# Pitmaker "Safe"



## POP A TOP 1 (Dec 10, 2011)

I have a Pitmaker "Safe" on order and have a question for one of you Pitmaker vets. Are best results with or without water? Any other tips would be appreciated.


----------



## rancher (Mar 27, 2013)

Congralations on the purchase. I bought mine about a year ago and love it. Makes cooking a brisket and ribs a breeze. I can tell you what I do and clean up for me is fast and easy. In the water holding area, i put foil on the bottom. I then bought a deep restaurant pan that will fit in the bottom and put water in it. The reason is you will find that when you cook a lot of grease from the meat and other seasoning on the meat will drip down as you cook. This way you just thrown the foil away and pour the water out of the pan that will be nasty. You will have to get use to cooking with it and it will get very hot fast. Talk to Victor at Pitmaker and he will explain it to you. I cook my briskets for 6 hours at 300 and they come out great. Any questions, I will do my best to answer. You will be pleased. Best pit on the market.


----------



## POP A TOP 1 (Dec 10, 2011)

Thanks-I'm looking forward to the learning curve.


----------



## el rojo (May 14, 2005)

Congrats. That will be my next smoker. What's your wait time for completion and delivery?


----------



## POP A TOP 1 (Dec 10, 2011)

Dlvy was 4-6 wks and they just called me for pu tomorrow making it the start of 5th wk.


----------



## 223AI (May 7, 2012)

I've had my Safe for about a year now, and have been cooking on it quite a bit. Like Rancher, I run a foil covered hotel pan to catch drippings, and it make clean up a breeze. This pit completely changed my BBQ ways

I don't run water in the pitmaker, because I feel like it steams the meat...which I don't want. I've done both, and prefer that the fat from meat hit the pan and "steam" that way. There really is no need for you to introduce moisture into the chamber UNLESS you were cooking Turkey or Chicken, where you want the meat as moist as possible.

A couple of tips that have helped me: 

Run good charcoal, I prefer Kingsford, set-up in an "L" pattern. 
You don't need as much wood as you think, trust me. Two fist sized pieces of good seasoned wood is plenty. I prefer oak. 
Resist the urge to go big with charcoal, you really only need 4-6 lbs for a 6-10 hour cook.
It's worth it to buy the cactus burner to preheat the cook chamber, it doubles as a "gunk burner".
Your brisket will be done in 5-8 hours, easily. Plan accordingly. Gone are your days of 15 hour cooks.


----------



## Flats Mark (Jul 30, 2009)

Can you post some pics of the finished smoker?
I would like to see it...


----------



## adpostel (Jan 14, 2006)

I bought my Safe last year. It is the best smoker I have ever used. So efficient, and everything comes out so delicious and moist. Follow the previous tips, as the Shore boys have put so much R&D into this smoker that you should just follow the process they recommend. It is WAAAAYYY more than a couple of pieces of excess pipe welded together.... I don't regret spending money on it, that's for sure. You are in for a treat! Congrats, here is a pic of mine when I got it home.....


----------

