First Smoke!

F

flyinghogsbbq

Found some matches.
Joined
Aug 17, 2012
Location
Chicago, IL
Well, it took a little while since I joined this website to get the smoker/trailer I wanted, but I finally got it! It's an offset, reverse flow smoker on a trailer I picked up off a bbq guru in Indianapolis who has been using the smoker for ten years for his catering company.

I went out yesterday and got a 8lb pork butt(bone in) and a rack of spare ribs. Injected pork butt and frigged over night.

Started the smoker this morning around 815ish a.m. using charcoal briquettes. Used about 15 charcoals in a charcoal chimney and then poured those on top of around 10lbs of charcoal and some handfuls of hickory wood chunks.

The problem I am having now though is getting my temp up. I seem to be stuck around 125ish for over an hour! I have my vents open on the bottom, and the charcoal is on sheet metal raised off the bottom of firebox by at least two inches. There is a large whole leading into the actual barrel, so I am confused on why it's taking so long to heat up.

Do I need a really huge fire (like all 20lbs) just to get this thing uo to temp?
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
P.S. I plan on posting some pics of the smoker soon
 
If your smoker was used for a catering company, I assume it is pretty big. If that is the case you will need to add more fuel to get it up to temp. It's gonna use some fuel, so I would put more than 10lbs in (you can always shut it down and reuse the leftover) and start it with about 3/4 full to full chimney of lit.

How big is the cooker? That may help us help you. It sounds like it doesn't have enough heat though.
 
I would say you need to light more than just 15 briquette's. Probably need to light the entire 10 lb bag and then some. But that depends on the size of the smoker.
 
I have no clue how big your rig is... (Pics help)

If it was big enough to cater you will need a full weber chimney - fully lit with a couple logs/splits tossed on top. You need a hot fire not a huge fire. last stick burner I owned was tiny and I used 1/2 of a weber chimney (a full cheap chimney). and I had some chunks on that. You will need to feed that bad boy often.
 
More fuel. More fuel.

Load up that 20lb bag, dump a whole chimney of lit on top with a couple logs/splits tossed on.

If you prefer to use more splits, get her going on less charcoal and feed the beast about every hour or so with a split or 2.
 
Lol I use that much charcoal to grill 2 steaks! Give it some fuel! That iron needs alot of heat to get up to temp. Even my vault will almost use 10 lbs of lump to start if its dead cold. That definitey looks like a 20 lb bag to start and gokd coals and 2 splits every hr for good clean fire.
 
Awesome guys, will do...threw two and a half chimneys on there and adding the rest of the bag (around 15 lbs) to it and seeing the temp rise now.
 
That is an awesome rig, really big for just one butt. But it would be nice for when you want to feed the whole family.
 
Nice Pit! definitely a stick burner.. so you need to burn splits.. and when i say burn splits i mean needs a live fire going in your firebox that is actually putting out flames... small hot fire.. not smoldering wood. To achieve this your going to need relatively dry splits of wood... and you start your fire with charcoal and wood.. and you add wood 1 or 2 splits every hour or so like stated above.. no more charcoal after initial startup because in stickburners the splits burn down to a lump charcoal like size and maintain your coal base.. hope this helps!
 
DownHomeQue said:
Nice Pit! definitely a stick burner.. so you need to burn splits.. and when i say burn splits i mean needs a live fire going in your firebox that is actually putting out flames... small hot fire.. not smoldering wood. To achieve this your going to need relatively dry splits of wood... and you start your fire with charcoal and wood.. and you add wood 1 or 2 splits every hour or so like stated above.. no more charcoal after initial startup because in stickburners the splits burn down to a lump charcoal like size and maintain your coal base.. hope this helps!
Click to expand...

^ THIS! Plan on getting yourself a good supply of cured wood splits (I use kiln dried hickory) and a Texas Match (propane weed burner, Harbor Freight has them for <$20).
 
Thanks for the tips guys, it's helping out a lot! Yeah, so I went out after my last post and picked up a bunch of splits (cured Hickory), put three sticks on top of the charcoal I had burning already. Hopefully this gets my temp up to 225 at least.
 
yea that should do nicely.. remember small hot fire is the ticket on stickburners... if you put 3 sticks on with your charcoal.. should get it well up over 225.. if you find the smoke is trying to come out of the intake of the firebox.. raise the front end up to aide in getting that heat to draft properly..
 
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