Howdy Y'all

[TX Gent]

Received my #1 today and broke 'er in.

All went as generally expected but I was surprised at the amount of residue left after just a four hour burn in and three hickory blocks later. Used 125/175/225/250 four steps and did see one little "poof" @ 225 so I guess everything is normal. Burn pattern on blocks was back block down to 20% left, middle block about 50% and front block still about 70% left.

Question is.... all about normal for first four hour burn in?

Very pleased with my first experience researching Smoke-It, ordering, delivery and the quality build.

All is good!

John W.

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[drains]

Welcome from East Texas John! Front is cooler than the rear on my #3. You can prevent combustion by lining the wood box with aluminum foil. What you have described sounds normal. Now put some meat in that bad boy!

[JustChillin]

Welcome to the wonderful world of smoking on an SI and to this forum. You bought the smoker and seasoned it. Now you need to buy some meat to smoke and a belt with extra holes (or a hole punch). This forum and your new smoker can help you cook some great food. Listen and learn

[old sarge]

Welcome John from SE Arizona. Quick question:  Was there a specific reason you seasoned your smoker through 4 separate steps?  Just curious. 

[LarryD]

Welcome, John, from Garland, TX...  I have the #2 and love it.  I'm sure you'll make great use of yours.  My wife and I stopped at an award winning BBQ joint in Tyler, TX last weekend.  She said my brisket and pulled pork will beat theirs any day. 

[swthorpe]

Welcome from Delaware, John.  Cheers

[TX Gent]

Thanks All for your warm welcomes to the Smoke-It forum!

Beef ribs for dinner tonight will be the first real deal Texas style test "smoke". Salt/pepper and oak ... that's all.

old sarge .... wanted to get a feel for smoke at different levels of heat and establish a "known" burn pattern for the first time. Maybe over-thinking the process but it gave me the early tells for my first "rodeo" lol
drains ... will try the foil liner in the wood box .. tyvm for the suggestion.
LarryD ... there are some mighty fine BBQ joints in the Tyler area and when your wife tells you yours is better, well ... she's a keeper.

Time to get smoking

[drains]

drains ... will try the foil liner in the wood box .. tyvm for the suggestion.

Your welcome, just double a piece of foil the length of the box and put it in the bottom and your wood shouldn't ignite.  If you haven't yet you might consider checking out smokinlicious.com.   They are a great source of wood for our smokers. Their customer service is awesome as well.

[ibbones]

Welcome from South Texas.  Gonna love the smoker and what it can do.

[TX Gent]

Miley making sure the beef ribs are good to go.

10 am / 54 degrees and cloudy / 4oz of Oak and 5hrs @ 225 degrees should be just fine.

[old sarge]

Your pup is either well trained or doesn’t like ribs. I have 2 and they are never further than a nose from food I am working with. One would think they are sous Chefs.

[TX Gent]

TYVM Sarge .... she is a patient ol'soul and knows all too well her Dad will take care of her.

Dinner! or my part of it... BTW First smoke in the lil'#1

[JustChillin]

Those ribs look mighty good!

[SconnieQ]

John, congrats on your #1! It's what I have, and can do everything the big guys do. Don't over-analyze your wood appearance, smoke color, smoke output, and over-complicate your process before you've even gotten some smokes under your belt. The seasoning smoke with no meat (or heat sink) in the smoke chamber is not a very accurate situation for analysis of any of those things. Smoke some meat, how does it taste, adjust from there. There are lots of helpful folks on here with lots of helpful advice, but your #1 might work just fine in it's most simple configuration, like mine does, without lining the box with foil, etc. I don't line my box with foil. I place the wood chunks down the middle, and it smokes just fine. Keep your process as simple as possible with as few alterations from the start. You can always adjust as you go along.

[old sarge]

Good looking ribs!