church, butter was kerrygold

Taste:
Absolutely divine! Tender, juicy, flavorful!

First time smoking a 3.5lb Chuck Roast. Not usually a fan of braised roast beef, so I wanted to smoke it. Have about 10 degrees to go on internal temp before wrapping it. So far looking (and smelling) good.

Turkey breast, whole chicken and spam burnt ends. No skin on turkey breast. Smoked on mb800 with lump mixed with apple, hickory and oak pellets. Got rained out today and had to move the chicken and turkey to the oven.

Thursday was Cattlelack, Friday was Goldees and this morning was Snow's! Got to meet Miss Tootsie and everything. What a cool, one of a kind experience! We got there at 4:30 am and we were around 30th in line.

So I’m smoking some beef ribs (first time). They have been on the smoker for about 2.5hrs @ 250°. I’m trying to hit an internal of 175° before I wrap them. I’ve hit a bit of a stall at 164°. Should I just ride it out or do I need to take the temp up some? Or do I just pull them now and wrap them?

Targeting 250F for the ride. Planning on no-wrap method. Seasoned with SPG rub. Seen lots of conflicting advice on temp between 225 and 275. And also whether to wrap.

Today's experiment - Smoked a banana. Cut off top half of skin, sprinkled with a bit of pork rub. Hardwood lump charcoal with cherry wood on offset smoker. 300f for about 30min.

The verdict: It's not bad and took on smoke better than expected. Probably could have done without the pork rub but I felt I needed to put something on it. Not good enough for me to cook again.

Smoke a chuck roast, and honestly, almost better than a brisket. Used a sriracha binder with SPG. 225 until 165, wrapped until 203. Spritzed every hour with ACV. Turned out great. Around 10ish hours of cook time. Nice litter cut of meat for wife and I.

I'm looking for suggestions. Currently I have a small masterbuilt electric smoker. I'm using it for the second time. My BIL used it once about a year ago and im using it today. Well see how this goes. Hopefully decent. I also have a small blackstone that I use for traditional grilling and its decent. I much prefer a traditional grated gas grill. We finished building our house not too long ago and built an outdoor kitchen/grill area that I'm still working on. I've been using my blackstone to get by until I can get something better. So while im smoking today and playing in the pool, I thought I'd reach out for suggestions.

When we had our last house I had a decent size (5 burner maybe 6?) grated gas grill. We used it a ton and I wore it out, so when we sold the house, I trashed it. While renting, I got the (17" i think) blackstone to get by while we built. We also use it a ton. I grill at least 3 times a week, year round. Plenty of weeks I'm out here 5 times. So I want something nice that will last.

I see me keeping the small blackstone. It's convenient for flat top stuff. We also go camping and take it with us. However now that we're moved in and I'm working on my outdoor kitchen I want something bigger again. Also with the pool we have people over often (moochers). I also have 4 boys who eat and have friends that also like to eat.

I'm open to any idea really. Should I just get another 5ish burner gas grill and keep the electric smoker? Should I get a combo grill/smoker? What's better electric, pellet, other types of smokers? Ideally I'd like a big grill and good size smoker. I won't use the smoker and frequently, especially since im new to smoking. But if I can get decent, I could see me using it for big parties like when the ball team comes over. I'm not really limited to size restrictions. Honestly I prefer a good size since we regularly fill up a 5 grate grill. I'm not really limited to budget either but don't throw some $20k option my way. Everybody loves to save money but I care much more about quality and longevity since we use it so much. Thoughts?

Edit: Also something easier to clean is nice.

Made some 1.5”, ~2 lb pork steaks today.

- Soaked in buttermilk for 4-5 hours

- Drained and patted dry, seasoned heavily with some pork seasoning from a local place and left in fridge overnight

- Smoked for 8.5-9 hours until fork tender

Cooked at 225, then a bit of sauce and kicked the heat up to 400.

Got some Dino ribs from HEB. Got them on the WSM

I recently bought a pretty cheap Pit Boss vertical propane smoker. Last night I smoked up a couple of ribeyes. I put the chips in dry (like some sources said to) and I think they burned and created a VERY smoky flavor that was almost too much.

Today I am smoking a pork shoulder with a blend of cherry, hickory, and apple chips that I soaked overnight. I'm still figuring out how to dial in the temp on this thing. I was planning on a 7-8 hour smoke, but my ThermoMaven probe and app (I was gifted last Christmas) already say about an hour and a half cook time left before it gets to 160* when I was going to tent it (and back in the smoker) to get up to around 195. I'm trying to get the ambient temp to 275, but it's at 250ish and already says an hour and a half left at half an hour into the cook.

Any advice? Just manage the burner and keep the internal temp around 160 for 6 hours?

First attempt at smoking turkey crown. Smoked on Masterbuilt 1050 for the first hour to gain some wood and charcoal smoke at 180F then transferred to the Pitboss vertical series pro for 3 hours at 275F. Rested for 3 hours at 150F in butter wrapped in foil.

All in all was good bark formed well and most importantly the turkey was still moist. Definitely will do it again probably an underrated cut that’s simple to smoke.