Smoker issues mid smoke.....help

[BillN]

Can't tell from the pics, do you have air space under your coal bed? If not your fire might be getting chocked off...

 

[dan_fash]

So a quick follow up question.... should i make my smoker more air tight (custom gaskets at the doors with high temp silicone)? In light of temp issues, I'll swap to burning splits, but will being more airtight have any negative?

 

[4ever3]

I'd run a couple of cooks with splits before I worried about sealing anything up...

IMO folks worry waaaay to much about making stick burners air tight!

 

[JayQ]

Making the new OKJ airtight is great but keeping it that way is a real PITA. After 10-15 cooks the gaskets start to fail and need to be sanded and replaced. After a while you'll realize it's not worth the time. Then a good wind will keep me fighting to maintain a clean fire. I have decided that I will run the wheels of this pit while I save for a new quality Shirley Fab patio or the like. Then I'll be done with the hassle of maintaining perfection in a COS. BBQ should be fun and relaxing and the effort I put into this old pit is taking a toll on my desire.

 

[bucko]

Are you cleaning out the Ash from under your fire grate while your cooking you need to keep it clean if your using charcoal

 

[IXL]

I'd run a couple of cooks with splits before I worried about sealing anything up...

IMO folks worry waaaay to much about making stick burners air tight!

^^This.

 

[Rockinar]

Long ago I ran into that problem on my LyfeTyme, which is essentially the same design. It's counter intuitive, but choke down on both the stack vent and firebox. Do it gradually until your temp rises. What's happening is you have too much air flow and you are actually evacuating the heat. The stack vent has the higgest affect. You'll also use less fuel too. My pit runs a pretty steady 250, once I changed my settings.

Oh, I run a combination of charcoal and splits..

No way. Look at his smoke. Pure creosote. That air is not moving. Its stagnant. He needs more heat to make it draft. Needs to dump a chimney in there and use large chunks or small splits.

 

[dan_fash]

Circling back on this. I do not, in fact, have any air space under my charcoal. I just had the charcoal on the bottom of the firebox. I'm guessing this may be the root of my problem.

 

[sturev]

circling back on this. I do not, in fact, have any air space under my charcoal. I just had the charcoal on the bottom of the firebox. I'm guessing this may be the root of my problem.

bingo... well, in addition to the other issues mentioned, but yes, you probably would have had a hotter fire with the coal bed on a rack.

 

[DaveAlvarado]

The root of your problem is you're running a stick burner on charcoal. But no airflow wasn't doing you any favors.

Get a fire grate, get a bag of splits, enjoy stick burning. My stick burner only ever gets one chimney of charcoal and that's to fire it up. Starting procedure is a chimney of charcoal between two splits like a banana split sundae. After that it gets a split every 45-60 minutes depending on temps. Intake and exhaust wide open, because whoever is choking off their fire to bring up the temps isn't using enough fuel. If I run 3 splits at a time instead of 2 my Old Country Pecos runs at like 400F in the middle of the grate, and it'll burn four splits at a time before it chokes out.

So in other words, start burning sticks in your stick burner. That ain't no Weber.

 

[mrjoe]

:boxing:

Dan_fash,

Before your next cook you really should do some research and watch some videos on how to run an offset smoker. Choking off the heat source is the worst thing you can do as it's going to put out your fire and leave the wood to smolder, rather than burn. You're going to be get a ton of billowing, thick, ashy, white smoke and it's going to leave a bitter and ash flavor on your meat.

For the time being use dry chunks and fully whitened over charcoal, but for your next cook you'll really want to source some proper wood splits. The biggest thing to remember in an offset smoker is that airflow is the most important thing... better to chase a clean burning fire than a perfect temperature. Once you get the hang of cooking with wood splits it will become very easy to adjust your temperature by the size of the wood split you're putting on the fire.

I'm leaving this video here because this guy explains the airflow very well and he gives some very good insight into how to run a clean fire in an offset smoker.

How to Manage Your Smoker Fire - YouTube

Also here's another video from T-Roy cooks which is good as well.
Offset Smoker Fire Management - How To Video - YouTube

I second Smooth Boar's recommended You Tube tutorials. I run OKJ Highland exhaust open, fuel door cracked open, and feed a split about every 40-45 minutes. I think the mods help run a more efficient fire. But truth be told with a constant modest fire you'll be able to hit target temps no prob, then you can mod from there IMO. I also found more moderate size splits combusted quicker, while larger ones created a smoldering effect.

It's hard as others have stated to get high temp burns with charcoal. I have an OKJ for high maintenance fires and I switch to my Akorn Kamado for set it and forget it operations...