OK, I've been lurking here for several days and it's (pardon the
expression) _fired up_ my ambitions to get at least semi-good at this
smoking and barbequing thing. But I'm clueless as to how to start. My
learning style is 'read about it in a book then try it', and I have a
Silver Smoker to try it with. Since I've been using Usenet for a long
time, I know that asking for advice will usually bring _lots_ of
suggestions. So, anyone care to give me some pointers on where/how to
start? A good book? Some helpful URLs? The name of a good psychiatrist?

TIA...

Alan Holbrook > wrote:
> OK, I've been lurking here for several days and it's (pardon the
> expression) _fired up_ my ambitions to get at least semi-good at this
> smoking and barbequing thing. But I'm clueless as to how to start. My
> learning style is 'read about it in a book then try it', and I have a
> Silver Smoker to try it with. Since I've been using Usenet for a long
> time, I know that asking for advice will usually bring _lots_ of
> suggestions. So, anyone care to give me some pointers on where/how to
> start? A good book? Some helpful URLs? The name of a good
> psychiatrist?

Hey, Alan. Welcome aboard. If you're gonna hang out here, you'll need a
team of psychiatrists! ;-D

You might start by checking out the FAQ at http://www.eaglequest.com/~bbq/

Also, slide down to alt.binaries.food. A lot of the folks here post pics of
their food there (and other stuff).

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

Alan Holbrook wrote:
> OK, I've been lurking here for several days and it's (pardon the
> expression) _fired up_ my ambitions to get at least semi-good at this
> smoking and barbequing thing. But I'm clueless as to how to start.

Nick already gave you the bbq faq url. I'll throw in the Weber Bullet
website which also has a bunch of good information.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

"Dave Bugg" > wrote:
> Alan Holbrook wrote:
> > OK, I've been lurking here for several days and it's (pardon the
> > expression) _fired up_ my ambitions to get at least semi-good at this
> > smoking and barbequing thing. But I'm clueless as to how to start.
>
> Nick already gave you the bbq faq url. I'll throw in the Weber Bullet
> website which also has a bunch of good information.
> http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

And don't forget the Lump charcoal reviews at:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lumpindexpage.htm?bag

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

On 5-Dec-2007, Alan Holbrook > wrote:

> OK, I've been lurking here for several days and it's (pardon the
> expression) _fired up_ my ambitions to get at least semi-good at this
> smoking and barbequing thing. But I'm clueless as to how to start. My
> learning style is 'read about it in a book then try it', and I have a
> Silver Smoker to try it with. Since I've been using Usenet for a long
> time, I know that asking for advice will usually bring _lots_ of
> suggestions. So, anyone care to give me some pointers on where/how to
> start? A good book? Some helpful URLs? The name of a good psychiatrist?
>
> TIA...

Welcome aboard Alan. It happens that I use a Silver Smoker as well.
But, mine is an original New Braunfels Silver Smoker which is head
and shoulders better made then the current Charbroil Silver Smoker
which resulted from the Charbroil buyout of the NB Company. The
Charbroil Silver leaks air like a tobacco barn and that's bad. The
first thing you need to do is find ways to seal the cook chamber
and firebox lids so you can't see daylight between the lid and the
chamber. The firebox door doesn't fit very good either and will likely
admit enough air to maintain the fire with the draft completely closed.
Mine works fine with the draft open just about 1 inch and the chimney
damper wide open.

Looking through your cook chamber into the firebox, you will note
that you have line of sight from about the first 4th of the cook chamber
to the fire grate. You have to do something to baffle that so there is no
direct path for radiant heat from the fire to the meat.

There is not enough room under the fire grate for ash accumulation.
I use two fire grates turned 90° which raises the grate level an inch
or more. This gives you the room for ash that you need but aggravates
the radiant heat problem. I just keep a building brick on the cooking
grate next to the firebox to minimize the direct path for radiant heat.
A sheet metal baffle is a more professional way to go.

The FAQ that Nick pointed out will provide you with a wealth of
additional information that will be useful to you.

Remember that BBQ results from meat being exposed to heat and
smoke for extended periods of time. Temperatures are not critical
though some would lead you to believe that they are. Anything
from about 220° clear up to about 350°F produce good results for
folks in this group. I run mine at about 275°F at the cooking grate.
It's hotter of course near the firebox then at the other end.

Lump charcoal is the preferred fuel in the Silver Smoker, but
briquettes can be used. Royal Oak makes the best briquettes
that I have found (least stinky). Almost any lump works well,
with Cowboy being the least desirable. (That's the Lowes stores
brand).

--
Brick(Youth is wasted on young people)

Brick wrote:

>
> Welcome aboard Alan. It happens that I use a Silver Smoker as well.
> But, mine is an original New Braunfels Silver Smoker which is head
> and shoulders better made then the current Charbroil Silver Smoker
> which resulted from the Charbroil buyout of the NB Company.

Brick, I'm not qualified to comment on the NB original or post
acquisition issue, but your comments sure bring up some interesting
memories from my past. I don't think I'll ever understand the reasoning
behind a pack of peckerhead pencil pushers deciding to buy a company,
then cheapening its product, creating a mess, then selling it out at a
loss. It happened with lawn mowers, motorcycles, chain saws, autos,
electronics etc. and the story is almost always the same: A company is
started by a person who works his butt off building and marketing a
decent product. The product is continually modified to polish its
function and becomes almost an icon for whatever it does.

Then, some big company executive discovers that if he spends his
company's cash on buying some other company, that he'll be the CEO of
both companies and thus getting a double salary. He goes out with his
pack of MBA's and finds the little company. They do research and find
that if they add lots of plastic, fire half the workers, paint it red
and increase the price, that it'll take the marketplace 5 years to
discover that the icon had become a POS, since most people don't
research the current models- they just trust the brand name.

The company's product spirals downward until the name becomes synonymous
with POS instead of quality. The CEO has moved on to another company,
so the old company is sold and some new entrepreneur tries to recapture
some of the goodwill left with the brand name. That eventually happens
in most cases, so some new hotshot MBA CEO spots the company and uses
his spare cash. . .

Another favorite tale is of the bank that bought a mortgage banking
firm. The firm's income was directly attributable to the production
efforts of 4-5 key employees and there was no "momentum" or "coasting"
effect. The bank's president sent the mortgage firm a memo telling them
that since the bank's president drove a company Cadillac, that it was
inappropriate for other company owned or leased vehicles to be
Cadillacs. The 4-5 key employees had their Cadillacs taken away and
replaced by Oldsmobiles. This was accompanied with a reply memo to the
bank president that outlined the differences between the words, "Push,"
"Cram," and "Shove," The key players departed within a few weeks, not
months, and the bank was left with 4-5 Oldsmobiles, empty offices and a
bunch less cash.

While I'm still typing, I also remember the paper company that had an
outstanding sales force. The salesmen had territories that they worked
hard to develop. New salespeople worked for the old ones. Some pencil
pusher decided that if they had the new people work for the company and
not the existing sales force that they'd make more money. The old sales
force departed- almost to a man- and the company hasn't recovered even
after 20 years.

As a friend once told me, "Nonny, there's a lot of stupid out there."


Nonny
--
---Nonnymus---
No matter how large your boat,
the person you are talking with will
have a close friend with a larger one.
---Observation by my son

Nonnymus > wrote in :

> Brick wrote:
>
>>
>> Welcome aboard Alan. It happens that I use a Silver Smoker as well.
>> But, mine is an original New Braunfels Silver Smoker which is head
>> and shoulders better made then the current Charbroil Silver Smoker
>> which resulted from the Charbroil buyout of the NB Company.
>
> Brick, I'm not qualified to comment on the NB original or post
> acquisition issue, but your comments sure bring up some interesting
> memories from my past. I don't think I'll ever understand the
reasoning
> behind a pack of peckerhead pencil pushers deciding to buy a company,
> then cheapening its product, creating a mess, then selling it out at a
> loss. It happened with lawn mowers, motorcycles, chain saws, autos,
> electronics etc. and the story is almost always the same:

<snip>

> As a friend once told me, "Nonny, there's a lot of stupid out there."
>
>
> Nonny

Not exactly relevant to my original question, Nonny, but you _have_
pushed a lot of sympathetic buttons here. I don't know from the old
company and the new company, I just know when I did some basic web
research, the Silver Smoker was well thought of and CharBroil was a
decent name. But Brick is right on about the gaps in the fire door, the
grill height, etc. I've lurked enough to know that maintaining the
proper temperature is an art and not having good equipment doesn't help.

I'm a high tech kind of guy and over the years, I've seen all the things
you mention happen over and over again in my industry until I'd almost
rather tell people I sell insurance for a living than tell them I'm in
the computer business.

The comedian Ron White says you can't fix stupid. But I think in a lot
of cases you can. We're going through a period when companies have
forgotten that customers come first. But I was taught by a lot of very
good mentors that it's easier to keep customers you have by treating
them right rather than trying to find new ones after you've screwed over
the old ones. If being stupid hits the bottom line, someone will pay
attention. So hang in there, and when you're not happy, bitch a lot.

In the meantime, on the original topic, thanks to everyone for the warm
welcome. I wouldn't have expected anything else. And thanks for the
pointers. I'll follow up. And like a lot of you with obviously very
good self images, I'll be posting about my screw-ups so we can all have
a good laugh.

By the way, I'm posting from Massachusetts, where we just celebrated the
state holiday known as "Stupid Day", otherwise known as the first
snowfall of the season when everyone forgets how to drive in the stuff.
So the question is, for the rest of you folks who know what winter is,
do you continue smokin' through the cold and snow, or do we wait until
spring to get serious?

Alan Holbrook wrote:

> ... So the question is, for the rest of you folks who know what
> winter is, do you continue smokin' through the cold and snow, or do
> we wait until spring to get serious?

ROTFLMBO....... Hmmmm, this might be a serious question. Of course we bbq in
the cold and snow.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

"Dave Bugg" > wrote in
news
> Alan Holbrook wrote:
>
>> ... So the question is, for the rest of you folks who know what
>> winter is, do you continue smokin' through the cold and snow, or do
>> we wait until spring to get serious?
>
> ROTFLMBO....... Hmmmm, this might be a serious question. Of course we
> bbq in the cold and snow.
>

Of course it was a serious question! I'm a newbie! I'm allowed!

And of course, you're equally allowed to ROTF and LYBO. But I should have
known the answer. We're all real men in this group right?

Alan Holbrook wrote:
<snip>
> By the way, I'm posting from Massachusetts, where we just celebrated the
> state holiday known as "Stupid Day", otherwise known as the first
> snowfall of the season when everyone forgets how to drive in the stuff.
> So the question is, for the rest of you folks who know what winter is,
> do you continue smokin' through the cold and snow, or do we wait until
> spring to get serious?
>

Hi and welcome Alan. I was gonna pipe in but you were
getting good advice so I "heshed".. ;-)

"Stupid Day", I LOVE IT, but around here that may need to be
expanded to "Stupid SEASON". I'm from NW PA in the snowbelt
where nothing is canceled for a measly 1-2' of snow. I've
been in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York for the last 34
years and it never ceases to simply amaze me that people who
have lived here all their lives have no clue how to drive in
the snow. We either have people who are going 5mph and
can't figure out how they got stuck on the hill, or a-holes
in SUVs (I have a 4x4 too btw, for hunting in the mountains)
who think that their SUV will still corner on ice and stop
with no problem at 70mph... it's hysterical.

But anyhow.... as for doing que in the winter? I use the WSM
all year here and we get some nasty weather. The biggest
thing to watch out for is keeping the wind off the unit and
you shouldn't have any problem.

--
Steve

Alan Holbrook wrote:

> By the way, I'm posting from Massachusetts, where we just celebrated the
> state holiday known as "Stupid Day", otherwise known as the first
> snowfall of the season when everyone forgets how to drive in the stuff.
> So the question is, for the rest of you folks who know what winter is,
> do you continue smokin' through the cold and snow, or do we wait until
> spring to get serious?
>

Hi Alan, welcome!

About cooking in the winter, by all means!! Here in the Vaca valley
south of Sacramento, CA, you'll see me out back even if it's all the way
down to 50 degrees! Brrrrrr....
--
Dave T.

Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time,
Because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

On Dec 5, 5:14 am, Alan Holbrook > wrote:
> Since I've been using Usenet for a long
> time, I know that asking for advice will usually bring _lots_ of
> suggestions. So, anyone care to give me some pointers on where/how to
> start? A good book? Some helpful URLs? The name of a good psychiatrist?

Alan-

Welcome to AFB!
You've gotten a lot of the same great advice I received when I signed
on to AFB more than I few years ago. I orginally hail from up your way
but, have since migrated to the South.

The only thing I can add to the excellent advice from Brick is in the
area of fire control.

I found it helpful to use:
- the Minion Method for fire building/heat control.
- a baffel between the firebox and cook chamber
- a chimney extension to bring the chimney down to the cooking grate
level.
- a remote thermometer
- a charocal chimney starter

There's plently of discussion on all of this in the group over the
years. Google has a pretty good index of it all <no suprise>.

You will spend some time learning but, all of your experiments should
be highly edible. The advice about first experimenting with pork butt/
Boston butt is great. Although I went for a brisket first time out.

The point in all of this is that we are always learning, tweaking and
enjoying the process.

Q 4 all so long as it's not parboiled ribs!

Rob