Hi all.
Just purchased my first smoker, love the taste and wanted a new hobby!
I've bought and set up my ProQ Frontier Elite.
Having a BBQ PARTY when England play Russia and want to do some Brisket and Pulled Pork BUT plan to do a short smoke for my first time this Sunday.
I plan to put a whole chicken and boneless leg of lamb on together but wondered if people could answer a few questions and offer advice for first timers.
I've bought some of the starter kit like heat gloves, thermo stick, smoke box, marinade injector, chimney starter.
My questions are.
1. How much charcoal do you start with? Is there an average amount or does it depend on what and how long you plan to cook for?
Any advice on this would be appreciated.
I'm using Weber lump wood.
Do they last the duration of the cook or is it likely to need a top up?
2. How long roughly does the smoker take to get to cooking temp of around 225-250? I don't want to be sat there thinking its not working when I should just be leaving it.
3. I planned to cook for around 5-6 hours max, I would put the chicken on bottom and lamb up top, do I put the chicken in at same time or at what point after?
4. Smoking. I have some apple chips and planned to just do the one handle in the smoke box at the start, would this be enough? I do love the smokey flavours but don't want to overpower it on first go.
5. Water pan. Is this best filled all the way or so far? Will put hot in to start with.
Will it need a refill? I don't want to open the smoker unless it's needed.
6. Prob eyelets.
The thermo stick I bought with the ProQ is only about 6 inches and looks very cheap, I don't trust this to go through the prob and into the meat with me not seeing where or how far it's going in. Again I want to keep lifting the lid to a minimum so I don't disrupt the cooking.
Sorry if I've garbled but I want to get things as right as I can and its the basics that help.
Thanks in advance.
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