Stick burner quality - in a cabinet style?? Ideas and questions

[Waxtell]

In my recent quest for a cooker that turns out as close to the quality of Q offered by the classic stick burning offset as possible while also enjoying the benefit of a cabinet I have some thoughts I’d like everyone’s input on for any part of this post you feel - as this group is a true wealth of info.

In my research I’ve come to the conclusion (correct me if I’m wrong) that the flavor an offset provides is significantly due to the full combustion fire (not smoldering) and increased airflow. I’ve owned a Kamado Joe and LSG PeeWee and both have turned out excellent Q so I’m not knocking the smoldering fire but I’m in the market for a new cooker and it’s really got me thinking. I didn’t like that you can’t add wood to the Kamado Joe after starting the cook and I didn’t like that every time you open the cook chamber on the PeeWee you stoke the fire. I also needed much more capacity. I’ve never used a Gravity Fed before but Right now I’m thinking about an Assassin or Souther Q GF. I also found out a yr ago that after Stumps sold his company he and some others (mostly others under his direction and design) are building smokers again under the name Stumpsville. They will fabricate a gravity fed how you want it last I heard so that’s a strong possibility for me. Plus I’m in Florida and Georgia is not that far. Another possibility is LSG cabinet offset w a fire basket.

Initially I thought to simply put a fire basket in the fire box of a Shirley LSG cabinet or some other non insulated offset cabinet and then hook a guru up to it somehow, but I wasn’t sure if the smoldering fire would put out enough heat for that non insulated heavy duty cooker but again, what about airflow and full combustion right?

My next thought is to use the firebox of a GF as a stick burning firebox (Is the fire box of a souther Q or Assassin big enough for this? Also maybe I can get Stumpsville to build one big enough for small splits) for the first couple hours and then to start up the gravity fed portion with wood chunks mixed in the chute. This second portion of the cook would be a smoldering fire so not the full combustion fire however, interestingly, I have seen posts where some say the wood chunks are burning with flames in the firebox of the GF’s which I don’t understand because the firebox door would be closed and air very limited because of the guru or whatever device is being used. But if true all the better right? (Any GF owners here that can attest to that as well?)

I’m hoping this would produce the best of best of both worlds with 2-3 hrs of stick burning and then the convenience of GF.

Please let me know your thoughts on these ideas.

Couple other questions:

I am also understanding that an insulated cook chamber will require a much smaller fire than a non insulated one such as a Shirley. Will a stick burning fire put off too much heat for an insulated cook chamber?Would a smoldering fire basket put out too little heat for a Shirley?
Also I know Shirley has a damper between the fire box and the cook chamber. Can someone tell me what purpose that serves? I’m guessing to control heat into cook chamber.

This is all probably too many questions but if you feel inclined to put in your .02 on any part of it I’d greatly appreciate it.

 

[WeberWho]

I place wood chunks under the charcoal grate for the first 2-3 hours in my GF. The sparks from the charcoal above ignite the chunks where they can fully ignite. I have my GF paired with my Fame Boss 500 controller. (I don't add chunks into the chute with my charcoal. I've read that majority of your smoke profile is induced the first few hours of your cook. Your meat can only absorb so much smoke beyond that. I've never felt that I needed up add chunks into the chute after 2-3 hours. Just my personal opinion though.)

 

[SmittyJonz]

Small chunks mixed in chute with charcoal - I only use briquettes - big chunks in firebox. Assassin, Southern Q or maybe the Stumpsville you mentioned.I have an Old Country GF. Gravity Fed, Drum Smoker, Cabinet smoker - the Hotter you cook the more wood you can burn and less smoldering. I run Hot n Fast around 300* - sometimes 325*. I've had many smokers - bullet, drum , cabinet, offset, vertical direct, vertical offsets , even a file cabinet smoker. I can can get close to a stick burner taste with any of them but I use 20-30 wood chunks a cook........... I even add a pan of burning charcoal n wood chunks to my pellet pooper............

 

[PGarSD]

It sounds like you're shooting for the taste of a full stickburner with the convenience of a gravity fed smoker. While I think a GF can get close enough to a stickburner (offset) that it probably doesn't matter to most people, the taste of the stickburner comes, as you pointed out, from the byproducts of clean burning wood.

You'll get closer to that taste by burning more wood cleanly in a GF (question; is it possible to maintain a clean burning wood fire in a GF while maintaining temp?). But, you're still burning less wood for the entire cook compared to an offset so you'll have less wood burning "byproducts" hitting the meat...

Insulated cooker: I think any insulated cooker (offset or GF) would have a similar issue as it would hold heat so well that less wood would be needed = less wood burned = less byproducts to flavor the meat.

All that said; I've read in multiple places that meat doesn't absorb smoke flavor after the meat temp goes above 140F. No idea if that's true but, if it is and you can maintain a clean burning wood fire until the meat gets to 140, the heat source used to finish the cook after that might not matter much (charcoal, oven, hot car in Arizona....).

Of course, there's more variables, like wood choice. Using a stronger flavor wood (mesquite as an extreme example) would allow you to use less time/wood to achieve your desired smoke flavor profile so you could switch to a different heat source earlier (at a lower meat temp).

It sounds like some fun experimentation is in order