Mmmmm, I’ll be there in a few minutes! I’ve got the beverages covered! ;D
Sounds good, it should be ready when you get here. It’s at 139F now 
Man that’s making me hungry and I just had dinner.
Tom, it really depends on how hot you want it. The hotter the smoke, the more wood you’ll need. The other factor is the intensity or level of smoke during the burn. There is an air/smoke ratio which is determined by the amount of air you let in and out of your smoker. You will have to adjust your dampers by trial/error to determine the right settings for different temps. It will depend on several factors like the placement of the dampers, the thermal energy source, the amount of oxygen present, etc… It’s an experience factor as well.
The most important thing is to enjoy the hobby and reap the rewards of your labors.
I have no problem controlling the temp in the UDS with the damper and air inlets, it’s pretty rock solid. But I usually am burning charcoal and just throw a few chunks on top for the smoke, I was just trying to figure out how much you use for smoke. I’ve only used one smallish log for this smoke, which is twice as much as I normally use, and 2 cuft is a lot more than 5 or 10 logs. You pay $10 for a stack that lasts 5 smokes, but I don’t know how big a stack is, that’s what I’m trying to figure out.
I still have a ways to go with this smoke, the meat is at 177F on its way to 195F. I had it low and slow at ~215 for about 10 hours, then got it up to around 250F to finish. Another couple of hours I imagine. I’ll post pics, but I’m not opening it right now.
Not much grows out here for that purpose. There is a small
amount of available apple/crabapple wood, some wild plum…then
you need to find some to purchase if those don’t work…
OTOH you find your smoker sitting out back unused for years
like mine was, you may as well $ell it for better usage of it’s value.
Cap asked in the hurricane thread about what kind of tree is down
near his yard…looked kinda like eucalyptus but I am not certain…
help a brewer out…ID cap’s tree.
Seems like since I stopped cigarette smoking, that smoky flavored meat
is not real far up the desire tree.
This is about the size of a $10 stack. Notice there are several stacks in the photo.
Ok, so you’re using about four times as much wood as I normally do. Good to know as a point of reference.
By the way, here are the shoulders when they were done. It was late, I took the pics but didn’t bother posting them. It took 14-15 hours to smoke them to 195.
Sorry about the bad lighting in this one.
When’s dinner Tom? 
In a week :) I’m going to pull it and freeze it and then throw it in the slow cooker next Sunday for sandiwches. We’re having a bbq to celebrate my completing my PhD. I got an email an hour ago with the title “Doctoral degree approved” ;D
I had to cook it all early because we have too many things going on this week and weekend, plus I have a lot more stuff I plan to smoke for the bbq. At least 2 fatties, a bunch of ABTs, a few chickens, sausages, etc. And I have to keg 20 gallons of beer before then . . . assuming it finishes fermenting. 
Way to go Tom!
Conrats…time to celebrate! 8)
Thanks Ron.
Ok, here’s the problem - the bark tastes pretty ashy. Although it’s my first time using it, I’m assuming this is NOT because of the pecan wood, but probably more because I used twice as much wood as I usually do. Thoughts?
Now the question is, do I cut the bark off and throw it away, or will it become more pleasant when it is shredded into little bits and mixed throughout the rest of the meat? Because as it is now my mouth tastes a bit like I’ve been smoking.
Woohoo!
The bark goes in with the rest- just chop it up real good. It’s the best part then.
While I use wood on occasion, it does tend to leave some of the nastier volatile parts of the burn such as creosote. 
Unless it smolders in small amounts.
Well, silly, you’re not supposed to use telephone poles for cooking!
Yeh but they’re everywhere… 8)
Thanks euge, I’m going to go do that right now . . .
You’re welcome Tom.
Perusing Wedliny Domowe I’m thinking the offset firebox also helps strip some of the nastier components of the wood-smoke. Thoughts?
I don’t know, but I’ll tell you this - the bark on the second shoulder was way smoother and better tasting than on the first shoulder. The better tasting one was right next to the vent and took an hour longer to cook, so it was probably in a cooler part of the UDS. On the other hand the smoke had to pass right over it to get out. It could have been something else, maybe some ash landed on the first one when I threw in more wood. Hard to say.
Or increased airflow.
I got a hot spot in my egg. Every cooker I’ve had has had one some where. Stands to reason there’s probably the equivalent in the form of a recirculating or dead spot in the airspace of the smoker. Might lay a heavier smoke on that side of the drum.
Yeah, I’ll just have to try to avoid it in the future. I only rubbed them with S&P, trying to decide how to sauce them. I’ll probably do some kind of Carolina vinegar sauce.
I just cut down a dead orange tree and have a pretty good pile of wood that I would be happy to share with my forum friends. Pay for shipping and I will send you some.
It makes a nice smoke. I use citrus in my traditional rauchbier and it is close enough in flavor and aroma to beech that it fooled Ray Daniels.