Any Hasty Bake Owners?

[jdub]

I have had a Hasty Bake for about 5 years now (its at least ten years old).
I have fiddled with it, fooled with it, messed with it, and I just can't get it to stop burning the hell out of coal. Its just too drafty, top and bottom.

I still love it, it does a darn good job. The best part is the ability you get when you grill. You can crank the fire box up to withing three or four inches of the grate and get a perfect sear on a piece of meat, then crank it down to finish it off if need be. But if I could get a slow, properly drafted fire out of it-wow. I am thinking of sealing doors with gasket and maybe adding a stack.

Anybody Buelller, anyone?

[Jeff Hughes]

I live about two miles from the Hasty Bake factory, and have had one for years. I agree that they are awesome grills.

They are just okay as smokers. I do smoke on mine, and have found that a fairly small fire combined with the deflector plate works pretty well.

I use mine for smoke ribs, chicken, and maybe a brisket flat when I don't want to fire up the Klose but the egg would be to small. Hourly fire tending seems to be the rule.

I have talked to Richard Alexander about a heavier model with a stack, we'll see what they come up with.

[HoDeDo]

My dad had Classic then a Legacy.... lasted him for 20+ years. I stole a cherry original one, that we keep on the deck. I get it to cook slow, with all the dampers shut and the deflector plate in place. We can add a 1/2 pan of water sitting next to the coals under the deflector plate, or on the plate... and that usually solves it if we do get a heat issue. Pics of the one I stole for $25 are right here....http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=271382&postcount=10

[Jeff Hughes]

My dad had Classic then a Legacy.... lasted him for 20+ years. I stole a cherry original one, that we keep on the deck. I get it to cook slow, with all the dampers shut and the deflector plate in place. We can add a 1/2 pan of water sitting next to the coals under the deflector plate, or on the plate... and that usually solves it if we do get a heat issue. Pics of the one I stole for $25 are right here....http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=271382&postcount=10


25 bucks, you did steal it...

I love the water pan idea...

[jdub]

Sweet one! Mine looks like Arnold at the end of Terminator 2!
Yep I've tried the water, too. Does good, just not great, trying to figure out if there is anything I might have missed

The best thing it does IMO is to fill the basket and crank it all the way down and slow roast. A chicken or a smaller pork or beef cut done over slow coals, thats good stuff.

[HoDeDo]

if your door is warped at all, or the flaps warped, maybe that is why you are getting too much air. I have not gotten mine to run away. next time you set up, take some pics, I'd love to see how you set it up.I'll do the same if I fire mine up...

[smooookin]

i have one but it is a work in progress. I am on the road most of the spring and summer so i haven't gotten to do much with it. BTW i believe it is a '66 model.

[jdub]

if your door is warped at all, or the flaps warped, maybe that is why you are getting too much air.

Well the top always was a tad warped and that moved a lot of air. For a while I just laid a paving brick on the top and that sealed it up. Then I had a little goof-after a grill this spring i put the hood down and left the door open. I got a kind of "Towering Inferno" effect! Burned paint, warped the heck out of the hood. So down stairs it went for help. Just in case I went out and bought another WSM!
I put the smallest stove gasket I could find around the rim of the hood, and squared up the hood best I could. Next time I used it I burned HALF the coal I normally do! Downside was the creosote taste was real pronounced, that no vent top I think. Well after four uses the gasket cement turned to jelly. Funny thing is that since the gasket came off, the hood is much more square than it was, just from resting on the gasket I think.

I have had as much fun playing with this thing as cooking on it.

[jdub]

I can't find any "afters" other than the baby backs
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