Old Country BBQ Pits SmokeHouse Vertical (LadyKickA$$) Mods

[Thatgrimguy]

 

[SmittyJonz]

I never built a charcoal basket or tried running it on charcoal as I have a charcoal smoker......

 

[Nuco59]

Give it heck. You could whip out a test basket in no time- try it out and see how she runs. My guess is it not being airtight will just set the whole basket ablaze eventually. But I can be (and often am) wrong - the wife is getting better with the "told you so's" :-D

 

[SmittyJonz]

New store models come with a removable water pan now.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Bump for Newbs......

 

[mrbill]

i've been looking at these for a bit and have decided that i will have one in the near future, just have to scrape up the cash and figure out how to get it home.

 

[frognot]

mrbill, don't know where you're at in Texas but we're having our Spring Texas Brethren Bash at Lake Ray Roberts (north of Dallas) and I'd like to give you a personal invite.

Kevin (SmittyJonz) will be there and no telling what smoker (or smokers) he'll show up with.

Bash info in my signature.

 

[mrbill]

I appreciate the invite, but I cannot make it. I live just north of San Antonio and I have to work OT this weekend.

 

[MQ2]

i cand decide between one of these or an bandera. Help

 

[SmittyJonz]

i cand decide between one of these or an bandera. Help

ALOT more Capacity on the Smokehouse, Fully Welded and Direct firebox a lil more efficient and fits full size splits but more $.
The New Bandera is a Good Deal but I'd rather have a Smokehouse if in the Budget. Bandera firebox is small so may have to cut down your splits.

 

[mrbill]

i cand decide between one of these or an bandera. Help

many moons ago i had a bandera. it was my first true smoker and i loved it, but didn't know how to properly care for it or fix some of the issues it had. wound up putting it on the curb. by the time i started to regret that decision(about an hour later), someone had grabbed it. some time later i found this site and saw all the fixes for the issues i had with it as well as how to take care of it. always told myself if i ever had the chance to pick up another one that i would. fast forward to a few months ago and they are becoming available again at various retail stores near me. told the wife that i wanted one again and to pow wow with everyone who might give me a bday present(my bday is in a couple weeks) to ask that they all pitch in to get me one as my only present on my bday. a few days later, i saw the OC smokehouse at my local academy store. did some googling and searching here about it. it didn't take me more than a few hours to decide that while i may wax nostalgic for the bandera, the OC smokehouse was a much better cooker. heavier guage metal, more effecient design and much greater capacity. i promptly told the wife i no longer wanted another bandera and wanted this one instead and would work as much OT as i needed to to come up with the difference in funds between what folks were gonna chip in to get the bandera vs what the smokehouse would cost. i worked my tail off for the past several weeks and now have the funds to buy the smokehouse today if it wanted to, but i'm waiting until my bday to see how much folks have pitched in so that i can use the extra $$ i have to buy meat and wood.

this is all a long way of saying that i've owned a bandera and loved it, but imo, the oc smokehouse is very much worth the extra $$.

 

[bwram1]

ALOT more Capacity on the Smokehouse, Fully Welded and Direct firebox a lil more efficient and fits full size splits but more $.
The New Bandera is a Good Deal but I'd rather have a Smokehouse if in the Budget. Bandera firebox is small so may have to cut down your splits.

Capacity on the Smokehouse is around 1300 Sq Inches. With the 2 extra grates I bought for the Bandera, I have a bit over 1440 sq inches.

I can only use 4 grates if I intend to load all with butts, so I do lose a bit for sure...can do 8 butts on 4 grates, versus the 12 that likely fits on the 3 Smokehouse grates.

If doing numerous pans of beans, mac or whatever I can do a pan per each of the 6 grates...so 6 pans versus 3 for the Smokehouse. And, with all the grate positions, I can buy more grates and run up to 12 for wings.

I do have to trim a couple of bones off the small end of ribs to fit them on...grates are 15.25" x 16"...I was able to fit 3 racks of STL that I trimmed out of full spares this past weekend. Using 6 grates, I can fit 12 racks...which is about what the Smokehouse holds.

Firebox will hold splits around 14-16" long although I use a 12x12 fire basket to keep the heat away from the side walls...so far no paint coming off the sides...just the top. I cut my splits down to 10" and about beer can diameter. I can push and hold it at 300+ for chicken or I can get it to settle in around 250-275 for all other. Took me about 4 cooks to master the fire management on her.

I'd say you can't go wrong with either...just depends on how much you wanna spend.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Fixed my Pics......

 

[SmittyJonz]

Louisville, Ky has some........