New Old Country Pit - Over n Under - I like it

[Faston]

I have a Old Country Brazos, a 1/4" offset that currently sells for $1K. I have no problem holding whatever temperature I need, usually 275. I ran it at 350 once with no problems. I would not call mine a fuel hog at all, I wonder if this is related to smokers made of thinner material. I only burn splits.

I drilled and mounted two 3" thermometers at meat height, one after the firebox deflector and one before the exhaust stack. With a hot fire and smoke chamber, convection is very good and there is only a small temp differential end of to end. Note that this smoker comes with a nicely designed deflector and the smoke stack is mounted at grate height already. I'm sure this helps with the consistent end to end temps.

Things I don't like:
1. The outer dimensions of the cooking chamber are just over 19"x40". Everyone here recommends a 24" wide smoker. After having mine for a while I wish it was 24"x48" but you'll get that for $1K.
2. It only has 2 wheels and you must pick the other end up and it is incredibly heavy. Moving it up a slight incline is almost impossible. I made a custom 4 wheel dolly to move mine but it is still a PIA! Next time it's got to have 4 wheels.
3. The lid being 1/4" material is very heavy to lift it and really should have a counter weight. Much worse than dealing with lifting it is the possibility of accidentally dropping it and getting a body part caught as it slams down.

 

[Bludawg]

I have a Old Country Brazos, a 1/4" offset that currently sells for $1K. I have no problem holding whatever temperature I need, usually 275. I ran it at 350 once with no problems. I would not call mine a fuel hog at all, I wonder if this is related to smokers made of thinner material. I only burn splits.

I drilled and mounted two 3" thermometers at meat height, one after the firebox deflector and one before the exhaust stack. With a hot fire and smoke chamber, convection is very good and there is only a small temp differential end of to end. Note that this smoker comes with a nicely designed deflector and the smoke stack is mounted at grate height already. I'm sure this helps with the consistent end to end temps.

Things I don't like:
1. The outer dimensions of the cooking chamber are just over 19"x40". Everyone here recommends a 24" wide smoker. After having mine for a while I wish it was 24"x48" but you'll get that for $1K.
2. It only has 2 wheels and you must pick the other end up and it is incredibly heavy. Moving it up a slight incline is almost impossible. I made a custom 4 wheel dolly to move mine but it is still a PIA! Next time it's got to have 4 wheels.
3. The lid being 1/4" material is very heavy to lift it and really should have a counter weight. Much worse than dealing with lifting it is the possibility of accidentally dropping it and getting a body part caught as it slams down.

Time to hit the gym Spaghetti Arms:heh:

 

[Faston]

Bludawg is spot on as usual. I broke both arms a few years back in a nasty motorcycle accident and it took 5 hours of surgery to put them back together.

Not the same anymore but I am very happy that they work.

So I have a slow bike now. And I slow cook! :razz:

 

[JackW]

The design and capacity of the Old Country over and under caused me to buy one. I was really stoked about this smoker- worst thing I have ever tried to cook on! It takes a tremendous amount of wood to get the cooking chamber to 225, I never could get it much above that. The heat in the firebox would really warp the door. I really wanted this smoker to work for me but it did not! I took it back and got an OC Wrangler. Same price, thicker metal, better cooker.

Jack

 

[marco08]

I've been wanting to upload some photos but I keep getting an error message (missing security tokens).

Anyways, I've had the over and under for a few months now and I love it. It's sad to hear that others have not had the same experience but for me it's been great. Since I've purchased the over and under I've loaded it up with pporkbutts, chicken leg quarters, baby back ribs and even 2 turkeys at the same time for Thanksgiving. I can see how some may be concerned about the amount of fuel used to operate but if I can't load it all up with meat then I just use my smaller pit. Either way, I don't mind it .

Anybody know what I have to do to start uploading pictures?

 

[mahenryak]

Looks like a mighty nice setup.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Load pics on photobucket and then post IMG code here.

 

[westgreen]

Good morning, Brethren. I too joined this forum because of the post here. I spent my Memorial Day sending off the In-Laws and then driving an hour and a half one way to an Academy that had the over and under in stock( the 2 in my hometown did have not one and has not for over a week). Thanks to these ten pages,of post, I didn't just buy the first one I saw, but I looked it over good. The first one had quite a few flaws. For the price, I do believe I will be happy with what I got. Due to weather, I have not been able to fire it up yet. My plans are to season it tonight. It will also give me a chance to look it over for any smoke leaks and make a plan to tighten it up some. I was thinking of felt tape like what is used on my egg, but not sure if the lid is heavy enough to do the trick. Any other suggestions?

 

[SmittyJonz]

Cool WestGreen - please update us (with pics if possible) and let us know how you like it. And after a few cooks also. :thumb:

 

[westgreen]

The Seasoning

So the weather cooperated last night and I seasoned it. Here are some pictures after I oiled her up.

This is not my dream rig, but considering the $499 price point, I think I will really enjoy it. I like the over and under design. It seems to handle temp evenly. I do not have ambient readers and only relied not the tempo gauges you see, but held temp better than I thought it would. One of the things i wanted to look for was smoke leaks. it had a few, see pics below.

As far as charcoal usage, I put a full chimney unlit in the grate and a lit chimney on top. I then put three small pecan logs on top.

Not much color here but it looked nice.

It held temp pretty well. While that was going on, I put some ribeyes on my medium BGE for the wife and I.

It took about 20 minutes to get up to 225. I thought that was fine. Playing with the dampers, Iwas able to keep it between 300 and 225 very easily. I had to run into town for a while. When I got home the fire had been going for about 3 hours. At that point my coals were gone and the temp was down to 175. Considering the amount of coals I put on, the thinness of the steel and the airflow, I was happy with that. Remember it is only a $499 pit.

The smoke leaks mentioned earlier and the firebox door buckle seen below are my main issues with the shell of the pit.

The other trouble area is the amount of weight that the grates will hold.

This is the ash that was left. Almost all ash by the way.

I am looking forward to doing some semiserious smoking with this pit. Tomorrow is the real test. I will cooking 8 Pork loins for the end of the year party at the school I teach at.

Stay tuned guys pics to come as well.

 

[gwillis6]

I like it too!

I thought I was a member here years ago but I must have forgotten my name/password or maybe I am confusing Y'all with another forum. Happens more and more the older I get. I'll have to live with the match lite handle for a while. Anyway, I saw this smoker at Academy got home and searched for reviews and landed back here. It looks like a sort of "Good One" clone albeit made in mexico with some sloppy welding/grinding but for $500 which is about 1/4 the price of a comparable size Good One it does not seem bad at all. I love the design of the Good One Marshall but could never bring myself to drop $2K on it.

So I read the reviews and thought it was worth a gamble as I figured I could fix any issues it may have. I picked one up and seasoned it yesterday after work using about two pounds of lump and three splits. Held 250 to 275 pretty easily for three hours with the intakes 1/2 open . Got home today and wanted to test the claim that it would not get above BBQ temps. Two more pounds of lump and two splits later with the intakes wide open and it was chugging along at 375 so I closed them to 1/4 open brought the temp down and held 225 steadily. I am certain it would have gone well over 400 if I let it. Almost everything I smoke is at 225 and I have a gasser for grilling although I can see myself grilling some thick rib-eyes over oak on the back of this rig. The top rack fits in the firebox for grilling.

Seasoning pics...

Random pics...

So far I am quite pleased. I will cook on it this weekend and report back with stats and pics. Thanks to all for the great info here!

 

[SmittyJonz]

I still like these and if I hadn't got a Deal on BoomShuckaLucka from DWFisk I'd probally have bought one as my Big Smoker.

I would brace firebox tray as in early part of this this thread and probally the firebox lid too. I'd build rack/grate ends inside so cooking grate goes end to end for more space.

 

[gwillis6]

Sorry it took so long to get back, busy week at work. After seasoning the smoker I set out on Sunday to see what it could do. I set up the smoker with about two pounds of lump and a couple splits of pecan. Got it running steady at 225 (intakes about 1/2 way open) and cooked two four pound chickens (four hours), Fifteen moink balls (1.5 hours) and some pig candy (1.5 hours). The smoker held 225 fairly easily. I had to add a split just about every hour. It would drop to 200, I'd add a split and it would rise to about 250 then drop back down in about an hour pretty consistently. It is not as efficient as my UDS (duh!) but if this cook was any indication, it's a keeper! To say I am happy with this smoker would be an understatement. Here's some Q-view from the cook.

 

[dport7]

That might be true........... I bought the Masterbuilt Electric New 7 years ago and the Cheapo gasser new but 50% off- all others have been homemade with scrap or CL Junkers I patched up or tweaked with scrap from work .......:biggrin1:

Maybe Ill find one of these rusted out on CL in a couple years....... :wink:

When I do get a NEW one it'll probally be a Muscrat Vertical Pipe Smoker :heh:

You and me both, only one I bought new was my Oklahoma joe in 93.
All else is junk yard finds or off the curb. I don't know how, But I own five smokers and six or seven, maybe eight grills and I make try pod grills for open fire. Ya I'm hooked. Oh ya' I bought a new Kenmore gas grill three years ago when we moved down here, cause we didn't have anything here to cook on.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Used one on Fort Worth Tx Craigslist - if I hadn't of Scored BoomShuckaLucka I'd go for it.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/for/5062727565.html

 

[LarryO1947]

:thumb: Congrats on both the smoker and the cook.

 

[Hogfan2502]

Grilling

I grill a lot so i'm looking for something i can grill with more than i smoke but i do smoke some as well. I've seen the Pecos and this one at Academy Sports. I like the Pecos but it is just meant to smoke, not grill in the main chamber. I need something i can grill with as well. I love the heavy duty cooking grates and the grill. My only question is can you use this Old Country Over/Under Smoker as a grill as well or is it just meant to smoke?

 

[SmittyJonz]

I grill a lot so i'm looking for something i can grill with more than i smoke but i do smoke some as well. I've seen the Pecos and this one at Academy Sports. I like the Pecos but it is just meant to smoke, not grill in the main chamber. I need something i can grill with as well. I love the heavy duty cooking grates and the grill. My only question is can you use this Old Country Over/Under Smoker as a grill as well or is it just meant to smoke?

Meant to grill in top of firebox. Has grates for it.

 

[Fwismoker]

I like that grill, it reminds me of The Good One Smokers

 

[Hogfan2502]

Meant to grill in top of firebox. Has grates for it.

GREAT!!! Thanks for the reply!