ProQ Excel - Some Questions

Hi everyone

I purchased my ProQ Excel smoker last year in June from For Food Smokers, and I managed to only use it the once unfortunately. I really wanted to cook on it more but the first time things didn't work out so well (I ended up wasting a pork shoulder due to a faulty digital thermometer purchased from Amazon) so after that I lost confidense and instead went to reading up on proper techniques for smoking and now I'm ready to have another go

Anyway, I went into my shed last night, uncovered it and took everything apart to check it over and get it ready for the weekend, and have noticed that the charcoal basket has rusted. I don't really understand how or why this has happened. I've kept it in my shed (which is dry) and I bought the official ProQ Excel cover for it so I don't know how it managed to rust over winter. Is this normal? Is there something that I've done wrong? As soon as I finished using it last year, I cleaned the grills with a wire brush, emptied out the water pan, shut off all the vents, waited for it to become cold, and then put it away in the shed and covered it.

Also, does anyone elses ProQ fit together but not in a tidy fashion? The fasteners don't all seem to be in proper alignment between the base, stackers, and lid. Some of them when done up with the clip are off to one side or another on the fastener rings. Once they're all done they seem to fit together ok, and I didn't notice smoke leaks when I originally used it, but when I assembled it I thought that it should've fitted together a bit better. I am just curious to know if this is common.

Many thanks for your help

Dom

Hi Dom
Thank you for your message

It was good to speak to you on the phone

Sorry to here about the shoulder of pork not going so well on your first cook.
if you are new to smoking i would start small and do a whole chicken first, its very easy and it will help build up your confidence. You will also be able to then work out how much charcoal you used and how much water was used on your first cook to then be able to work out how much you might need for a longer cook.

Tips:
Use hot water at the beginning to fill your pan up. it helps speed up the process
As soon as you have put your meat in the BBQ get the wood chip on the coals
Once it is all going. keep your self from lifting up the lid to look at it no matter how temped you might feel,
You will loose around 20 mins of heat so it will then take longer to build up to the temp you want to cook at.
if you are doing longer cooks remember the stall. This is where the the internal temp stop rising. It will start to rise again.


The covers a great for keeping the rain out but you will find that you may get a condensation build up inside the cover so it is always best to air your smoker every now to let condensation escape.
any air that is trapped in a confined space will cause moisture over time.

I hope this has helped.

Happy smoking