Offset smoker questions

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17mbpro

Knows what a fatty is.
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I received this beauty for free! I work for a sheet metal shop and one of our guys made this smoker as his final year as an apprentice and he hasn't used it in about five years. Now it's has some rust issues in the fire box but nothing to serious. The slide vents on the side of the fire box are rusted shut but he thinks he can free those up. I asked if he would cut a hole and add a door in the side of the box to tend the fire instead of the big door on top. Any other suggestions on vents? I normally run a UDS so I'm clueless to the whole offset setup. What would you do. It has two racks and water pans underneath those as well. He's going to work on it this week for me so I need some input that I can pass along. Thanks in advance! Eric
 

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Mine only has the top door to tend fire- easy. i have a big slider vent on side/end so airflow is never a problem. Have a removable grate 3-4 off the bottom so ash can fall thru. ideally the grate would be at vent level so some air will go under grate and up thru fire.
I've never needed to - but I can pull slider completely off and rake out ash durin a cook if needed

 
Clean, re season and cook on it before you mod it. And have fun, looks like a nice pit.

Later,
Doug
 
SmittyJonz awakened. Hope this thread has legs. Always learning!!
 
I agree with cooking on it before you make any mods to it. Don't fix whats not broken.
 
If the FB was 24 square I'd say you need and end door but that one isn't a top tender is far easier on a Smaller pit. Get the intake freed up, fire it up, season it, paint it, and enjoy it!
 
I will get some more pictures tomorrow. The fire grate is sitting on the bottom of the box so I will see if we can raise it up for ash....good idea! I have our church picnic/BBQ cooking contest and I would like to try it out there so I will probably be cleaning and reasoning it at work this week!
 
17mbpro said:
I will get some more pictures tomorrow. The fire grate is sitting on the bottom of the box so I will see if we can raise it up for ash....good idea! I have our church picnic/BBQ cooking contest and I would like to try it out there so I will probably be cleaning and reasoning it at work this week!
Click to expand...
JM2C you admittedly have never cooked on a Stick burner. Not that my opinion counts for much but if it was me, I'd get a dozen or so cooks under my belt on that pit before I ever got into a Beauty Pageant with it. It is a Big transition from one to the other and the learnin curve can be long one. I've been doing this stuff for over 30 yrs and the pit teaches me sometin every cook. Small hot clean burning fires are key to success.
 
I agree I need some practice time with it before going into anything serious. Our church has our annual picnic and we pair that with a BBQ contest and feed the congregation so nothing to serious. I still have my UDS as well.
 
Free sounds good to me, we should all be so lucky. I'd take it for a spin and cook on it before modding it.
 
I would run it through the pit calc. Cook on it, and if you have issues you will know where to start.
 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tsg11e97f1cvpax/AAATx1RkdK2CgIqRJvPzS-gha

Hopefully the pictures work! I took some more pictures of the smoker. After I took these I took a scouring pad to the thing and cleaned it up getting it ready for paint. I took y'all's advice and not modify it. The guy is going to replace the intakes for me and make a new fire box rack. I'm putting in a new thermo and she should be ready to roll!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tsg11e97f1cvpax/AAATx1RkdK2CgIqRJvPzS-gha
 
Start with Fatty's, scored Spam a can of cheap biscuits and find your hot spots. Then load that puppy up with meat.
 
Last edited:
That oughta work - scrub it up, free up intakes, spray whole inside down with vegetable oil spray, add a fire grate and fire it up
 
have him get thoes vents nice and hot with a torch and then cool them with water i would use a garden hose and hose them down this will cause the rust to contract and should free them up. i have used this method on rusty pipe fitting's alot. i would leave the door just as is look's like a nice cooker good luck!
 
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