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I tried the cold start method on my offset smoker and it actually worked better than fighting with the firebox for an hour
Everyone says to get your coals roaring hot before adding wood, but I was tired of overshooting temps every time so I threw a cold brisket on with just a few lit coals and let it climb slow... Turned out way more consistent than my usual frantic damper adjustments, has anyone else ditched the hot start for something different?
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sammartinez3d agoMost Upvoted
...and here I was thinking my smoker was just being dramatic every time I opened the firebox. I've been doing a similar thing lately with pork butts, just one or two briquettes to start and let the meat come up with the heat. Takes an extra hour or two but I don't end up chasing temps like a maniac for the first three hours. Definitely feels wrong at first, like I'm cheating or something, but my last butt came out with a way better bark than when I was blasting it with heat right out the gate.
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dylan4633d ago
Funny how half of doing things right is just backing off and letting it happen.
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adam_baker3d ago
One or two briquettes to start" got me. That's way too little for a pork butt unless you're running a tiny smoker. I do like the cold start idea, but you still need enough fuel to get a clean fire going. I usually start with like 8-10 lit coals and let it creep up from there.
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