first 2 smokes on my new #2 and a quick question

[Gunner105]

First smoke was bacon wrapped chicken cordon bleu, and it was amazing!  Brought some to work and was informed that I needed to make more next time. 
Second smoke was maple brined and maple glazed salmon, same comments from friends at work.  With prep and patience things are turning out great!!!

Now for my question.  Off the bat I bought a maverick wireless thermometer.  When I set my #2 for 100 degrees for the initial 2 hour dry on the salmon I was getting more like 150 degrees. For the chicken, it seemed that with full racks I still had some swings but not as bad. I understand there's going to be temperature swings but I figured that if I set it for 100 then it would average between 120 and 80ish.  Is this normal or is it that I didn’t have the #2 loaded with meat?  If I need to put a bowl of water in to help regulate the heat, it's not a big deal but I'd rather not have to run out every 5 minutes and change the settings.

I'm seriously looking at the PID controller; does anyone have experience with it?



Thanks!

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[shomesmoke]

Sounds like your off to a great start!

The temp swings especially for low temp smoking can be hard to deal with. If you look in the #3 section johnny tex has a post on the pid controller.

 I have the #3 and actually just installed a controller on it, I have used it twice since "just pulled a cured chicken out" and all I can say is it takes a good smoker and makes it a GREAT smoker. Im not sure if anyone has tried one on a #2 or not but it should work the same.

[DivotMaker]

Gunner, great info on the PID here.  When I get a #3, I'm getting a PID.  The temp swings you experienced are normal with such a small amount of meat inside.  I'd recommend a good-size water pan (I use disposable aluminum mini-loaf pans) to help stabilize the temps.  On a larger smoker, like the #2 or 3, you could even fill a loaf pan with sand and place on the other side of the smoke box to provide a really good heat sink.  The more inside the smoker to "absorb" and retain the heat, the more stable the temps will be.  If it doesn't, let me know!  I used to use a sand pan in a barrel smoker, and it made a big difference.

[Gunner105]

I ended up filling my #2 full yesterday with bacon wrapped spicy cheese filled meatballs, bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos and stuffed portabellas.  I noticed that the tempature didnt swing as much this time.  After that I ended up smoking some St Lewis ribs 3/2/1 style and again I had very little swing on tempatures. 

I'll have to start using a water pan or try a pan of sand when I do smaller smokes.  But I'm still thinking of getting that PID controller.  I do like the idea of a permanent mount for the PID internal temp probe.  It seems that I need to move the maverick's thermocoupler every time I do something different.

Thanks for the advice!!

[shomesmoke]

Gunner,  You had me at "bacon wrapped spicy cheese filled meatballs" how were they, and PLEASE share this reciepe with the rest of us!!

[Gunner105]

So far I've gotten most of my recipies from smoking-meat.com.  The meatballs are in the appitizer section.  Here's what I remember though.   EDIT:  Forgot, they were AMAZING!!!  Brought some into work and they were scarfed down so fast if I hadnt saved myself one I'd have never gotten one.

Here's the link http://www.smoking-meat.com/december-8-2011-smoked-appetizers-and-party-foods

1lb 80/20, 1lb spicy italian sausage, 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk or butter milk (I used buttermilk), 1lb Bacon (I used thick cut), 1lb cheese cut into squares, your favorite rub/spices and bbq sauce.

Mix the hamburger, sausage, egg and milk/buttermilk together.  Using buttermilk is supposed to make it richer....no clue but I like it.  Once it's all mixed take out golfball sized chunks.  I put them on wax paper for ease of clean up.  I mashed them flat and put a good sized chunk of cheese on each then wrapped the meat around the cheese. 

At this point sprinkle your favorite rub on the meat and wrap in a half piece of bacon and fasten with a toothpick.

Cook for 3 hours at 225

You can baste them with bbq sauce around the 2.5 hour mark but I ended up pulling mine out at 2:50 and dipped each in my spicy sauce.  Then put em in the oven at 500 for 5 minutes

[Smokster]

Hey Gunner, those meatballs look great.  Did you get the salmon recipe from the same site?

[Gunner105]

Sir, yes Sir!

Between this site and that, I'm getting tons of great information.  This is one of those times I wish I'd have gotten this years ago.  This weekend I was elbow deep in more ribs and tonight or tomorrow I'm smoking some injected pork tenderloins. 

This is way too much fun! 

[Smokster]

LOL... Gunner, welcome to our "Addiction".  I went through the same thing, thinking all those wasted years that I could have been smoking everything in sight.  You then start going through your fridge and freezer looking for things to smoke.  When shopping you start looking at different things thinking "I can smoke that" then checking the spice section to see what type of rubs they have.......

I started checking out all types of smoking and BBQ sites, looking for new gadgets, rubs or products online..... Well, you get my point, sounds familiar, Eh! (That's Canadian).  Just make sure your new addiction doesn't distract you from your significant other, otherwise they start to get jealous.  If that happens, a little bit of good o'l Q will win them over.

[DivotMaker]

Great comments, guys!  It is amazing how differently we look at food now!  When I smoked meat in the past, it was such a hassle that I reserved it for special occasions, due to the work involved.  Now, though, I look forward to smoking anything I can see that might be better with a little smoke!    Heck, I made Canadian bacon out of a pork loin for the first time, and it's incredible!  Who could ask for more??