Lone Star Grillz Vertical Insulated Cabinet Smoker-For the new Owner

I'm in the same boat. Been using a cheapo offset horizontal cooker for the last several years and looking to move up to bigger/better version of that. I've been researching possible replacements, including the LSG horizontal models but after finding and reading this thread I'm now thinking of going vertical.

To be honest, I just thought all smokers needed the care and feeding I give mine when cooking but now that I know better I love the idea of getting some sleep during those long cooks. I may be wrong but I don't think I could get that level of hands-off with a horizontal no matter how well made.

Anybody here made to the move from horizontal to vertical and regret it?
 
Ok guys, I need some advice. I am going to call Chris tomorrow, but I wanted the advice of the brethren. I am just not getting that long of cook times with my lsg vertical cabinet. Today was only my 3rd cook on it, but I am going through charcoal like crazy. I did cook 150 lbs worth of pork butts today, but I went through 30 lbs or so of charcoal in around 11 hours. I do cook with water in the water pan and I also use a guru with a 25 cfm fan. I am using fire bricks to create a s shape with the charcoal and wood as you can see from the picture of my charcoal basket from this morning. It was rolling strong for a long time today, then at about the 10 hour mark, I opened it up to see all the charcoal had been burned up. Am I missing anything here?
 

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Kaptain Kadian said:
Ok guys, I need some advice. I am going to call Chris tomorrow, but I wanted the advice of the brethren. I am just not getting that long of cook times with my lsg vertical cabinet. Today was only my 3rd cook on it, but I am going through charcoal like crazy. I did cook 150 lbs worth of pork butts today, but I went through 30 lbs or so of charcoal in around 11 hours. I do cook with water in the water pan and I also use a guru with a 25 cfm fan. I am using fire bricks to create a s shape with the charcoal and wood as you can see from the picture of my charcoal basket from this morning. It was rolling strong for a long time today, then at about the 10 hour mark, I opened it up to see all the charcoal had been burned up. Am I missing anything here?
Click to expand...

My guess would be the large amount of meat. Have you done any cooks with only 1 rack of meat? I would try that to see if it makes a difference. I have never heard of anyone with these cookers having an issue with fuel usage but I have never seen anyone load one up like you did either.
 
Kaptain Kadian said:
Ok guys, I need some advice. I am going to call Chris tomorrow, but I wanted the advice of the brethren. I am just not getting that long of cook times with my lsg vertical cabinet. Today was only my 3rd cook on it, but I am going through charcoal like crazy. I did cook 150 lbs worth of pork butts today, but I went through 30 lbs or so of charcoal in around 11 hours. I do cook with water in the water pan and I also use a guru with a 25 cfm fan. I am using fire bricks to create a s shape with the charcoal and wood as you can see from the picture of my charcoal basket from this morning. It was rolling strong for a long time today, then at about the 10 hour mark, I opened it up to see all the charcoal had been burned up. Am I missing anything here?
Click to expand...

The amount of meat is going to be the main reason, 150 lbs being loaded in there at 50-60 degrees will really zap some fuel until it starts to come up to temp. Also #1 you mentioned your cooking with water but didn't say at what temp your running at, that will affect it as well. #2 do you have the heat deflector or not that will play a roll when cooking with water. Call me and I will be happy to help out.

Thanks
Chris
 
OK, so far I'm pretty happy with everything I've smoked in this guy...except for ribs. For some reason I can't get ribs to have the right moisture. I've been cooking between 250-280 normally...so not much temp variance. In my stick burner, they are really juicy every time, but I also normally cooked at 275-350 over there...not sure if the high temp would be a factor in a juicier rib. Could it maybe be that I'm not letting them cook long enough and the fat simply isn't rendering? I let them go for right at 4 hours this morning...which I would think is enough time for spares.

I'm guessing it's also because wood contains moisture whereas charcoal does not and the little wood chunks just don't cut it in that area. I've been cooking dry with no water, so I sincerely hope that is the culprit. I've been mainly focused on learning how much fuel I use and how to control temps. With no water, I think I pretty much have it nailed down after 4 cooks. With water, however, is my next step to master. I need me some juicy ribs out of this beast!
 
JoSal73 said:
OK, so far I'm pretty happy with everything I've smoked in this guy...except for ribs. For some reason I can't get ribs to have the right moisture. I've been cooking between 250-280 normally...so not much temp variance. In my stick burner, they are really juicy every time, but I also normally cooked at 275-350 over there...not sure if the high temp would be a factor in a juicier rib. Could it maybe be that I'm not letting them cook long enough and the fat simply isn't rendering? I let them go for right at 4 hours this morning...which I would think is enough time for spares.

I'm guessing it's also because wood contains moisture whereas charcoal does not and the little wood chunks just don't cut it in that area. I've been cooking dry with no water, so I sincerely hope that is the culprit. I've been mainly focused on learning how much fuel I use and how to control temps. With no water, I think I pretty much have it nailed down after 4 cooks. With water, however, is my next step to master. I need me some juicy ribs out of this beast!
Click to expand...

Were they done at 4 hours, or did you just pull them off because 4 hours?

I never cook with water on my WSM and get juicy ribs all the time. I'm guessing you didn't have water in your stick burner either. If you're cooking the same time at a different temp, you're going to get a different result. You need to adjust one or the other.
 
Do you foil your ribs?

I cook ribs all the time with water, at much lower temps (225 ish) and wrap in foil. I also tend to stick close to 3-2-1 as a guideline for spare ribs, and end up with fall off the bone moist ribs everytime.
 
DaveAlvarado said:
Were they done at 4 hours, or did you just pull them off because 4 hours?

I never cook with water on my WSM and get juicy ribs all the time. I'm guessing you didn't have water in your stick burner either. If you're cooking the same time at a different temp, you're going to get a different result. You need to adjust one or the other.
Click to expand...

That is actually probably the culprit. I've been used to the stick burner churning them out at a specific time frame, that I think I ignored the fact that they weren't done per the lower temp.

darkoozy said:
Do you foil your ribs?

I cook ribs all the time with water, at much lower temps (225 ish) and wrap in foil. I also tend to stick close to 3-2-1 as a guideline for spare ribs, and end up with fall off the bone moist ribs everytime.
Click to expand...

Nope, no foil lately. I did it in the beginning when first smoking last year, but like the bark with no foil much better.

I'm just going to practice this week with ribs only until I figure it out. If it's just a matter of adjusting time, that will be just fine with me and I hope I just goofed and pulled them off too soon. I'd hate to HAVE to resort to water and/or foiling.
 
JoSal73 said:
That is actually probably the culprit. I've been used to the stick burner churning them out at a specific time frame, that I think I ignored the fact that they weren't done per the lower temp.



Nope, no foil lately. I did it in the beginning when first smoking last year, but like the bark with no foil much better.

I'm just going to practice this week with ribs only until I figure it out. If it's just a matter of adjusting time, that will be just fine with me and I hope I just goofed and pulled them off too soon. I'd hate to HAVE to resort to water and/or foiling.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure you wont have to resort to water and foiling. Nothing wrong with your method. Different temps call for different times...Good luck with the cook, I am sure you will turn out some good ribs!
 
Same issue with amount of meat

I have done 3 cooks on my Lone Star Vertical smoker


  • The first was the seasoning, no guru. held like a champ at 225
  • The second was a test run, no guru, 4 racks of ribs,again held @ 250, some of the best ribs I have ever done
  • Third time and I thought I had it down so, 10 cfm fan, 11 racks of ribs.3 x 8lb pork butts, 8 large chicken breasts and 8 sausage. The fan ran constantly, ( I was using boiling water) and it worked to hit 240 of the 250 set point.
Coming from a Primo Oval XL I had never smoked that much at one time. I think Chris recommends the 25 cfm fan but I spoke to BBQ Guru and they thought the 10 cfm fan would be fine. A bit slower but it would do the job.
It might be ok if your smoker is not loaded but the 10 cfm ran constantly and the recovery rate was not good. Now having said that I added about an hour to the cook time and everything turned out amazing. I will pick up a 25 cfm fan for it.

Absolutely love the Lone Star and would highly recommend it. Chris and Amber are a joy to deal with.
I also want to thank Mike and Cathy and everyone else who contributed to this thread. You are a wealth of information and I thank you.
 
gaubry said:
I have done 3 cooks on my Lone Star Vertical smoker


  • The first was the seasoning, no guru. held like a champ at 225
  • The second was a test run, no guru, 4 racks of ribs,again held @ 250, some of the best ribs I have ever done
  • Third time and I thought I had it down so, 10 cfm fan, 11 racks of ribs.3 x 8lb pork butts, 8 large chicken breasts and 8 sausage. The fan ran constantly, ( I was using boiling water) and it worked to hit 240 of the 250 set point.
Coming from a Primo Oval XL I had never smoked that much at one time. I think Chris recommends the 25 cfm fan but I spoke to BBQ Guru and they thought the 10 cfm fan would be fine. A bit slower but it would do the job.
It might be ok if your smoker is not loaded but the 10 cfm ran constantly and the recovery rate was not good. Now having said that I added about an hour to the cook time and everything turned out amazing. I will pick up a 25 cfm fan for it.

Absolutely love the Lone Star and would highly recommend it. Chris and Amber are a joy to deal with.
I also want to thank Mike and Cathy and everyone else who contributed to this thread. You are a wealth of information and I thank you.
Click to expand...

I tried the 10CFM fan initially and it ran constantly as well (temps at 225). This smoker is way too big for that small fan to move sufficient air, especially for higher temp cooks, and recovery after opening the door etc...The 25CFM works like a champ, you wont regret the upgrade.
 
I will pick up the 25CFM fan. Thanks for all of your posts darkoozy. Chris should put you on staff.
To all those waiting I endured an extra week due to Christmas. Then when it was finally delivered the temperature dropped to -20 and it seemed to stay there or colder for the month of Feb. But let me tell you the wait was worth it.
I also ordered a cover from Grillwraps and while it was expensive it is very well made. They were also great to deal with. (I think that was about a 6 week wait.]
The learning curve continues but is made much easier due to a 55 page thread.
Thanks everyone
 
gaubry said:
I will pick up the 25CFM fan. Thanks for all of your posts darkoozy. Chris should put you on staff.
To all those waiting I endured an extra week due to Christmas. Then when it was finally delivered the temperature dropped to -20 and it seemed to stay there or colder for the month of Feb. But let me tell you the wait was worth it.
I also ordered a cover from Grillwraps and while it was expensive it is very well made. They were also great to deal with. (I think that was about a 6 week wait.]
The learning curve continues but is made much easier due to a 55 page thread.
Thanks everyone
Click to expand...

Very welcome...

I am from Toronto and my company has a branch office up there, and know very well how cold it was this winter, and how cold it can get...Thats why I am in Texas :) and where my bbq addiction began...

Never expected this thread to grow this nuts :) (good kind of nuts) This thread helped me a ton too...lots of good info here!
 
I've got a couple of questions for everyone. Just wondering what kind of wood is everyone using and with the addition of the deflector plate did yall have to modify light up procedures from the beginning of this thread. Thanks
 
KajunSmoke said:
I've got a couple of questions for everyone. Just wondering what kind of wood is everyone using and with the addition of the deflector plate did yall have to modify light up procedures from the beginning of this thread. Thanks
Click to expand...

I use a mixture of mesquite and hickory chunks for beef cooks. If I'm doing pork only, I'll use apple wood chunks.

As for lighting, I didn't change a thing when I put the heat deflector in. Smoker came to temp pretty much the same way/time it always has.
 
I about to get mine started this morning. Burning Brisket, Ribs and baked beans.

What's everyone else cooking this weekend?

Kajunsmoke- Use what ever wood you like the best. Today I have hickory and cherry. I typical like post oak but ran out. Thankfully I've scored a nice batch just need to figure out when I can go get it.
 
darkoozy said:
I use a mixture of mesquite and hickory chunks for beef cooks. If I'm doing pork only, I'll use apple wood chunks.

As for lighting, I didn't change a thing when I put the heat deflector in. Smoker came to temp pretty much the same way/time it always has.
Click to expand...

Thanks, cant wait to get my smoker. I am ready!!!!
 
Smoking Tunes said:
I about to get mine started this morning. Burning Brisket, Ribs and baked beans.

What's everyone else cooking this weekend?

Kajunsmoke- Use what ever wood you like the best. Today I have hickory and cherry. I typical like post oak but ran out. Thankfully I've scored a nice batch just need to figure out when I can go get it.
Click to expand...

I really like Apple wood but will try just about anything.
 
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