Offset firebox Modifications

jhuyser said:

I have a Brinkman Offset firebox smoker. Any recommendations to modifications i can make. I have to refull every 1 1/2 hours. Also not gettinf the smoke ring on my ribs that i would like to see (using hickory).. I am getting ready to us the casket stuff from autozone to seal the doors.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

What do you mean by "refill"? On my old offset I would only have to add a hand full of lump every 1.5 hours, not completely refill the firebox.

If a handful or so is all you are adding, that is normal for a cheapo offset. Its the nature of the beast. They are hardly the definition of fuel efficient.

As far as mods go, your best bet would be to use either high temp gasket sealant or oven stove rope. I would do the cook chamber door ONLY!! The firebox gets so hot that the rope and sealant will burn off after one or two cooks. So sealing the door is essentially useless.

Also, how long have you been cooking on your offset? If you are pretty new to cooking on it, you could be cooking with the dampers wrong. Leave the exhaust damper wide open while cooking and adjust the temp with the intake damper on the firebox. A friend of mine did the opposite and he burned through three bags of charcoal during a 6 hour cook. Offsets are all about the draft. Leaving the exhaust wide open creates a better draft that is going to draw the heat from the fire into the cook chamber. If you close down that draft, the heat is going to stay in the firebox and be wasted, thus involving you to need more charcoal to keep the cook chamber at temp.

Offsets are a love hate kind of thing. Hope that helps!

Casket stuff? Does your cooking kill people?