Labor Day Rebirth of a SmokeMaster

Hi All,
Been on the road in TX for a week with no internet access (long story there!). Refreshing.

Sorry for the unanswered PMs and emails(Brian, George, and all)--but??

Just spent 4 hours going through 106 new postings on the Forum--you guys have been busy! :lol:

Anyway, went to the "Way North" of Dallas with the intent of a family reunion for my 5 kiddos, spouses, and grandkiddos. Total of 15, but one Son is hung up in Qatar, his wife pinned in Tampa by hurrricane, and one local daughter-in-law laid up medically. So, we are down to 12.

Thursday spent restoring a 16" SmokeMaster for Steve, our oldest son. It was a gift from his rich step dad and had been used, abused, and neglected. We spent Thursday with the angle grinder and sand blaster getting the rust off. We never got the intake damper totally free, but a small hammer made it move OK!
Sprayed it with black BBQ paint and "rested with a case of brewskies" that night.

Friday, we re-seasoned it with a burn of 30# of Kingsford to get to know her.
Air flow and heat problems, for sure. Horizontal was 100 degrees hotter than vertical, even after some foil baffleing to direct heat to vertical side.
Rested with a half case of brewskies.

Saturday, I loaded her up (actually overloaded her) with a packer brisket, 3 (really huge) Boston Butts, 3 (huge) slabs of ribs, and 4 fatties. These were followed by a bunch of chicken parts, Andoule and Brat Sausages, 24 Japs, and "a partrige in a pear tree"!

For the cook, I got "really smart" and baffled the airflow some more. Result- choked it off totally! Lots of white and black smoke due to my mistake--poor airflow!.
I know better! Hell, I envision myself as the Master Pit Bitch (at least in FL), and I study airflow and deal with it! But, I screwed this up with a simple piece of foil blocking the heat and smoke transfer!

I made a $105 worth of barely edible crap!.
But, I am a DAD and everyone was gracious enough to eat it.
Accepted defeat with a half case of brewskies!

Saturday, we managed to clog up the whole toilet system and spent the day trying to fix it. What a project! Sunday and Monday we replaced the soggy carpet in the lower bath caused by the sewer problems with tile.

Now, Steve lives 22 miles from the "edge of civilization", Home Depot is anouther 10 to 20 miles away. So this was a "saga", to say the least.

With all the viisiting, the Q'ing, the plumbing, the tiling, and all done--we board the RV to leave on Wed. Steve has a beautiful circular drive with a nice (and very sturdy) rock wall on the inside. I managed to drag the right side of my RV down the wall and do a couple of thou$and damage to the side of the RV--don't want to talk about that till I settle down.

Overall- good visit and lots learned.

Side note--Steve has 10 acres, 5 of which are a pond. Reported to be stocked with catfish and bass 12 years ago, but never fished.
I could get no worms from the dried out ground, so bought some chicken livers for bait. Took Ramond and Madeline down and caught a 5# channel cat in 15 minutes! 2 days later, Steve and I caught 2 pushing 5# in about 15 minutes--catfish for supper!!! He is now "hot" to get a floating dock in!

I fell in love with the concept of the SmokeMaster cooker. It appears to be a Klose BYC clone and basically very well built.

I have some specific questions later for the Brothers who own similar--just tired tonight and just want to get this up!
TIM

Several questions asked- let me work through them (I hope)!

The thingie on the firebox represents a state. The residents call it "The soverign state of Texas". It is located well South and a bit West of IL. Texas is one of the few things in the world that was not invented in IL

The pond is 5 of Steve's 10 acres on his "Ponderosa". It was reportedly stocked with bass and catfish 10 or so years ago and has never been seriously fished. We took Madeline and Raymond down to the bank in the middle of the day. Could not find any worms in the dried out ground, so used chicken livers on a lightweight Crappie pole and a top-water lure on an ultra-light spin tackle rod. Hoped to snag a small bream or bass and let the kiddos play. Couple of hits on the lure (both missed) and then hit with a 5+ pound channel cat on the light pole! Scared the GrandKiddos to death! End of the fishing day for them.

Steve and I went back mid day on Tuesday and got a 5+ pound Flathead Cat and a 4 pound Channel Cat in 20 minutes or so. Supper for 4 (or more) :lol:

Any Brothers in the area want to harvest some Cats--let me know and I will hook you up with Steve. That pond needs to be fished hard- it is actually overstocked now if we are catching Cats in Mid-day as soon as the bait hits the water in 2' of water along an otherwize barren shore line. They are hungry and need to be thinned out!

The Vette is Steve's pride an joy. Took me for a "sedate" ride in it. KOOL :lol:

With all the crappy Q I produced, the Brisket actually came out as good as I have ever done--go figure. Maybe I need to screw up the fire all the time to do Brisket!
Introduced everyone to Fatties. Did 4 and should have done 20! Big Hit :lol:

I did 3 slabs of ribs and foiled them at 3 hours. Sent them to the ovens for 2 hours because I needed smoker space for chickie parts and Japs. Stacey (JacksonsDad) came out a bit later fuming--"Bunch of damn amateurs are eating the ribs!..." Oh Well. They were still tasty, if not really done right!
What a weekend :lol:

TIM