Offset Smokers- How many of you rely on kiln dried wood to maintain a clean fire in an offset smoker?

Yes I used Photobucket. That was mistake.

I finally had a free weekend to work on my Yoder Wichita door mod, and it turned out great. I'm anxious get in some cook time so I can report back with a performance review. Let's take a look at how I arrived at my solution.

My first experiment to remedy the smoldering log dilemma was a simple pizza pan wedged over the firebox opening. This worked TOO well, and I had a hard time keeping my temp low enough for smoking. Without a way to close off the opening the fire burned hotter than ever. The results proved to me that there definitely was an air starvation issue with this firebox. No smoldering logs here - just blazing fire.


My second experiment yielded better control of the fire and excellent results. I did a few cooks like this and never experienced any smoldering issues. Performance was good, but I didn't have enough control over the size of the vent opening when things got too hot.


My third experiment has been in use for months and has worked beautifully for my cooking style. I have photo-documented many cooks with my "cookie sheet" prototype door, and have had effortless cooks where I spent most of my time in the house because the cooker was purring along at 225F until it needed another log. No pre-heating, no kiln-dried wood, no massive charcoal bed to keep things burning. It was clean burning even for long cooks and I used very little firewood to maintain temps. My only complaint was that I had to install/remove it every time I cooked or else I couldn't put my grill cover on. Also, since it was bolted on, I couldn't open it up to rake out ashes on really long cooks, so that was annoying.


I decided to go with this design, which is a simple door modification, rather than a full door replacement. I removed a section from the lower vent opening in the door, and fabricated a new vent plate from 12"x1/4" steel plate. The new vent always covers the upper door opening, so all the fresh air will enter via the new enlarged lower door opening.



The new vent area is shown in the middle graphic here. It's slightly smaller than my prototype's vent area, but larger than the 2 factory vent openings combined.


Here's the final door mod ready for action. I added a new door latch while I was at it because I always wished it had a spring handle too. I plan to start a new thread over at the Yoder forum detailing the process and the materials I used, but I want to give it some cook time before I do.

I start with some KBB.....and some small chips/splits. Then I add splits as needed. As I said on another thread I like smaller splits more often......more tending but every 45 mins doesn’t seem to bad and it also keeps the temp swings to a minimum....just my .02....... Also I use wood from academy sports in the big bad...always VERY dry......

Kiln dried wood doesn't have near enough moisture in it. It is a waste to use in an offset. Might as well burn cardboard

Let me put it another way...
Overly seasoned wood of any type is my last choice.
I much prefer some wood with a little moisture content in it.
It lasts longer, has better flavor and will not ash your smoker as bad.

All those folks that tell you there is no difference in flavor between different types of wood must all use kiln dried, because there is a huge difference in flavors when using properly seasoned smoke wood

I also use wood that is less than the fully seasoned wood I burn for heat in the winter. The smoker gets wood that is seasoned for less than a year and still has a fresh color and some moisture to it. When it sits too long, it becomes firewood.

daninnewjersey said:

Perhaps kiln dried is another of Franklin's secrets....:mrgreen::mrgreen:

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Only if you think stacked in the central Texas heat is 'kiln dried"!!!!

I get some of what he's saying, but it sounds like just another guy trying to make a buck off the internet.

I put two chimneys of B&B lump in my Old Country over and under when I was seasoning it on Monday, added two very small splits and that dude shot up to well over 400 degrees. I used preheated Western brand pecan splits from Academy. And I'd be willing to bet that my pit is made out of thinner metal than the Wichita

^^^The problems many have encountered with the Wichita have nothing to do with metal thickness, but the design of the device itself. I don't know why the "guy" chose this thread for a continuation of his pursuit to get a properly working smoker, but I for one admire his drive.....and success with a piece of equipment that more than one person of my acquaintance has regretted purchasing.
He posted everything on the Yoder forum, along with his conversations with Yoder personnel concerning the drafting issues of this particular smoker. It is quite a read.

I have followed this same topic on smoking meat forums and supposedly the Kingman, which is the Wichita's bigger sibling, doesn't have the same flow problems. Some of the kingman owners have noticed that the firebox has bigger dimensions on the intake damper that are sufficient for good drafting a clean burning fire. Nonetheless, there's a lot of upset that Wichita owners have dropped 2 grand on a cooker that doesn't do what it should

bbqpitsmoker said:

And those people who have spent their $2,000 should imagine how those of us in Australia who have spent our $5,000 feel.........:mmph:

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That's a bust! I'm complaining about $800 shipping to Colorado and now I feel sheepish imagining shipping to the other side of Earth. I hope Yoder makes it right with y'all

I posted a write-up about my Wichita door mod over at the Yoder forum: http://community.yodersmokers.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1570

I used kiln dried wood for awhile because I got a deal on it. It sucks..

Properly kiln dried firewood has a moisture content of 20%+/-, the same as properly air dried firewood, and is fine for BBQ.
Unless you own a COS like me, I find that my BBQ wood has to be between 10% and 16% moisture to burn properly in my Chargriller.

cliffcarter said:

Properly kiln dried firewood has a moisture content of 20%+/-, the same as properly air dried firewood, and is fine for BBQ.
Unless you own a COS like me, I find that my BBQ wood has to be between 10% and 16% moisture to burn properly in my Chargriller.

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The less moisture the better for home heating. It takes a LOT of btu's to convert water to steam and all the heat goes out the chimney which significantly reduces the efficiency of a modern high efficiency stove.

For BBQ, a moisture level above 20% can be beneficial as it helps keep the fire burning slow and steady and adds moisture to the air. You need it dry enough to ignite and burn, but too dry can make things more difficult to control.

If you need super dry wood to burn in your smoker, you either aren't maintaining a good coal bed, or the smoker has design issues.

Good ole Arkansas air does the trick well at drying out my wood.. although in the summer like now its hot enough to dry it out faster lol I guess that aides in my cooking wood getting ready to burn quicker! lol

Yoder is recommending kiln-dried wood on their atbbq.com site, in the "MAY WE ALSO SUGGEST" section when you look at either of their Wichita smokers. They describe the wood like this:I thought it was more than a coincidence when I saw the kiln-dried wood advertised only on the Wichita pages (standard or loaded), but not advertised on any of their other offset smoker pages. Seems like there's a connection there doesn't it?

Incidentally, looking at this screenshot reminds me: they still have not posted my review of this smoker. It looks like they only allow reviews if they are 5 out of 5 stars. We'll see if they eventually allow the review, but I have posted several reviews on that site for different products and none of them have been allowed. Their customer feedback is suspect. Update: they finally allowed my review of the probe port, but the other 2 reviews are still not there. I can post them here for those interested in seeing honest feedback from a real Yoder customer:

Feedback for Loaded Wichita:
http://i.imgur.com/i4nx9Sp.gif
Feedback for Log Lighter:
http://i.imgur.com/MpGJWOE.gif

BTW, you may be wondering why I consider Yoder Smokers and ATBBQ the same company, it's because Don Cary owns both in Wichita, Kansas. He uses ATBBQ to help promote his products:

Don Cary owner of Yoder Smokers talks about his company:
http://www.kansas.com/news/business/article8456969.html

ATBBQ owner Don Cary presents YS640 prize to Station One firefighters:
https://www.facebook.com/allthingsbbq/videos/10153538337573947/

Try to PM slamkeys. He's had long devoted threads to the drafting challenges to the Yoder Wichita. HEs even fabricated metal patches and altered his intake door. He's posted lots of photos and sketches. I believe he's been so effective that Yoder released that video as a damage control measure

Having to use kiln dried wood in an offset smoker is simply ridiculous. The added cost alone could be a real burden for many.
On our Horizon offset, sized about the same as the Wichita, and 'looks' about like one.....except that the fire box is lower and the intake vents are MUCH lower.....resulting in a system that actually works!, I can toss in any old piece of wood. Picked up from the ground. Moisture content completely unknown (and unimportant). Everything burns. Everything flows right on through to the cook chamber and then on and up through the exhaust. Just like it should.

No one at Horizon has ever suggested, to my knowledge, that it is paramount to turn the fire box into the wind (in the hope that doing so will force air to move on through that damned fire box instead of trying to exhaust back through the upper intake vent). My smoker has excellent draft no matter what it's orientation is, relative to the sometimes tornado-like and often variable-direction Oklahoma winds. The very idea of having to continually rotate the smoker is insulting at worst, and questionable at best.

From what I understand, The Yoder Kingman, which is a larger class of smoker, is an excellent machine, works as intended, and isn't dependent on force-fed drafting, moistureless wood, or having the proper phase of the moon in order to make good barbecue. If I ever take the plunge with a larger smoker the Kingman is a definite possibility.