Sportsmen 7

[Dirtautoguy]

Hello, my name is Tanner and I just got a new sportsman 7 pit boss.

This is my first NEW smoker I have ever bought. Iv tried several different kinds:

Little chief
Camp chef
Bradley

All of which were bought second hand.

I have done 2 cooks on my sportsman 7 this week, and I have some things I really like and some things I’m a little bit concerned with.

The first dish I did was a simple frozen pizza. I smoked it for about 1.5 hours. The smoker did not produce very much smoke and It did not have very much flavor or show much for smoke.

The dish I did today was a corned beef. I smoked it at about 225 for 4.5 hours and then finished it wrapped in aluminum foil for the last hour. The corned beef certainly looked smoked and it was very good but I’m still concerned about the smoke flavor. I tend to like a strong smoke.

For the first cook I was using straight kingsford garlic,hickory, paprika. For the beef I used a mix of some pellets that were pretty old but still were mostly the kingsford pellets.

I can’t tell if it’s the pellet flavor that just isn’t strong or if the smoker is just not imparting the smoke like I’d expect?

I plan on getting some new pellets this week, I’ll probably try some Pitboss pellets. In the past I usually get bear mountain pellets and my all time favorite is either jack daniels whiskey barrel or bear mountain bourbon. Which obviously are going to be stronger than the kingsford garlic ones.

I am hoping it’s just the pellets I used. I love the smoker other than I’m concerned about that. It came up to temp and maintained temp VERY well and was easy to set and use.

My only other concern I have is the drip tray is very stiff to remove. But I haven’t looked into what’s going on there yet.

I bought the 7 mostly because I want to be able to make and smoke 30lbs summer sausage at a time. My previous smokers could do it but it was very tight

Please note I’m in no way a professional nor do I consider my self a smoking snob. I really enjoy learning though and trying different things. But I deffinatly consider myself a casual smoker.

What are your thoughts and tips?

 

[Cowboy1955]

Welcome from Texas to the group!
Buy a smoke tube. I layer pellets and wood chips in mine.
Hopefully this helps you

 

[Jimsmokes]

For the first cook I was using straight kingsford garlic,hickory, paprika.

What are your thoughts and tips?

Try using those in a smoke tube. Wood chips mixed in the tube will also help.

 

[Dirtautoguy]

Thanks for the welcome!

I’ll keep an open mind about a smoke tube. But I will be a little disappointed if I have to put a smoke tube inside my smoker to make my smoker make smoke?

I’m doing a ham and turkey next week for Easter dinner. I’m going to try to find an excuse to do something with it between now and then too

 

[Sparky]

Welcome to the group from Mesquite, Texas.

 

[Ortiggs]

I'm sorry to say but you're not going to get the "genuine" smoke flavor you are used to from a wood smoker. I have used a smoke tube and still can't get the smokey flavor I used to love from my pit boss. Granted, mine is a pit boss grill that I can set to smoke. For your vertical smoker, maybe try and get a wood chip holder to get "authentic" smoke. There are a lot of guys on this forum who have a lot more experience with this than I do. I ended up getting a webber 22" grill that I set up for smoking (wood chunks) which gets me the smokey taste I love.

 

[Smokeyholler]

Welcome from holler

Last year I ran a LOT of Bear Mountain hickory and got good taste out of them. I started running Smokin' Pecan pellets and they are really good for bark and flavor.

Not as cheap as a on sale bag at wally world but I think worth it, especially for "special cooks". Free shipping on them as well. Try a box out.

 

[Dirtautoguy]

I'm sorry to say but you're not going to get the "genuine" smoke flavor you are used to from a wood smoker. I have used a smoke tube and still can't get the smokey flavor I used to love from my pit boss. Granted, mine is a pit boss grill that I can set to smoke. For your vertical smoker, maybe try and get a wood chip holder to get "authentic" smoke. There are a lot of guys on this forum who have a lot more experience with this than I do. I ended up getting a webber 22" grill that I set up for smoking (wood chunks) which gets me the smokey taste I love.

Im not 100 percent sure that’s my issue either.

The little chief I had was simply an electric hot plate with a bowl of pellets you put on it. But only ever really got to 90 degrees

The camp chef I had was propane no electronics. But it was the same thing just with cooking capabilities. It worked well but it was extremely hard to get it to maintain a temperature. It caught fire often too

The Bradley I have has a heating element and a seperate smoker element and takes smoking biscuits. The biscuits are expensive. I found a way to make my own but it was very time consuming. The Bradley works well but it takes forever to heat up and it too has a hard time maintaining temperature 20-30 degree swings. I also often times ran out of room when doing summer sausage.

I feel like this pit boss should be able to be on par with those.

 

[Dirtautoguy]

Welcome from holler

Last year I ran a LOT of Bear Mountain hickory and got good taste out of them. I started running Smokin' Pecan pellets and they are really good for bark and flavor.

Not as cheap as a on sale bag at wally world but I think worth it, especially for "special cooks". Free shipping on them as well. Try a box out.

I’ll check it out. For the price and flavor Iv really liked bear mountain pellets.

If you don’t mind, what smoker do you have?

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Welcome from Rhode Island.

 

[Smokeyholler]

I’ll check it out. For the price and flavor Iv really liked bear mountain pellets.

If you don’t mind, what smoker do you have?

Competition 1600

 

[Freedbyjc]

Hello, my name is Tanner and I just got a new sportsman 7 pit boss.

This is my first NEW smoker I have ever bought. Iv tried several different kinds:

Little chief
Camp chef
Bradley

All of which were bought second hand.

I have done 2 cooks on my sportsman 7 this week, and I have some things I really like and some things I’m a little bit concerned with.

The first dish I did was a simple frozen pizza. I smoked it for about 1.5 hours. The smoker did not produce very much smoke and It did not have very much flavor or show much for smoke.

The dish I did today was a corned beef. I smoked it at about 225 for 4.5 hours and then finished it wrapped in aluminum foil for the last hour. The corned beef certainly looked smoked and it was very good but I’m still concerned about the smoke flavor. I tend to like a strong smoke.

For the first cook I was using straight kingsford garlic,hickory, paprika. For the beef I used a mix of some pellets that were pretty old but still were mostly the kingsford pellets.

I can’t tell if it’s the pellet flavor that just isn’t strong or if the smoker is just not imparting the smoke like I’d expect?

I plan on getting some new pellets this week, I’ll probably try some Pitboss pellets. In the past I usually get bear mountain pellets and my all time favorite is either jack daniels whiskey barrel or bear mountain bourbon. Which obviously are going to be stronger than the kingsford garlic ones.

I am hoping it’s just the pellets I used. I love the smoker other than I’m concerned about that. It came up to temp and maintained temp VERY well and was easy to set and use.

My only other concern I have is the drip tray is very stiff to remove. But I haven’t looked into what’s going on there yet.

I bought the 7 mostly because I want to be able to make and smoke 30lbs summer sausage at a time. My previous smokers could do it but it was very tight

Please note I’m in no way a professional nor do I consider my self a smoking snob. I really enjoy learning though and trying different things. But I deffinatly consider myself a casual smoker.

What are your thoughts and tips?

Do you want more smoke in the air so you can SEE it or more smoke flavor in your food so you can TASTE it?



Getting awesome smoke flavor in your food is not how much smoke the meat sits in, or what brand of pellet is burning but in how long your meat sits in the Smoke.



Why buy a smoke tube and soak your food in bitter smoke? If you turn the dial down, You can enjoy the real smoke flavor in your food. Turning your dial down... Lower temperature =Longer time to cook= longer exposure to the Smoke or give your food more time to absorb that smoke= More Smoke flavor.

You get just as much smoke production at 200-250° as you do on the Smoke/lowest dial setting. But the difference is that at the lower temperature setting (Smoke) the meat sits in the smoke longer to reach the desired IT and absorbs more smoke flavor.

—————

On the lowest dial setting you want a temp around 170-180°, +/- 10 degrees. Smoke your food for 60-75% of your cook then, if necessary to achieve your desired finish IT, turn up the temp to 225/250° to finish.

When I’m smoking on the smoke dial setting (170-180°) and the meats Internal Temperature (IT) reaches or gets close to the dial setting temperature as what’s on the smoker’s controller, I’ll turn the dial to 250° so the meats IT continues to rise.

The meats IT is the only temperature I monitor.

Use a pellet flavor that will impart your desired level and depth of smoke - oak, mesquite or hickory = stronger smoke ; a fruitwood (maple, apple, cherry, pecan) imparts a much milder, sweeter smoke.

 

[Dirtautoguy]

I did 2 pork loins yesterday and I have determined that I believe it’s the flavor and pellets I’m using. I used the same kingsford garlic/paprika ones.

I got a gorgeous smoke ring on the meat but the same bland smoke flavor. Don’t get me wrong it turned out really good but Iv done a lot better with different flavors.

The loins got a little too done because my probes apparently are defective. I thought they read kinda funny at the start and by the end there was a 50 degree difference between the two and an even bigger difference from the thermometer we have for the kitchen.

I contacted Pitboss and they are sending me new probes which I feel like they made it super easy and were super helpful.

I’m in town today so I’m going to get some fresh pellets in the kind I’m used to using and I’m going to do a turkey for Easter dinner tomorrow

 

[Ol' Smokey]

My opinion, the built in probe system sucks as much as the built in app crap....

Get a set of stand alone probes (look around and pick which one suits you best) and end up with better and more consistant results....

 

[Dirtautoguy]

Happy Easter everyone!

I did a turkey and a ham today for Easter dinner. I used some Bear mountain pellets. There was noticeably more smoke and the smoke was also more consistent.

That being said the turkey turned out really good however it still not get as smoked as the previous turkey we did in the Bradley smoker.